27th Feb - EU3 Town hall!

[razgriz33]

hear ye, hear ye!

 

27th February at 1600UTC

 

A meeting is to be held on teamspeak to hear ye concerns and questions. This is just for eu3 and I have nothing prepared, this one is all for you guys.

[Pancake]

Well lets get some topics for discussion written down in preparation then shall we? I would like people to respond to this with their ideas and this post can be edited to be the comprehensive anchor esque list that the spokesperson can delve into for topic inspiration.

 

• New Member quality control
• Loadouts, forced or free? Sure to be a hot topic
• Direction of mission development
• Addition or removal of certain mods
• ACE Medical, a step in the right direction or a dumbing down of a complex system?
• Inappropriate leaders -Para
• Time Wasting -Para (I made my first comment about that on the last gamenight ran by Icy, 2 hours before we got to the city)
• ACRE & the issues we've been having with it -Aalp
• No doubt many more points to be made

[ParabolicAJB]

• 'Bad Leadership' - This isn't a dig at how good people are at leading, I do not choose Commander/Squad Lead as I recognise I would not be good enough to ensure things run smoothly and everyone has a good experience, but that is my point.  Lately, there have been many different players taking the leadership roles which has detrimented the gaming experience for others.  This goes beyond cutting someone some slack, this is players who are plainly not experienced enough or don't have the right attitude.
• 'Time Wasting' - This could be caused in part by the above issue, but the crux of the issue is unecessary time spent idling at base whilst other players are not focussed on getting ready and getting the AO/mission underway.  This goes beyond the reasonable time needed for command to make a plan and get the pieces in the right place.  This is caused by a casual attitude at the wrong time.  There is time for a laugh and a joke, it's needed, however lately I've noticed my experience and that of others heavily detracted by this behaviour.

Regards, Alex.

[Minipily]

I would deffo like to talk about the medical system.

 

I'll be there!

[Miczils]

I would surely like to talk about medical system. 
42 cpr's and 2liters of epi later 

[aalp234_Game]

I'll be there, I know this will probably be frowned upon by many but I'd like to talk for a bit about the problems that have arisen due to ACRE2 being implemented.

[Ryko]

@aalp234_Game - no worries at all there, I would encourage that discussion, especially now that we finally seem to have ACRE implemented properly.

 

For my own interests, I'd like to discuss mission development.  I'm having fun tearing into Gauntlet, but if Valiant is mere days away, then I won't spend the time and will probably put more effort into Insurgency.

 

-R

[Colsta]

Valiant is mere days away

TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW.

[Miksi]

For my own interests, I'd like to discuss mission development.  I'm having fun tearing into Gauntlet, but IF Valiant is mere days away, then I won't spend the time and will probably put more effort into Insurgency.

 

-R

@Colsta lets read that again shall we.

[Dreams]

This would be nice so we can get some of the new EU3 players involved in the community and to also talk about the rules. Because most don't read the rules they just skim through it to find the password link. Because they might not know they can't use just any gun ex: FN FAL as a rifleman, and then they might get yelled at by a moderator, and then my bitch back at the moderator. And they might not know how to use ACE or ACRE.

[Colsta]

@Colsta lets read that again shall we.

In my defense, English is not easy.

[Amentes]

they might get yelled at by a moderator

 

You know perfectly well it's not the moderator 'gonna yell at 'em

[Johnson]

Would love to come to this to just listen or input if I can think of anything at the time!

[GhostDragon]

unfortunately i can not attend due to work but will post some things that i would like to raise in this topic in the next day or so.

[Titangames98]

I want to make it clear here that the admins are doing their job and nothing here is against anyone at AH working EU3 or gamenights.  Also, sorry for such a long post but I really wanted to get my point across because Ahoyworld is mainly the reason I play Arma3 and I would like to help and improve things in any way I can.  

Being one of the newer EU#3 players (I have been playing EU#1 and EU#2 for about a year and a half now and Arma3 since the alpha), one of the main topics I would like to see discussed is the lack of seriousness in a serious environment.  EU3 is meant to be a serious gaming environment for the more hardcore players, right? Hence the strict forum rules, countless mods and complicated (if you're new) files to download and such.  That is exactly what I was looking for when I wanted to get into EU3; a serious gaming environment for both the hardcore players and softcore players looking to get into the most realistic part of Arma3.

