Friendliness level of the staff is the best criteria for server success

Started by Helrouis, Jun 14, 2008, 07:47 AM

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My question corresponds to a "newly launched server" - Do you agree or Not?

Agreed, friendliness of GMs does matter a LOT
No, as long as they're good on implementing features, it's good.

Helrouis

These are IMHO:
Staff A:
The staff decided to make their own server.They're good in everything about implementing custom stuffs on the server/ as well as nice features. However they're a bunch of big mouthed intelligent freaks. Well, ok here - So they set the server online, and made standard old style advertisements. And in the long run he doesn't do too much events but they make their auto event systems which can be good. Of course, players who visit their server can still be possbily get pleased.

Staff B:
They belong to a big social network of Ragnarok Online players. And they just know how to setup the default RO with no bugs, and get antibot script from eA. They know basic scripting, and just know on how to install scripts from eAthena. They used to play RO with their friends, and okay, they started off a server with 20+ players instantly.

Q: Whose server for you will last longer - and have many players?

Loki

It all comes down to the players itself though. But IMO, I would rather the server be up-to-date and have lots of features. There are still events and as long as the GMs and Admin do their job(bot-hunt, catching rule-breakers, etc). So, I'll vote for Staff A.
QuoteWhatever floats your boat.

Helrouis

Quote from: Loki on Jun 14, 2008, 08:13 AM
It all comes down to the players itself though. But IMO, I would rather the server be up-to-date and have lots of features. There are still events and as long as the GMs and Admin do their job(bot-hunt, catching rule-breakers, etc). So, I'll vote for Staff A.
I got your point. True, but usually, servers like www.myro.tk totally have a lot of players. But their system ain't that much compared to others.

Guest

i think you need a mix of personalities of GM's for a server to run well

you need some GM's to be nice and relate with the ppl, but at the same time you need intelligent GM's to know how to make things and etc, and so on and so on

all servers need a good combination of GM's

Helrouis

Quote from: JJJ on Jun 14, 2008, 05:47 PM
i think you need a mix of personalities of GM's for a server to run well

you need some GM's to be nice and relate with the ppl, but at the same time you need intelligent GM's to know how to make things and etc, and so on and so on

all servers need a good combination of GM's
True but nowadays, some poor servers like mine is run by one or two persons. And technically I'm not good at scripts. So both criteria can barely be achieved. Mostly, in the recruiting section, you would get to hire defective people.

Thorin

I'd pick Staff A, only because it seems with Staff B that alot less would get done if they only understand basic scripting. I'd choose proffessionals over friendly GMs everytime. It's a good thing there are plenty of servers wih both professional and friendly GMs.

Helrouis

Quote from: GM Thorin on Jun 15, 2008, 08:28 PM
I'd pick Staff A, only because it seems with Staff B that alot less would get done if they only understand basic scripting. I'd choose proffessionals over friendly GMs everytime. It's a good thing there are plenty of servers wih both professional and friendly GMs.
Even a group of intellectual admins who just launched their RO -> 0~20 players because of the competition.

Thorin

If they were that smart and expierenced they'd probably start with over 50 though i see what you mean.Sadly, most server have around 20 players due to competing servers and the overall lack of players.

Helrouis

Quote from: GM Thorin on Jun 15, 2008, 08:43 PM
If they were that smart and expierenced they'd probably start with over 50 though i see what you mean.Sadly, most server have around 20 players due to competing servers and the overall lack of players.
Yeap. No matter how great they are, as long as the competition is big/especially it's insanely hard to convince players who are loyal already to the other server, they really can get only a few - and soon would just die.

Anti-Static Foam Cleaner

All that friendliness talk in advertising is s***, not to mention absolutely pointless.

GMs there are to enforce rules, period. They are not supposed to be your friends. As long as they do their job fairly, I don't care. If anything, having "intellectual" GMs is better because friendly GMs may play favourities.

Loki

Quote from: Anti-Static Foam Cleaner on Jun 16, 2008, 12:59 AM
All that friendliness talk in advertising is s***, not to mention absolutely pointless.

GMs there are to enforce rules, period. They are not supposed to be your friends. As long as they do their job fairly, I don't care. If anything, having "intellectual" GMs is better because friendly GMs may play favourities.

Agreed but most players are too soft so a polite GM would be a good way to raise the player database.
QuoteWhatever floats your boat.

