Feb 7, 2018, 03:13 PM
Okay so I'm aware that there are already discussions on this topic, but I just wanted to make a compiled post about it where everyone can post their opinions and maybe we can see some change, whether long-term or short-term.
So I'm going to start off and say I'm not trying to offend anyone. I've been with Limelight since the very beginning and all I want is the best for it. I want it to be fun again. I want a reason to join again. It's lacking some major qualities that it once had. And I might sound a little dramatic, but it's only out of pure appreciation.
Some of these qualities are:
Our origins.
Playerbase activity.
Server stability.
Staff activity.
Roleplay quality as a whole.
A proper clan roleplay initiative and interest.
Forms of entertainment.
Events.
Let's start at the root of the problem and work our way up.
Limelight's Origins
Back in 2015 we broke off of Fearless for a number of reasons, I won't delve into them but I know we all had a common goal: to offer the best semi-serious roleplay experience in Garry's Mod. We had our hopes and our hopes were soon fulfilled. We had an active staff team, an active playerbase, constant roleplaying, etc. etc.. Yet while we say that we want to offer the best semi-serious roleplay experience, that has in a way diminished, at least in my opinion and a number of others'. I was so excited to have the opportunity to make a new start with a new community with all my friends, and I did, but now it seems it has all fallen apart.
Playerbase Activity
Now when Limelight first started we didn't really have a lot of players. We only really started picking up when we secured ourselves and even launched a new U.S. server. Activity seems to be a very important part of a Garry's Mod community, considering it's like a ten year old game. When I was active in late 2015 to early 2016, the servers were pretty much full at peak times, which gave me an initiative to join; to roleplay and hang out with my friends. But recently we've lost around 40% of our playerbase I believe, which is not good.
Server Stability
Now for the most part, server stability has been pretty decent. The server has only crashed twice for me since I joined back around a month ago, yet I would have optimization fall under this category. Rockford is a shit map. It was fun at the start, but when you really think about it, we've always had Evocity maps which are generally larger and have more space to build and roleplay. From what I've heard from some players is that the server crashing has caused the playerbase to dwindle, which is definitely understandable. It may also have to do with the fact that players enjoyed the Evocity maps and had a lot of their history, dupes, etc. there. Now while we're on the topic of the technical server stuff, I'd just like to say that development has been 11/10, I couldn't have asked for a better development team, honestly it's pretty damn awesome.
Staff Activity
Now this is a well known fact. Staff activity is at its lowest point. ForceGhost's point was a very good one. Basically if you haven't seen it he outlines the activity of the staff with graphs to make it easier to see. But back to the point, this is a huge problem. How can we have an active, content, rule-abiding playerbase without staff? Yeah there are some super active staff members who are doing their best and they're helping out a lot, but a huge majority of the staff team are either inactive or just not interested. It's okay to not have an interest, but that's what I'm trying to fix with this post. A possible way to turn this around is maybe to just suck it up and try and be active and see how that impacts the server, it might have a good outcome. Though I'd suggest a better option, a rehashing of the current staff team. Again, not trying to shit on anyone, but there are a number of staff members who haven't joined the server in a while. It's very possible to keep them on the team, as they are super helpful in handling internal problems, etc. but I'd suggest having a wave of new moderators join the limelight. We already have a few and they've been super active which is awesome, but it's better to have more than less, right?
Roleplay Quality
It's super obvious that roleplay is at an all-time low. It's depressing. The reason we all joined Limelight was to roleplay and have an awesome experience. A major way to have an awesome experience is to have the ability to participate in roleplays that you just come up on. I remember back in early 2016 I'd see stores lining Main St. of Evocity, legitimate government roleplays, gas station roleplays, everything, it was great. We don't have that anymore. Rockford doesn't offer locations like Evocity did. There's only one major building that is pretty popular, which is 190 Main. The only reason it's popular is because it's in the middle of the city. No one wants to build a store on the edge of Cosmos St. in the dark. Evocity offered many buildings in the middle of the city, and I believe that was the reason there was a lot of RP.
Roleplay quality is also impacted by Roleplay Experience Points, or REPs. A lot of people say, "Oh, I don't roleplay for REPs! That's crazy!" No it's not. It's an incentive for good roleplay, so why not roleplay for points? There's nothing fundamentally wrong with it. It gives the player an awesome incentive to try and earn. Nowadays, REPs aren't being given out as often, or at least not as often as they once were. Having an idea of, "Oh man, I might get a REP for this!" might just improve the whole roleplay situation. Of course it will.
