This week I am writing an article about the games management, the fall in players, the lack of new players, possible solutions, and if there actually is a problem at all. It’s hard not to discuss possible problems that this game might have when we have learnt from an article by powerbear that the most common year that current players originally joined was back in 2005, thus a huge proportion of us players have seen the game develop through various rounds for around seven years, and not on day goes by when I do not see the game compared from how it is now, to how it was all those years ago. From personal experience I remember when 2,000 players online was a regular occurrence, day in day out, yet we now struggle to hit 300 most days at peak times. I would say that when the past of a game is constantly being referred to as “the good old days” and the present day game being constantly under scrutiny from various different aspects it shows that maybe things are not progressing the way you would expect things to.
The other thing that this observation has told me is that although the player base has been reduced, it must still be incredibly loyal to the game. I feel I speak for the masses when I say that we want this game to succeed, we want it to reach it’s full potential, and we want to be here when it does. Why else would we all log in almost everyday when we know we may be at a low point, a lull in progress.
Inevitably I cannot write an article such as this, without mentioning BSF2000, especially with regards to the plethora of threads in the forums about points taking several weeks in some cases to be verified, his apparent lack of activity and his almost self confessed terrible ability to stick to his own deadlines.
These problems do have an air of truth about them, and do cause frustration to the majority of the players here, but there are positives and negatives this round, in my opinion. Although I am not going to include the quotes here, I quizzed a fair few players about some of the issues in this article, one of the questions I asked everyone was; “Hypothetically if BSF2000 was online for two hours everyday, how would you like to see him utilise his time?”. In all honesty I expected to see the all too familiar U word (Updates) and to be honest, I was fairly surprised, the answers I received were unanimous in their subject; Communication. Every single person I asked made reference to the fact that they would love to see our head administrator interact more at a personal level with the players. This does highlight to me something important, that maybe solidifies my own opinion; I think that Bootleggers is currently in it’s prime in a technical sense, I think the game runs very smoothly, and the features are, on the whole, the best they have ever been.Leaving us with this problem of the lack of interaction between the head administrator and the players, recently I think BSF2000 has made a very important step to help combat this by completing his column in the Buzz each month. Could he go further with his communication to the players? I’m sure he could, and I would love to see that happen.
So that’s maybe one-way to stop players leaving, but how about gaining new players? That is surely where advertising should be being pushed far and wide, I’m not expert, but surely word of mouth can only bring in very small amounts of players. I think this is now starting to tie in with the introduction of this piece, those of us reading this are obviously here for the long haul, however I truly believe that round 7 will either make or break Bootleggers lets try and spark some passion about wanting this game to succeed, we need new players, we need to progress, next time you think something needs to change, talk about it, but discuss the solutions as well as the problems. It is so easy to think nothing changes, but BSF2000 has all ready given us 2000 Characters, lets push the issue, lets go for 20,000!
Happy Bootlegging
And to end this article, I will include the conversation I had with FlyingDeathSquirrel that led to this article being written.
From: FlyingDeathSquirrel
He should try advertising the game some. :\ I only heard about this game through word of mouth.
He may need to have an obligatory training module for a new e-mail account, too....so that way new players learn the basics at least.
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On 2012-07-14 17:03:06, FlameS wrote:
How would he attract new first time players?
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On 2012-07-14 17:02:30, FlyingDeathSquirrel wrote:
Get features pushed out that he's been promising forever and consistently provide updated communication.
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On 2012-07-14 17:01:36, FlameS wrote:
how should BSF act in order to retain players, and spark new interest?
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On 2012-07-14 16:48:24, FlyingDeathSquirrel wrote:
Both. It feels like he's not really doing anything and whatever communication he has is half-hearted at best.
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On 2012-07-14 16:46:50, FlameS wrote:
So shying away from individual updates if we may, you mentioned the game has gone stale in your opinion.
Are updates the only way out of this rut for you?
Or would player interaction/communication help a lot?
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On 2012-07-14 16:43:05, FlyingDeathSquirrel wrote:
Both. It's not enough. But it's definitely a good thing. I imagine he also needs more people coding, but I doubt many people are willing to code for free. :\
He should probably ask the player base what they want changed first. I know people have been pushing for crew updates for longer than anything else...
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On 2012-07-14 16:40:36, FlameS wrote:
He has recently made a move to update players through the Buzz though for the first time in a very long time, do you think this is a step in the right direction, or just falling well well short?
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On 2012-07-14 16:38:55, FlyingDeathSquirrel wrote:
It's not necessarily seeing him online as much as it's seeing things actually get done. We still don't have a FAQ, features are unbelievably slow to get updated, he provides no timeline to the players on when things will get done nor does he give any information on what he's working on. I feel like he just mostly ignores the game and uses it as a cash cow. If he doesn't, then he needs to show it with some...I don't know....goddamn communication? His lack of visibility is destroying player confidence and thus player loyalty.
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On 2012-07-14 16:36:40, FlameS wrote:
What would you like to see specifically? Say if he was here 2 hours a day, what should he do with his time?
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On 2012-07-14 16:35:14, FlyingDeathSquirrel wrote:
Yeah, for BSF to say something. And promise that he's going to verify points on time so players don't have to keep complaining. To see things get done around here. The game is boring and no one is doing anything. Too stale and static.
I think I really just want to see BSF move his ass a bit.
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On 2012-07-14 16:33:06, FlameS wrote:
Hey bud!
Just about to start writing a Buzz article,
Is there anything you would like to see in the Buzz off the top of your head?
