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2old2play A relationship and should be treated as such (urgent call for community input)

J-Cat

Shared on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 12:17

I love this place.

Ya'll know that. 2old2play is a community and a second home to many. Before 2old2play I had never heard about a clan and I never would have played an FPS. Today I am a clan leader and last week I helped to run a FPS based community event. What happened to me? You guys did. For that I thank you. In return I work hard at this relationship that we have.

And it is a relationship, and every relationship needs hard work to make it better. Sometimes you have to stop and take stock. How are we doing? Where are we going? Can we make it better? And it has to be true input, not just "oh yeah baby, ya know I love you." type of stuff. REAL input. Hard to hear input. The "umm... yeah sweetie that dress does make your ass look fat, maybe we should go out for a walk instead of sitting on our asses and eating burgers." type of input.

So... Lan is on like tron and yeah: it may be a smaller event than usual. Meh: Less people I have to buy a round for, less people telling me how fan-fucking-tastic I am. I am very much looking forward to seeing those that are going. Those that aren't maybe next year. I know that there are quite a few people here that want to go, but can't. And because of that "the usual suspects" may not be able to go to Lan, where in previous years, it wasn't as much of a problem. The economy sucks: I get that.

BUT the economy can't account for everything. Theoretically there are 16,000 members: we should be able to wrestle 100 people to go to lan from that number. Ah-ha! you say! 16,000 but not all of them are active! so our pool is much smaller. That begs a question that has weighed on my mind for a really, really long time.

Why are people leaving and not coming back? Why out of 16,000 are precious few active? And few of those seem to be active outside their clan. How do we get people from being lurkers and turn them into community leaders?

Are we doing what we can to welcome new members? To make them feel welcome to the site as a whole? Are people feeing connected only to their clans, but not to the site in general? I have heard it said that 2old2play has changed: it used to be a villiage, now it's a metropolis.

If 2old2play has evolved from a villiage to a metropolis, are we doing a good enough job at getting everyone around the council table?

So, let's not use $ as an excuse. What else is going on? I know that everyone here loves 202p: I would never quesstion that. but that doesn't mean that we can't improve. What do you want to see? Doodi is working tail straight out on V3.0: so lots of the site mechanics are going to get better.

I honestly love this place. I really do. I have had people tell me that I have GOT to step back a whole bunch: to be less invested. But if my gut is right: I think we have some excellent opportunities to make this place better, but ONLY if the rank and file want it to be better. And we have to determine what "better" means. The feedback here will determine my actions. If my gut is wrong, then my gut is wrong and that means that I can relax a whole lot this summer. But if I'm right: say so. Then we can work on it.

 

 

edit: I hate not having the thumbs: if I was totally offf base with this and people are hating: I can't tell. BUT I also can't tell if people are loving this blog either. please: can I has thumbs?

