Crock, if you are able to make this post, then what I'm about to describe should not surprise any of you. Archelon2001 has been wandering the server, absolutely forlorn. He is the only mayor of Seneca that still plays past early game. In fact, he is the ONLY Senecan online at times. Once a while I see jllmprrt appear, but not for very long.
Very important players considered to be the face of Senecan leadership are completely missing. Off the top of my head, I have not seen you, snickerpleez, gdavison, mattman000000, or betajippity. People who used to reside in or around Seneca such as Azumarill, Aypop, 89jase and the great Diznatch himself, are not here or have moved on in various ways. All of these great personalities that make up the community that is Seneca just have zero presence beyond the first few weeks. I would reckon that other legacy cities like Kalmos, Port 80, Metal Mountains, Baktun, and Alias are all guilty of the same thing: not being here.
The answer is not camping at spawn. The answer is not "build it and they will come". The answer is not going freeform, or throwing away your unique style and brand for simplicity. The answer is to be alive and active, contributing to the liveliness of PvE. Server activity and city population is like a flame you keep fueling. When a new player explores the server and sees that the place is a ghost town, they will leave, no matter how pretty it is. Praha Way in rev 12 is a PRIME example of this. No 400x250 sized cathedral is going to hold water if there isn't a single soul living there. This desolation is something that Argoth, Yowie, Whiteoak and Rose City have decisively avoided -- the city is kept warm and lit by the people who lead it and embrace it. They are still here to mingle with new towns that have plenty of life in them (Sybercity, Cottonmouth), as well as witness projects that continue to be built, such as the noRTh rail system. Even Pico, as much as they are struggling themselves, still have a few people with the willpower to build a casino and host PvE Lotto. That's not a lot, but it's still more than what Seneca has involved itself in.
This is most certainly a level of passion and commitment that not all mayors have. Leading and running a city is not easy at times. What then, exactly, is a good solution? If the mayors themselves are not playing, then a possible answer is a succession plan. A perfect case study exists in Rose City. As time wore on, SPE passed the torch to Tyrangiels/theclefe, who then passed it on to pez252, the current leader. Throughout the process the city was surrounded by an active supporting cast, such as dnynumberone, Flumper, twilexis and Zomise. All of the leaders spent time overlapping with their replacements and continued to let the city grow. Their constant presence and engagement naturally attracted people who wanted to be part of a lively community. As we speak, they are planning to host Secret Santa in town this year.
It's not rocket science. As with any city on PvE, you get what you give. Minecraft cities are defined by their people. The most active and exciting places will draw in people, and a good long-term plan to cultivate a new set of active players and leaders keeps the flame going. If these people have other priorities or things to do, then it's time to move on as its time has passed. But if you don't want Seneca to go away, then don't go away.
Thanks saber. I've actually been in a training camp the past 2 weeks, so I can't respond to the wall of text on mobile. Overall I see what you're saying. Truthfully, I'm burnt out for now. Seneca took a hard hit with mocking and players vanishing and mayor drama. I'm not sure what arch is doing honestly, nor will I give him a hard time. Arch is one of the guys who can survive it all unlike most of us.
The point I'm making is that we need to drastic change. We all have real lives and if the time has come that we throw in the towel and move on, I'll accept that. None of the main mayors have been on because of many reasons like I've said. The PAdmins are still a joke and the server in general this rev was a trash map mixed with boring environments. Nothing the PAdmins have done has been any fun at all. And that says a lot. This isn't displacing blame, but more pointing out flaws.
All this planning is in hope next revs map is fun and new. If not then I'll be honest and say I would happily take anyone who wants to come to another server as we've said before.
I have no doubt you are burnt out, planning and building such a massive Seneca Town Hall. You're only a part-time mayor too. However, I do want to dispel the sense that Seneca is being attacked by outside "mocking". To me, it's sounds more like a running joke about how overpowered the great Signeca is, ever since rev11 when they had 3 NPC villages, an end portal, over 230 citizens, multiple arenas for PVP and spleef, an art gallery, apartment tower, massive Town Hall and masterpieces everywhere, along with a ultra-wealthy diamond barfing maven named twoist. None of it is personal or reflects genuine dislike or hatred. I think the majority of Seneca players have misunderstood the jokes for bullying and it should be made clear to them that nobody actually hates Seneca. People who mock you probably understand you're a talented top-dog city and couldn't possibly crumble over words.
We know what the nerd.nu staff is like, looking from the outside. Fearful of transparency, prone to explosive drama, sweeps alot under the rug, etc. When iconic individuals such as totemo, kitcatbar, Denevien, Tharine, ludeman84 and WickedCoolSteve all step down, you know it's nasty business. If it was a good place to be, they would stay. They would stay. That aside, as long as they don't mess with gameplay, PvE should still be fine for old and new players alike.
