Discussion

[therain93]

I think more people would post if/when:
1.) the site is better organized -- get the equivalent of a dedicated community manager to clean up threads and stickies because it is difficult to figure out what is going on.
2.) the site is better moderated -- the flaming gets out of hand very quickly and should be handled by a dedicated group of mods/mini-mods that are different from the communty manager responsibilities.
3.) the team gets close to release -- right now we're just spectators without much control, watching a team of dedicated volunteers pour time into this project without much reward.

[Xiox]

Originally Posted by Sharkz

ROFL


Oh and yeah. The Team that gets all the Fame and Glory is the Team that listens to its community. Or do you forget why you left SWG in the first place lol.

Think about it, the first to release a emulator will obviously get the most interest out of the community. I mean you have to face a few things here, the majority of people working on the "Other" team, once worked right here, they were the ones that REALLY got the SWGEmu team pushed into speed. I'm sure we all remembered when Xeno and Snow abruptly took off, and some of us have no idea why that even happened, and now look.. they're part of a 12+ team, who knows.. Ant could even be working on that specific core. SWGEmu, here's a clue, whatever you did in the past.. seriously.. don't do it again. Recruit some more coders, and treat them with more respect and you just might pull through with a better server, as far as I see it now.. there's a really big handful of high quality coders working on this "Other" Emu. You better work fast or get better with the updates, because what that other team has released is more than you have. You guys know what you need to do to increase traffic around here, I suggest you get on it if you really want to get the community started.

[Davickk]

Originally Posted by shastadude15

I myself have been very actively following the SWGEmu since June of 06...I told all my friends about it that I could, and all my friends who were still playing NGE (I cancelled my NGE account in August)...the snags I hit, are the people still playing NGE are playing the NGE because they either like it better than pre-CU for some reason (I found that these are mostly kids under age 15, Im not joking), think the emu is illegal and dont want to go to jail, or think the emu is a longshot and will never work because they trust Smedley's broken promises over their peers'.

I know for a fact you guys are dilligent workers, and I think everyone who is here right now can agree with me, but I think some of the best things that we could do to get a larger community, would be some of this:

1) For new people threads where people ask questions or introduce themselves, NO FLAMING WHATSOEVER. You either let a moderator or dev answer their question professionally, or you can save the mods and devs plenty of time by answering the question directly in a polite way and welcoming the individual to the community, or directing them politely to a link such as the FAQ and also welcoming them. Ive noticed a LOT of hostile, HOSTILE, replies to "Hey guys, Im new" posts, and I will admit I have made some of those in the past, but its time for that to change, because all it does is tell people you arnt welcome here. Maybe bring back the good old squelch for violators?

2) Do at least a weekly update on the main page, even if it is just for an itty bitty tidbit of progress or no progress at all, just to let the people who dont have time to get on IRC or check the forums, or perhaps are less proficient in navigating IRC or forums, know what is going on without making them read between the lines for updates or go digging.

3) I would say open the test server up more often but it is up quite a lot anyways so I dont really think that is necessary.

4) Find legal ways of getting the word out such as advertising in any means necessary...even if that means putting up fliers in the window of your local Wal Mart. Considering there were over 300,000 SWG players in Pre-CU, someone is bound to see it. This may seem impractical, so why not find legal ways to advertise in gaming magazines or on gaming sites (if at all possible) using donated money? Im sure there are plenty of ways to get the word out that we arnt doing, because I tell probably 1 or 2 Pre-CU players a month about the emu and theyd never even heard of it.

These are just suggestions, and they all may be completely impossible...but hey, its worth a try.

commpletely Right 100%

[Calvin]

Originally Posted by EVILJUDE

I myself, have spoken to quite a few people on Lowca about the EMU, to see who knows about it, who is coming over to this side of the fence, and I see alot who are worried about the legality of it (even tho I try to explain it)

I am running into the same problem trying to get all of my old guild from Lowca interested. All of them are quite certain SOE/LA will get involved sooner or later to shut it down, so why get excited or even test it. I to try explaining. I even posted a quote from several posts I've seen on the topic. I see this topic being a major cramp on the community until either SOE/LA give their blessings, or the servers have been live for a few months.

