DoD Morale and You: Divisional Commentary

[Rizz]

I enjoyed the houses....They made it fun to scrim against each other...I'd be willling to start up a push to try and get them back. A large reason they were stopped(As I understand it) was because of the competition and rivalries...As admins, we can stomp out these issues, unless that was attempted. It made the game fun, and the House vs. House scrims were one of the most fun things about eGO. The only problem I see with bringing them back is...Does the DoD division have the population to populate houses? And the leadership to lead houses?

Not complaining,
Just Rizz's two cents here...Concerning houses.

 

[Baen]

I enjoyed the houses....They made it fun to scrim against each other...I'd be willling to start up a push to try and get them back. A large reason they were stopped(As I understand it) was because of the competition and rivalries...As admins, we can stomp out these issues, unless that was attempted. It made the game fun, and the House vs. House scrims were one of the most fun things about eGO. The only problem I see with bringing them back is...Does the DoD division have the population to populate houses? And the leadership to lead houses?

Not complaining,
Just Rizz's two cents here...Concerning houses.

Honestly, from my perspective as an e and a vet of eGO. Yes I have been forgotten over the months that I've been gone and I'm ok with that. I remember the days with the houses and I felt SO much more connected to my house mates than anyone I can remember in gaming. I mean, eGO has a huge!!!! player base. Now being a relatively new e in everyone's eyes, yes I do get the respect of being a member, but going into a server I don't get the same "hello" or "hey bud how was your day" from other eGO members. Not that I haven't connected with them, and I've played with them, but I remember in the houses, everyone was a brother or sister to everyone. And we were close! We truely were, and I'm not saying that eGO members aren't close, we are, but I think the houses brought us even closer.

Thank you Rizz for your 2 cents that brought back so many good memories for me.

Sewer Rats for life!

EDIT:
After reading some posts in these divisional forums about the house system I would like to say please dont rage at me, these are just opinions of mine and I know that they aren't going to be put back. I am not looking for a promotion by bringing it up and wasn't even thinking about that, but I do apologize for bringing it up

 

[Cpt. Kirk]

1.) All the griping about wanting more realism events. (and not just limited to that thread!)

- Come on guys, this is common sense already. I'm actually a bit concerned that I have to explain this one; it should be obvious. Yes, we know that realism is the most popular DoD event. It's so popular that it easily can have as many players as Wild Card and Quick-Draw combined. But what does that actually tell you? Nobody's coming to our other events. If people aren't willing to show up, we're not going to do more prestigious events such as Royal Rumbles and Dog Tag Scrims.

Sure, we could do realism twice a week or more. But what does that mean? You can just skip one and come to another. That's nice. In turn, however, it means that the event becomes disposable, and loses its luster when you have five a week. Stormy has done a fantastic job developing and running this for weeks (26 now? That's HALF A YEAR!); that's terrific, and we're glad to see something take off as well as this has. The next problem we have is in logistics; you need somebody to actually RUN the event, and you can't count on somebody for every day of the week. Hopefully you guys get the point here.

TL;DR: Multiple realisms per week are not really on the table at this time. It's just not a good option.

This isn't really related to scheduling more event's, just a personal gripe. I attended every realism we had. Then my computer broke and I was gone for 3 months. When I got back the first thing I did on that Saturday was attend the realism event. It was not the same as I had left it, and it saddened me. Hence I have not attended one since. Again this is a personal issue. Just don't like the way it was taken in my absence. You wanted feedback and there is mine.

 

[Blue Stealth]

This isn't really related to scheduling more event's, just a personal gripe. I attended every realism we had. Then my computer broke and I was gone for 3 months. When I got back the first thing I did on that Saturday was attend the realism event. It was not the same as I had left it, and it saddened me. Hence I have not attended one since. Again this is a personal issue. Just don't like the way it was taken in my absence. You wanted feedback and there is mine.

if you have ideas or comments about realism pass them along to stormy.

