[Markus]

This is a serious post.

Let's stick to the forum rules. Be honest, be constructive, be respectful.

Let's brainstorm people.

[Jompe]

The first thing which I think should be done is that we should close down the Florida server. We are already experiencing issues with the size of our playerbase so this is not a time to try splitting it up. I understand that a large amount of time was put into the Florida server by developers, staff, etc, and I appreciate that, but Florida did not come at a good moment. By closing the Florida server we could cut expenses and invest that money somewhere else where it will be more useful.

Another thing which I have noticed when coming back is the very poor RP quality. There is nothing special going on and you mostly end up driving around or doing silly stuff around the city. Neither do the RP become any better when you can't use any of the perks that my now expired membership gave me. I don't feel very motivated to buy a new membership as I know I probably won't use it a lot.

I think that to actually get people back into playing on Limelight, we need to get together again to experience what it's actually like to play here. My idea is that we should plan a date where everyone should try to come onto the server and try our fullest to achieve the quality of RP we all want. At that date, everyone who is online should receive membership status for ~3 days so we can RP to our fullest. This would also be a chance for the staff team to shine by hosting smaller events (That doesn't affect general RP too much) to keep the players busy. After this day, some people might actually enjoy playing and therefore continue playing for a bit longer.

Meanwhile, our playerbase is growing older. Some people play less or stop playing videogames to move forward in life. We need to put more effort into recruiting new players that keep the playerbase stable. We could do this by paying Youtubers for advertising, etc.

[Vinic]

First of all, I want to make this point not because I want to, but because it's the truth: Maps =/= content. The map change might have kept the server on life support for a little longer, but it has done nothing more than that. Nothing has been done to make the server feel fresh and interesting, and at this point I don't think anything can be done. 

I don't say this to be mean, and I hope my words are read with the tone they were intended to have: remorse, sorrow, and disappointment. LimeLight has become old, broken, and vacant. There are hundreds of other Gmod roleplay servers that do what we do better 10x over. Whatever content we have that, that functions properly, makes up to be at best a quarter of what other roleplay servers have. Monolith RP is a prime example of what a modern Gmod RP server is supposed to look like.

Our gamemode is dated, broken, poorly optimised, confusing, and ultimately underwhelming. There is nothing to keep you coming back for more these days. I really hate to say it, but I believe that the fate for LL RP is pretty apparent. The servers will be dead in a matter of a couple of months and no amount of map changes or updates will change that at this point. The slow and steady decay will most likely continue and LL will gradually fade into obscurity like the hundreds of thousands of other gaming communities to come before it. 

Do I wish for this to happen? No. I would love to see LL succeed, I might go back on the servers if it were to, but I can see the writing on the walls. It will take a miracle to revitalize the rp servers.

But what if we don't need to revitalize the servers? Maybe there is something we can do. Open a Minecraft or TTT server, something simple and easy to manage. We can keep LL alive not as an RP community but as something new. It's a risky and bold move, but shedding the RP title and changing into something new might be the only thing to save the community.

I wish LL the best of luck. Truly, I do.

[Aryen]

As Theo said, more updates are needed to keep the server fresh and interesting. 

However there's still many ways to keep the current playerbase interested. Staff need to be more active and engaging, making huge RPs and events and involve many players in them. Handing out REPs more frequently would encourage players to roleplay and engage more often, which would make everyone's experience much more exciting, especially new players'. 

I think engagement and interaction is one of the biggest problems. The playerbase is already quite low, and if no one's willing to interact and roleplay, it's going to get boring and less interesting.

The current TAB menu makes it much more difficult for players to interact. If it was switched back to the old one, it would be much easier to get involved in different roleplays such as : getting recruited in different gangs by checking the job titles, more Corleone and Anarchist roleplay, joining a PassiveRP someone's doing, etc. Job title is much more than just a title. Through it players can get themselves more involved in RPs much easier. The current TAB menu prevents players from Metagaming, and I think the change was wise, however I do think interaction would increase by changing back to the old one.

You also see so many people complaining about the low playerbase yet they do nothing to change it. If you really want the population to increase, get on the server, gather some friends, think of an interesting idea for roleplay and involve as many players as you can. 

Maybe the older players really are growing, and don't really have the time or even the nerves to put so much effort when they're not really supposed to, however if you really want a change, then you should at least try to make a change.

[Soviethooves]

I keep saying this and it seems Theo agrees with the same concept, but we NEED to make this a gaming community and not so RP focused. There are other more popular things we could host to get new community members, but that requires a drastic change in how LL is managed.

[Montyfatcat]

One thing would be to release updates in full. The fishing update was nice for a little bit but did nothing to revive the playerbase because there’s not really an advantage to catching better fish. Everyone’s inventories are flooded with cod from trying to get to a level we can catch salmon, and the system is grindey as fuck anyway. Are other MESKA updates gonna be like this? I bloody well hope not! If they are people are just gonna do what happened with woodcutting; drive up to a tree, get out that really good axe you bought, turn on your auto clicker and keep a vague eye on your screen in case staff pick you up. If anything the fishing update has made people less hyped for the MESKA systems.


Playerbase is another issue. Everyone swore blind they would play more if Evo was the map. lol and behold, basically nobody continued playing once player count got below 15. We’ve become extremely fussy about what playercount we can work with, to the point that it’s genuinely damaging the community. This partly comes with the lack of momentum that PassiveRP carries, and it can really show. It’s extremely boring to run a gun store, or a restaurant, because most people only come in when they’re in deadly need of something, max out their inventories with the best item you sell and then go off and not have to speak to a dealer job for another 2 months.

