Tembest simply put, I wouldn't choose Ideas over others. I don't even know how thats possible, there is room for any Idea in DSB. That's like saying if you have an event idea I wont let you run with it. We can always use more events. A pub idea. Why not run with it? Pub is at zero. Maybe their idea will get pub to 50 players. In the end the community decides what ideas are viable. If everyone adores an idea, we know it's good. If it has marginal success we still don't need to throw it out. It can be a pub theme or it can be improved upon. A league idea? We have like 5 leagues in DSB. One more wouldn't be a tragedy. What would I tell the person who had the idea? NO I WANTED ONLY 1 LEAGUE IN DSB. BUT NOW WE HAVE 5? I DEFINITELY DON'T WANT 6! That's stupid, because we already have 5.
Anyway you are easily refuted with 1 sentence. I won't put others ideas over my own, and never have. I will just work on my own ideas. This is completely normal. We are motivated to work on things we are interested in. Someone is free to have an idea and work on it, and I wouldn't mind at all. As well being educated, and open minded, I'd likely adopt MANY of the communities ideas and work on them on my own.
As for Ent, there are such things as bad ideas, and Ent and especially Manwhore were full of them. Turning the deathstar into a giant pretzel for example is a bad idea. Then it wouldn't be very logical to call it "Death Star Battle" we would be ignoring the great mapping of the classic deathstar and our league would be different than our pub map. Clearly a pretzel is a bad idea for a map change. If you agree then I just proved there are such things as negative impact changes in DSB based on poorly thought through ideas.
As for emotional? Since when is it bad to have emotions? Is this 300-1500 A.D again? When women weren't fit to rule to be in politics or in public life, or do anything worthwhile because they were "TOO emotional" You are obviously a retard. Even though I am a man, your argument backs an age old argument that left a 50% of the world without a right to vote or rights in general. Go back to Saudi Arabia fool.
I have a handle on my emotions easily more than you retards do. For one I don't ban based on them.
Your problem is you assume shit without asking any questions, or knowing me at all.
Next Head Sysop (Vote)
Moderators: Beer Hunter, Tembest, Entr0py
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
Maybe if you weren't such a douchebag all the time people would give you a chance to show these so called capabilities you claim to have.
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." -Albert Einstein
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
The reason people don't give me a chance to show what I can do is because they would get embarrassed when I do more than they've done in 2 years. Imagine you were the Boss of a failing company and your worker said he can run the business better than you can. He could be bluffing, or he actually could run the business better. In the end if you let him take over for 3 months and he brings the company to a success,
1. it's very embarrassing that someone does more and better work than you in a limited time
2. you would look like a retard for all your past actions.
People can't give me a "chance" not because I'm a "douche" but because they have too much Pride. I could give anyone a chance, if they succeed good on them, we all win, if they fail, bonus for me too, because I can tell them how much they suck after. I did this exact thing with Igger when he claimed he could run Tyranize better than me. I didn't bitch, I didn't hold power, I didn't say your too much of a douche, I just gave him Tyranize and watched it fail even worse than before. There was practically no risk because Tyranize was already starting to die, and the squad already finished it's league. If he managed to succeed I would have been happy because I want Tyranize to Succeed. I can only conclude your pride is so great you guys would rather have a dead DSB, than an active DSB. ALL BECAUSE, an active DSB might have falconeers name attached to it in some way shape or form. You are shit heads plain and simple.
I even offered to make my bringing DSB to 100 players contingent. Meaning give me 3 months in charge, and I'll do all I can, and when I'm done you can remove my powers. People aren't afraid I'll "hack" the server, or ban others. They are scared of a successful DSB.
There is a reason I am confident in myself.
1. I want to annoy the shit out of you
2. The confidence is motivation to succeed, because if I don't follow through with my claims, it makes me liar. Often you will find especially in weight loss and goal oriented programs, they tell you say what your goal is out loud, and to tell other people. This isn't to brag, this is to make sure you follow through with it. The most successful people in the world do this.
And if I put myself before others, I wouldn't have made AML squads and trained noobies for 6 years. I would have joined a Pro squad (yes I got offers, and could have). And when I made line ups, I would have put myself with wO every single time, so I look better. Never happened. I usually ended up with the 2 worst players in DSB, so I could try even out the odds of the match for the benefit of my squad.
1. it's very embarrassing that someone does more and better work than you in a limited time
2. you would look like a retard for all your past actions.
