Fun and Respect

[Houdini]

I joined FC because I wanted to make friends and have fun playing Halo. I feel like we may have lost our core values of fun and respect recently.

People are leaving the community because they feel disrespected (allegedly, I don't have first hand experience with any of these cases, but I've heard plenty of stories to believe that we might have a problem with respect.) Even hearing speculation about this is a huge warning flag that things need to change. This shouldn't even be brought to the table as a possible issue. If people don't feel like they are being respected or if an individual feels like they are isolated from the community we have a problem.

Then we have a lack of fun. This past war was by far my least favorite. Several things contributed to this, but I have no intention of being a part of this community if I have a repeat experience. I'm not here to suffer. I'm not in this community for battle nights that feel like a chore. Too many times I contemplated not showing up to Battle Nights because of the issues, problems, drama, or simply the lack of fun I would have. I'd like to think that I'm a pretty dedicated community member who has remained in this community through some pretty awesome times and some pretty terrible times, and if I, as a veteran community member, am questioning my attendance at a battle night what are the newer members thinking?

A huge part of my perceived lack of fun this past war has been the even more religious drive towards cut throat competition in the community. Winning is important, but I don't think winning should take priority over fun or respect. Obviously there is competition structure here (two armies attacking each other), but I think we may be taking it too far.

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My dream for this community is that at the end of every battle night, I can ask any member from either army and they will respond that they had fun and felt respected during this evening. I honestly don't think that is the case for the majority of the community right now, and to me that is the biggest problem we face retaining members and recruiting new members into the community.

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Now for the suggestion:

Moving forward, I would like to see a system in place where each community member is given the opportunity (and encouraged) to respond to a short survey at the end of the battle night.

Example:
0) Name/GT (Optional)
1) Did you have fun tonight? (Yes, No)
2) Did you feel respected tonight? (Yes, No)
3) Do you have any suggestions for improvement (Short Answer)

That will take less than 5 minutes to fill out, but the information collected would provide valuable insight into the state of the community. Then the HC/FM/WC/WD can use the results to hopefully improve the experience for the next week. This kind of continuous integration of changes would hopefully allow the leadership to better and more quickly address the concerns of the community throughout the war.

The results of this kind of survey might create some unease with people in leadership, and that is okay. Guiding this community to a better state may not be easy or simple at first, but ignoring these issues should not be an option.

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One interesting possibility with this type of survey is that the statistics could be published with the battle results. It would be very interesting to see how the results improve as the leadership makes decisions to hopefully address concerns. I think you could inspire a lot of people at the lower levels in this community if they could see the progress as changes are implemented.

[Maxdoggy]

Your post was well-written and I can tell it was made with good intentions. I'm all for the survey.

I do have one question though, and my ignorance to the answer is probably the result of me not being terribly active this past war:
Where did you see a "religious drive towards cut throat competition"? Compared to former wars, this one felt relatively tame to me.

[Houdini]

Where did you see a "religious drive towards cut throat competition"? Compared to former wars, this one felt relatively tame to me.

This definitely may just be my experience. I think part of my feelings about the competition may be related to the fact that at least in blue army we were pushing hard to win so the war would be over. This may just be me, but it felt like we were pushing to play any rule or any advantage we could have to finish the war faster.

Honestly it may just be me that feels like we were having a more competition experience. I'd be very interested in hearing about other opinions on the competition level.

[silversleek(GEN)]

I'll disagree at least with your solution. Any problem, real or just perceived, will not be fixed by paper work.

[Maxdoggy]

I'll disagree at least with your solution. Any problem, real or just perceived, will not be fixed by paper work.

While that may be true, it most certainly wouldn't hurt, which is why I'm okay with it happening.

[Houdini]

I'll disagree at least with your solution. Any problem, real or just perceived, will not be fixed by paper work.

LOL. I guess I misrepresented my solution if you think the solution is paper work. The "paper work" is designed so that the people in power have the information necessary to come up with the solutions that are needed.

I would find it extremely hard if not impossible for the people in power to be able to make informed decisions about what is best for the community and what the community wants if they the only information they have is from personal conversations with people.

Oftentimes anonymous feedback is required before people will open up about things they would like to see changed. Especially since we (as an internet community) have a habit of knocking people down as soon as the step out of what we perceive as normal.

[Legendary Nova]

I could see this becoming a thing in each Battle Results thread. I wouldn't be opposed to it.

In regards to the actual survey questions, I feel that sometimes it's too easy to just say, "No, tonight was not respectful/fun." If this were to be implemented, I suggest adding a 'why' to each of the questions. Someone saying they feel disrespected is important to know, but you can't make a solution without the problem first. You've also got to remember that it's much easier for someone to hate something than it is to ejoy it. Sometimes people just keep on hating something for the sake of it, even when it gets fixed. Look at all the hate the Xbox One and MCC still get even though most of it is because of stuff from the past that's been (mostly) fixed.

[Houdini]

In regards to the actual survey questions, I feel that sometimes it's too easy to just say, "No, tonight was not respectful/fun." If this were to be implemented, I suggest adding a 'why' to each of the questions. Someone saying they feel disrespected is important to know, but you can't make a solution without the problem first. You've also got to remember that it's much easier for someone to hate something than it is to ejoy it. Sometimes people just keep on hating something for the sake of it, even when it gets fixed. Look at all the hate the Xbox One and MCC still get even though most of it is because of stuff from the past that's been (mostly) fixed.

I intended for the "Why" part to be encompassed in the "Suggestions for Improvement" question. Maybe it needs to be reworded to make this intend more clear?

Regarding you comment on it being easier to hate something than to enjoy it: I think we should hold ourselves to the standard that our community will be a place were even if it is easier to hate on things than enjoy them the vast majority of the community members will enjoy there time here.

I've been reminded many times that people are here on a voluntary basis. If we aren't providing an environment where people can say they enjoyed their experience then that is a problem. Nobody volunteers to do things that they hate.

[Dark Remalf]

Dark Remalf would love for this to be implemented.

I dont see how this could hurt the community rather than help it. Dark Rain will participate in these surveys if they end up being implemented.

[NervyDestroyer]

I'm hearing a lot how battles are too competitive. I agree. However, it's almost as if no one wants any more competition. That's another extreme that's bad. We need a balance between friendly competition and screw around stuff (words). Keep in mind that losing is not the worst thing in the universe. It sucks, you lose and it's upsetting. You can become a bit quiet and sad. After you're done feeling sorry for yourself, you pick yourself up and play again. Alternatively, you can not care and play for your friends rather than for winning. There is no greater sense of togetherness. That's a choice. Everything that happens is because someone makes a decision. Blaming everything and everyone is not the way to go about this. We need a clean slate. No more rivalries, no more bullshit.

Regarding the survey, the strongest motivation for positive change starts with constructive criticism. The survey could be helpful if it's not used as an outlet for anger.

Very well constructed thread Houdini.