What's happening in here?

[psychoangel691]

Re: What's happening in here?

Communication has been a huge issue for a long time really. Both between staff and staff to community.

I will gladly go back to making these posts http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...hats-happenin/ if the other staff members will get on board with me and give me updates. That at least will keep the community in the loop of things.

[hi19hi19]

Re: What's happening in here?

Of course, this comes back around to what would anyone else reading this do? Would they be willing to commit themselves to serious change around here? Especially considering we operate on a volunteer basis.

I have thought a lot about this. I discussed it with OWA last night. He can attest that I've given a lot of consideration to FFR's issues.

Essentially, it is my opinion that your last sentence is what is killing this site.
Development takes MONEY.

[Synthlight]

Re: What's happening in here?

There should probably be two people who are like "site leads" that can help things keep rolling in all aspects of the site by checking in with the various groups and bringing on people as necessary. If there's two people I think there would be a better success with it because the work can be tag teamed and not just fall apart when one person gets busy with something.

Everyone knows that people have real lives outside here, but it's the fact that nobody takes the initiative to put someone else in the place of those people to help keep things going. There's also generally no communication about it which gets the community upset.

Ok. This transparency seems easily solvable. Who are the two people you are recommending?

[hi19hi19]

Re: What's happening in here?

I would be extremely willing to commit myself to making serious change happen on this site.
I would work my heart out to bring this community alive again and get the game the updates it deserves.

But I would need monetary compensation. Volunteering for FFR is neither profitable nor a resume builder.

[Synthlight]

Re: What's happening in here?

I would be extremely willing to commit myself to making serious change happen on this site.
I would work my heart out to bring this community alive again and get the game the updates it deserves.

But I would need monetary compensation. Volunteering for FFR is neither profitable nor a resume builder.

Thank you but where does this money come from? Any suggestions?

[justin_ator]

Re: What's happening in here?

There should probably be two people who are like "site leads" that can help things keep rolling in all aspects of the site by checking in with the various groups and bringing on people as necessary. If there's two people I think there would be a better success with it because the work can be tag teamed and not just fall apart when one person gets busy with something.

+1 to this. It's a valid point, and a reasonable course of action in my opinion.

This is proof of what I am trying to say. Get people fired up and engaged. We have to strike that balance of helping people stay here but generating new interest. It can all be done regardless of code, forum, site theme etc. I don't mean to sound like a broken record but I think that discussing this, you will see why what I am saying will work. The rest of the problems, (I don't mean to sound harsh) are either junior high style issues or problems that can fix themselves as a side effect of general inspiration.

I do think I understand what you're trying to say, but in case I don't I'll elaborate on where I am coming from.

We need to balance growing and retention, yes. But the way to doing that is action, and from a user's perspective on the site currently there is little action. So when you say "a majority of these problems can fix themselves from the general inspiration", I have to ask where the inspiration is to come from? As the user base we can definitely promote that inspiration, but when a lot of us (or maybe it is just AJ and I) feel like there is little happening in this community currently to keep us engaged and involved how can we be expected to foster inspiration and be fired up? It boils down to, in my opinion, a direction that should be established and pursued first and foremost by the staff. If the staff aren't excited about the site, how can the users be?

[Trumpet63]

Re: What's happening in here?

it's easily solvable with action: tell the users what's going [...]

And what happens when "what's going on" is nothing? What do we tell the users then, considering, that IS what's going on?

don't disorganize things by removing active users who are actually trying to be a part of the solution and not the problem

I don't get that you're concerned about things getting disorganized. How much worse could it actually be? Shake things up for a few days so we can put it back together how it needs to be.

The people who are active are in no danger of losing their positions, and it will give everyone a chance to redefine what they're willing to do, what their skills are, and what the needs of the site are.

For this to happen, we need someone (or several people) who is considered "in charge," which is something we all already agree is a main issue.

[hi19hi19]

Re: What's happening in here?

Thank you but where does this money come from? Any suggestions?

What I said to OWA:
#1 priority, fix the legal side of the site.
Turn all existing permissions to "legacy permissions"
Songs are in the game, contact me if you want them removed kind of deal. What Osu does.
Then rework the permission system to explicitly include the possibility of advertisements and microtransactions in order to pay server and development costs.
Future permissions are gained with this particular stipulation in mind.

Then, keep the game completely free to play.
But advertise, and charge for things that don't impact gameplay at all, like skins*. This is the 2010s video game business model, and it would work for FFR too.

*Anyone remember the characters that used to appear on your scorecard? Anyone realize how easy it would be to sell noteskins? Think a little.

[hi19hi19]

Re: What's happening in here?

I laid out an entire business plan to OWA last night on Skype. What I just put above would be only the beginning.

It's clear FFR needs to change. There's plenty of opportunities and methods to keep the site alive.
Don't let it die just "because volunteers!!!"

[justin_ator]

Re: What's happening in here?