People can't give me a "chance" not because I'm a "douche" but because they have too much Pride. I could give anyone a chance, if they succeed good on them, we all win, if they fail, bonus for me too, because I can tell them how much they suck after. I did this exact thing with Igger when he claimed he could run Tyranize better than me. I didn't bitch, I didn't hold power, I didn't say your too much of a douche, I just gave him Tyranize and watched it fail even worse than before. There was practically no risk because Tyranize was already starting to die, and the squad already finished it's league. If he managed to succeed I would have been happy because I want Tyranize to Succeed. I can only conclude your pride is so great you guys would rather have a dead DSB, than an active DSB. ALL BECAUSE, an active DSB might have falconeers name attached to it in some way shape or form. You are shit heads plain and simple.
I even offered to make my bringing DSB to 100 players contingent. Meaning give me 3 months in charge, and I'll do all I can, and when I'm done you can remove my powers. People aren't afraid I'll "hack" the server, or ban others. They are scared of a successful DSB.
There is a reason I am confident in myself.
1. I want to annoy the shit out of you
2. The confidence is motivation to succeed, because if I don't follow through with my claims, it makes me liar. Often you will find especially in weight loss and goal oriented programs, they tell you say what your goal is out loud, and to tell other people. This isn't to brag, this is to make sure you follow through with it. The most successful people in the world do this.
And if I put myself before others, I wouldn't have made AML squads and trained noobies for 6 years. I would have joined a Pro squad (yes I got offers, and could have). And when I made line ups, I would have put myself with wO every single time, so I look better. Never happened. I usually ended up with the 2 worst players in DSB, so I could try even out the odds of the match for the benefit of my squad.
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
And I could do more than other people because for one I have way more time, and I'm way more motivated and optimistic. People aren't less capable. Some are more capable, they can code, but they don't have the time or the desire to put in 12 hours a day to make a change. Who else spent 40 hours making a whole new deathstar? Or remaking a tileset? Or deving squad halls. I made the Renegades, 181st Tie, Ezs and Owled, squad halls. This comes from a love for DSB. Both pub and league, and while Beer sat in spec all these years, I was there with floortap and Free spirit in pub. And I was there in league.
Take rob ford, you can make an analogy between rob ford and me. Some people don't want me in charge not based on merit, but based on personal preference. My existence annoys them, and to be perfectly honest, I do this on purpose. I'm not going to kiss ass to get ahead. I will keep it real, if you want me to fix things, I'm always ready. There is this misconception that DSB is doing me a favor by making me part of the dev team. You guys are mistaken. It's me that's doing DSB the favor. In fact anyone who gives up their free time to help and serve a community is doing the favors here. Not the other way around. So with Rob Ford, even if he's a benefit to the city, the city council will all bitch and whine for weeks and break laws to try and remove him. Just because the mayor smoked crack once. It's all personal preference, that's what people act on. In other words they participate in the common fallacy called an Ad Hominem. If I say I will re-vote ford back into office because he's funny. People will attack me with their stupid mob mentality. Meanwhile it's not any different than saying I won't vote for ford because he smoked crack once. How about we forget all that and vote for someone based on how much money they saved for the city for once, or how good a job they are doing. Especially when he hasn't been charged with anything, and there are zero ways to remove him legally from his Mayor position.
Also ssseths picture basically refuted all of Tembest's post. Since Tembests basic idea was that the person who should be in charge shouldn't be able to code or do work on the zone. Basically a boss giving orders vs. someone who is at the player level, playing the game, and giving up their time and abilities to better serve the community. Tembest would have voted in Hoch if the option was made available.
Take rob ford, you can make an analogy between rob ford and me. Some people don't want me in charge not based on merit, but based on personal preference. My existence annoys them, and to be perfectly honest, I do this on purpose. I'm not going to kiss ass to get ahead. I will keep it real, if you want me to fix things, I'm always ready. There is this misconception that DSB is doing me a favor by making me part of the dev team. You guys are mistaken. It's me that's doing DSB the favor. In fact anyone who gives up their free time to help and serve a community is doing the favors here. Not the other way around. So with Rob Ford, even if he's a benefit to the city, the city council will all bitch and whine for weeks and break laws to try and remove him. Just because the mayor smoked crack once. It's all personal preference, that's what people act on. In other words they participate in the common fallacy called an Ad Hominem. If I say I will re-vote ford back into office because he's funny. People will attack me with their stupid mob mentality. Meanwhile it's not any different than saying I won't vote for ford because he smoked crack once. How about we forget all that and vote for someone based on how much money they saved for the city for once, or how good a job they are doing. Especially when he hasn't been charged with anything, and there are zero ways to remove him legally from his Mayor position.