-Blue

 

[Supercookie]

I enjoyed the houses....They made it fun to scrim against each other...I'd be willling to start up a push to try and get them back. A large reason they were stopped(As I understand it) was because of the competition and rivalries...As admins, we can stomp out these issues, unless that was attempted. It made the game fun, and the House vs. House scrims were one of the most fun things about eGO. The only problem I see with bringing them back is...Does the DoD division have the population to populate houses? And the leadership to lead houses?

Not complaining,
Just Rizz's two cents here...Concerning houses.

I totally agree with Rizz. DOD has definitely gone downhill after the houses were disbanded if not in population than definitely with communication and togetherness. I had plenty of friends in the house i was in and I made them easily. Not so much anymore.
I never really felt that the houses pushed people apart I always thought that their was always that mutual respect among all the eGO members.. I say we vote I never really felt I had a say.
My main reason to join eGO was to participate in the scrims and join a house. When we took them away it was taking away the biggest reason to join eGO, putting them back into place will increase membership and "morale"

 

[Sumac]

This is more on the idea of houses than the original post, but as there are others here, I will post my view.

If I understand houses right, it's like groups for scrims and competition ect. I used to play in Cal and a few other leagues and have been looking for an outlet for my competitiveness. I personally would love the idea of competition. I mean why not add a layer of it.

If the issue is that people just hang out with their house and form cliques, just don't allow people to wear their house tags outside scrims. And if the idea of houses isn't a good one, how about a good sized group of people that like to scrim. Doesn't even have to be the same teams always. Have leaders pick teams at the beginning of the week so they have time to work out tactics and then play at the end. Rotate leaders or whatever.

We have a massive community of players. The more we offer them, the more interested they will stay and the greater the likely hood of bringing in new ones.

 

[Cpt. Kirk]

if you have ideas or comments about realism pass them along to stormy.

-Blue

Ah, again, it's personal. And tis a futile gesture anyway.

 

[Cpt. Kirk]

This is more on the idea of houses than the original post, but as there are others here, I will post my view.

If I understand houses right, it's like groups for scrims and competition ect. I used to play in Cal and a few other leagues and have been looking for an outlet for my competitiveness. I personally would love the idea of competition. I mean why not add a layer of it.

If the issue is that people just hang out with their house and form cliques, just don't allow people to wear their house tags outside scrims. And if the idea of houses isn't a good one, how about a good sized group of people that like to scrim. Doesn't even have to be the same teams always. Have leaders pick teams at the beginning of the week so they have time to work out tactics and then play at the end. Rotate leaders or whatever.

We have a massive community of players. The more we offer them, the more interested they will stay and the greater the likely hood of bringing in new ones.

Agreed. I was also on a Cal team and I too miss the competitiveness. I see youtube videos all the time of these great players participating in tournaments representing their clan or community and wonder why eGO can't do the same. I know in the past things didn't go so well. But why not give it a second try. Not saying bring back the houses, but a way to play in organized fashion in tournaments and or against rival clans.

 

[BIOHZRD03]

but a way to play in organized fashion in tournaments and or against rival clans.

because for us to have a "rival" clan there would have to be a clan that could be seen as being as good as eGO and im proud to inform you there is no such beast in existance...

 

[ST0RMY]

Jeod,

Let me first tell you i cant agree with you more about most of the topics you brought up. However, i think a lot of our members are not as knowledgeable about how our community functions and their questions often go unanswered. Only experience can really get our members to where they need to be concerning the topics that were mentioned by Garden.

1.) All the griping about wanting more realism events. (and not just limited to that thread!)

