I love Ark, didn't find a server I would play in a reoccurring manner. With eGO, probably.One important aspect that we can, and should, explore moving forward is developing our servers in newer, more popular games. Games like Palworld, Valheim, Ark, Rust, so on and so forth that we can take a closer look at the realistic "market" for (I'm aware by default some of those have player limits but are able to support larger servers with settings or mods).
We have effectively had the same four major games for years and years and years, and in many of those games, our presence is dropping in terms of server and player counts. Let's give something new a try.
WHY: I believe it has to do with multiple reasons.
- Lack of consistent dedicated tech.
- Absence of servers in CS2 ; Urgent need of a symbiotic gaming ecosystem.
- Low incentive value to become a recruit or dedicated supporter.
- Changing gaming landscape (TS3 > Discord, CSGO > CS2, Game Metas and popularity).
HOW TO FIX?: A lot easier said than done, but when there is a will there is a way.
- Without a dedicated tech team, this community will continue to slowly collapse. Tech is the foundation of this community; without servers, we cant have community members join, without members there is no community. My profession in real life does not include a technical background. I don't have the time nor interest in becoming a coder or a techy. My interest in this community is gaming and spending time with members that share a similar interest. There has to be a way to incentivi$e our existing tech so that they have the motivation to consistently provide content and updates. We also need a renewed sense of urgency when it comes to recruiting new tech volunteers who are willing to put in the work. We need to foster a tech mentorship culture and potentially lower the threshold for who we allow into tech. Rather than denying someone with limited experience, let's put them under the wing of existing tech so they can continue to pass the torch along to someone else. Applying this logic in real life, think of how older close to retiring generations provide mentorship and guidance to the next newer generation in their respective industry.
- Counter-strike is eGO's strongest contributor when it comes to numbers. Fostering multiple servers for players to hop around is vital for cultivating and maintaining a strong sense of community. If I got bored with Jailbreak, I'll hop onto TTT, then Surf, Bhop, rinse & repeat. The absence of servers in CS2 makes it to where most players, including myself, exit the game to play another or jump to a different community server when they get bored with our limited available servers. In the past, we built a strong community by having this sort of symbiotic ecosystem of gamers that would jump from one eGO server to the next.
- With the lack of servers, there is a subsequent inevitable lack of intrinsic value of becoming a recruit or dedicated supporter. Many of the issues we face have a ripple or domino effect, and we can't necessarily solve one unless we focus on the other. We need to provide value in becoming a community member and a potential donator. Many of the incentives heavily rely on providing and maintaining servers.
- The reality is, some of the reasons we are seeing a dwindling of this community are due to factors that are out of our reach. The rise of Discord paved a way for micro-community and friends only servers. Players grow up and move onto different interest in life, which may not involve gaming. Valve unfriendliness towards community developers. The changing pace of game metas and the lack of community style servers in newer games.
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Complaining about the community dying is not productive. Complaining about others complaining about the community dying is equally burdensome. Telling someone to go do something or learn something to help out isn't going to do it. As a community, we ALL need to put in the effort in keeping this amazing social gaming experience alive. In my strong opinion, it starts with recruiting capable tech, mentoring and educating willing tech applicants to then start pumping out servers, updates, and ride the wave of the constant evolution of gaming. My deep love for this gaming community and Counterstrike are the reasons that keeps me here. Not many players had the opportunity of growing up in the heyday of Counterstrike community gaming. I strongly believe the golden era of community gaming isn't over. The real question is will it continue within this community or migrate to another thriving venture.
Thanks for listening to my TED talk.
Hard agree on this one. I discovered so many games with people just by hanging out in Ventrilo and Teamspeak over the years. Unfortunately, the change in how people game and hang out online really nuked that. I also unfortunately have a hard time imaging the younger crowd getting into TS the way we did.To have a successful organization, especially with an online community, I believe you need to have a place where people feel like they belong. My biggest complaint since it happened has been the implementation of Discord because it got rid of the one thing that made this community special (in my opinion)— teamspeak.
I agree there is a big disconnect between LE and members. Bigger than the members know. I brought this up shortly after I initially became leadership but was told that the gap didn't exist.TBH, I don't think EdgeGamers is dying. However, there is something I've noticed that could spell disaster for the future of the community. I've been a part of two communities in the past that, like many others, no longer exist or are essentially dead. One common factor I've observed right before the end is a disconnect that forms between leadership (higher-ups, team leads, CEO, etc.) and the members. This disconnect goes beyond egos and attitudes. Specifically, I believe the major recipe for disaster here is a lack of transparency.