Also ssseths picture basically refuted all of Tembest's post. Since Tembests basic idea was that the person who should be in charge shouldn't be able to code or do work on the zone. Basically a boss giving orders vs. someone who is at the player level, playing the game, and giving up their time and abilities to better serve the community. Tembest would have voted in Hoch if the option was made available.
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
you guys ever heard of cliffs? fuk reading all that
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
Ssseth, great picture. That bottom part is exactly what is needed in this struggling game. But this leader needs to pull the zone in the right direction, not off a cliff. I just want to point out that the most important question about the next head sysop is; does he know what needs to be done? I can't say any of these guys have proven that they know what DSB needs. What are their plans?.. Tell us what you intend to do and how you are going to do it.
Whoever is going for this position (with the intention of change, not just a new title) needs to understand that they are going to be very stressed for a long time. Start getting your medications ready. If you are reading this and have any doubt of what I've just said, remove the thought of head SYSOP from your mind because you most likely won't be inciting any major change. Now the options, the way I see it:
Beer Hunter
A lot of experience on his back, although he seems somewhat short-sighted. Lacks understanding of (many) players and is not very socially adept. Has a history of communicating with players in an incredibly condescending tone similar to Hoch (all of which has annoyed me). Swift, adept and unforgiving when its time to enforce rules and ban.
He's good at enforcing punishments, posting rules, schedules, all the formalities. But a lead sysop needs more than simple robotic qualities. He needs to be charismatic and experienced with working efficiently with all kinds of people (without getting pissed off and just banning them). Keep this guy around for the sole purpose of rule enforcement if punishment and formalities are going to be key in the future.
Fly Swatter
Some pub experience, and he seems to have some coding skills. Little/no league experience on his back however. Keep this guy around as a high ranking coder. A lead SYSOP needs more league experience.
Delic
A lot of experience on his back, much like Beer Hunter. Has proven he is capable of reasoning at a decent level. Has sound judgment from what I've seen. Other than that, I can't say much more. Handing the head SYSOP position to him, you don't know what you'll get. But I'd probably give him a shot.
Eridu
From what I've seen he puts a lot of effort into what he does and is passionate about DSB, keep him around for this sole reason. However, he is lacking too much experience to identify serious gameplay issues. For example, when I told him kills were being awarded 150 points in pracs, he brushed it off like it's no problem and working as intended. To this day it hasn't changed. Anyone who has been playing for a decent amount of time would know how serious of a problem that is and would address it ASAP. Full east ding worth 4 kills? Thats so far out of whack it's not even funny.
Falconeer
He is motivated, passionate about this zone and has a lot of time on his hands. Sadly, that makes him more qualified for the position than some of these options. The downside is, Falconeer has repeatedly proven to the DSB community that he is without a doubt mentally challenged - I'm sure even he knows this. Despite him having the IQ of a frog, when he says he can do big things for the zone I actually think he is speaking in earnest. Let him prove himself first, then give powers later. Or if you're into taking risks (not much to risk at this point), do it vice versa.
p.s. You would do yourself good by not littering the thread. It looks bad, and I don't think anyone is reading all of it.
No Change
Commence with no changes if you want DSB to follow its natural course to death.
Find someone else
One of the best options imo. Overall the list of candidates is underwhelming.
Whoever is going for this position (with the intention of change, not just a new title) needs to understand that they are going to be very stressed for a long time. Start getting your medications ready. If you are reading this and have any doubt of what I've just said, remove the thought of head SYSOP from your mind because you most likely won't be inciting any major change. Now the options, the way I see it:
Beer Hunter
A lot of experience on his back, although he seems somewhat short-sighted. Lacks understanding of (many) players and is not very socially adept. Has a history of communicating with players in an incredibly condescending tone similar to Hoch (all of which has annoyed me). Swift, adept and unforgiving when its time to enforce rules and ban.
He's good at enforcing punishments, posting rules, schedules, all the formalities. But a lead sysop needs more than simple robotic qualities. He needs to be charismatic and experienced with working efficiently with all kinds of people (without getting pissed off and just banning them). Keep this guy around for the sole purpose of rule enforcement if punishment and formalities are going to be key in the future.