And what happens when "what's going on" is nothing? What do we tell the users then, considering, that IS what's going on?

I stated this earlier but I think I should state it again:

If nothing is happening, there's two things that should take place. The first, be open on that to the community. If we know there's nothing going on, then at least there is transparency. Second thing would be to establish why there is nothing happening, and act accordingly. If it is because your lead devs are swamped with a heavy course load at Uni for a semester, evaluate the staff expectations and see if there needs to be a change. If that's not the issue, then go another route to facilitate the start of something. Have a suggestion board or something again like Zageron did a while back. Are most of the suggestions going to be jokes or impractical? Sure, but maybe there will be some good ones. Who knows?

[TC_Halogen]

Re: What's happening in here?

And what happens when "what's going on" is nothing? What do we tell the users then, considering, that IS what's going on?

lmfao

"nothing's going on, what do I tell the users?"

how about you tell them that nothing's going on so that, you know... the users can tell you what you can do to improve their experience?

uh, tell users what's planned in the future? like -- ... really? you're acting as if users SHOULD be satisfied if your team is doing nothing. get real.

I don't get that you're concerned about things getting disorganized. How much worse could it actually be? Shake things up for a few days so we can put it back together how it needs to be.

The people who are active are in no danger of losing their positions, and it will give everyone a chance to redefine what they're willing to do, what their skills are, and what the needs of the site are.

For this to happen, we need someone (or several people) who is considered "in charge," which is something we all already agree is a main issue.

the issue that's going on has less to do with staff as a whole and the teams within them, as each team is communicating internally with one another to come with solutions to their various problems. it's not an organization issue, it's an issue with the fact that there is no communication. the teams, WHEN THEY ARE WORKING, have proven to work well, and this doesn't take too much searching to see.

even the dev's were being productive with their monthly releases.

so no, your point is completely invalid.

EDIT: hi19, I know that you talked to me privately about your particular interests but:

I laid out an entire business plan to OWA last night on Skype. What I just put above would be only the beginning.

It's clear FFR needs to change. There's plenty of opportunities and methods to keep the site alive.
Don't let it die just "because volunteers!!!"

the site operated quite well without this and it doesn't need money infused into it to get people going because there were people who were interested in doing things without payment that got rejected or turned away for various reasons - so please, stop trying to talk about things that are in your own interests

[_Zenith_]

Re: What's happening in here?

I'm going to say this about FFR and my own involvement/desire for FFR.

I was attracted to the game before the community, and thus was naturally more involved with the game aspects than Events or anything else pertaining community (such as Simfiles, Developing, etc). That desire has never wavered, and neither has my own resolve to help FFR in any way shape or form that I am capable of.

I was added into the Event Staff team back last year around this time, but at that time I was incapable of not only producing content for the team, but I was rather inactive during our chats (and this lead to the accident in which I caused and was terminated for plus my inactivity). Honestly, and Psychoangel can attest to this, I tried very hard to get back on the team despite the discharge because there was a point in time that I was dedicated solely to events. I still host user-based events of my own and I'm still very much learning how to effectively be a better host/content creator when it came to events.

As of right now, I hit the skill peak of my own goals and now there is no major concern for improving at the game, however I as a person need something to fill the now-void with. I am currently working on something that I hope goes smoothly and if not then I can take it as a learning experience, but I have all of the time in the world (I literally have no real life ties to anything of importance) in which I can dedicate myself to FFR's growth and learn more about different aspects of FFR as a whole; or even rhythm gaming for that matter.

I was told by a staffed member that I most likely would never be able to be a part of staff here on FFR due to my "dishonorable discharge" from the Event Staff, but that still does not deter me from helping in any way due to my ambition to see FFR prosper because it was a major part in my life.

Sorry if this /rant displeases anyone, but we do have quite a collection of helpful, bright, and ambitious people here on FFR that would probably love to get their moment in helping FFR grow, however as it currently stands it is something that isn't high up on importance.

[Synthlight]

Re: What's happening in here?

I have to ask where the inspiration is to come from? As the user base we can definitely promote that inspiration, but when a lot of us (or maybe it is just AJ and I) feel like there is little happening in this community currently to keep us engaged and involved how can we be expected to foster inspiration and be fired up?

This has to come from above general staff level and then absorbed by staff and the community. I am not the solution by any means but magnify this last hour I have been involved by 7 days a week and that would make a tremendous difference.

[Synthlight]

Re: What's happening in here?

lmfao

"nothing's going on, what do I tell the users?"

how about you tell them that nothing's going on so that, you know... the users can tell you what you can do to improve their experience?

You don't need to tell them that nothing is going on or that things will go on in the future. You just need to involve them. "Hey, we want your input." and then build off of that.

[Synthlight]

Re: What's happening in here?

and this lead to the accident in which I caused and was terminated for plus my inactivity

Can you bring me up to speed on what happened here?