Teachers also have a critical role in roleplaying. Yet only about a true third of them are actually active... Another problem.
Clan RP
Clan RP is fairly dead. There used to be major clan RP going on almost every weekend and now all I see is the average clan business park stuff. Hey, that's good though, but it could definitely be improved upon. I hear there's a clan overhaul coming, which might improve the initiative and interest. There needs to be at least some serious roleplay going on on Limelight, and clans offer a potential opportunity for this to happen. I'm fairly sure clan RP has died due to the lack of roleplay, playerbase activity, and general attitude about clans, but maybe this clan overhaul will stimulate all of that.
Forms of Entertainment
Now this is an interesting one. A good example of this would be the recent closure of Evo Radio. This was something that I always enjoyed listening to, players had talk shows, giveaways, it was awesome. But now it's gone. I'm not saying that Evo Radio is the only form of entertainment, there's many more. From my perspective and a few others', it just seems like it was the staff behind the projects' fault. Don't know if this is true, but it could very well tie into staff activity. Having no initiative to participate can lead to things like this, which it has already done. Now I've heard Evo Radio was closed for multiple reasons, but nevertheless, it was closed. We need more avenues of entertainment, like...
A player-run radio project.
More forum games like the NationRP.
Stock Market (in the works?).
Events...
Events
Events are a major part of what makes CityRP different. There used to be so many events going on, threads being made, but now there's near to none except for the average mini-explosion event, etc.. Players need to have it in their mind that they can make an event whenever they want. They can post a thread in the events forum and get rolling, of course some need staff approval, yet this should never be a problem if the event is indeed doable. This has changed. Players don't seem to be interested in well-constructed events. Events were my favorite part of CityRP, I'd look forward to that shit for days. Anyway they've become a thing of the past. This needs to change. Staff and teachers should start their own events on the live server, it's their job to enhance roleplay. Players should be interested in joining and creating events. This again, may fall under the problem of staff activity. Admins and moderators are either too inactive or busy to offer a roleplay event. Teachers should be able to do this impromptu, and they already should be doing it.
In conclusion, there are a few major problems with our community right now. I went over some of the more important topics but the point of this thread is to discuss your opinions and maybe get some input from the staff team. Again, I'm not trying to shit talk anyone, I care about this community and I want the best for it.
- Falcon.
So I'm going to start off and say I'm not trying to offend anyone. I've been with Limelight since the very beginning and all I want is the best for it. I want it to be fun again. I want a reason to join again. It's lacking some major qualities that it once had. And I might sound a little dramatic, but it's only out of pure appreciation.
Some of these qualities are:
Our origins.
Playerbase activity.
Server stability.
Staff activity.
Roleplay quality as a whole.
A proper clan roleplay initiative and interest.
Forms of entertainment.
Events.
Let's start at the root of the problem and work our way up.
Limelight's Origins
Back in 2015 we broke off of Fearless for a number of reasons, I won't delve into them but I know we all had a common goal: to offer the best semi-serious roleplay experience in Garry's Mod. We had our hopes and our hopes were soon fulfilled. We had an active staff team, an active playerbase, constant roleplaying, etc. etc.. Yet while we say that we want to offer the best semi-serious roleplay experience, that has in a way diminished, at least in my opinion and a number of others'. I was so excited to have the opportunity to make a new start with a new community with all my friends, and I did, but now it seems it has all fallen apart.
Playerbase Activity
Now when Limelight first started we didn't really have a lot of players. We only really started picking up when we secured ourselves and even launched a new U.S. server. Activity seems to be a very important part of a Garry's Mod community, considering it's like a ten year old game. When I was active in late 2015 to early 2016, the servers were pretty much full at peak times, which gave me an initiative to join; to roleplay and hang out with my friends. But recently we've lost around 40% of our playerbase I believe, which is not good.
Server Stability
Now for the most part, server stability has been pretty decent. The server has only crashed twice for me since I joined back around a month ago, yet I would have optimization fall under this category. Rockford is a shit map. It was fun at the start, but when you really think about it, we've always had Evocity maps which are generally larger and have more space to build and roleplay. From what I've heard from some players is that the server crashing has caused the playerbase to dwindle, which is definitely understandable. It may also have to do with the fact that players enjoyed the Evocity maps and had a lot of their history, dupes, etc. there. Now while we're on the topic of the technical server stuff, I'd just like to say that development has been 11/10, I couldn't have asked for a better development team, honestly it's pretty damn awesome.