[Raiyden]

Originally Posted by Xiox

Think about it, the first to release a emulator will obviously get the most interest out of the community. I mean you have to face a few things here, the majority of people working on the "Other" team, once worked right here, they were the ones that REALLY got the SWGEmu team pushed into speed. I'm sure we all remembered when Xeno and Snow abruptly took off, and some of us have no idea why that even happened, and now look.. they're part of a 12+ team, who knows.. Ant could even be working on that specific core. SWGEmu, here's a clue, whatever you did in the past.. seriously.. don't do it again. Recruit some more coders, and treat them with more respect and you just might pull through with a better server, as far as I see it now.. there's a really big handful of high quality coders working on this "Other" Emu. You better work fast or get better with the updates, because what that other team has released is more than you have. You guys know what you need to do to increase traffic around here, I suggest you get on it if you really want to get the community started.

I agree. Its all about communication. When Xeno was on the old forums, he was very much a nice guy in relation to the community. He cancelled a ban I had received for merely pointing out certain facts, and listened to the community. People will have more faith in a team with good community skills. At the end of the day though, the best working emulator will be the one adopted by the community. Theres no two ways about it. If swgemu is the best, then everyone will use it, if the "other" emu is, then that will be most popular. But if you want support from the community, the easiest way to get this is through good communication. Be it in updates, or discussions, although most fundamentally important is being nice to the community and helping new members instead of creating an atmosphere of "1337" ness whereby all new members are demeaned as "n00bs" for being ignorant of the project. The very langauge of 1337 really gives the project a bad and unprofessional look, and the fact that people feel that the easiest way to win brownie points with the devs is by flaming new members really detracts from my personal interest in posting or trying to help out. Just my thoughts, take them as you will.

[Ghostwolf]

One way to attract new members is by visiting devs of other emulation communities not to take them from their main hobby but get their interest in your community. They may not be full devs but they can still add a little code here and there from time to time which really adds up.

You are getting some news exposure. I've started up an emulation news site called Wolflore not too long ago. Shardwire still has links and some info even though its nearly dead and Emulation Resource is reporting news from here.

[DeCastro]

Originally Posted by Raiyden

I agree. Its all about communication. When Xeno was on the old forums, he was very much a nice guy in relation to the community. He cancelled a ban I had received for merely pointing out certain facts, and listened to the community. People will have more faith in a team with good community skills. At the end of the day though, the best working emulator will be the one adopted by the community. Theres no two ways about it. If swgemu is the best, then everyone will use it, if the "other" emu is, then that will be most popular. But if you want support from the community, the easiest way to get this is through good communication. Be it in updates, or discussions, although most fundamentally important is being nice to the community and helping new members instead of creating an atmosphere of "1337" ness whereby all new members are demeaned as "n00bs" for being ignorant of the project. The very langauge of 1337 really gives the project a bad and unprofessional look, and the fact that people feel that the easiest way to win brownie points with the devs is by flaming new members really detracts from my personal interest in posting or trying to help out. Just my thoughts, take them as you will.

This is well said, communication from the Devs is a very important aspect in any community. Also from the community it-self if we can work together we can create a great invirement for people to join our Emulator and to enjoy posting and being part of this great experience once again. But I can also state that in the near future once the Emulator is released our active members and community will jump 10 fold.

[lethalzero]

aswert to you question i thig the peolpe no put new topic for no distract yous with lamer question or repeat post , and for irc i go in and no see nothing there only people talking about other topics

[Archannon]

I loved precu. A lot. Too much actually.
But I am not playing swgemu yet. Im not testing it. Nothing like that.
See, from what I can tell by looking at the forums, this is what will happen.

1: I download a large file to install swg.
2: I open up the myriad of different guides to install swgemu and bumble through it
3: I have to replace certain files with certain other files
4: I run the patch
5: I try to log in
6: I will crash and/or be unable to login
7: I will post on the forum for help
8: I am told to do a forum search for the guides, and am told "stfu noob" and other "leet" expletives.
9: I try to explain why I cant login because the guides are difficult to understand, some are contradictory, and there are multiple files/installers I need to run
10: I am yet again called a noob
11: I dont end up logging in, so I give up.

Instead, I chose the more stress free path of:
1: Watch the forums in silence and await the coming of a single patcher/installer/updater/downloader that gets rid of the guesswork and file replacing
2: Install/play/post feedback

Because I havent installed the game due to the seeming difficulty of installation, I havent tried. I personally thing this is where many of the 8k users stand.
Because I cant play, I cant post feedback.
If you want a bigger community and more users and feedback, Make a nice big easy installer, and eliminate the flaming.
-Arch

[Waiko]

You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may edit your posts

This is along with the flames and the quick to ban nature pretty much somes it up.
I really feel that if a junior member had asked the question of why isn't there more feed back, the answer would have been to "look into the future server ideas section" or "use search you noob." Then someone would have closed the thread long before page 46.

Ask specific questions if you want specific answers.