Which brings me to my next point. We need to have a way of preventing stockpiles building up, especially the levels that some players have. Guns need to stiffen up with little use, ammo needs to have a chance of going out of date, breaches need to decay, as does food. Ropes need to rot, cars need random but small breakages that mean you need to kinda visit a mechanic because it could get worse. Stuff like this could increase dealer interaction, causing more business (and therefore fun) for PassiveRP whilst also potentially sinking a decent amount of cash out of our hyperinflated economy because old stockpiles would become useless.

Fix all of the missing items on the map as well. We still don’t have vending machines, we are in dire need of a second  fishing area. We also need a proper police station with holding cells etc which I know the devs can’t fix but it should have been considered alongside the map. 

These solutions are not a silver bullet, because there isn’t one. The community suffers from stagnation of playerbase (and heavy hostilities towards newer players, leaving them to figure it out for themselves), unintuitive and boring money-making systems and nothing to work towards beyond 25 REPs so you can slam armour onto your hummer and not have to follow FearRP.

[Aryen]

We need to have a way of preventing stockpiles building up, especially the levels that some players have. Guns need to stiffen up with little use, ammo needs to have a chance of going out of date, breaches need to decay, as does food. Ropes need to rot, cars need random but small breakages that mean you need to kinda visit a mechanic because it could get worse. Stuff like this could increase dealer interaction, causing more business (and therefore fun) for PassiveRP whilst also potentially sinking a decent amount of cash out of our hyperinflated economy because old stockpiles would become useless.

Make this a suggestion, it's a great idea.

[Tom*]

I call for mass demilitarisation of all aspects of the Server, Take Full auto ARs away from Police Officers unless Given or granted permission for a Certain RP reason. Do something to make Criminals have real trouble getting ARS also. 

And rehaul the damage system for realism because then guns that aren't ARs can make a return, being viable.

[Cole]

• Instead of focusing on adding new content to the server, focus on fixing the current issues and change the server based on those issues. 
  
• Make the server less restrictive in regards to roleplay-related rules; change them to guidelines.
  
• Make weapons harder to obtain.
  
• Add mechanics to ensure players actually value their life instead of just running round doing stupid shit.
  
• Basically Theo's and Gungranny's ideas.
  

[Monkey]

I made a thread about this before, but I deleted it because I was angry and wasn't being productive. Limelight is adding content that decreases player interaction, not forcing but encouraging players to do things by themselves such as fishing, woodcutting, contra, weed, and more to come with the MESKA system by making these system produce the most benefits. Adding systems that increase player interaction make the server feel more alive. Take the mechanic system for example: adding a way for players to interact with each other by repairing, customizing, or repainting their cars. If you could add more of these systems that increase player interaction, the server would become more alive again. Almost every game is better with other people/friends.

Big Updates that improved player interaction: 
- Voice Radio
- Vehicle customization menu
- Tow Truck
- Police Database

These are updates that I remember making the Limelight experience way better. Sadly, the newest one was the voice radio which was over 2 years ago. There have been other updates that have improved player interaction since then but too small to really count. 

Limelight needs more of these updates. Also, re-balancing the benefits between player interaction and solo systems so you get more benefits when you interact with a player than when you are by yourself.

Some approved suggestions that I think would help:
https://limelightgaming.net/forums/thread-25083.html
https://limelightgaming.net/forums/thread-24897.html
https://limelightgaming.net/forums/thread-24748.html
https://limelightgaming.net/forums/thread-16146.html
https://limelightgaming.net/forums/thread-4874.html

I think these suggestions would be amazing additions to the server that would help spike player interaction and make playing here a better experience overall; therefore, making more people want to play here.

Also throughout an idea of making changes to the inventory system to prevent stockpiling to increase player interaction between buyers and sellers, but it isn't probable because of how the inventory system is unless we reset everyone's inventory.

[Nudel]

• Instead of focusing on adding new content to the server, focus on fixing the current issues and change the server based on those issues. 
  

I don't think that we should "focus on fixing current issues" right now. Apparently, LL is "focusing on current issues" since years, because since years we haven't received a proper content update. Unfortunately, the issues are still here so apparently absolutely nothing happened in years.

It is extremely boring to join the server as you are playing with the same content over and over again. There is n o t h i n g new on the server at all.

[Apex]

Limelight has a lot of roleplay options but does none of them very well. Roleplay servers are limited demand high supply; other communities do a lot of things better. 

Imo LL needs to work on problems currently existing and add more roleplay depth to many of the roles.

[Jokhah]

I've said it repeatedly over the years.  Start converting to a better engine.  Gmod is far too old and irrelevant.  Waiting on Garry to make S&Box would about as intelligent as when he decided to make his zombie survival game, Rust...  He's already working on yet another project anyway.

The logic is all going to be pretty much the same.  Its just syntax conversions mainly.  The only way "mods" survived from the old days was to become standalone.  Gmod Tower did and it was quite successful.  Counter-Strike did.  Team Fortress did.  Insurgency did.  Alien Swarm did.  They all started as a free to play mod.  Some of them still are free.

Hard truth, Gmod won't be around forever and it surely isn't picking up nearly the amount of new people that it used to.  The mode has pretty much pushed the limits of the engine so many times that the performance suffers at times.  Seriously.  You want all this cool stuff, you want more people, more income to stay alive...  Move to the next stage...  Else when Gmod finally goes out, you go with it.

[bimkx]

Probably worth throwing this poll in here then:

If LL had another game server, what should it be?

Limelight - Link watcher

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[Nudel]

Probably worth throwing this poll in here then:

If LL had another game server, what should it be?

Limelight - Link watcher

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https://www.strawpoll.me/18451593

GTA-Rage and GTA-FiveM need to be added.

CS:GO, Battlefield, TF2 and Minecraft are absolutely useless.