I get at least 2 PMs a week about this, and i have recently been receiving some from leadership. I know you guys like our Realism events but until i read Jeods comment i couldnt find the words to explain why this wont be happening. Yes, Realism Night is very successful but when our other events are half-full how do you expect us to make time for another event? Like Jeod said if it becomes frequent, it becomes dispensable! I can sympathize with our European friends as well as those who miss the event because of scheduling problems, but the current realism schedule isn’t likely to change anytime soon. I know that some of our regulars for this event have become tired of it even though its once a week. So please if you would like to discuss anything about Realism Night or a similar event pertaining to Realism contact me or Blasphemy, like it says in every Realism thread. Our leadership has enough to contend with, and most of the drop-box submissions about realisms could easily and quickly be answered by your realism crew!
The point is: IF WE MAKE MORE THEN LESS PEOPLE WILL SHOW UP FOR THEM

2.) Recruiting

Personally if i see someone with the {R} tag in their name i direct all players to them and vice versa. I try to recruit but after i give them the website its up to them to take it from there. I know my approach is less than admirable but like myself im sure that a lot of our members do the same or less and we should all try harder to bring players into our community.

3.) "Strictness of admining"

Heck I learned from the best! Goomba taught me to disarm people who you would normaly have to if they continued in the same manner and Jeod taught me how to kick or ban people as needed. Like Jeod and every admin in our division I think we are doing an excellent job. The only thing I can comment on is that us eGOs need to set the example to es and eGs rather then let them do all the work.

4.) Divisional Impressions
DoD Division is by far the most mature and level headed out of any division regarding our es, admins, and leadership. Heck we even have the best pubs!

5.) The Admin Training Program

Jeod has his hands full, but when he gets the job done there is no better teacher. Only 8 more years until I receive my Doctorate in Admining from Professor Jeods School of Admining and DVD assembly.

6.) Server Numbers

Ill let Blue Stealth make a thread about this… again. But I guess I can sum it up: were good but we could do better.

 

[jeod66]

Thanks everyone for the commentary so far. I'll address a few concerns now:

Another thing, don't ask if you can kick a pub to make room for an eGO member, that is just a terrible thing to do. Why oh why would you ever ask: "Can you please kick a pub to make room for an eGO member?"

99.99% of the time, this is meant as a joke, or else as a "Hey, any AFKs?". Policy dictates that we never kick for members.

I disagree when one admin's state's his view then it is changed in open chat by a senior admin.

This shouldn't be happening...always take up problems in private, never in server, and certainly not in open chat. Good point to bring up.

Its kinda annoying when i visit avalanche and people are saying "Flash sucks" "why would you even go on flash"

Flash does suck, why exactly do you need to state the obvious?



Houses

Quite honestly, I'm rather surprised to see that this topic has taken off in this particular direction. Let me start by saying that I joined eGO approximately 3 months after the houses were disbanded, so I have no knowledge of them other than seeing all the house tags on players. I wasn't here, and don't know for sure. But I've heard the story from other Leadership members that were here, and I believe them. This would be the House Leaders and Advisors that became Division Leaders, Advisors, and even a Council member. I've heard the in-depth rationale, but there is an easier way to explain it, copied from Fluffy's post in this forum:

Simply put - we are trying our hardest to foster a unified eGO community. The houses served their purpose, but were causing strife within the community. Because of the "territorial" confrontations and cliques that were created by the houses, and the use of house tags, it seems only logical to promote members of the community who accept that houses no longer exist.

As an aside, that post is actually the most accurate means of describing the promotion process that I've seen, period. It's how they're done, and why we post that in everyone "How do I get promoted" thread that pops up.

Back on topic though, I appreciate hearing from some of our members that were here during that time. However, it has been stated time and time again that the house system will not be returning; I hope that you will still enjoy your time here with us now at eGO just as in the past.

Again, thanks for the responses. Please feel free to post as you see fit and to contact either myself or another Advisor with any more private comments or concerns you may have.

(Yes, Kirk, this includes you, I'd be interesting in hearing what you're thinking about if for no other reason than "just because", and perhaps something can be done to ameliorate this...and yes, I do know what "ameliorate" means without looking it up.)

Also: HAHAHA @Debo!

