I felt the need to post this here, so it wouldn't get buried underneath the random stuff. This is also pretty urgent, so I hope the admins excuse me. But hey, the other guy posted the poll about the server dying, which isn't server news, so I think this'll pass.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knee-deep in the server, so I only the know the brunt of the things that are going on now. I do, however, know exactly where the server stands and why the things are happening, because these are the problems that I've warned the admins countless times about. What I've also noticed from my brief re-visit to these forums is that a lot of regulars are leaving. Truer still, the population of the server is nowhere near what it used to be. Not to say that I am new, and that I'm ignorant. In fact, I've been pretty observant of this server, even though I haven't been completely involved in it. So take this as a public note to the admins to change, and if they denounce it then this is just a reason for the public to leave the server because there is no hope for it.
Before I start this, let me just give you a couple words of background. I've run servers before, I've supervised gaming communities, I've created content and volunteered to help gaming communities, and I've created them. I have about 4 years of prior experience, so please don't think I'm shooting the breeze with you guys here.
We good so far? Here's where this thread gets locked. I've decided to do some thinking about why the server is the way it is. Here's the list I came up with:
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The admins don't care
Self-explanatory. Prompting a semi-list.
1ce: Other than his last-minute hobby of running this server, he's moved on. He has college, he's gone on to do other things than run an online gaming community, which isn't exactly helping his career in any way. Having a hobby is great, especially one such as this; but more time and effort should be put into running a server.
Mio: She hasn't been dedicated for a long time. The only time's she's actually taken part in the server is out of bordem. But she is wherever she may be, and moved on.
Oddy: He has a job and a kid. He'd rather have his well-earned free time spending it the way he wants to, not doing more work.
Paradox: School, as well as Oddy's secondary reason.
Tene: Really the only one still mixed up in the server. But other than her overcompensating regime of alienating the last of the regulars, she's not up to much. I doubt she even has FTP access, or at least knows how to use it; or if she can, actually uses it at all. She's a moderating admin, not a structural one (who actually builds on the server and improves it).
Might as well have gotten the hard-hitting stuff out first. I'm not going to pretend like I'm a guru who knows everything about the people above, I don't. I'm not exactly sure if those are the reasons, I just compiled that list from the clues I've gotten from talking to all of them and seeing them work. I'm also not going to dictate how they should live their lives and neither should any of you. All I'm doing is pointing out the reasons why they aren't around to get a better understanding of the core concept: That they aren't fully active anymore. They are still people, young people, who still have their whole lives ahead of them. All of them should move on at some point in their lives, even if that moment is now.
The problem with running a community is that it needs to be kept up. Small, medium, and large communities simply do not run themselves; they need a thread to stitch people to the content together. That stitch is the administration. Enormous gaming communities can easily function on their own, see any overly popular Counter-Strike community, because once the admins lose interest they can be replaced by eager and dedicated high-ranking members of the community. This is not the case with this community, it's small, believe it or not, and as such it needs something to propel more people to becoming involved in it. You could see it too. When the admins stopped becoming invested, the population numbers grounded to a halt and then steadily started to decrease. You guys can probably pinpoint that exact point in time when it happened.
The Economy Sucks
And all of you know it. Diamonds run rampart, and the prices are so low that you can kill a handful of mobs and get a stack of whatever you need. I'm not going to go into any detail of the economy, because all of you are probably aware of it and I also just don't want to put this giant mess into words. Let's get into how we can fix it.
A server-wide wipe. Everyone gets wiped, regardless of their rank, stature, love towards the admins, position, or being an admin. Every single thing on this server gets wiped, save for the map.