 Parabolic said in one of the first comments in this thread that the casual attitude needs to happen at the right time, and yes, jokes are needed but only at precise moments and not during a serious mission or a gamenight, unless during debrief and other out-of-mission downtime.

 I've played two of the three most recent gamenight missions so far, and I did immediately notice the lack of strong leadership in a few areas.  Some weaker squad leaders do know what they are doing, yes, they really do.  Its just a matter of execution and its something that should not be done for the first time in a gamenight.  However, I also feel that both of the missions I participated in, the Fallujah mission (blackhawk down) under Bacon and the chaotic Sahrini town mission under Icy, seemed to be understaffed.  Not by admins, but by players. I think there were only maybe 30 players in each mission. If the server was more populated during these two missions, then maybe a stronger squad leader would have been present.

 Anyways, back to the main point. It really just doesn't fulfill anything for me, and I'm sure others too, when there are players who join EU3 during the week and for the gamenights, and just screw around constantly.  It ruins the whole environment of a serious and yet fun time playing these missions when there are around 4, maybe 5 or more players, in both of the gamenights I've played, who will talk about waffles and bananas and STD's and weird sexual things that should be left at the EU3 server lobby, and not taken into EU3, especially gamenights.  YES, there is a time for jokes and all of that stuff, but I think it should not be in the middle of clearing buildings or any part of a mission.

 Having weaker squad/team leaders may have an impact on this, maybe a stronger squad or team leader would have told these players to cut the shit during a mission.  Maybe better leaders would take action and discreetly inform admins (not using side channel, I hate that). Like I ParabolicAJB said earlier, this weak form of leadership recently has been the cause of a casual, and I think somewhat immature, attitude at the wrong time.

 EU3 is about a hardcore Arma3 experience for the serious gamers, and players will join and treat it like EU1 or Altis Life.  It breaks the immersion, but I think it also supports the issue that players will skip right over the EU3 rules here in the forums just to get the TS3 password and get into the server to do whatever the hell pleases them. The people guilty of the screwing around are rarely in the forums as far as I've been able to tell in the last month. Yes, I might have finally joined the forums a month and a half ago but trust me, I check the forums daily at about 11AM-2 PM MST (I live in the States) and I know EXACTLY who the hardcore players and the experienced EU3 veterans are and it is honestly so easy to distinguish them from the people who join the gamenights and EU3 play sessions during the week and just treat it improperly.

 Again, I apologize for the super long reply, but this is just a concern and opinion of mine that should be brought up at the meeting on Saturday. I'm a little bummed that I will not be able to make it to the meeting to share this, so I thought I'd leave it here to be discussed, and hopefully we can come up with a resolution.  Thanks.

Edited February 25, 2016 by Miksi
No content changed, just made it a bit easier to read

[ParabolicAJB]

...Again, I apologize for the super long reply...

 

Only thing to apologise for is the lack of punctuation 

[aalp234_Game]

" [EU3 is] a serious gaming environment for both the hardcore players and softcore players looking to get into the most realistic part of Arma3."

 

The thing that I'm most afraid of happening is the EU3 atmosphere changing into one of full milsim, from the current semi-milsim atmosphere that is present. Sure, Milsim atmospheres are the most realistic possible, but they are usually cold and aggressive. Having been part of 2 Milsim companies in Arma 2 and having played for a year and (almost) a half on EU3, it would pain me greatly to have this cold attitude between people set in. I don't have the answer on how to get rid of excessive jokes, and think that this is something that we definitely need to discuss during the meeting.

 

"around 4, maybe 5 or more players, in both of the gamenights I've played, who will talk about waffles and bananas and STD's and weird sexual things that should be left at the EU3 server lobby"

 

Could you please elaborate who these people are? If they really are talking about things like this, I'm sure the Mods would like to have a talk with them.

[Titangames98]

The thing that I'm most afraid of happening is the EU3 atmosphere changing into one of full milsim, from the current semi-milsim atmosphere that is present. Sure, Milsim atmospheres are the most realistic possible, but they are usually cold and aggressive. Having been part of 2 Milsim companies in Arma 2 and having played for a year and (almost) a half on EU3, it would pain me greatly to have this cold attitude between people set in. I don't have the answer on how to get rid of excessive jokes, and think that this is something that we definitely need to discuss during the meeting.

