A Needed Change

[Solus Exsequor]

Whatever happens happens. I've saw people come and go and different ideas come and go. No one ever agrees.


But I'm going to stick around. I always am, FC comes first.

[Anarchy]

Whether you guys care for my opinion or not, after being gone for the months I have and playing with others in a different, yet still gaming environment, I can honestly say that the problems FC has are not normal at all. I used to think the drama was normal, that it happened everywhere, and that the kinds of issues we had as a community were just that: issues that communities have. After stepping away it's really easy to see why no one feels 100% welcome here, and that some sort of huge change is required for FC to be the successful community we've always wanted it to be. The kind of drama and problems FC has aren't normal with normal, happy communities.

I could go into a lot of things that you'd all ignore because I'm me, but for what it's worth, there's good reason people don't stay here long and former members find ways to get out of coming back. The only reason any of us are here is for Halo that isn't boring MM, and for the friends we're attached to. Break down what FC is, and that's all there is. The community and FC itself isn't what keeps people here, it's the freaking side-effect of joining the community that does. It needs to be more than that, and whatever happens in the future, it will have to be something extreme that everyone has their hearts open for with an open mind.

[Drth spartan]

A volunteer draft would be fine if it was completely optional. Say a player wanted a fresh experience but didn't know where to go, he or she could put his name in the proverbial hat and the two FM's could draft them into an army. I'd be fine with that (for those individuals who would want such a thing).

How about we make a poll that asks if you are willing to be put wherever to better the community then just put those who said yes wherever they are most needed

[NervyDestroyer]

Whether you guys care for my opinion or not, after being gone for the months I have and playing with others in a different, yet still gaming environment, I can honestly say that the problems FC has are not normal at all. I used to think the drama was normal, that it happened everywhere, and that the kinds of issues we had as a community were just that: issues that communities have. After stepping away it's really easy to see why no one feels 100% welcome here, and that some sort of huge change is required for FC to be the successful community we've always wanted it to be. The kind of drama and problems FC has aren't normal with normal, happy communities.

I could go into a lot of things that you'd all ignore because I'm me, but for what it's worth, there's good reason people don't stay here long and former members find ways to get out of coming back. The only reason any of us are here is for Halo that isn't boring MM, and for the friends we're attached to. Break down what FC is, and that's all there is. The community and FC itself isn't what keeps people here, it's the freaking side-effect of joining the community that does. It needs to be more than that, and whatever happens in the future, it will have to be something extreme that everyone has their hearts open for with an open mind.

And I agree with you to an extent. Extreme change has never been beneficial to anything. This is merely an attitude problem. People preaching "I play for fun!" only to try to win win win. Losing sucks, but I don't go Full Metal Jacket on it with my squad. We, as leaders, need to avoid making it about winning. Having a draft to fix this is like jumbling up all the countries on Earth and telling them to get along. You can't. Different cultures. Same with FC. There's infighting within FC. We are all stressing about the poor state of MCC and taking it out on "them." Who is "them?" VbD, BLUE, REDD, Nervy, Guzzie, Bellator, etc. In actuality, the poor game, with the increased emphasis on winning is the problem. Also, Anarchy, I'd have assume the other community you're in is on a different game. Well take "poor game" out of the equation and yeah, of course it will be better. A draft will just enhance the problems. There is no simple solution to an attitude issue.

[Houdini]

The first thing is, there will always be drama. No matter what you do, given the natural setting of a war sim community (placing a group of individuals, together against another), drama is a natural byproduct of putting people of different backgrounds, ideologies and ages into one melting pot. Suggesting a “change” that has been problematic in the past and saying it will eliminate drama is a bit presumptuous.

I completely agree. I misspoke in saying that a draft would eliminate drama entirely. I believe eliminating a squad first/army first mentality will reduce drama by promoting a more FC first mentality. Obviously there would still be problems, but hopefully not as much.

Another thing to consider is the number of people that are with us right now, more specifically, the people that are sticking with us through a decaying Halo community and a broken game. A lot of them are veterans, or at least, have been in the community for some time. A lot of them have formed friendships and bonds with other community members, and the only reason they show up on Sundays is because their squad mates/squad leaders are asking them to. Take that away and there will be no reason for some to show up at all.

I understand this entirely, but shouldn't we work to make it so that the community isn't suffering like this? Continuing the status quo of whatever changes we have been doing will not improve anything. Something new needs to change to fix these problems and give the community new life so we aren't depending on veteran community members for being the only people active.

Number imbalance in my mind is a non-issue compared to the actual number of active community members. As a community, we have made internal fixes to this many times, having individuals and whole squads transfer to keep the numbers as equal and balanced as possible (Latest example of this was Equinox being sent to Redd army).