I can already hear Bacon and Dj running towards me flailing their arms around in frustration. Probably not actually, because even they have lost interest in this server. The main argument I've heard is that this will slap all the long-standing players in the face. Those who have worked hard and are loyal to the server. Those who still have fun and play and are wading around in the waters. Those who have their SS Anne's and their lighthouses. Truth is, if there are players that are truly loyal to the server itself, and not the material wealth that they've accumulated on it, they will still be as dedicated to the server, if not more, when it gets wiped. If they are only loyal to that wealth, then they'll leave anyways, because of the rest of the people leaving and nobody to show that wealth or spend that wealth towards. Besides, those people have everything that they could ever need. Why even play at all? But okay, sure, let's just go with the fact that all of the long-standing players will leave, because they're still around for some reason that is unbeknownst to me. Wipe happens, they're angry, and they're gone. Everything is clean, everyone starts off anew. That's the main negative outcome I've heard, and the only one really worth talking about. So it happens, but let's discuss all the positive outcomes that go along with it. One big problem of the economy is that all of the new players are quickly overwhelmed by how rich and powerful all of the players around them are, but the economy is so twisted that those new players can get up to the point of facing those almighty players in a week or two. If not less, because at this point you can give away diamonds for free and not lose profit. Positive list time:
The economy can be moderated: It can be kept up and inflation can be kept under control by the admins initially. This should be the case until the server builds itself up with population and infrastructure. After that point, the admins can A) Take some notes from early US history and Hamilton, or B) Just let the main traders run the economy themselves. Of course, the best course of action would be all of the above. The economy would be closely regulated to the admin's standards (you should NEVER leave handling of material wealth to the people who want it) and give some incentive for those big marketing giants to have some purpose on the server.
Nobody will feel overwhelmed or underwhelmed: When not everyone around you can one-shot you. To the point where actually having a full diamond armor set makes you feel like a Arceus . This is the way it should be on a server where YOU CAN'T MINE IN THE MAP. The new to moderate players will have leather and maybe iron armor, and the industry standard will be having some pieces of iron armor mixed in with other stuff. On a server which isn't based around building and mining, this is the way it HAS to be. Well, it doesn't HAVE to be like it, but it's the least complex way of setting economic standards without abusing the economy too much.
There will be a clear class division: Going along with the last point, this is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. There MUST be dirt-poor people. There MUST be people who can barely afford a house, there MUST be people whose prized possession is a diamond sword, and there MUST be people that can buy an entire city. It's just how it must be in order for an economy to function. Of course nobody wants to be dirt-poor, but when new players come on and don't have a name for themselves, they will make up that class. There should be a constant influx of poor people, a constant build up of middle-classers, an occasional rise to the rich people, and a practical stand-still to the billionaires. With a wipe, all of this can be carefully moderated and watched.
These are just the three main reasons. There are a ton of smaller ones, like better housing, more effective trading, and a fluctuating market. The current problem with the economy is also bouncing off the last point of the admins not caring. They let the economy build itself up, and this is what happens. Economies need to be regulated in some way shape of form. If they are not, THIS is the outcome. This big mess of a crap-pile that you can call an economy.
There is No Point of Playing on This Server
There is nothing to do, no reason to be here. Why should you play on this server? To run around the map for the fiftieth time? Exciting. Seriously, if anyone can give me a list of activities to do to actually be entertained, go for it. Admins don't even plan events. They actually stopped planning events. Pushing in another quick pointer to the admins, how the hell are people supposed to care if you don't!
Want to PVP? Good, because very shallow, unexciting, cheap and enchantment-ridden PVP is the only type you'll find. If you're lucky to find someone who actually wants to fight. Of course within the confines of the safety of a "/home" keybinding and maybe a no-pvp zone two feet away.
You want to rob people of their belongings? Good luck, nobody even carries stuff with them anymore.
Want to battle gyms? Good luck, there are barely any leaders that want to accept challenges, or even want to play for that matter.
The only fun part about the server is running gyms and becoming an elite 4. The problem is that there is no reward for gym leaders! You don't have a journey, you don't have any room to flourish or change, you're stuck fighting people in the same damn building day and night. The only cool part is that you get to customize your course...oh wait. People on this server aren't NPC's. They aren't content with standing in the same spot all day waiting for the player to come by once, battle, and then continue standing there hoping that maybe he found that thing that allows them to fight you again.
