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Discussion What's the plan?

Discussion in 'The Network' started by squallythewally, Nov 15, 2021.

Discussion - What's the plan?
  1. squallythewally Obsidian

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    I want to preface by saying this is in no way a dig at Shotbow.

    It's no denying the network is in quite a dire state compared to where it used to be. Playercount is at a record low and purchases obviously correlate with this. So... what's the plan? I remember being told that if, financially, things became problematic, then actions would have to be taken. Obviously I can't see the books but the state of the network indicates things could be heading in quite a bad direction.

    What happens if it does become too costly?

    Is there a genuine plan for somehow reviving the network (with previous attempts evidently failing)?

    I think some transparency would be appreciated as I don't want to suddenly come here one day and find everything gone.

    Thanks!
    Jingle535 likes this.

  2. squallythewally Obsidian

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    Day 2 of waiting for a reply : (
  3. squallythewally Obsidian

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    121,634xp
  4. squallythewally Obsidian

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    121,634xp
  5. ucutmeloose Silver

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    Don't worry, we've implemented some new stuff recently to help bring back our old playerbase. First, we have a script running that checks for the newest Spigot version and automatically updates to that version. Next, we've implemented a new command for our admins (/nerfscout, alias /ns) that automatically adds 0.1 seconds to the grapple's cooldown permanently. You may be asking, how is this possible if the Grapple doesn't have a cooldown anymore? Well, secretly it does. The cooldown message is just replaced with "Unable to grapple." Also, platinums are able to bypass this cooldown, and their grapple combat tag goes down twice as fast. We're also working on buffing some of our weaker classes, like Bard, Swapper/Thor, and Immobilizer. We hope that those underpowered classes will finally be playable once we finalize the buffs.

    Thank you for flying Shotbow.
  6. squallythewally Obsidian

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    1 week of no response
  7. squallythewally Obsidian

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    Half a month no response
  8. Toyl Silver

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    Half a month and 40 minutes no response
  9. JerryRowe Retired Staff

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    Because no other full or network leader has decided to comment here, and I don't anticipate you bumping a dead thread until you get an answer, I'll say a few things. However, my answer is not 100% concrete, I am not Highlife, Mistri, etc, and plans are always subject to change.
    I have always heard from leadership throughout my time here that money is not an issue, this has not changed over the past few years and I don't see it changing any time soon. I wouldn't stress over the network closing due to monetary issues, but again, I don't know anything about this area.

    Our marketing team has grown drastically over the past year or two, and they've done some good work putting us out there, and there are further plans for marketing the network obviously. Take the recent squidkid streams for example, they boosted the Anni playercount pretty high for an off day and time.

    A lot of staff are very transparent from what I know, albeit the talks with staff included tend to be in community discords or overlooked channels like #network-technical-discussion (where Lazer is very very transparent about projects and stuff going on). Obviously there's always room for progress to be made on this front, but it is very difficult to be transparent and not let people down. Take MTA's release date for example, there were teasers for dates and even vague statements that have not come to fruition, which makes people just as frustrated as when they had no dates or info to go off of. I will never give a date unless it is set in stone weeks ahead of time or everything related to the project is 100% done (and generally if something is finished, it is released asap, for my modes at least).

    Hopefully that eases your mind, I've seen this thread since day 1, and while I hoped a network leader would respond to it, I'd rather give you my thoughts and such rather than it being a necro-post until you get a response
    squallythewally likes this.
  10. ucutmeloose Silver

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    You seem to be confused. Would you like me to give you a run-down of what the "Administrator" role requires?
  11. JerryRowe Retired Staff

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    I don’t believe I’m confused; but feel free to let me know what the issue is with this response. If it’s with the vagueness of things like marketing and monetary stuff, it’s because it’s none of my business as a gamemode lead to know specifics about those sorts of things. Me commenting here was meant to reassure Squally that things are being worked on in the promotion department, and Shotbow has no plans to fail on the monetary end soon as far as I know.
    NotInRange and FIXVAMP like this.
  12. squallythewally Obsidian

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    Thanks for the eventual response, I would still like to hear from someone higher up but this is nonetheless reassuring. As I don't use Discord I wouldn't know about player-staff communication there so that's on me.