Comments

LuxDevil67's picture
Submitted by LuxDevil67 on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 18:12
stripper poles can't hurt. no thumbs from me. i hate those things.
Jmarps's picture
Submitted by Jmarps on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 18:42
@ J-Cat, maybe that is true but the timing is too concidental
PowerMacAttack's picture
Submitted by PowerMacAttack on Sun, 06/28/2009 - 19:32
J-Cat, First, love the post. I know that you and I passed some PM's back and forth about this very subject. I think for many, they get here and are just so overwhelmed at the size and scope of 2old2play. I joined almost 2 years ago and it was my first experience in online gaming, with Clans and with a site that was set-up just for this purpose. I was very nervous about what I was expected to do. I lucked out and found a great Clan and the rest is history. So what can we do. I think that an OL meeting would be great. The OL's could gather feedback from their Clan and then pass it up the chain. I think a help wanted page would be great as well. Doodi and the staff could post jobs they need help with. Folks could apply via PM or a button click and it would streamline the process that is now spread out in forum posts all over the site. Lastly, maybe a monthly "Noobs Night" for all of the folks who have just joined. The site mixer was great and I think more interaction sponsored by the site would help folks build their FL and get to know all the other great people here at 2old2play. I know that I game with many folks not in my Clan because I met them via mixers or site tourneys. Speaking of tourney's, why don't we have some more COD games? I know Halo is cool old school...but really? Let’s kick some COD or have a poker night, golf tourney, hockey league, racing league, etc. Anyway, love the passion and the spirit J-Cat, let me know if you need help with anything as I too love this place and want to help make it better any way I can! PMA
hilskie's picture
Submitted by hilskie on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 00:53
I love PMA's suggestions... I think that people being more nice would be a good thing too...I mean, at least until the noob gets that we trash talk cos we love. lol :D
Gatsu's picture
Submitted by Gatsu on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 12:20
I love this place and would kill for an opportunity to go to the LAN and meet everyone. But money is my #1 downfall right now. I make less than $16K a year and I have other commitments that I have to go through with this year. Next year may be a different story. But not this year..
J-Cat's picture
Submitted by J-Cat on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 12:24
Okay Gats... I totally get it... you can't go. I imagine these comments could easily fill up with people saying that they want to, but can't afford to go. If you can't go that sucks it does. I would love to meet you. But like DSmooth said: lan tickets are down 50%. BUT we have grown by leaps and bounds. Where are the new people? Where are the people that couldn't go last year or the year before? This isn't necessarily about Lan specifically: it's about site participation.
metalian's picture
Submitted by metalian on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 12:33
Yeah, I wen't to the Southwest LAN a few months back. My first LAN ever! Can't make the Chi LAN or the PCP Pitt one either.But about the site- It is the ONLY online community I belong to that I'm involved with every single day and have made many friends as a result. Our clan(PCP) has been talking alot recently about our recruiting strategy to ensure the folks we bring in are gonna enjoy the site , the people and the experience! Great post J-cat!!!
mrsleestak's picture
Submitted by mrsleestak on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 13:12
Why not have the OLs meet on a semi-regular basis for a "town hall" type of discussion. We have held these in our clan and they have provided us with some great feedback.
Lbsutke's picture
Submitted by Lbsutke on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 13:27
Good idea Jcat, but like you said it is a Metropolis now, and with that not everyone is going to be active/get along/have tolerance/want to make things better. I think it would be safe to assume we have maybe 1000 active members on the site and by active I mean check in and post at least once a week. Within that 1000 you probably have 300 that are hardcore members, on the site every day, multiple times during a day, post multiple times a day, rss feeds of the site etc.. People leave for many,many reasons: Some get butt hurt..."Oh they did not like what I had to say to I am out." Some are intimidated..."Oh if I say something they might not like what I have to say...I am out" Some think they can do it better and just leave, only to find out they can't and do not want to return in shame. Some just can't find anyone they like, which is fine. Everyone does not have to like everyone else. Hell, I do not want every new person that comes to this site to be in my clan. At least until I have gotten to know them, played with them, see if they turn into a giant douche bag or not. Even then, if they are cool with me it does not me they are cool with everyone. And finally some people just do not give a shit.. All we can do (and what you have done) is try to be active, try to make the site better, and change. We just cannot try to change for every single person or opinion. We can only try to make the site the best it can be for the people that want to be active within it.
MrGuster's picture
Submitted by MrGuster on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 13:29
Participation is up to the individual. My two suggestions on this is first, to restrict posting and access to most of the forums until they post an intro message. Second, base membership on participation, I mean what does it take to log in once and a while and read/post a message on a topic that interests you? Other sites do this and it seems to work quite well. This way you get people who want to be here participating in discussions and at a minimum reading posts, while the looky loos get shown the door.
Caesar's picture
Submitted by Caesar on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 13:45
ill see you at the lan!
rumbagod's picture
Submitted by rumbagod on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 14:38
i've been here a couple years and the first year i spent mainly on my clan's own forum (MTGO for the PC) and within the last year i've tried to dig out a little bit more, get more involved, post more, yadda yadda, even went so far as to join another clan but unfortunately my time becomes limited due to work scheduling so i find i don't play so much online and instead post more.....i'd love to help out where i can, just need some direction oh, and i have purchased my lan and room tickets already :)
pearly_54's picture
Submitted by pearly_54 on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 15:36
This place is my home away from home. My internet home? But it took me a while, like my friend rumbagod, to get more involved with more than just my own clan. There is so much you can do without doing much. Some are SCC members, which basically means we donate to the site on a regular basis. You know who we are by the star next to our name. Making comments on articles that someone has taken a lot of time to prepare and post on the front page. Try your hand at writing. Ya never know. Attend Community Playdate.....easy, just show up and play with whoever is there. You do that anyway, right? Much more, but this is J-Cat's blog.....
RivalJJH's picture
Submitted by RivalJJH on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 16:28
Money would be my top issue...that and trying to broker time away from work long enough to head North. Another problem for me though is seeing these blogs asking why people aren't going. It almost seems like folks are trying to guilt others into buying these tickets. The more of those I see make me not only not want to go this year or in the future.
J-Cat's picture
Submitted by J-Cat on Sat, 06/27/2009 - 16:31
@rival... I hear ya. but like I ahve said in my second post: this is more to do with site participation than Lan

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