Elite 4 and Champion are perfect. Don't change this. Ever. I tried to give the admins pointers about running a store. Ha! Well they slapped chest shops into Pokemon shop buildings and called it a day. Tell me, what's the difference between doing that and setting up a chest shop anywhere else? You put down a chest, call yourself a shopkeeper, and then go on doing trainer activities all damn day.
The solution? Add incentive. It's that easy. Get a fucking coder. There has to be one that is interested in something like this. Get him to code up some plugins that accomplish the following:
JOBS. Add jobs. It's very simple, yet the admins have neglected to do this because they're afraid of either A) all the work (which was their reason for a lot things, and is a terrible one) or B) all of the chaos. Truth is, with the right plan and structure, there won't be any less structure with a RISK, REWARD, and slightly IMPEDING system, which is generally more exciting because of the frustrations and the challenges that you face, than the regular boring system you have now. Here's a small list.
Shopkeeper: THE ONLY PLACE to buy things with money other than trading for it (unless you feel like trusting a stranger), is at a shop, run by a player. Keep the chestshop system, because you all seem to be hell-bent on running on that thing. But hey, allow the chests to be broken. Scary right? But allow them to be broken SLOWLY. That way, a thief can go in there, steal some stuff, and be on his merry way. And guess what, this just opened up another job spot for other people! But say when a chest is starting to break, it is broadcasted to the police force (YET ANOTHER JOB POSITION) and the shopkeeper, PVP is enabled for that player regardless of where he is for say, 10 minutes, he isn't allowed to use commands and then a chase ensues! How fun would that be? To make it more fun, selling only. That way they can't just sell off their useless stuff that easily, and gives them that annoying (but yet charming) trip of going to their homes and re-filling their shop inventory.
Police Force: I love this idea. Think about it. Instead of those whiny kids complaining to the admins about this PVP'er doing this or that, or some guy bullying them over chat, why not have them complain to the police force. Let's say a guy is calling people baaad words over chat. The victim files a complaint, the police force takes a vote on the nature of the situation and how to act, and then files a warrant to the judge who can then APPROVE (not do it himself) for the police force to mute the instigator. But the real fun part is when it's less serious and more about the game. Say someone is camping Mt. Moon and killing people for their items. Someone files a complaint, the police force votes and sends a warrant to the judge, and who approves of them jailing the offender! The police can use an enchanted sword to jail the offender and confiscate all of his items. While on the run, the offender cannot use any commands, and can't even log out without being more severe, actual admin-like punishments being taken into action (like kicks, bans, permamutes, etc...). This not only gives players something to do, but also gives them the feeling that they are actually impacting the server. And when the police personnel are losing the public's favor, allow them to be voted out of their high-chairs and thrust back into the streets as regular trainers by the public! You can give them all sorts of tools like a limited log block that can sometimes even fail, or fail when a thief uses a very rare potion to cover his tracks, those jail sword things (think GMOD Dark RP), handcuffs, a stripping tool, and all of that good stuff. And remember, they can't abuse it, otherwise they'll just get demoted by the public. It also opens up the door for another job:
Criminal/Thief/Bad Guy: Because there is a population in this server that do this. Not naming names, but suffice to say that they find this idea very appealing. You wouldn't even have to code anything for this job, just code the other jobs to allow for this. The most common rebuke is that this is the easy way to get rich. Well make sure it's not. Make sure that thievery is difficult to pull off, make sure the police force is doing their job (if they are not they can just get voted out) and it's a great job to include. Now those people that like to use others for personal gain and just screw with other people don't get labeled as "breaking rules" because this kind of behavior isn't "acceptable." Well who the hell said that? Make it acceptable! It's more fun that way! This gives people incentive to actually care about making their houses sturdy and hard to break into, and not just leaving their shops after placing a chest down.