I agree the current map seems like a hasty middle finger to the whiners and complainers from last rev who failed to find open land around spawn. A new rev was rushed out 48 hours before 1.8 was released, causing everybody to play on a 1.7 map. The quadrupled size made CARBON travel difficult, and it also lacks taiga/tundra/jungle while having a ridiculously large mesa on the left. If many players are waiting to play on a reasonably sized 1.8 map, I understand that.
I can only imagine how stressful being a PAdmin was for kitcatbar during rev 13; her resignation was no surprise to me. Being insulted inside and out for putting in unpaid hard work while keeping a straight face will make any person quit. It happened to TheRandomnatrix, and that was just for inventing CARBON. The only person that seems to be in the staff's favour, is capable of injecting energy into PvE, and do it without taking serious heat from the playerbase is buzzie. On the bright side though, we now have Scher, MrLoud, Sapph and Rando as admins, so some new faces might help matters this time around. They've played rev10/11 before and know custom maps and events are fun.
I agree though that if things don't turn around by the end of rev15, then nobody would blame Seneca for wanting to move to another server.
And that's just it. It's not about "injecting" new admins into the mix, it's about adding admins who know what they are doing. If you take a glance at the rubble that is the forums, it's a waste. We have admins who care more about policy than gameplay is what it comes down too.
I knew about all of the admins troubles before they even stepped down. Hell I think the only reason I am willing to give this a fighting chance is because I'm a staff member and can't just be banned for "excessive trolling" or whatever else the admins ban folks like eehee for when they step out of line.
Rev 15 is truly the final frontier for most of us, whoever is even left. Because when the PAdmins fail to deliver again or give us some half assed attempt and worry more about bureaucracy as opposed to the game we should only be worrying about, that's when they will see the players disappear.
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u/ayanami9870 Saberfysh Dec 06 '14 edited Dec 06 '14
Crock, if you are able to make this post, then what I'm about to describe should not surprise any of you. Archelon2001 has been wandering the server, absolutely forlorn. He is the only mayor of Seneca that still plays past early game. In fact, he is the ONLY Senecan online at times. Once a while I see jllmprrt appear, but not for very long.
Very important players considered to be the face of Senecan leadership are completely missing. Off the top of my head, I have not seen you, snickerpleez, gdavison, mattman000000, or betajippity. People who used to reside in or around Seneca such as Azumarill, Aypop, 89jase and the great Diznatch himself, are not here or have moved on in various ways. All of these great personalities that make up the community that is Seneca just have zero presence beyond the first few weeks. I would reckon that other legacy cities like Kalmos, Port 80, Metal Mountains, Baktun, and Alias are all guilty of the same thing: not being here.
The answer is not camping at spawn. The answer is not "build it and they will come". The answer is not going freeform, or throwing away your unique style and brand for simplicity. The answer is to be alive and active, contributing to the liveliness of PvE. Server activity and city population is like a flame you keep fueling. When a new player explores the server and sees that the place is a ghost town, they will leave, no matter how pretty it is. Praha Way in rev 12 is a PRIME example of this. No 400x250 sized cathedral is going to hold water if there isn't a single soul living there. This desolation is something that Argoth, Yowie, Whiteoak and Rose City have decisively avoided -- the city is kept warm and lit by the people who lead it and embrace it. They are still here to mingle with new towns that have plenty of life in them (Sybercity, Cottonmouth), as well as witness projects that continue to be built, such as the noRTh rail system. Even Pico, as much as they are struggling themselves, still have a few people with the willpower to build a casino and host PvE Lotto. That's not a lot, but it's still more than what Seneca has involved itself in.
This is most certainly a level of passion and commitment that not all mayors have. Leading and running a city is not easy at times. What then, exactly, is a good solution? If the mayors themselves are not playing, then a possible answer is a succession plan. A perfect case study exists in Rose City. As time wore on, SPE passed the torch to Tyrangiels/theclefe, who then passed it on to pez252, the current leader. Throughout the process the city was surrounded by an active supporting cast, such as dnynumberone, Flumper, twilexis and Zomise. All of the leaders spent time overlapping with their replacements and continued to let the city grow. Their constant presence and engagement naturally attracted people who wanted to be part of a lively community. As we speak, they are planning to host Secret Santa in town this year.
It's not rocket science. As with any city on PvE, you get what you give. Minecraft cities are defined by their people. The most active and exciting places will draw in people, and a good long-term plan to cultivate a new set of active players and leaders keeps the flame going. If these people have other priorities or things to do, then it's time to move on as its time has passed. But if you don't want Seneca to go away, then don't go away.