Official Faction Activity Third Quarter 2022

[Stoner_Steve]

For us "nightshift" pilots on US time things have slowed down, but on the other hand my interactions have become more meaningful, in my opinion.

[Reddy]

These checks have to be retired, its 2022 the playercount and interest has been the lowest in years

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[Leo]

I don't post OORP often much anymore, but I felt the need to do so here.

The server is, indeed, in a downtick of active players. A large part of it is the fact the game is from 2003. While Freelancer is/was ahead of it's time when it was released, there are other games that've come out since such as Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous, Everspace (1 & 2), etc. that have iterated on the formula and evolved it to a state where it's easier to be played by modern players. Sadly, Freelancer can't keep up with those due to us not having access to the Source Code (though I've been asking Microsoft monthly on my Twitter for years, you can guess how that's been going). We can do some with FLHook, but with us having few coders, we can't expect much in the way of that being developed much further than it already has (by the way, Zentor is my spirit animal).

I'm not going to comment on any drama going on in the Admin/Dev team and I'm not privy to all of it...and what I am privy to I'm not going to repeat here. What I will say about the Admin/Dev team is that they're dedicating their free time to the Discovery Project/Mod. Whether or not they've made mistakes, they're giving up their free time to do modding, development, and storyboards. Say what you want about the mistakes they've made or some kind of "gRaNd CoNsPiRaCy" involving the story or whatever else, they're using their free time outside of work to develop the mod. This isn't their day job and as such these things take time to complete and get done. I'm sure some of the dev team go to work, come home, and then spend hours working on things on the mod with little time for themselves. Think about that before you attack them for doing something that you might not like involving the story or anything else.

The other point is drama. I won't get into the different things I've seen on the server related to this, but what I will say is there is a lot of shit talking by certain people in the community who think their shit doesn't stink and that they can get away with things like that. I've seen admins actively bullied off the server due to the actions of a few. I've seen events that people have put their hard work into ruined by the actions of a few people and people bitching and complaining about the event itself. I might've been one of the people that tried to give constructive criticism to the nature of the events, but I never actively complained about the meat and potatoes of them. There were some that did.

There are a lot of contributing factors to the server being in a massive downturn recently. Hell, even I'm not playing much right now, but that's more to real-life circumstances rather than being bored or turned off by someone or something that the mod has in it.

In relation to the officialdom of Factions: It's kinda useless unless you want a Core 5 base. Beyond that there really isn't much point to it, just look at how many unofficial factions there are compared to those that are official. Many that are official has been so for a good chunk of time. Even the faction I lead, SLRC, will probably remain unofficial because there's little to no reason to gain official status when there isn't much reward vs. staying unofficial. Either the Officialdom part of the faction process needs to be retired, or it needs to be heavily overhauled to include more perks that will keep people invested and interested. Although, with the server population declining, it may be prudent to remove it outright and have something else take it's place.

You can call me a "bootlicker", "brown-noser", or "ass-kisser" if you want related to my post. Doesn't really bother me. I just want people to get along and play a game that I've enjoyed for nearly 20 years. I want it to stay alive just a little bit longer so that I can write kick ass stories and have some fun Roleplay encounters with other people.

~Leo

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The Starlight Resource Consortium is on Elite Dangerous doing Trading, Exploring, & Bounty Hunting! PM me for information!

[Sally]

Sadly, Freelancer can't keep up with those due to us not having access to the Source Code (though I've been asking Microsoft monthly on my Twitter for years, you can guess how that's been going).

Letting aside how silly it is to ask big tech for source code of a project that is so old they likely don't even have anything to give, i'll say that having the source code wouldn't really change much, probably FLHook would be better implemented but beyond that, i don't think much could be done with source code from such an ancient game engine. Librelancer is and will always be there (it's been a WIP for a while, but work is being done steadily, last time i checked about a week ago, Discovery warships were playable for example), give me a newer, OpenGL, cross platform and open source implementation over whatever mess the original source for the engine was.

What I will say about the Admin/Dev team is that they're dedicating their free time to the Discovery Project/Mod. Whether or not they've made mistakes, they're giving up their free time to do modding, development, and storyboards.

I can say that when i played around some months ago with a few events happening, staff was more present and active ingame that what it used to be ~2 years ago, which helps alot when pvp oopsies happen, but i would say they don't seem to care enough to process reports that are mildly complex to deal with, either that or they lack time to investigate thoroughly (which i wouldn't blame them for) and the report gets buried over dozens of redundant and more simple reports, but the problem is still there. Some report's I've filed in good faith of certain concerning issues/mistakes ingame have been ignored (assumed as such, since months passed since reports and i got no DMs regarding them from any staff member) and they will still be ignored until enough people has to deal with it, which could be never since the player count is low, anyways.