Mayors: Basically govern everything about a town. They are the ones to go to when buying houses. They can also hire people to redecorate the houses in whatever image they see fit. Of course this should be moderated by the admins to not change the over all theme of the town too much, as towns should have the same positioning and shape of houses, but who cares if there are some really cool wall designs, or the concrete on the floor is changed to tile, or there are lamps now instead of torches, or maybe even an entire wall around the city? I doubt that not sticking 100% true to the game overrules players having fun, just make sure that they don't change entire towns to be too different from the games.
Hitmen/Bounty Hunters: Now, the big problem with the player bounty system is that there is no point. You put a bounty on someone, they get your money, just so the person you want dead can respawn and continue on his way. No, if someone infuriates you, that's your problem or make it the police force's problem so that they can jail or mute him, or kill and confiscate his stuff. Bounty system as in rare mobs. Allow groups of mobs to spawn occasionally, that have really high health and damage to everyone but a bounty hunter. Let's call these Super-Bounty-Hunter-Mobs. They can spawn on roads and bridges, effectively blocking off the entire route because anyone that comes across them will die very fast. You can just say these are very hostile Pokemon. However, to bounty hunters these wild Pokemon are very weak, and don't do as much damage. They also drop more money and more rare drops than normal mobs, effectively allowing the bounty hunter to: A) Have fun and B) Impact the server and C) Earn money. But wait, there's more! What if there is a sudden strike of bounty hunters, because they feel that the mayor of Saffron is a bad mayor and now they won't clear out any of the Super-Bounty-Hunter-Mobs effectively screwing over anyone trying to get to that city or that is trapped inside of it. Wouldn't that be pretty fun? Emotions will run high, there will be arguments, hell maybe some people will even wage war on Saffron and the police force has to come in and calm everyone down. Then the admins can come in and try to appease the situation after all the events unfolded. Sure this can be frustrating to some people, but next week when you look back on it, how freaking fun would that whole fiasco seem?
Elite 4 Managers: They set the rules of E4, based on a vote between them and the admins, and they also set up the fights, record them, and manage any rule breaking and report it to the admins.
Gym Leaders: Their job description right now is perfect, but the fact is, that they don't have any incentive to stay gym leaders. I love the way gym leaders used to have been. Build your own everything as long as it keeps up with the theme. The joy of people getting stumped by your puzzles and then not allowing people to pass your gym, impeding their way to becoming champion. Now all you can do is sit there and accept challenges. Yay. I think. But even with the previous system, it did get boring after a while. So some solutions: Gym prize system. Every month, each gym gets rewarded for being either the best designed, most challenging, or most fun and creative. Those leaders will get a bonus, maybe a special gym leaders hat and some cash, or something like that. Or maybe even make it so the only way to run a gym in Johto is to get a "best gym of the month" badge after which you can move onto Johto, provided that you cannot use the same Gym design there. Gym leader only perks were fine, but they were too powerful. Having /warp to anything but your own gym was too powerful for being lucky enough to have 100 swords and no gym leader in that spot. Oh, and make it DIFFICULT to become a leader as well, however you want to do that. Either raise the levels or have each gym leader pass a test. By the way, gym leaders should be hired by Mayors NOT admins.
Blacksmith (??): Didn't think this through too much, but if there was one, he would sell enchantments, and only weapons/armor. This not only opens up more jobs but also makes the shopkeepers zero in on what they want to buy. For example, maybe a food seller is in Viridian, while a gem and ore seller is in Pewter.
Most jobs should be regulated by having 1 of STANDARD job kind to each city. One shopkeeper, Blacksmith, mayor, and Gym leader in Viridian. While there is only 3 judges in the entire server, for instance. And the Pewter Police force is also server-wide, just stationed in Pewter.