    Hopefully things pick up or at least carry on at a sustainable rate.
  13. squallythewally Obsidian

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    121,634xp
  14. Axyy Network Co-Lead

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    Hai Squally!

    I'm not a higher up but I might be able to explain to you what we're planning to-do marketing wise. You're probably one of the people I respect the most here on Shotbow and you do deserve an answer to this thread.

    First of all transparency between staff and player is very important, this is also something I've been looking into since I joined the team earlier this year. Some ideas of mine were public survey's, suggestions/feedback system and regular network leadership q&a's. Besides that, I'd also like to improve staff <-> player interaction in general, just as bringing back staff streams and more professional hosted events or tournaments with possibly a team managing this. I'm not allowed to share the actual future plans on this matter, nor do I fully know them. I just wanted to share my thoughts on how staff and player interaction could be improved.

    Secondly, I've also been working on some idea's to basically make the server new player friendly so it matches the new and younger playerbase rather than the older ones. Minecraft players are mainly between 12 and 17/18 years old, and Shotbow is in my opinion still managing the network just how they did back in 2015. Obviously this no longer works, other Minecraft servers have adapted while Shotbow is still behind. Please note that this is my opinion. A few weeks ago I started on a new design for the Discord server, mainly so it doesn't look outdated and matches other big Minecraft networks out there. This change was implemented 2,5 days ago. Now new players might feel more at home, and the Discord server looks more attractive and alive. Another idea of mine to make the server new player friendly was to update the punishment guidelines, I don't know exactly what will happen to this in the future, but what I can say is that I'm pushing for a change. Obviously, I can't do much more than just forwarding these suggestions as I don't really have any permissions. We've already started using @everyone pings for important announcements and updates so more people will get notified when something is happening to Shotbow.

    When it comes to general marketing it's definitely looking good to me. We've already been looking into lots of possible ideas and opportunities for the future. We're starting to take certain social media platforms very serious and you will soon notice these changes being published as well. Furthermore, I've been looking into player research and community events/boards. We're only 23 days in 2022 and we've already made lots of progress. The voting system is doing very well and we actually hit 1600 votes already which is crazy.

    I understand the frustration within the playerbase. There's definitely things out there I disagree to as well, but I'm just a Marketing team member and there's only so much I can do. I can imagine you'd like a leadership member to respond to this thread after 3 months, I'll forward it to the higher ups for you.

    If you've got any questions feel free to ask and I'll see if I have the answer to them.

    :heart:
  15. Loading_File Obsidian

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    Shotbow Minecraft Vanilla smp server. /home /back /tpa and a plot system. Trust me. I could sell ice to a polar bear.
    Dinokoospa and FIXVAMP like this.
  16. Runkelpokk Platinum

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    this is a good thing to hear but if money is no issue WHY DONT THEY PAY DEVS. With paid devs they could so so so much more
  17. Loading_File Obsidian

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    Money is not an issue with running and maintaining the server on the server side. Paying Devs a wage that would make their time worth quitting actual jobs would literally be Shotbow's annual income as a server. (roughly $72,000 a year) Developers make big money maintaining projects that make money, not money pits. Unless shotbow can somehow achieve player counts that rival 2013-2015, it's not feasible to pay a dev.
  18. squallythewally Obsidian

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    Thanks Axyy I appreciate this.

    Good to hear a more in-depth description of what the plan is, even if it had to come from someone much lower down (it would still be nice for a lead to find some common decency, get off their high horse and reply).

    This all sounds pretty good to me as long as there's an emphasis on immediacy. Shotbow has spent the last 3 years dawdling around on an opportunity that could have really turned things round. Let's hope the good ideas are acted on.

    Also, I see very little point in emphasising the notion of 'secret' projects and strategies. All this does is reduce transparency and make staff members feel self-entitled. This isn't directed at you Axyy but given the fact you seem to be good at liasing information to those 'higher up', tell them to just speak out openly and make us feel involved.

    I've been a staff member for two extended periods now, both times there is a clear and unnecessary discrepancy between information about what's going on, before and after holding the position(s). That's not right! This is a block game, not a corporation making million dollar moves.

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