Community

Might I ask what you mean by events in vent and more outgoing staff?

 

>Server has only been up 2.5 years.
>User joined May 31 2012
>Wat.

I would like to inform you that at least half of those users were banned on Ventrilo, (Usually for trolling / cursing) that's why they don't come on. 3point I believe if I'm thinking right is staff at the moment and doesn't talk with regular users as much. Nor does most of the staff.

You can't "fix" lack of your favorite players. (Cause like I said, half of them are banned) You also can't "fix" you not liking the server yourself, only you can do that.

Adding more "Ventrilo" based events would just annoy some people, some people don't have microphones or their parents don't want them on vent, or maybe they just don't want to talk. Plus a lot of people on the server don't even know Ventrilo really exists (I mean lots do but there are lots that don't.)

Although you don't seem to like the server, I'm pretty sure everyone else does.

 

My god yes yes yes! I agree with this especially the staff part I made a post about Revan how she is in my opinion a perfect staff member. My problems with the staff is that they make this server not as enjoyable for me. They are to strict, plain and simple. Not to mention about half of them don't even talk/interact with players. It is like 2 clans, players, and staff. Staff usually only talk to other staff members and that is just so lame. The staff and the players should interact a bit more in my opinion. Instead of "If you do this again the consequences will be far more severe >:L ... I wish staff would say, Don't worry about it, just make sure you don't do it again. I wish the staff would take EcoCityCraft as an enjoyable game, not as a job.

 

Your not the only person that want's nicer staff a bunch of my friends all want the same thing.

 

Considering how much you seem to dislike staff, I don't know if my opinion will really matter but...

I have rewrote this thing half a dozen times... I think the main point I'm going to say is that

1) vent isn't needed for a sense of community. Our community has many faults as of late that I have seen and lack of vent isn't necessarily it. There are some people who want to just cause trouble and there are others who don't. This is simply a societal thing. I feel like a sense of community would come better from the players deciding they want to work together and not against each other. This would have to be a large group decision.

2) Some staff are more active then others socially. Why? Because we all have different personality types. I tend to be quite active, or so I've been told. Other people may not feel as comfortable just hanging out, just like some players. There are 300+ people on sometimes and not all of them are talking because not all of them want to be chat active. They would rather have a close-knit friend group. You can't fault the staff for having variety. There are chat active staff and there are quiet staff.


Basically what I'm saying is, a suggestion isn't going to do it, but, actively reaching out to other players and just trying to make everyone get along might. I think if we reach out to the shier players we might see a lot more community.

 

Hello Jacob, as you are aware Staff needs to be the authority on this server and with a populace that is well in the thousands a non-strict attitude gives way to rebellion and in server chaos.

Now with that said could it be that you guys feel this way because you are some of the people who constantly ignore server rules and thus cause us to act and deal with that rule breaking. Just a thought. Also as you seem to be crying about staff not being interpersonal could it be because of the fact that you are a trouble maker we are less likely going to want to be associated with you?

Now I know that you are a good kid and kids don't like the rules all the time, but understand that ECC is no place for that. Now onto your staff bashing, many of us are very outgoing with users in game, more so than you could even imagine and this includes talking to other users in vent.

As for your ranting about vent the point was made that users like "austinplanesguy" are needed again I would disagree, you do realize that we also have ventrilo rules and users that were banned from vent are gone because they broke said rules it is just that plain and simple.
Yes vent is a nice aspect of our server that I would agree should be utilized much more by the community but trolling other users in there and causing problems that lead to complaints is not a good way to have "fun". As I am sure there are other mods that may have posted before me but nonetheless here is my quick response.

 

Well, as I'm sure you know, andrewkm is thinking about redoing our vent system. We may be doing vent, mumble, or teamspeak depending on voting. I'm sure when/if the system changes there will be a lot of publicity for our talk system. Personally, I find that vent is a double edged sword. Some players feel bullied in vent and it is hard to for staff to watch other channels and use our own so we can handle staff issues. Then there's the fact that some people don't use vent because they don't want to abide by the vent rules so they go to skype. That is fair, but, I agree it takes away from the community sense.