Jobs don't necessarily have to pay the player. Although it'd be nice to receive say, $500 a week. But not too much. The annual pay should not be incentive to do the job, the fun part of the job and actually doing it should be. Things like bounty hunters should get most of their money from actually killing the mobs. Mayors and Judges don't have that option, so they will naturally get paid say, $5000 a week. But of course, it's harder to get that job, and you have to be appointed by popular vote to get to such a position.
Random Events:
Along with all of these jobs, there should also be some more things to do for those who just want to be trainers. Maybe a meteor crashes somewhere in the wild in a 1000 block radius of a given coordinate. It contains some really high-level armor and now there's a giant treasure hunt to find it.
A giant might've spawned somewhere in the map, and the first person to kill it gets $1,000.
There is a nutrient-depletion throughout the entire map, and now plants don't grow for an entire week of real-world time. Or until some people donate lots of foliage items (like seeds and grass) to replenish the soil.
This would mix up all of the stale gameplay that we see now. Now I bet a lot of you are really skeptical about this. As in, think about how someone's day would be ruined if the last thing they need is a badge from Saffron and the nobody wants to kill the mobs because the bounty hunters are being assholes. Now the entire Elite 4 competition is postponed to give everyone a fair chance to compete. Or it's the last stat that they need for MCMMO is the one where you grow plants, but now you can't challenge the gym until the nutrient-depletion event is over, as it requires a certain level of the skill that grows plants. This could make sense if the gym is Cerulean, with all the grass and stuff. But the whole POINT of these random events is to ruin someone's day. If there is no risk, if there is no anger, if everything just goes your way on the server then what fun is there? It's the same easy path of working to get a high enough plant-growing skill and then challenging the gym and going on your way. Everything works out, nothing surprises you or impedes you, and everything is therefor boring.
That's why the server should be built around RISK and REWARD. Also should be built around players actually playing more CAUTIOUSLY in terms of house defense and what items they carry around. They should be aware that NOT EVERYTHING CAN GO THEIR WAY, and to SCREW with the players to make them more invested. Oh damn, Saffron is out of service because of all the mobs around it, now the shop owner quit because he's tired of this bullshit. Now Saffron doesn't have a shop, and he just happens to be the only one that sells diamond swords in the entire server. So has the gym leader. Sure this is annoying and frustrating, but THAT'S THE POINT. Things change, now you can't have that diamond sword, and you'll have to find another way to get one. Now you have to wait for someone else to take over Saffron gym, or even BECOME THE NEW GYM LEADER! It's frustrating and it's exciting, and this is what the server should revolve around.
Conclusion: This server should be structured like an RP server with commands and plugins making restrictions. But most of the social stuff, like people not liking someone else, someone breaking minor rules, being annoying, or someone that should be fired from a high-ranking position, should be left to the people. Risks are important, and allow people to lose stuff. Make sure that they're aware that their hard-earned diamonds aren't entirely safe just because you found them first. Yes, EVERY single person is going to be angry that their house was broken into. But anyone who has a fun spirit won't quit the server, they'll be amazed that there will be a server that actually allows stuff that normally other servers consider taboo. Then they'll re-earn that fortune and build a better, more secure house. They'll look back on the experience and realize how much fun they really had. Give players power, and only have admins intervene when something serious is occurring, like say the Elite 4 refuse to run the Elite 4 battles. The admins should step in, obviously. But if a member of the police force is abusing his power, or a judge is corrupt, that should be up to the people to take a vote (Either a long-term vote on the server which is broadcasted as say, a court case, where everyone can weigh in and vote yes or no to someone being fired, or a vote on the forums which might be more appropriate, under a "court cases" tab).
Oh and another thing. Don't have rules. Have laws that should be enforced by the people whose job it is to enforce them.
Maybe have some general rules, but make sure they aren't strict. For example, no hacking should be pretty standard, although the infamous "rule 1" should, actually MUST be changed into a law. Otherwise whenever someone swears the admins will be called in. Again, with this system, the admins should ONLY have to be called in for serious measures, like for example, someone hacking. Something that the players cannot handle themselves.