 

[aknightwhosezni]

I've been thinking about this since I started reading that giant thread by Garden about morale in eGO...and I'd like to get the real impressions that our longtime DoD guys have about everything. That thread is nice and all, but it keeps getting hijacked by individual divisions.

I've gone ahead and responded personally to a few of the DoD-specific comments (or general ones that are relevant). Please, if you have some comments, I (and the rest of DoD Leadership by association) would love to hear them. If you can't post them here for some reason, you know what to do: Advisors or the Drop Box. You guys know what is and isn't acceptable to talk about in public, and what should be saved for private. I'll lay some of my cards on the table...let's see what you have to show.

Ground Rules: No need for anybody to respond to each post, like has happened there; say your piece, observe and consider, consolidate your thoughts into one post, THEN post it. There's nothing I (and many others) hate more than when 15 of 40 replies are the same person; it's counterproductive and makes the thread look like so much more.


==================================================

1.) All the griping about wanting more realism events. (and not just limited to that thread!)

- Come on guys, this is common sense already. I'm actually a bit concerned that I have to explain this one; it should be obvious. Yes, we know that realism is the most popular DoD event. It's so popular that it easily can have as many players as Wild Card and Quick-Draw combined. But what does that actually tell you? Nobody's coming to our other events. If people aren't willing to show up, we're not going to do more prestigious events such as Royal Rumbles and Dog Tag Scrims.

Sure, we could do realism twice a week or more. But what does that mean? You can just skip one and come to another. That's nice. In turn, however, it means that the event becomes disposable, and loses its luster when you have five a week. Stormy has done a fantastic job developing and running this for weeks (26 now? That's HALF A YEAR!); that's terrific, and we're glad to see something take off as well as this has. The next problem we have is in logistics; you need somebody to actually RUN the event, and you can't count on somebody for every day of the week. Hopefully you guys get the point here.

TL;DR: Multiple realisms per week are not really on the table at this time. It's just not a good option.

2.) Recruiting

-Recruiting is a game, and one that I've always failed at. I try, but never really get anywhere. I'm sure that some of you are the same way. We're doing our best, but it's just not as simple as it sounds, and thank you to everyone who is out there working on it. We're trying to come up with new recruiting "stuff" for our divisional group. I'm going to skip my commentary about the denied application that was mentioned in the morale thread because of the "unified front in public" policy that I teach in Admin 101/Advanced Admin Training, but please do your best to get long-time pubbers into this clan. Players with a genuine interest are hard to come by, and we want them here. Again, this should be common sense.

3.) "Strictness of admining"

- ...to be perfectly honest, I don't think this is a problem here in DoD. We don't sit around and watch people break the rules, then try to decide who gets the honor of warning them; we come out and hit the binds, follow warn/kick/ban, and get the job done quickly and efficiently so that we all can have fun. Not a DoD problem at all, from what I've seen.

4.) Divisional Impressions
- I was glad to read things like this:


This is what we strive for here at eGO: people coming to play with us, having fun, and quite frankly, not caring about rank. I don't have a problem when people join servers, and would rather play with our members. There's a certain inherent level of quality associated with our members.



I hope none of you feel this way about us, and if so, please bring it up in the appropriate venues. We strive for professionalism here...quite honestly, that sort of derailed the entire topic with a bunch of nonsense that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things if it actually works and fills servers. If TP can take a server from 0 to 32 with that, I support it.

5.) The Admin Training Program

-Yes, I know that we've been lacking a bit lately with classes, and not to make excuses, but it's a busy time of year for all four of us. We're hoping to get more up in the near future, but it's a little disheartening when you have a giant promotion cycle and a class right after the divisional meeting where it's announced, and you have two people show up. Two. It's a little frustrating.

I've read the commentary about making some minor changes to Admin 101, and hope that we can contribute to any amending process.

6.) Server Numbers

-Of course, we'd love to see all of our servers in the top 10, and we're trying to improve them all, but it's not as simple as it may sound, trust me. Right now, I believe that we have more servers than any other division...and we have more in the top 150 (all of them, at least count) than the other divisions combined. That's FANTASTIC, and I hope to see this trend continue.