I completely agree that overall numbers are more important than army balance, but I don't understand why we shouldn't attempt to set ourselves up to be in the best possible state moving forward. My biggest issues with squad transfers is that they consistently do not effectively address long term issues. Equinox transferred, but were was that squad's representation at the capital battle? If a squad cannot field enough teams for a team on battle nights I would claim they have fallen apart. I'm sure there are other issues that can explain a lot failures in the past with squad transfers, but I still think there are sufficient issues with skill, numbers and leadership between the two armies that need to be addressed moving forward.

- - - Updated - - -

So What if we did this draft but then do not make it mandatory (At first) So that we can say "hey this leader wants you to be part of his squad, this is who is part of the squad do you want to join it" and see if people do change voluntary thus making teams more even but then if no one moves then make it mandatory.

I'm really not sure how effective a voluntary draft would be, but it is an interesting idea. It might let people realize that they really aren't being forced into squads with people that they don't know.

[Houdini]

And I agree with you to an extent. Extreme change has never been beneficial to anything. This is merely an attitude problem. People preaching "I play for fun!" only to try to win win win. Losing sucks, but I don't go Full Metal Jacket on it with my squad. We, as leaders, need to avoid making it about winning. Having a draft to fix this is like jumbling up all the countries on Earth and telling them to get along. You can't. Different cultures. Same with FC. There's infighting within FC. We are all stressing about the poor state of MCC and taking it out on "them." Who is "them?" VbD, BLUE, REDD, Nervy, Guzzie, Bellator, etc. In actuality, the poor game, with the increased emphasis on winning is the problem. Also, Anarchy, I'd have assume the other community you're in is on a different game. Well take "poor game" out of the equation and yeah, of course it will be better. A draft will just enhance the problems. There is no simple solution to an attitude issue.

Having a draft is a lot different that jumbling up all of the countries on Earth. There aren't a lot of people in the community, and we do have a lot of things in common. Most importantly that we want to have fun and be respected.

Why is infighting a problem? Because we all care about ourselves. I've been in many different squads and it is always the case that we form our own group and are irritated in general with everybody else. It happens. Everybody does that. The only thing I've noticed is that in these squads, when I'm playing with people who I've already been in a squad with (but am not currently with) there is significantly less bickering. It is much harder to have drama with people who you at least know compared to people who you only refer to as that other army or that other squad.

The poor game is not an excuse to have bickering in the community. I've been in other halo communities without issues. I don't know exactly what it is about FC that makes us have so many problems, but I'm willing to bet that a large part of it has to do with the fact that many people have higher allegiances to their army or their squad instead of the community in general.


I think it is also worth noting that I'm not suggesting this because I hate my squad or army. I actually like playing with VM, Ominous, Mos, Rounin, Drth, Metkil and everybody else. I just can't see any of the normal changes we make during peacetimes fixing the core issues we are having right now. If somebody else can suggest something that has even a slight chance of legitimately changing the community for the better, I'm happy to jump ship. I just couldn't think of a better solution.

[Anarchy]

And I agree with you to an extent. Extreme change has never been beneficial to anything. This is merely an attitude problem. People preaching "I play for fun!" only to try to win win win. Losing sucks, but I don't go Full Metal Jacket on it with my squad. We, as leaders, need to avoid making it about winning. Having a draft to fix this is like jumbling up all the countries on Earth and telling them to get along. You can't. Different cultures. Same with FC. There's infighting within FC. We are all stressing about the poor state of MCC and taking it out on "them." Who is "them?" VbD, BLUE, REDD, Nervy, Guzzie, Bellator, etc. In actuality, the poor game, with the increased emphasis on winning is the problem. Also, Anarchy, I'd have assume the other community you're in is on a different game. Well take "poor game" out of the equation and yeah, of course it will be better. A draft will just enhance the problems. There is no simple solution to an attitude issue.

Only so much can be blamed on a poor game. I don't suddenly start to hate my co-workers because a tree hit the building.

[VerbotenDonkey]

Houdini was always my favorite, sorry Wes.



While I don't know that a draft would be particularly effective (personally I always thought it was a neat idea, get randomly placed with other community members you haven't played with before as a team), it's obvious something new has to be done. I would suggest merging active Squads so that each Army has a rough basis of activity for new members to play with and then start from the ground up recruiting.

[Solus Exsequor]

So, erase squads. Just have armies. Army trainings, have high com still but implement an army XO and CO to oversee the activity and run practices. They could be part of HC if it comes down to it. Everyone is happy and with their friends. Emphasis on recruitment. Anyone who is lazy and cba actually helping the community can pack up and leave? Deal?

[NervyDestroyer]

So, erase squads. Just have armies. Army trainings, have high com still but implement an army XO and CO to oversee the activity and run practices. They could be part of HC if it comes down to it. Everyone is happy and with their friends. Emphasis on recruitment. Anyone who is lazy and cba actually helping the community can pack up and leave? Deal?

What do you mean by "anyone who is lazy?" We cannot remove someone from FC for taking a casual approach. Encouraging that person to be more involved is a much better solution. Interesting suggestion by the by.