The Community
Yeah, the community isn't all that great. I constantly hear about admins not wanting to run events because of people whining about breaking the rules. Probably has something to do with the server being, oh I don't know, POKEMON themed. Pokemon is a kids game. Kids are generally annoying. Kids will flock to the server much more than adults will. Sure, have a strong adult population, but there will always be kids around ESPECIALLY on a game like Minecraft. I feel like if the Risk and Player-Managed server idea will take off, most of the problems will go away. Or at least, be interpreted as part of the server, instead of rule-breaking.
The Server Expanded Too Fast
Hate to say "I told you so" but refer to the phrase in quotations that you just read. Why in Arceus 's name would you build Johto, and CONTINUE building Cinno and Hono or whatever the hell those regions are called if you don't even have enough players to fill Kanto!?!? So you solve this by opening another server, which not only showed everyone how boring the old server was, but when this one lost it's charm, everyone saw the abysmal nature of the entire server-community-group itself! Don't go to the second step until you have your foot firmly planted on the first! And in the Pokemon server's case, with around 15 people on average, it just had it's big toe touching the stair. If anything the server should've waited until there were about 40 people on average in Kanto, so it would get crowded and there would be interaction. No really, has anyone actually ran through the map and seen a single player whatsoever? 40 people is literally the minimum. The optimal player count to open another region is something like 80. Think about it in these terms, when you open a new region you effectively cut that region's population in half. Forget all the reasons why this isn't, like you have to be prestigious or go through all the gyms to get to Johto. No, you can just walk into it anyways and walk around wherever. And it's not that hard to get 4 badges. If that's still the same system that I remember, of course.
The Wild
Should not be there. It's a Pokemon game, the only wild should be carefully maintained and LIMITED. As in, a forest about 1000 blocks in a radius. Otherwise, the economy will be destroyed because the current server and economy structure just doesn't allow for free-mining.
Items
First off, let me just restate that the economy is terrible. Everyone's running around with Sharpness 4 diamond swords and Arceus knows what illegally enchanted armor. So the solution? Illegally enchant the fuck out of everything, disable public enchanting permanently, and maybe open up yet ANOTHER job that allows for enchanting. Maybe, I didn't include it in the main list because I didn't really think it through all too well, and it could cause easy inflation. Plus how would this job-taker get all the enchanting material, and what separates him from a shopkeeper, etc.. (Although, he could be a blacksmith which allows for more job slots to be open and also make stores more specific). Basically what I'm trying to say before I went off on a tangent, is specify the items and contain them. Enchantments are too powerful to be put into a player's hands, make sure that shops have iron swords for $100, and diamond ones for $1000. But even still, a sharpness 1 diamond sword will be $2000, and sharpness 4 diamond sword will be $15,000. Something along the lines of that, so that enchantments are much more valuable than they are now. This system also gives people incentive to actually spend money and work for something. Speaking of...
Nothing to Spend Money On!!
Think about this for a second. Then get back to me. It's pretty straightforward, but with all of the above suggestions this can easily change. Just MODERATE it, admins.
The Safety Net
I was about to talk about this part, but then I realized how much I already have. The point is the server has a giant safety net where there is pretty much NO way for anyone to lose anything. They earn and it and keep it forever, even if they are completely..ahem, silly about keeping them and sharing them with players. The bank is just completely ridiculous. I like it for a reason to donate, but at the same time it just completely negates everything else I've talked about. They should still be able to be broken into and treated as part of the map, regardless of how much money people paid. If you want to follow everything I've listed out, and still include the VIP rooms as this safety bunker for everything, then the entire system will collapse on itself because of this giant contradiction. Everyone and everything should be in constant danger, kind of like in real life. This adds excitement and spruces up everything.
Some ideas:
The bank is only a single chest for VIPs
The bank has single chests, double chests for VIPs
The bank is only VIP rooms with 1 double chest allowed
The bank is the same way it is now, but everything can still be broken into.