Because leadership matters are often handled behind closed doors, questions arise about what they are doing, why they aren't focusing on certain issues, or why their priorities seem misplaced. In fact, the lack of transparency is one of the reasons this whole discussion exists. With that in mind, I have a few suggestions for how EdgeGamers can improve the relationship between leadership and the community.
First of all, a "Who Got Banned and Why" thread could be helpful. This would list recently banned players along with a short paragraph explaining the reasons for the ban. It would be limited to long bans (1+ months) and members or relatively active players. This would establish consistency, accountability, and eliminate guesswork. Although some details might not be shareable, providing some explanation would improve transparency and clarify what behavior is not tolerated on the servers. The lack of a thread detailing why long-time members or players were banned leaves others to form their own conclusions, which can lead to perceptions of inconsistency or unfairness. A thread with information about bans could explain, for example, that a player had a history of infractions, previous bans, or other factors that warranted a five-month ban or a permanent one.
Next, a monthly or quarterly update from leadership would be beneficial. This post could outline what leadership has been working on, what they plan to focus on, and similar updates. This would show the community that progress is being made and could also invite constructive criticism and suggestions. While not everything leadership is working on can be disclosed, a brief summary of projects and progress across all EdgeGamers teams could foster more relevant input from the community.
Lastly, and this one's on the members, speak up! The suggestions section exists for a reason. Also, my recommendation for transparency with projects and progress would work hand in hand with this. Just speak yo!
In conclusion, EdgeGamers isn't dying, and I don't think there is a true division between leadership and members, however, these recommendations could prevent this from happening and promote clarity and collaboration within the community.
absolutely agree. I am 100% a teamspeak person. Since we lost teamspeak I felt as if the community declined. I want teamspeak back so much. But furthermore, I am so thankful that you all took the time out and expressed your opinions. Especially as eG or eGO members. You homies have been apart of the admin team and have seen both sides of the fence and are still here advocating. You all are absolutely amazing and a fruitful part of this community. Both sides of the spectrum is exactly what we need to find a common ground.For perspective on what I’m about to write: I am someone who really hasn’t played on EGO servers, consistently, since about 2019. I joined EGO on July 12, 2015 on my 13th birthday. During my time I was an EC Manager for Minecraft and played on our Minecraft, Battlefield, and Team Fortress 2 servers daily.
One of the things I have noticed anytime I try to come back to an EGO server is there is a lack of community and belonging. When I joined EGO, there was a huge emphasis on Teamspeak and voice channel interaction. What made this organization thrive was the people. Teamspeak was always packed with people in voice channels.
Hell, there were HOURS where I would sit in Teamspeak and just talk with people. It really felt like a family.
To have a successful organization, especially with an online community, I believe you need to have a place where people feel like they belong. My biggest complaint since it happened has been the implementation of Discord because it got rid of the one thing that made this community special (in my opinion)— teamspeak.
Yes, discord has voice options, but I believe Discord is more of a message application than a voice application. Teamspeak, really, did not give our community an option on how they communicate. We basically only gave people the option of talking to each other as our form of communication. This builds connections, relationships, and a sense of community.
While I completely agree with above statements, I also wanted to offer my perspective as someone who has tried to come back and to be more active, but almost immediately lost interest. This is/was more than a gaming community. This was a family of people who genuinely cared about each other. We need that part back. You can have all the servers in the world, but if you do not have a place of belonging for the people joining those servers to want to stay on the server, you can not grow as a community and thrive— you only maintain for a while, then plateau, and then eventually lose numbers.
TBH, I don't think EdgeGamers is dying. However, there is something I've noticed that could spell disaster for the future of the community. I've been a part of two communities in the past that, like many others, no longer exist or are essentially dead. One common factor I've observed right before the end is a disconnect that forms between leadership (higher-ups, team leads, CEO, etc.) and the members. This disconnect goes beyond egos and attitudes. Specifically, I believe the major recipe for disaster here is a lack of transparency.
Because leadership matters are often handled behind closed doors, questions arise about what they are doing, why they aren't focusing on certain issues, or why their priorities seem misplaced. In fact, the lack of transparency is one of the reasons this whole discussion exists. With that in mind, I have a few suggestions for how EdgeGamers can improve the relationship between leadership and the community.