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[StDH]

i'll say that having the source code wouldn't really change much, probably FLHook would be better implemented but beyond that, i don't think much could be done with source code from such an ancient game engine.

It would clear up a lot of misconceptions on how the game works and would let people fix some hilarious exploits and bugs with ease. FLHook would also become redundant

We can do some with FLHook, but with us having few coders, we can't expect much in the way of that being developed much further than it already has (by the way, Zentor is my spirit animal).

FLHook is a towel that nobody washed

Freelancer can't keep up with those due to us not having access to the Source Code (though I've been asking Microsoft monthly on my Twitter for years, you can guess how that's been going).

Bold of you to assume that someone hasn't decompiled (decoded) a good chunk of Freelancer's executables, giving a near source-code insight on how the game works, because I did

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~The eyes that only see prey. An instinct to act on~
~The bloodlust and it’s just, Not enough... Not enough.~
~But that’s the chain of command, And now we know we must not hide~

[Felipe]

sometimes over the last few weeks there have only been 16 active players at what would be peak times.

Server is now in freefall basically, and I dont even play anymore

Server is said to be dying since ive started playing, hence why ive played quite a bit *before* bothering with forums. Guess what, were still here, activity still wildly lowers on summer while people go outside and play RL a bit, then surges on fall/winter, as happened entire last decade.

Usually "server is dying" lines are comlemented with "i dont play anymore", i wonder why former players keep wishing the mod had died but bother coming to forums to say it... anyway, if all the people of the "Disco is dead/dying" threads where playing, server wouldnt be able to keep up XDD

Lets just enjoy the game, while it lasts. Be it a week or, hopefully, another decade or two.

But indeed devs could bring more excitment, when time allows, you know, they too have a RL to attend to, and no one pays them for their "job" here. The only "payment" usually is everyone crying about everything that is done, and for everythiing people *think* should be done and wasnt... and yes i too cry and complain way more than i should, all things considered.

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[Felipe]

If you don't want to play, then simply leave at your own leisure. If others want to play, that is their decision.

Ive tought exact same thing everytme ive saw people claiming game was dead and people should leave. Dont wanna play anymore? Sad, but hey, go have fun wherever you decide to go, isnt needed to try to take the server down just because you dont want to play it anymore..

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[Couden]

if there was a dynamic patches

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[Czechmate]

You know what is weird? Someone in core discord showed the average activity numbers - it's not much different from last year actually - it might feel like it's dying , but it's just shifts - less big spikes and peak time increases as there are few to no events, more Indies playing silently and big groups that "get' that's it's a game having huge activity like DTR and AWES and GMS, But on average the numbers look very close to each other.

[Stewgar]

How many here have applied to be a moderator, developer, or admin?

I've been involved in organizations that extends from before my time in the military, during, and after. I've participated in every facet of those organizations whether it be sweeping floors and scrubbing tables after events to sitting in the top chair and making decisions. I will gladly perform either role if it is for an organization or community that I care and believe in.

It has been months since I have logged in and flown on the server but I've kept tabs of the community in hopes that something happens that would change the culture or direction of the community. I was also asked to review a post regarding my old ConEx group (which I endorse, please approve their requests!!!).

I saw this post and thought I'd submit my input.

Any organization, whether it be an official faction or the community that governs them, must have refreshment in leadership positions. One trend I have noticed about this community and it's factions is that once leadership is obtained it is nearly impossible to relinquish despite lack of interest or activity by the leading party. Therefore, it should be no surprise that we continue to see once thriving and fun factions now failing simple activity checks, let alone perform any kind of meaningful role play to boot.

If the day to day players that have ideas and ambition do not feel heard or do not see a pathway moving up, they will no longer have motivation to continue doing this and will leave. The turning point for me was when I was passed over for moderator by a toxic inactive and somebody else who my first run in with this person thought that a potentially 15 year old who was given a tampon by an older gentleman was good roleplay for Freelancer. Yup, read that again if you like. Meanwhile, another moderator was wasting space that couldn't even conduct reasonable faction diplomacy let alone moderate a community. He's since been fired, but you all know who I'm talking about.

Until this trend ends and this community sees a change in culture, from players and factions up, we will continue to see single digit player counts when the server was almost impossible to enter at one point.

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I hope that either all of us or none of us are judged by the actions of our weakest moments. But rather, by the strength we show when, and if, we're ever given a second chance.