This is just the beginning; I would like to hear what you guys think about "morale" and related topics, on a level specific to this division. Thank you!

I've been thinking about this since I started at eGO... I know im not a DoD but Let me first tell you I cant agree with you more about most of the topics you brought up. This is more on the idea of houses than anything else. I was also on a Cal team and what is this I don't even. I was kicked out because I was 12. Again this is a personal issue. Just don't like the way it was taken in my absence... I would like to say please dont rage at me I feel we have the best people in the community.This is so true. I see one problem and that is which sometime's come in the game said in open chat. Even in flash, thats what annoys me. When houses were disbanded, thats when I left after getting in a fight and my mom got scared. She said your movin with your auntie and uncle in bel Air. I whistled for a cab and when it came near, the license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I can say this cab is rare, but I thought naw forget it yo homes to Bel Air.I pulled up to the house about 7 or 8
And I yelled to the cab yo homes smell ya later, I looked at my kingdom, I was finally there, to sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air...

oya, nice post btw..

 

[BttClass]

You got that right, bro!

 

[Supercookie]

Houses


As an aside, that post is actually the most accurate means of describing the promotion process that I've seen, period. It's how they're done, and why we post that in everyone "How do I get promoted" thread that pops up.

Back on topic though, I appreciate hearing from some of our members that were here during that time. However, it has been stated time and time again that the house system will not be returning; I hope that you will still enjoy your time here with us now at eGO just as in the past.

Again, thanks for the responses. Please feel free to post as you see fit and to contact either myself or another Advisor with any more private comments or concerns you may have.

(Yes, Kirk, this includes you, I'd be interesting in hearing what you're thinking about if for no other reason than "just because", and perhaps something can be done to ameliorate this...and yes, I do know what "ameliorate" means without looking it up.)

I thought eGO was about having fun, not about getting promoted...
I couldn't care less about being promoted, and as for having fun... the houses were the most fun I had playing DoD:S and being in eGO.
Don't want to undermine you, just want to have my say.

 

[aknightwhosezni]

I thought eGO was about having fun, not about getting promoted...
I couldn't care less about being promoted, and as for having fun... the houses were the most fun I had playing DoD:S and being in eGO.
Don't want to undermine you, just want to have my say.

It is, he was referring to the response of "don't ask,just have fun"... hes elaborating on the way promotions are done, not a "how-to"... the houses were fun, yes, but they caused internal strife and actually drove people away from each other rather than bringing the division together. Yes, we all know houses were fun, but everyone just needs to realize that whining about them isn't going to bring them back; really, nothing is going to bring them back... so just sit back and enjoy the dod div for what it is now instead of complaining about them not being around anymore... the last 200 threads about the houses were enough, we don't need another one...

 

[jeod66]

I thought eGO was about having fun, not about getting promoted...
I couldn't care less about being promoted, and as for having fun... the houses were the most fun I had playing DoD:S and being in eGO.
Don't want to undermine you, just want to have my say.

I said "as an aside" up there to make it a sidenote; I meant "Oh, because I'm thinking of it right now, that thread also discusses promotions, so I don't have to talk about them as well. That one covers it all."

eGO isn't about promotions, but I felt I should address the topic to some extent.

 

[Boyle]

My morale

Nice thoughts and comments everyone. jeod66 is giving us a great opportunity to be honest, so here goes.