Ansuz Isaz

I don't need nice GMs, so much as those who don't have a stick up their donkey and an ego that makes themselves believe their gods. xD If I feel that they aren't a bunch of corrupt bastards, I'm fine with them not being the nicest bunch in the world.

Then again, most of the people who post a lot here in RMS seem to be those who've played long enough to know what is and isn't needed in a server. =P So, most of us will support an effective and intelligent staff over a kind one, if we had to choose between the too. Sadly, the kind ones are bound to be the ones who keep the players.

All the same, the kind ones will not be able to have the set-up needed to attract them in to begin with, so they'll have less chance of gaining a player base. n_n; I have to say, in the long run, that the competent staff will always be more effective than the gentle ones.

Helrouis

Quote from: Ansuz Isaz on Jun 16, 2008, 01:18 AM
I don't need nice GMs, so much as those who don't have a stick up their donkey and an ego that makes themselves believe their gods. xD If I feel that they aren't a bunch of corrupt bastards, I'm fine with them not being the nicest bunch in the world.

Then again, most of the people who post a lot here in RMS seem to be those who've played long enough to know what is and isn't needed in a server. =P So, most of us will support an effective and intelligent staff over a kind one, if we had to choose between the too. Sadly, the kind ones are bound to be the ones who keep the players.

All the same, the kind ones will not be able to have the set-up needed to attract them in to begin with, so they'll have less chance of gaining a player base. n_n; I have to say, in the long run, that the competent staff will always be more effective than the gentle ones.
Aye, we would be more into the intelligent staff because we know what's good in a server and not. But the real thing that is happening? the less intellectual GMs who are good in recruitment and stuffs, really has a lot of players. As the Staff A point of view, I would zomfg, why do they have more players than me, when my server is totally better than their server!

Perhaps Staff B is a superstar that the mass adores, that's why they play his/her server lol. Or for example, staff B made an RO named, AnimaRO, that would just simply trigger the old animaRO players to be curious about it.



Pandora

You get both. You find people to complete your team so it's well rounded, if you're good at tech you get a pr GM to handle all the in-game drama and assistance needed. Also, you learn to delegate, because you can't do everything yourself, regardless what kind you belong to.
[color=darkblue]heRO is a great friendly, pre-renweal, unique and fun server with a great community, give it a try![/color]



[color=darkblue]Click here to find out more about heRO![/color]

Helrouis

Quote from: Pandora on Jun 16, 2008, 09:41 AM
You get both. You find people to complete your team so it's well rounded, if you're good at tech you get a pr GM to handle all the in-game drama and assistance needed. Also, you learn to delegate, because you can't do everything yourself, regardless what kind you belong to.

Yes, but it's hard to find someone to trust. =/ , i mean the pr you're speaking of miss pandora.

Mewi

You need both,  either way friendliness should never effect the GMs ability to enforce the rules.  You could be the friendliest GM on the server, but the moment you punish someone for breaking the rules is the moment you could get branded corrupt/unfair/dumb or whatever else comes in line next.  Being a GM is a love hate situation, either people really love you, or people really hate you.  There is not really an in between.

Drama,  you could have either, or, or both and still get mass drama.  Drama is a huge problem even on official servers.  I wouldn't expect to see a 24/7 peaceful RO server.  The internet brings so many people together... whether you like it or not,  the good, the bad, the ugly ( in terms of personality )

After several GM jobs, all of which contained one level of Drama or another my friendly levels have dropped a great deal.  I now am extremely serious when it comes to people breaking the rules... because I know ( from experience ) that if you let one thing slide,  then it will just get worse and worse and worse, until people are crying "But you let him get away with it! CORRUPT" or "OMG STOP THESE PEOPLE THEY ARE HARASSING ME"  or some random scenario of similarity.

But either way,  I've said it once, and I will say it again.  Developing and GMing are two entirely different areas...  Developers do not make good GMs and professional GMs do not make good developer.  I have heard this statement before  "Anyone can do a GMs job" .  Sure anyone can DO a Gms job, anyone could DO a developers job,  but can they do it right?  Highly unlikely... Hence all of the corrupt GMs.

I personally,  despise when someone says anyone can do my job especially when they haven't taken a single step in my shoes.


Becoming a GM means you sacrifice a part of your soul forever, be prepared.

Helrouis

Quote
I personally,  despise when someone says anyone can do my job especially when they haven't taken a single step in my shoes.
True, players really are perfectionist.. Sometimes, I even want my server to be managed by my npcs rather than me myself. Though in the end of the day, they would be looking for real people behind the great game.