Also, the problem with vent, sometimes (lets be serious most of the time) there is too many people talking at once. I feel if we got vent more people we would need more channels so people weren't shouting over eachother.


I think the vent system could be revamped and encouraged for more players, but, it could go wrong. Just saying this is a double edged sword.

Revanrose6

 

I agree mods only talk to popular and
friends. For instance I and two other people said hi to a mod and the mod said hi to everyone but me.

 

I noticed that today, too. No one is in Ventrilo!

If you miss talking to your friends, I suggest going in Skype and creating a group. There are no rules in Skype.

 

I agree with both things you have said. If we could advertise vent and get contests, etc and stuff revolved around vent that would be great. As to the staff, I agree also with that. I understand that staff always have to enforce and follow the rules, but with most staff members I used to know personally once they became moderator it like they lost how to have fun. Every instance I know, when they become new mods, they started to ignore other players who they used to talk to and became in some instances rude. I feel that there should be a way for mods to be able to play without it mattering if they are moderators or not. Don't get me wrong, our staff team is great for what they do. It just seems that when people become mods they think they are above us all and seem to treat the people they knew like they are ants.

 

Also with ventrilo there is another thing I have noticed. Staff seem to always be too serious and a killjoy. For example, lets say me and some of my fellow players are all talking in one channel. We are following the rules, and just joking around and all. Then a moderator comes in. What happens? The channel with 10+ people goes quiet. I feel that if moderators could joke around and not always be so strict this wouldn't be a problem.
I think the staff team overall is great, but I feel that if you arent breaking the rules, then why should you not be able to joke around with moderators. Another example. I could joke around with a moderator and say something such as you smell like cheese. I could have always said that to them when the weren't staff and it could be an inside joke, but as soon as the do it turns into staff disrespect :/

I just with someday the players can have fun with moderators and not have to deal with the strictness all the time.

 

Although it has been a while since I was on Staff, I remember it being hard to be "a part of the community," not look "mean" and "robotic," not be a "killjoy," and to just chat with users. Nowadays, it is probably more...common to see/think that.

You have to remember that as a Staff member, people will always be sending PMs, begging for attention, and asking questions. Not only can it be difficult to answer all the PMs and questions, but there is also the duty of moderating and playing the game. It is not that Staff members do not want to communicate with the userbase (some may not, being naturally shy or quiet), it is that it can be difficult.

Staff seeming too strict on rules, mean, etc. can come from their macro-thingies for warnings; they are quite generic and seem very robotic, cold, and emotional-less. I completely understand using them - quicker and easier, especially with the server size - but it does make Staff seem a bit...inhuman and unkind at times. Typing warnings and addressing people personally feels warmer and shows less "robot," which can make rules seem less strict (psychological thing for many people). As well, rules on ECC are fairly lenient compared to many other servers.

As for Ventrilo, well... People are making groups on Skype lately, to get away from the rules, prying ears, unwelcome trolls, more personal chatting, etc. (It is so, so much freer, and not stressful.) As well, Ventrilo is often filled with many young users, who can be tiresome and/or loud (not really their fault; younger people have more..energy, to say the least). You also cannot forget all the clashing personalities, upbringings, etc; that further pushes people into friend-groups and to other ways of voice chatting.

Community in general is hard when there are so many users and so few events to bring them together. And by events, I mean fun events; not "here, have some diamonds!" Back in the day, when the server was smaller and Andrew and Staff had more time, there would always be random little events that brought people together and chatting. Users would do it, too; I mean, just a month or so ago, some users held a Prom event--that brought people together. You just got to get something planned, get some backing, and have fun.

Hopefully I don't sound like a "-1"er, as I am a "+1"er. I would love to feel more community and love on ECC, but if users do not try to make it happen, it will not happen. Not really something the Staff can do/implement, although they can participate. Voice community is currently a... a... "dying cause"? You cannot really hold events in Ventrilo, unless you want to try and have a karaoke party (those were fun in the past...when people weren't obnoxious), word association games, things like the ECC Prom (where people from all over ECC are participating and meeting new users), etc.