How should this be moderated? Make sure that although everything is in danger, some places are safer than others. For example, houses you can have as many chests as you want, but it's doubtful that anyone will break into the bank, because of how much jail time they will face from the Pewter Police force, and how hard it is to actually steal stuff from there, so why not put the most valuable of items in there. But ONLY one chest full!
Oh and if stuff like stealing and breaking into houses is illegal, scamming should be too.
And while we're here, make badges items again. I really loved that I could steal badges from people, when I wasn't strong enough to beat a leader, but clever enough to get a badge anyhow. Black market badges should be illegal, but not against the rules (as in Pewter Police Force Jail time, but not a ban).
Here's a quick re-visit to the stealing system:
There are things that are permanently world guarded (like trees and the ground) to not get vandalized, but then there are also partially world guarded blocks. These are blocks that can be broken, but VERY slowly and alert the police force and anyone with permissions that they are being broken. To avoid spamming, and to give the thief a chance, wait until they are about half broken or 25% broken? After they are called out, the Police force or judge can mark that target as "wanted" and they aren't allowed to use any movement commands or log out until the "wanted" mark is lifted (only lifted by the police force and judge or when the player is caught). Add your own little tweaks to it, but that's the basic idea.
Oh, and ADD A SCRIPT THAT DOESN'T ALLOW PEOPLE TO LOG OUT DURING COMBAT. Very annoying.
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Those are the main problems that I see. Funny how I put this here, right after I talk about the community. That'll get people to listen to me, but it's truthful nonetheless.
I denounced a lot of the admins throughout this thing, so let me revisit them and what they should be doing, in my eyes.
Should be doing: Installing plugins, improving performance, attracting players, and maintaining the forums
Should NOT be doing: Intervening with the server's social problems all too much, dominating the server with their image, enforcing rules, giving themselves rights to do whatever the want. As in, if I can't build unprotected structures in the wild, neither should you.
Couple of pointers:
Yes, this will be a little tricky to code. But I'm certain there has to be someone that would love to code something like this.
Yes, this entire system of jobs IS giving a lot of power to the players. Mayors have to have world editing permissions (of course only to their city) and the ability to give it to people. Yes, this can lead to Saffron City being completely destroyed. But this is the only way to really allow people to become invested in the server. To really have a sense that they are changing stuff and that they're work is worthwhile. Besides, how fun is it to catch criminals, or to see an entire city decorated the way you want it? That's fun. That would be not only a unique server, but a fun server.
Yes, admins will have to make sure that none of this goes wrong. But the system is not as delicate as you might think with the proper plugins and proper structure.
No, I'm not saying follow this word by word. This is what the server SHOULD have. The specific ideals that the server should have are illustrated pretty well here, but even I see a couple of minors flaws in some of the jobs, that should be more definitely ironed out after examination, brainstorming, and testing by the admins.
Yes, all of this is time consuming. And yes, the server might even need to be re-launched as anew. But this is the only way.
The state of the server, going along with RISK, REWARD, and slight IMPEDIMENT of players, is ILLEGAL but not AGAINST THE RULES. As in, if you do it that action is heavily frowned upon and the Police force WILL be forced to put you in jail as part of the server and fun, but it will not get you banned. The only things that should ever get you banned are things like hacking otherwise everything else, like pissing off players for your own personal gain and things like that, should be completely allowed.
Towards the Admins that hopefully still care: Relaunch the server. Take it down for a couple of months, work real hard on it, and re-release it as something great and fantastic. Obviously keep it up for a while as a showcase for the people you're about to take under your team. Show some coders interested around, tell them about your ideas. I am confident that it's not the server's fault, it's yours, that it is suffering.
Of course if the admins have really moved on, which is the main reason and one that overshadows all the others that prove that the server is suffering, then there is absolutely no hope and the rest of you should move on as well.