Fly Swatter
Some pub experience, and he seems to have some coding skills. Little/no league experience on his back however. Keep this guy around as a high ranking coder. A lead SYSOP needs more league experience.
Delic
A lot of experience on his back, much like Beer Hunter. Has proven he is capable of reasoning at a decent level. Has sound judgment from what I've seen. Other than that, I can't say much more. Handing the head SYSOP position to him, you don't know what you'll get. But I'd probably give him a shot.
Eridu
From what I've seen he puts a lot of effort into what he does and is passionate about DSB, keep him around for this sole reason. However, he is lacking too much experience to identify serious gameplay issues. For example, when I told him kills were being awarded 150 points in pracs, he brushed it off like it's no problem and working as intended. To this day it hasn't changed. Anyone who has been playing for a decent amount of time would know how serious of a problem that is and would address it ASAP. Full east ding worth 4 kills? Thats so far out of whack it's not even funny.
Falconeer
He is motivated, passionate about this zone and has a lot of time on his hands. Sadly, that makes him more qualified for the position than some of these options. The downside is, Falconeer has repeatedly proven to the DSB community that he is without a doubt mentally challenged - I'm sure even he knows this. Despite him having the IQ of a frog, when he says he can do big things for the zone I actually think he is speaking in earnest. Let him prove himself first, then give powers later. Or if you're into taking risks (not much to risk at this point), do it vice versa.
p.s. You would do yourself good by not littering the thread. It looks bad, and I don't think anyone is reading all of it.
No Change
Commence with no changes if you want DSB to follow its natural course to death.
Find someone else
One of the best options imo. Overall the list of candidates is underwhelming.
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
Saying I have a low IQ, is an age old insult people use against me. Why? It's like dissing Michael Jordan and saying he sucks at basketball when he was in his Prime. You find the persons greatest ability, trait, or characteristic, and put it down, in an attempt to insult them. So in effect you are saying I am too smart for sysop.
I've been complaining about ents stupid practice bot, and the way it handles score and rating, from the very first day he made it.
Lastly, you have nothing to fear, I have no problem with asking you for your ideas about how to save the zone. If I am lost, I know how to ask for directions which is something DSB staff forgot how to do.
If it's not interesting don't read it.
I've been complaining about ents stupid practice bot, and the way it handles score and rating, from the very first day he made it.
Lastly, you have nothing to fear, I have no problem with asking you for your ideas about how to save the zone. If I am lost, I know how to ask for directions which is something DSB staff forgot how to do.
If it's not interesting don't read it.
-
Beer Hunter
- Posts: 552
- Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:29 pm
- Location: Finland
Re: Next Head Sysop (Vote)
Basically I am very reluctant to take part in public popularity contests, mainly because it is a show off for great speakers whose acts might not be on the same level as their speeches are. There are many of those in history who've spoken well to lure people into believing that this or that thing is the right thing to do, then with those speeches they've lead massive and devastating plans which have lead to great destruction.
Anyway, lets move on.
The current problem in DSB is that nobody is controlling the bigger picture, the long sighted approach towards the future, what lies in the future of DSB. That is the main job of the head sysop - to control and decide the path we are to take. We were all looking up to Ent to do the task, however his enthusiasm dried out fast under the pressure the task gave to him. That left us hanging, us all, the community and the remaining staff. At the moment the decisions by staff are short sighted and narrow, mainly because nobody is there to control the big picture and the fact that nobody CAN say: this is what we're going to do, this road and the main goal is this, checkpoints along the way are this and that. Why can't nobody decide such a thing right now? Because with everybody having same power level, there is a vacuum for the leadership required, everybody are mainly focusing on pushing their own ideas forward, thinking exactly as some of the people mentioned in this thread: I know what is best for DSB, give me the keys and I'll be your man.
Obviously with a transition to new leadership, nothing is guaranteed. However the focus with or when the new leadership comes in is to set those goals and checkpoints, then inform the staff about the ideas, then move forward to present the plan to the community. Controlled communication, within your staff and then to the public ensures everybody will be on same level with everything, well planned ideas with a clear vision of what DSB is to become will ensure us all having something to look forward to, meeting the expectations which community is assuming us to meet and also ensuring that the community knows exactly what will happen. Being part of the process is important part for everybody, being on same page will ease the worries the community might have of DSB's future and also could bring in a couple new interested individuals to join the development.
