I know this is discussion of forum moderation, but the rules say "excessive discussion of the rules" so I hope this thread does not become excessive. Keep it on the down-low. I do not wish to stir up any negative feelings, but wish for honest, straightforward, non-excessive thoughts of forum rules.
Just to get it out of the way:
I'm just curious if there is a set standard, or a procedure, when it comes to moderation of these forums. There does not seem to be in my observation. When it comes to certain rule infractions, consequences have not been consistent in various talks with community members. Warning points and temp-ban durations vary moderator to moderator, bringing ambiguity, uncertainty to how we are to be policed. For example, "x" forum user posts "y" on "z" thread. "y" is against forum rules for "abc" reasons. "x" forum user is issued 5 warning points and a 1 day temp-ban by one moderator. Somewhere else on the forums, "e" forum user is issued 10 warning points and no temp ban for posting the exact same "y" content, which was against forum rules for the same "abc" reasons with the same degree of rule-breaking that "x" forum user posted. "e" forum user was actioned by a different moderator.
To be clear, forum moderation is a thing that is necessary. It's a good thing that it's there. It should be. However, it is to my opinion that clear and visible procedures and standards be available to both the average community member and the moderating team to be accountable. It's this ambiguity that makes forum regulars hesitant to post sometimes. This does not bode well for active forum participation in the future.
Does a forum regular withhold a well-known community joke/meme in appropriate context simply because he or she fears warning points and a ban from a moderator who does not comprehend the joke? At what point do we, as forum users, need to draw the line in our actions in order to prevent being actioned and still maintain our "independence" in a sense. Where do we have to draw the line? And where do the moderators draw their lines and say, "this is how moderation is breaking down. This type of post will draw X number of warning points and Y number of forum suspension days" or "this type of post will give you (insert range here) warning points and at Z number of warning points you will be suspended. (insert number here) of temporary suspensions will be followed by a permanent suspension."
I'd like to believe that we desire clarity. I'm not asking for a changing of the rules, I'm not asking for a clean slate, I'm not asking for amnesty or favored treatment. Just like many other things in Hawken that are unclear to us, this community desires clarity from the developers of a very loved game. I honestly hope the developers can bring clarity to the community in a timely fashion. If they can't bring clarity to us regarding in-game stuff, then I'm very disappointed but it's likely due to NDA from the publisher or whatever. But what they can bring clarity to, what they can put to rest, what they can settle in the community, is the rules. Something concrete.
Now in order to avoid this thread being classified as excessive discussion of the rules, here's other Hawken related things in order to decrease the overall percentage of rule-related words.
I recently read somewhere on the forums that someone believed that there was a current dearth of mid-tier players. This would result in a population curve that was somewhat like a double bell curve: lots of lowbies, lots of high tier cabal people, few mid tiers. This was one of the primary causes of imbalance in matches, was his belief.
What do I define as each "tier" when it comes to low, mid, high? To me, lowbies consist of 1500-1600 and below. Mid tiers consist of 1600 to 1800-1900ish. Anything 2000 MMR and above could probably be considered high tier considering the current population size. Shadeness was kind enough to lend me a peek at the MMR distribution in the game that he gleaned from his now defunct leaderboards.
So that was some curious data. Numbers are magic. This, unfortunately is only of PC Hawken, and something like 26,617 unique accounts logged playing is what I'm assuming from Shade's data during a one month period. Anyone on console that's a "good PC player and/or can adequately measure MMR", how would you judge the current MMR distribution/MMR breakdowns across respective consoles? Console Hawken has been out for at least a month now, plenty of time for people to settle in and get into the game (or leave it). Similar to PC Hawken? How would you judge the playerbase size as well?
I haven't played console, but given that Hawken hasn't changed a whole lot from what I can tell, I would imagine that player retention is similar to what PC Hawken is and has been at for years: decent for the first few days, and then a sharp drop off. Which brings me to the long-repeated question of "what can be done about player retention" and then the vets go "oh thats ez, new tutorial, more information to the players to help em out duh its ezzzzzzzzzzzzz"
to which I would say, I'm not so sure. New stuff helps. New content helps. It's nice. Better servers would be great. Better performance optimizations would be fantastic. All these things add up, but I don't think it'll solve player retention. Part of me says that it's partly due to a higher skill ceiling and people just want a mechanically easy game to "git srs n supa gud" *cough OW cough* and Hawken isn't exactly mechanically easy. Gameplay wise, stylistically, Hawken is somewhat unique, but partly doomed because it's somewhat unique and a little off the well-worn path of "normal" popular FPSes. And another part just might be the difficulty of "making it" on the video game market where games primarily come from AAA developers. RLD is not a AAA developer.
So what are we left with? That's a really good question. Also, 27,000 players is a lame number.
Also this imgur gallery is very important to everyone right now: http://imgur.com/gallery/QUN1X
Also when is Pusher and Siege Tank coming out, thanks devs
Edited by Silverfire, 02 February 2017 - 12:29 AM.
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