I have been playing DOD Source four years, on eGO servers almost three years, and have been a member of eGO for two years. I joined eGO because of the houses. I became a member of the =FL= (Foreign Legion) and I am proud of it. The =FL= was a typical example of the non racist, no vulgarity, clean loving attitude that continues to fuel eGO today. The =FL= had no home map and of the 50 or 60 regular players and 100 or so members, most were from foreign countries. My house mates were some of the most interesting people that I have ever gamed with. Ventrilo was a blast. The house forums were the best, because it was easier to communicate with 100 people instead of thousands that we have now. You could really get your opinions out in the open without fear of reprisal, because house leadership would try and clean up its own problems first. It was fairly easy to recruit new people for most houses, as they would return to the same map over and over. The =FL= was a little tougher to recruit for until they decided to adopt Anzio. I kept coming back to the clean eGO servers and Anzio. Poland asked me to join eGO first, The Foreign Legion second and I have enjoyed being a part of this family community ever since.

I will not speak for others, but as far as my morale in eGO, is it lower? Yes, and these are the main reasons for me.

1. The Foreign Legion fractured and left eGO to form its own clan. I was kept out of the loop by =FL= leadership until the day they told eGO they were leaving. I learned from JohnT at a clan meeting that night when he asked me if I was leaving soon. I said yes, my wife Kelly and I were going to visit my Mother that next week! He laughed and told me about the split. The =FL= guys had their personal reasons, but the time difference was a real killer for most of us. So many guys were European and the time differential was tough. ( Just ask London about it now.)

2. The houses were disbanded for many reasons shortly after The Foreign Legion fiasco, and there was never any community discussion allowed. End of story.

3. People are obsessed with rankings and body counts. I am obsessed with playing the game for fun and racking up body counts. Bigger is not always better, but it is more expensive.


4. My clan forums are full of redundancy. The same questions, answers, comments, criticisms, bickering, etc. etc. are done over and over again in the forums. The houses were not perfect, but their forums were fun, informative, enlightening, entertaining, and educational, the first and only time.


5. Last, but not least my clan feels big in a posturing way and more impersonal to me than before. I know only a few people that remind me of the old times. Cool foreigners like London from down under and Goomba from Mars! I mean NY!! Also, slayer357 from my home state, to name a few.


My moral is lower, but not my enthusiasm for eGO. I enjoy its members, read the forums everyday, play the game when I can, and believe family values are as important to our leadership and the rest of us as they have ever been.

 

[Bad Brain]

i feel that the only thing missing in this division is competitive play
most of the other divisions have it so why not dods.

i feel we could stuggle to hold onto the most competitive players and am i right in thinking that in the past the problems were more to do with individuals than the concept of competition?

if the problem is that theres no "suitable" competitions to enter why not make our own?

other than this i cant think of anything else that im not happy about

 

[Sumac]

i feel that the only thing missing in this division is competitive play
most of the other divisions have it so why not dods.

i feel we could stuggle to hold onto the most competitive players and am i right in thinking that in the past the problems were more to do with individuals than the concept of competition?

if the problem is that theres no "suitable" competitions to enter why not make our own?

other than this i cant think of anything else that im not happy about

This is simple and to me makes some good points. I do not believe anyone would leave simply because something that doesn't exist is not implemented. I do however agree that a lot of competitive players are not able to find a niche within eGO.

Not allowing houses to return seems like a fair decision if they caused problems before. I was not here so I can make no judgment. That being said, why not find another competitive outlet. This is the reason realism is so popular. I think a solid brain storming session on what a good alternative for the void a house system would fill, would be a great idea.

Like I said, I understand that they are not coming back and I am sure there are many members who feel the same as leadership if problems were created. However finding a new competitive outlet seems like an obvious next step.

 

[jeod66]

Thanks for your post Boyle (or should I say "Mission Control"? ), that's the kind of response I was hoping for from this thread.

In particular, we have been concerned lately about the number of players that are primarily concerned with their points; this isn't how eGO is supposed to run, and a good portion of DoD Leadership uses "hlx_display 0" to hide their stats. We're here to have fun, not be stat-obsessed. I'm glad you brought that up to be addressed, we completely forgot about this issue.

We're working on competitive play options, but it's not as easy as it sounds to develop, and there's also the delicate issue called "getting worthwhile prizes". That's under construction as well, however, but it's definitely a "work in progress" in every sense of the term.