Let's take a short look at the possible plan we could have: priority number one is to figure out the best possible way to get public activated, at least having some of the frequent players playing there together with possible new additions. Development for this is a huge project, mainly it needs to have some of the old but with a new twist. Possibility of moving forward from public to leagues needs to be easier than it currently is, it is so difficult at the moment partly because of low public activity and then there's the skill gap to be mentioned. However, that is priority and a long term goal, to ensure our first and most crucial front is covered and active. Only through public we can gain those new players we're all waiting for, obviously the amount of new visits in DSB is low but let's have some optimism that it will not stay like that forever, we're already past the worst days in terms of activity. Checkpoints along the way are obviously the first launch of a new public concept - how is it treated amongst the old players, does it inspire or bring in any new players - tweaking the system - listening to community input which I am more than happy to hear, but I must remind you that constructive criticism with answers that point out the problems is expected.
League wise, our goal is to maintain leagues running through whole year. The current set of leagues we have consists of BABL, TCL and Sector League. In terms of activity and interest, those are the biggest, with Sector League drawing nearly 65 players - last BABL had roughly 50 and TCL approximately 45. Keeping at least these numbers frequently playing these leagues is important, arousing more interest amongst the old players is a key factor RIGHT NOW. In the past month when our activity started to rise again, I've noticed that many of the players returning had heard about DSB from their friends or then found our Facebook page. In terms of keeping DSB alive and perhaps growing, getting some of those oldies back, I urge everybody who is reading this to contact their real life or other friends who've played DSB. The time is ripe on many occasions for them to come back, but they will only come back if they are reminded through their social connections about the fun they've had in DSB. They won't come back if staff sends out an e-mail saying we're still alive and kicking, they'll probably delete it as spam on the very instant or leave it at the spam folder.
Adding new leagues in the near future is possible, some sort of shorter or tournament stylish leagues for the week can be arranged, similar to the Duel Tournament competition I hosted every Wednesday for 7 weeks during the summer. Obviously these smaller events need to have the ability and flexibility to be played with lower numbers so individual or mixed teams kind of games are the only way to ensure these will happen. Anybody with ideas about these tournaments can speak freely at League Forums about arranging, running and planning this kind of tournaments. You can even run and organize the tournament by yourself, with the backing of DSB STAFF .
Next thing and the most important one at this very moment - assembling the team. Basically, with the names mentioned in this thread, a great team could be assembled - all the people mentioned have their own special fields they are good at, neither of them is good at everything, that includes me. Teamwork is a key factor, however this is where everything gets problematic, basically with a history as long as DSB has, everybody know everybody and sooner or later somebody hates somebody, or some friend of them hates somebody and it starts spreading. People in any kind of authority position often gain the luxury of having their faces posted on the e-tube walls of DSB with a sign of "wanted dead or alive, most likely in a form where they can no longer punish anybody".
It is unavoidable cost of having power, of using it to maintain the good of the community, ensure it follows the rules set for it. I've been part of many internet communities and in general, every community hates the people who have the authority to limit or punish the participants for violations, even though these individuals have had their chances of obeying the rules as the rules are told to them and they can usually read the rules as well. They are written in pretty clear and simple English, in staff to player interactions those rules are even made simpler and the message sent out clearer . Obviously in every case the message does not get through, there are several factors to that. One factor is that this is the internet, everybody can find their inner child again, be the boy who bullies everybody and blow off steam. Other factor is the human nature itself, people have been taught to fight the power, fight the boundaries set for them, there is always a person who is asking why we are having this or that rule, why is this enforced when breaking this rule is much more fun?
Newer and younger generations especially have a built in set up to live up to the expectations they've learnt in school, media and everywhere; be yourself, be whatever you want, who dares to question that shall face endless resistance until he breaks. Obedience, understanding for boundaries and allowance of having peaceful, meaningful gaming experience with less interference is respected by the older players. Obviously there are differences on these behavior patterns explained, it is best analyze I can give based on being part of this community and following this from the front lines for many years.