Thorin

Best chance for small servers is to advertise and prey on the players of larger servers that die. sadly thats what happens =/

Helrouis

Or the target, as I said before, can be the youth who aren't into RO. They would be the best prey ever. Because if an individual here belonging in the forums can still remember the 1st time they play RO, it was like, addicting, and more or less these people wouldn't leave your server right away.

Auroraâ„¢

I, personally, think that Mewi hit this question on the head.

Granted, I've only been doing GM jobs for about.. three? four years now? However, I've been through probably almost any drama that can be brought up among staff vs staff, staff vs players and even staff vs server. As Mewi already said, it's a commonly known fact that most friendly/professional/smart GMs have freak out when they see the first glimpse of anything related to scripting. (I, myself, can handle messing around with TXT crap, but SQL, C++ and everything inbetween is like a carpenter trying to figure out how to build a computer, i have no idea what to do.) And vice-versa for talented designers.

To me, a good, professional GM is kind, friendly, open and accepting. They get along well with other players, and they actually try to get to know them. They make it their personal duty to bond with players, while at the same time get the job done. A good GM won't break rules or abuse for their friends, and they certainly won't let their friends slide with rules. They're not afraid to smash someone with the ban hammer, and they're certainly not afraid to put their foot down. Granted, GMs are human, but that's no excuse to do the same thing over and over and over again. Mistakes are there for a reason, as well as second chances.

Now, as also already been stated, good GMs are the ones people end up hating, because they do their job. Players get angry, they fuss, they whine because things didn't go their way. And unfortunately, that's exactly what causes good GMs to leave their positions 9/10 times.

The only way, in my own opinion, to have a well built staff is to a have an integrated staff made up of at least 2 professional GMs, and 2 GMs that know how to script/design. (That's at the minimum, anyways. I personally prefer bigger staffs, made up of different time zones.)

Either way, my answer is, mixed. So, basically, I agree with practically everyone here. XD


» Coming Soon! «

Poki

Become the angry professional administrator and hire minions currently known as GMs to do the "kindness" for you.

Also like to point out that kindness does not last forever in the server as a GM or as an administrator.  The kindness will eventually die out, you will be bored, and lose your commitment.

Guest

T.T stop being so depressing lol
but ya your right in most ways.... nothing lasts forever =/


but i still think that all GM's need to be as kind and professional as possible

freakyred

yeah ... at least act kind so that people will go on your server.

Poki

Yup, in the end, the best GM team would be the team with both kind professional GMs and strict demonic GMs.

freakyred

Quote from: Poki on Aug 20, 2008, 02:30 AM
Yup, in the end, the best GM team would be the team with both kind professional GMs and strict demonic GMs.
well ... that's true and false at the same time because those GMs could balance the server but could also argue about how to handle different situations.

Poki

Then they're terrible GMs for jumping and meddling in to another GM's capabilities of solving and handling a problem.

asdfqwerty123

The question itself is flawed to begin with because lacking either isn't good, and only considering those aspects is a narrow view of what people can bring to your server.

But in a nutshell, friendly yet unskilled staff not making any progress on updates or features (or even basic things to keep the server online should anything happen) isn't as effective as impersonal/not-so-socially-involved staff that are skilled (notice I didn't say mean or rude, I said impersonal).  But obviously friendly and skilled are the best combination.  You need to have at least one person with the ability to add features or you really have no server worth playing in the first place.

And here's a fact, just because you're social doesn't mean people like you.  In fact it makes you a lightning rod when you're too social.  You're a target for favoritism claims.

Staff A's server would last longer than Staff B's server, but neither would be pleasant because they both lack critical things.

You know what works better?
Combine Staff A and B to make Staff C.
Enforce staff rules, weed out those who are not cut out to be staff.

Anti-Static Foam Cleaner

Quote from: Auroraâ,,¢ on Aug 17, 2008, 09:14 PMAs Mewi already said, it's a commonly known fact that most friendly/professional/smart GMs have freak out when they see the first glimpse of anything related to scripting.

This is SO exploitable.

asdfqwerty123

The admin/owner should be the manager, and the manager should be the scripter, that isn't a position best suited for regular GM's. 

If your goal is to be "Useless Supervisor and Design Oversight", you should quit and leave the server to be run by someone capable of the job.

Most servers fail because the admin was incompetent when it came to scripting to start with.

If you can't script, don't start a server.