Staff Activity
Now this is a well known fact. Staff activity is at its lowest point. ForceGhost's point was a very good one. Basically if you haven't seen it he outlines the activity of the staff with graphs to make it easier to see. But back to the point, this is a huge problem. How can we have an active, content, rule-abiding playerbase without staff? Yeah there are some super active staff members who are doing their best and they're helping out a lot, but a huge majority of the staff team are either inactive or just not interested. It's okay to not have an interest, but that's what I'm trying to fix with this post. A possible way to turn this around is maybe to just suck it up and try and be active and see how that impacts the server, it might have a good outcome. Though I'd suggest a better option, a rehashing of the current staff team. Again, not trying to shit on anyone, but there are a number of staff members who haven't joined the server in a while. It's very possible to keep them on the team, as they are super helpful in handling internal problems, etc. but I'd suggest having a wave of new moderators join the limelight. We already have a few and they've been super active which is awesome, but it's better to have more than less, right?
Roleplay Quality
It's super obvious that roleplay is at an all-time low. It's depressing. The reason we all joined Limelight was to roleplay and have an awesome experience. A major way to have an awesome experience is to have the ability to participate in roleplays that you just come up on. I remember back in early 2016 I'd see stores lining Main St. of Evocity, legitimate government roleplays, gas station roleplays, everything, it was great. We don't have that anymore. Rockford doesn't offer locations like Evocity did. There's only one major building that is pretty popular, which is 190 Main. The only reason it's popular is because it's in the middle of the city. No one wants to build a store on the edge of Cosmos St. in the dark. Evocity offered many buildings in the middle of the city, and I believe that was the reason there was a lot of RP.
Roleplay quality is also impacted by Roleplay Experience Points, or REPs. A lot of people say, "Oh, I don't roleplay for REPs! That's crazy!" No it's not. It's an incentive for good roleplay, so why not roleplay for points? There's nothing fundamentally wrong with it. It gives the player an awesome incentive to try and earn. Nowadays, REPs aren't being given out as often, or at least not as often as they once were. Having an idea of, "Oh man, I might get a REP for this!" might just improve the whole roleplay situation. Of course it will.
Teachers also have a critical role in roleplaying. Yet only about a true third of them are actually active... Another problem.
Clan RP
Clan RP is fairly dead. There used to be major clan RP going on almost every weekend and now all I see is the average clan business park stuff. Hey, that's good though, but it could definitely be improved upon. I hear there's a clan overhaul coming, which might improve the initiative and interest. There needs to be at least some serious roleplay going on on Limelight, and clans offer a potential opportunity for this to happen. I'm fairly sure clan RP has died due to the lack of roleplay, playerbase activity, and general attitude about clans, but maybe this clan overhaul will stimulate all of that.
Forms of Entertainment
Now this is an interesting one. A good example of this would be the recent closure of Evo Radio. This was something that I always enjoyed listening to, players had talk shows, giveaways, it was awesome. But now it's gone. I'm not saying that Evo Radio is the only form of entertainment, there's many more. From my perspective and a few others', it just seems like it was the staff behind the projects' fault. Don't know if this is true, but it could very well tie into staff activity. Having no initiative to participate can lead to things like this, which it has already done. Now I've heard Evo Radio was closed for multiple reasons, but nevertheless, it was closed. We need more avenues of entertainment, like...
A player-run radio project.
More forum games like the NationRP.
Stock Market (in the works?).
Events...
Events
Events are a major part of what makes CityRP different. There used to be so many events going on, threads being made, but now there's near to none except for the average mini-explosion event, etc.. Players need to have it in their mind that they can make an event whenever they want. They can post a thread in the events forum and get rolling, of course some need staff approval, yet this should never be a problem if the event is indeed doable. This has changed. Players don't seem to be interested in well-constructed events. Events were my favorite part of CityRP, I'd look forward to that shit for days. Anyway they've become a thing of the past. This needs to change. Staff and teachers should start their own events on the live server, it's their job to enhance roleplay. Players should be interested in joining and creating events. This again, may fall under the problem of staff activity. Admins and moderators are either too inactive or busy to offer a roleplay event. Teachers should be able to do this impromptu, and they already should be doing it.
In conclusion, there are a few major problems with our community right now. I went over some of the more important topics but the point of this thread is to discuss your opinions and maybe get some input from the staff team. Again, I'm not trying to shit talk anyone, I care about this community and I want the best for it.
- Falcon.
![[Image: 1jZmui0.png]](https://i.imgur.com/1jZmui0.png)