However, the amount of punishments or discipline has gone down in DSB. The current upgrades to our procedures ensure that every player will be given nearly limitless number of possibilities to learn from his mistakes before a ban will be placed on him. Only very very severe and constant rule breaking which clearly causes harm to other players is punishable by a ban. Obviously smaller punishments can be given but the trend is to, how should we say, let all the flowers flourish. Therefore I can imagine that the opposition against authorities will find new forms to represent itself, basically because that is the way it always goes. We'll never, not under any administration or any sysops, live in a happy dreamland where everybody are satisfied on the actions of the people upholding the last bit of rules between some order and total chaos.
Do I have what it takes to be a head sysop for the zone? Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. I've been in DSB STAFF since summer 2000. I joined as a op> and remained in that position for over a year, after that my usage was checked by loops who decided it was not enough and ordered one of his smods to fire me. Back then I had 56k modem and the bills were killing me and my family, hogging up to 400-500$ a month. After that I was "free" of commitment for staff until I was recruited as one of the first ER's to the DSBe Staff, that career was short but I hosted some basic games which were available during that time. During that period I also joined the ranks of DSB League staff where I started hosting league games, which I've done frequently ever since, although have given more responsibilities in hosting lately to Eridu. Some weekends I totaled hosting up to 5 games. I came back to DSB STAFF as well and my potential was recognized by the senior staff who made me a senior after a long period of working for it. After that I trained staff within DSB STAFF and DSB League staff, without having calculated, I could say I've trained close to 100-120 staffers so far, including the training for Ent after he had been elected as the head sysop of DSB. I've seen the ups and downs of DSB, inside the staff and within the community - many great moments and a lot of wonderful years to look back into. Working under three different head sysops has been very interesting experience, all of them had their own ways of handling things, some having active approach on management and some having more interest only on development. That is why I can say that the task of Head Sysop is not neccesarily something for one person to handle - development people have a mind of their own which often does not include interest towards management - rather a hope it works out.
Obviously, to survive and to work in staff all these years has meant I've had to work under the rules and orders of the management which has been running the show, for all the three cases the management has been different and my actions based on that. I can imagine there are people holding a grudge over this or that - however times do change, the managements too, the decisions or actions I might take usually represented the current administrations wishes or guidelines, rather than an opinion of my own. Only during the recent transition to Ent, has the staff been allowed to express their opinions more freely and even be more innovative with the solutions, which has improved some things a lot. The people who believe I ban at will and at any time somebody pisses me off might be forgetting a fine line between pissing somebody off and actually breaking the rules. Often the chatter around DSB is that nothing happened but a player was banned - that hardly was or is the case. During any administration, any clear violation of your own rules, as in abuse, lead to you being fired and during some administrations this came along with a nice bonus in terms of having shorter or longer period without access to DSB.
Towards this, I could make a suggestion: to make DSB punishment procedures even more transparent, why don't we just open up a separate forum where you can discuss your punishment and where staff can easily post the evidence needed to prove they are indeed correct with the punishment. I can imagine this would also reduce the threat of bans to minimum because public humiliation would hurt a lot - as well as for the player who complains about a justified ban and to the staff if the ban is found not justified. This is just an idea however, should not be discussed in detail in this thread, however I wanted to take the opportunity to take a step towards the future - or one of the possible futures awaiting to happen.
Where do I lack in terms of qualities for Head Sysop? I'm not a jack of all trades, I can not code or develop as much as others, some basic graphic additions I can do and have done over the years. However my development skills are not as top notch as others who can produce bots, read or create endless lines of code or come up with a complete package in terms of themes or other such work. That is where I need the most help.
I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen, who will be elected. I'm obviously up for the task, although as I've admitted, I am not perfect but nobody is - the teamwork is in crucial role, forget your old grudges if you have any and start building bridges instead. Together we can be much more than alone.
Anybody who might find themselves offended over this text, you'll have my sincerest apologies. I am fairly certain this will be my only input to this thread - still not a fan of popularity contests.
Enjoy!
Anyway, lets move on.
The current problem in DSB is that nobody is controlling the bigger picture, the long sighted approach towards the future, what lies in the future of DSB. That is the main job of the head sysop - to control and decide the path we are to take. We were all looking up to Ent to do the task, however his enthusiasm dried out fast under the pressure the task gave to him. That left us hanging, us all, the community and the remaining staff. At the moment the decisions by staff are short sighted and narrow, mainly because nobody is there to control the big picture and the fact that nobody CAN say: this is what we're going to do, this road and the main goal is this, checkpoints along the way are this and that. Why can't nobody decide such a thing right now? Because with everybody having same power level, there is a vacuum for the leadership required, everybody are mainly focusing on pushing their own ideas forward, thinking exactly as some of the people mentioned in this thread: I know what is best for DSB, give me the keys and I'll be your man.
