Hidden Weekend - Opinions and Conclusion

[Skull132]

Okay, let's talk.

A little bit of preface before we start this off: for many months I have been avidly against going hidden for any length of time. Be this for two days or forever. You can notice this attitude if you browse the right threads on the old forums.

But, even with that stance in mind, I was surprised. I had three things I expected to see:

Lower/more stable population count throughout the day

More extended rounds

Longer rounds

The reality, with respects to those three categories?

The population curve was eerily similar to what it had been, minus less people on at deadhour

Extended was picked with normal frequency

Antag rounds were still voted out of after 2 hours

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What does this mean? To me, point one, that I need to reassess the size of the stable and dedicated members of this community (peak number on record during hidden: 57).

Point two, attempt to figure out some semi-frequent schedule for going hidden, and honestly, for the sake of experimentation, see how pushing it will affect the experience.

However, despite the, from my point of view, success of hidden weekend, I am not looking to go hidden forever.

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Why that last comment?

Okay, allow me to present something I am deathly afraid of, a word that I utterly despise in all of its forms and usage: stagnation.

Right now, we have steam. We have a lot of energy, and this is why going hidden didn't have a major, negative effect. However, that momentum can be lost. And once lost, regaining it is a very gruelling and tiresome battle.

And to talk specifics, I am referring to new players, and the influx there of. A month or two with a stagnant playerbase will get disinteresting. And going hidden will more than likely cause that.

Perhaps, perhaps not. I cannot gauge whether or not we'd survive on word of mouth alone. But it will take a braver man than I to test those limits, and to accept potential failure on that count.

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These musings aside: what did you all think of the hidden weekend? Was there any noticeable effect?

[Susan]

I'm just going to say that progression in of itself isn't a good thing. Yes, going hidden might lead to less new players joining, but then you have to ask yourself the question do we /want/ every new player that joins?

Baystation turned into the place it was today because of 'progression', wherein the population slowly weaned away from heavy RP as bad RPers and powergamers joined, driving away the people dedicated towards heavy RP. The admin staff were so afraid of your 'stagnation' that they bent over backwards to accommodate these new players and so the quality of the server and staff plummeted, turning it into the craphole it is today.

Progression isn't inherently good. New people aren't inherently good. If stagnation means remaining heavy roleplay with a modicum of quality, I'd rather have stagnation than progression towards something less desirable.

[Gollee]

Agreeing with both of you on the points about stagnation and progression. We don't want to stagnate, and we don't want to devolve.

The hidden weekend was awesome from my perspective, all the antags I saw were excellent, the rounds I was in were fun, with the right mix of action and chair RP; allowing character development as well as the heart-pump of antag activities.

[duck]

Hi.

From what I've seen: the server's population is nearing critical mass. After like, 30-40 players, if your server isn't completely awful, the rate at which you pick up new regulars starts increasing exponentially. (There are always people there, so people always want to be there and they start inviting friends. More people, more friends, and so on. To say nothing of people who look at the server lists and say, 'This has people so I'm going to play here.') The server I was with took a while to go from 20-30. 30-40 was quick. 40-50 was quicker. And then we started getting 100+s whenever Goon went down, and that continued to happen for a while.

New for the sake of new definitely isn't a good thing, but if you don't let the core population drop below 20-40, you can still bounce back fairly easily anytime. Of course, foreverhidden is still a bad thing because stagnation is a real thing. And it's not a good thing, either. Some balance is probably ideal.

[Valkrae]

There has to be a happy medium. We have to keep the status of Heavy RP, and strict rules, whilst allowing this steam to be used to propel us into the great BYOND(I'm so funny).

I don't suggest we go hidden forever, however, I do suggest we do it at semi-regular intervals, in order to give the staff, and regular players a much needed break.

Every new player isn't going to be some god of RP, but at the same time, every new player won't be Baldy McBalderson from Balderon-V, with a vengeance bent on the destruction of the NSS Aurora.

Think, everyone was new to Aurora once. I'm a new addition, and I don't seem to have many people hating me. I like to think I'm a decent member of this community. Which, as it turns out, is what a lot of people are looking for. They are looking for a community to feel apart of. We can't just sink into the depths of hidden, and turn away all of those potential great RPers.

I might be babbling but, that's just my opinion on the matter.

[Skull132]

To clarify: momentum was used to describe the influx of new ideas in the form of RP moments, characters, and ideas. Concepts, and so on, those will be handled with care and tact, as always.

To use an analogy given to me by someone else:

You're still going to the chess club (Aurora) to play chess. But to play chess against the same opponents using the same movesets for months on end would get tiresome. So something new, a new opponent perhaps, is welcome.

And as it stands, we're looking at a hidden weekend every weekend. And see how that works out.

[Valkrae]

We should still try and shove the forums down people's throats, so they know about hidden weekend.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

It was interesting. A bit slow since I usually expect chaos from buttheads, but it was still enjoyable.

This probably isn't something we should do all the time. Every weekend would be good, but we'd be cutting off access to the server on primetime. To respond to what Sue said, immigration isn't something we want to lose control over, but immigration = lifeblood of the server. Baystation turned poo because it hoarded its new players and was fanatically fighting against stagnation, but that argument suggests that we'll have the same behaviour. If we don't have new players to replace the ones that leave, the station will end up with the small group of hardcore supporters which themselves will begin to filter away. You always need to replace your numbers, and we just need to decide what that number is.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I really don't see a reason to go invisible all the time. From what I've seen, most of the new people have been relatively competent in their RP. Also, considering we've banned more than a quarter of BYOND's total population, I'd say that most of the baldies and outright griefers have been removed from the equation. The only ones left to weed out are the ones dedicated to refusing to learn what heavy RP means, and the line-toers.

[Guest]

To clarify: momentum was used to describe the influx of new ideas in the form of RP moments, characters, and ideas. Concepts, and so on, those will be handled with care and tact, as always.

To use an analogy given to me by someone else:

You're still going to the chess club (Aurora) to play chess. But to play chess against the same opponents using the same movesets for months on end would get tiresome. So something new, a new opponent perhaps, is welcome.

And as it stands, we're looking at a hidden weekend every weekend. And see how that works out.

 

That "someone else" didn't always practice what he preached.

I'd be up for hidden weekends if it were announced sparingly. Maybe every other weekend or you guys can have decisions based on whether or not the staff want the server to be hidden via a vote count or something.

[Jakers457]

I personally dislike the hidden weekend. When I am available to play usually, the server is completely dead and I tend to find that I won't be able to play until a few hours, which can be a pain when you've got the appetite for some SS13. Now some argue that the roleplay is enhanced but I always find myself interacting with the crew less, due to the fact the crew is barely present and are usually tucked away into the corners of the station.

On one hand, I can see the benefits of having the hidden weekend but on the other hand, I don't think it's beneficial enough for me personally... due to how my own experience is suffering. But if people are loving it somehow, then I suppose I will endure the stagnancy when I'm online.