First of all, a "Who Got Banned and Why" thread could be helpful. This would list recently banned players along with a short paragraph explaining the reasons for the ban. It would be limited to long bans (1+ months) and members or relatively active players. This would establish consistency, accountability, and eliminate guesswork. Although some details might not be shareable, providing some explanation would improve transparency and clarify what behavior is not tolerated on the servers. The lack of a thread detailing why long-time members or players were banned leaves others to form their own conclusions, which can lead to perceptions of inconsistency or unfairness. A thread with information about bans could explain, for example, that a player had a history of infractions, previous bans, or other factors that warranted a five-month ban or a permanent one.
Next, a monthly or quarterly update from leadership would be beneficial. This post could outline what leadership has been working on, what they plan to focus on, and similar updates. This would show the community that progress is being made and could also invite constructive criticism and suggestions. While not everything leadership is working on can be disclosed, a brief summary of projects and progress across all EdgeGamers teams could foster more relevant input from the community.
Lastly, and this one's on the members, speak up! The suggestions section exists for a reason. Also, my recommendation for transparency with projects and progress would work hand in hand with this. Just speak yo!
In conclusion, EdgeGamers isn't dying, and I don't think there is a true division between leadership and members, however, these recommendations could prevent this from happening and promote clarity and collaboration within the community.
The biggest problem that caused a lot of disconnect was the little to poor communication between teams and absolutely no affirmation from above cm to anyone. I can't speak for any division other than cs but i was an le member for a while and I think I got maybe a few good jobs from anyone above me about the work I did which was a lot over the years. This creates a barrier between us and them which then falls down the tree because you start to get a disconnect from actually playing the game and having fun to it starting to turn into a job that pays nothing and just shits on you any time you aren't perfect. I can say before I left was the most communication from non cs le we ever had so hopefully thats still going.TBH, I don't think EdgeGamers is dying. However, there is something I've noticed that could spell disaster for the future of the community. I've been a part of two communities in the past that, like many others, no longer exist or are essentially dead. One common factor I've observed right before the end is a disconnect that forms between leadership (higher-ups, team leads, CEO, etc.) and the members. This disconnect goes beyond egos and attitudes. Specifically, I believe the major recipe for disaster here is a lack of transparency.
This one makes no sense and would only cause disruption. We used to have ban reports available to all admins and it became a problem, now imagine everyone can see what people get banned for and why. This would honestly probably get people more mad. Also like don said in discord we don't need to let everyone know what luccyfer said, that language no matter how much you agree or disagree with it, it could make people feel uncomfortable and thats not what ego is about.Because leadership matters are often handled behind closed doors, questions arise about what they are doing, why they aren't focusing on certain issues, or why their priorities seem misplaced. In fact, the lack of transparency is one of the reasons this whole discussion exists. With that in mind, I have a few suggestions for how EdgeGamers can improve the relationship between leadership and the community.
First of all, a "Who Got Banned and Why" thread could be helpful. This would list recently banned players along with a short paragraph explaining the reasons for the ban. It would be limited to long bans (1+ months) and members or relatively active players. This would establish consistency, accountability, and eliminate guesswork. Although some details might not be shareable, providing some explanation would improve transparency and clarify what behavior is not tolerated on the servers. The lack of a thread detailing why long-time members or players were banned leaves others to form their own conclusions, which can lead to perceptions of inconsistency or unfairness. A thread with information about bans could explain, for example, that a player had a history of infractions, previous bans, or other factors that warranted a five-month ban or a permanent one.
yesNext, a monthly or quarterly update from leadership would be beneficial. This post could outline what leadership has been working on, what they plan to focus on, and similar updates. This would show the community that progress is being made and could also invite constructive criticism and suggestions. While not everything leadership is working on can be disclosed, a brief summary of projects and progress across all EdgeGamers teams could foster more relevant input from the community.
While I agree with most of what you said, people who get banned brought it upon themselves. I agree there shouldn't be a public statement issued for every ban. This being said, this is a gaming community and while not everything has to be explained, I don't think we need to be secretive about bans.I'm curious why a public statement of why people get banned is important, the person gets banned and has the right to tell whomever they want. That discussion is between the banned person and their friends. Why would someone from TF2 need a public statement on why someone in CS got banned?
This to me just opens up a can of worms that really isn't necessary.
If someone got fired from their job, do companies post on a board stating why Joe got fired? Just seems really odd. Personally, its none of my business. If you are friends with them, ask them. If they don't understand why.. tell them to ask for clarification through CL/Ban contest which is why its there.