Obviously with a transition to new leadership, nothing is guaranteed. However the focus with or when the new leadership comes in is to set those goals and checkpoints, then inform the staff about the ideas, then move forward to present the plan to the community. Controlled communication, within your staff and then to the public ensures everybody will be on same level with everything, well planned ideas with a clear vision of what DSB is to become will ensure us all having something to look forward to, meeting the expectations which community is assuming us to meet and also ensuring that the community knows exactly what will happen. Being part of the process is important part for everybody, being on same page will ease the worries the community might have of DSB's future and also could bring in a couple new interested individuals to join the development.
Let's take a short look at the possible plan we could have: priority number one is to figure out the best possible way to get public activated, at least having some of the frequent players playing there together with possible new additions. Development for this is a huge project, mainly it needs to have some of the old but with a new twist. Possibility of moving forward from public to leagues needs to be easier than it currently is, it is so difficult at the moment partly because of low public activity and then there's the skill gap to be mentioned. However, that is priority and a long term goal, to ensure our first and most crucial front is covered and active. Only through public we can gain those new players we're all waiting for, obviously the amount of new visits in DSB is low but let's have some optimism that it will not stay like that forever, we're already past the worst days in terms of activity. Checkpoints along the way are obviously the first launch of a new public concept - how is it treated amongst the old players, does it inspire or bring in any new players - tweaking the system - listening to community input which I am more than happy to hear, but I must remind you that constructive criticism with answers that point out the problems is expected.
League wise, our goal is to maintain leagues running through whole year. The current set of leagues we have consists of BABL, TCL and Sector League. In terms of activity and interest, those are the biggest, with Sector League drawing nearly 65 players - last BABL had roughly 50 and TCL approximately 45. Keeping at least these numbers frequently playing these leagues is important, arousing more interest amongst the old players is a key factor RIGHT NOW. In the past month when our activity started to rise again, I've noticed that many of the players returning had heard about DSB from their friends or then found our Facebook page. In terms of keeping DSB alive and perhaps growing, getting some of those oldies back, I urge everybody who is reading this to contact their real life or other friends who've played DSB. The time is ripe on many occasions for them to come back, but they will only come back if they are reminded through their social connections about the fun they've had in DSB. They won't come back if staff sends out an e-mail saying we're still alive and kicking, they'll probably delete it as spam on the very instant or leave it at the spam folder.
Adding new leagues in the near future is possible, some sort of shorter or tournament stylish leagues for the week can be arranged, similar to the Duel Tournament competition I hosted every Wednesday for 7 weeks during the summer. Obviously these smaller events need to have the ability and flexibility to be played with lower numbers so individual or mixed teams kind of games are the only way to ensure these will happen. Anybody with ideas about these tournaments can speak freely at League Forums about arranging, running and planning this kind of tournaments. You can even run and organize the tournament by yourself, with the backing of DSB STAFF .
Next thing and the most important one at this very moment - assembling the team. Basically, with the names mentioned in this thread, a great team could be assembled - all the people mentioned have their own special fields they are good at, neither of them is good at everything, that includes me. Teamwork is a key factor, however this is where everything gets problematic, basically with a history as long as DSB has, everybody know everybody and sooner or later somebody hates somebody, or some friend of them hates somebody and it starts spreading. People in any kind of authority position often gain the luxury of having their faces posted on the e-tube walls of DSB with a sign of "wanted dead or alive, most likely in a form where they can no longer punish anybody".
It is unavoidable cost of having power, of using it to maintain the good of the community, ensure it follows the rules set for it. I've been part of many internet communities and in general, every community hates the people who have the authority to limit or punish the participants for violations, even though these individuals have had their chances of obeying the rules as the rules are told to them and they can usually read the rules as well. They are written in pretty clear and simple English, in staff to player interactions those rules are even made simpler and the message sent out clearer . Obviously in every case the message does not get through, there are several factors to that. One factor is that this is the internet, everybody can find their inner child again, be the boy who bullies everybody and blow off steam. Other factor is the human nature itself, people have been taught to fight the power, fight the boundaries set for them, there is always a person who is asking why we are having this or that rule, why is this enforced when breaking this rule is much more fun?
Newer and younger generations especially have a built in set up to live up to the expectations they've learnt in school, media and everywhere; be yourself, be whatever you want, who dares to question that shall face endless resistance until he breaks. Obedience, understanding for boundaries and allowance of having peaceful, meaningful gaming experience with less interference is respected by the older players. Obviously there are differences on these behavior patterns explained, it is best analyze I can give based on being part of this community and following this from the front lines for many years.
However, the amount of punishments or discipline has gone down in DSB. The current upgrades to our procedures ensure that every player will be given nearly limitless number of possibilities to learn from his mistakes before a ban will be placed on him. Only very very severe and constant rule breaking which clearly causes harm to other players is punishable by a ban. Obviously smaller punishments can be given but the trend is to, how should we say, let all the flowers flourish. Therefore I can imagine that the opposition against authorities will find new forms to represent itself, basically because that is the way it always goes. We'll never, not under any administration or any sysops, live in a happy dreamland where everybody are satisfied on the actions of the people upholding the last bit of rules between some order and total chaos.
Do I have what it takes to be a head sysop for the zone? Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. I've been in DSB STAFF since summer 2000. I joined as a op> and remained in that position for over a year, after that my usage was checked by loops who decided it was not enough and ordered one of his smods to fire me. Back then I had 56k modem and the bills were killing me and my family, hogging up to 400-500$ a month. After that I was "free" of commitment for staff until I was recruited as one of the first ER's to the DSBe Staff, that career was short but I hosted some basic games which were available during that time. During that period I also joined the ranks of DSB League staff where I started hosting league games, which I've done frequently ever since, although have given more responsibilities in hosting lately to Eridu. Some weekends I totaled hosting up to 5 games. I came back to DSB STAFF as well and my potential was recognized by the senior staff who made me a senior after a long period of working for it. After that I trained staff within DSB STAFF and DSB League staff, without having calculated, I could say I've trained close to 100-120 staffers so far, including the training for Ent after he had been elected as the head sysop of DSB. I've seen the ups and downs of DSB, inside the staff and within the community - many great moments and a lot of wonderful years to look back into. Working under three different head sysops has been very interesting experience, all of them had their own ways of handling things, some having active approach on management and some having more interest only on development. That is why I can say that the task of Head Sysop is not neccesarily something for one person to handle - development people have a mind of their own which often does not include interest towards management - rather a hope it works out.
Obviously, to survive and to work in staff all these years has meant I've had to work under the rules and orders of the management which has been running the show, for all the three cases the management has been different and my actions based on that. I can imagine there are people holding a grudge over this or that - however times do change, the managements too, the decisions or actions I might take usually represented the current administrations wishes or guidelines, rather than an opinion of my own. Only during the recent transition to Ent, has the staff been allowed to express their opinions more freely and even be more innovative with the solutions, which has improved some things a lot. The people who believe I ban at will and at any time somebody pisses me off might be forgetting a fine line between pissing somebody off and actually breaking the rules. Often the chatter around DSB is that nothing happened but a player was banned - that hardly was or is the case. During any administration, any clear violation of your own rules, as in abuse, lead to you being fired and during some administrations this came along with a nice bonus in terms of having shorter or longer period without access to DSB.
Towards this, I could make a suggestion: to make DSB punishment procedures even more transparent, why don't we just open up a separate forum where you can discuss your punishment and where staff can easily post the evidence needed to prove they are indeed correct with the punishment. I can imagine this would also reduce the threat of bans to minimum because public humiliation would hurt a lot - as well as for the player who complains about a justified ban and to the staff if the ban is found not justified. This is just an idea however, should not be discussed in detail in this thread, however I wanted to take the opportunity to take a step towards the future - or one of the possible futures awaiting to happen.
Where do I lack in terms of qualities for Head Sysop? I'm not a jack of all trades, I can not code or develop as much as others, some basic graphic additions I can do and have done over the years. However my development skills are not as top notch as others who can produce bots, read or create endless lines of code or come up with a complete package in terms of themes or other such work. That is where I need the most help.
I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen, who will be elected. I'm obviously up for the task, although as I've admitted, I am not perfect but nobody is - the teamwork is in crucial role, forget your old grudges if you have any and start building bridges instead. Together we can be much more than alone.
Anybody who might find themselves offended over this text, you'll have my sincerest apologies. I am fairly certain this will be my only input to this thread - still not a fan of popularity contests.
Enjoy!