 

 

Could you please elaborate who these people are? If they really are talking about things like this, I'm sure the Mods would like to have a talk with them.

Yes but the fact that both of the gamenight missions were clearly labeled on the forums with the words "strict milsim rules" in their respective posts means that they would be more hardcore than joining EU3 during any other time. Yes, EU3 Gauntlet is not the most hardcore or serious experience, that part of EU3 is more lenient with jokes and whatnot because it is just a casual hardcore experience. The gamenight missions, especially if they are meant to be strict in order to create the best milsim experience possible, need to be discussed thoroughly. The admins don't have to get rid of the excessive jokes, I'm not asking for permanent bans for everyone who makes a joke in an EU3 server. The admins and mods already do their respective jobs well, all I'm trying to get out of my post was a good, thoughtful discussion on how we can fix this or implement something to weed out the players who will just screw around. Not too severe, but also not too soft because it is the job of all EU3 mods and admins to let the misbehaving players know that they want a desired overall atmosphere in their hardcore server, and that the players goofing off need to follow this.  Possibly, just being more strict about the players who are heard to be screwing around during the gamenights and putting the admin hammer of power down a bit. After first offense, a warning in-game from an admin and close monitoring, and then an immediate kick for a second offense. This lets the player know that their goofing off will not be tolerated in an AhoyWorld hardcore server, and maybe they will learn to change their attitude toward how they play EU3 and gamenights. Following the kick, maybe put the player's name on a "watch list" and give them a form of a suspension. This could mean not allowing the player back into the next gamenight or two and checking the in-game player list during mission brief to ensure that the player is not in the server. Just a general idea off the top of my head. And no, I am not going to elaborate on who it was screwing around, especially not on a public forum. If the Mods/admins want to know who it is, they can privately ask me and I will gladly give them the names of the players with my full compliance.

[razgriz33]

Think about your concerns and then think about how you would address them and tackle them. That's what I'll be looking for from you the end user at this meeting. I hope this helps you to build your point of view in due time. perhaps google keep would be a good way to keep track of points you wish to make and scribble down anything interesting you hear.

[Titangames98]

Thanks Raz. I can't attend the town hall meeting, hopefully important things get resolved and ideas get thrown around for thought.

[aalp234_Game]

Thanks Raz. I can't attend the town hall meeting, hopefully important things get resolved and ideas get thrown around for thought.

 

You might want to find someone to express your ideas at the meeting/post them here, as the point is to incite discussion there and get ideas across at that time

 

Edit: Added in Ryko's point from below.

[Ryko]

You can also post your points here, as I intend to do later today, as I now have a funeral to go to smack dab in the middle of this meeting.

[GhostDragon]

Here are my points to raise at the meeting tomorrow: 

 

I would like to note that these points come from a person who plays on ahoyworld for EU3 and the brilliant way that it managed the command structure, making the game fun while still keeping good discipline and tactical game-play. 

 

Over the past few months, most notably since the forced roll-out of ACRE, the server seems to have been going more in the way of EU1 with mods as some of the regular players have been saying recently on the server and this is not what the players of EU3, from what i have been hearing, are wanting from the server. I think the problem is that we are not being communicated to by the admins about what is happening and the direction the server is moving. We get updates about what missions have been updated and asked what we would like to see changed within the mission by Ryko and the other staff that have been working on keeping support up while valiant is being prepared for release. This is welcome and i can confidently say that it has made a huge difference to the way that the missions are being carried out and is more fun.

 

However the thing that is lacking in my oppinion is communication about what mods we are using and why we are using them, as i said previously about the FORCED roll-out of ACRE, it feels like the community and members of EU3 are being left out of this discussion and it feels like we are being ignored.

 

As we all know ACRE was pushed onto the server without really anyone but the staff knowing, there was no post or anything really prepared for the release it was just forced onto the server in hope it would work correctly. However it did not and this is where a lot of the problems with the state of the server have started to arise. 

 

Since the last update of arma it has been clear that the TRYK mod has to be removed due to it no longer being supported, this has sparked a lot of interest and players have been looking into other mods that could be used as a substitute and various posts have been made. But these are all waved away and never seem to be looked into even if there is a lot of acceptance within the community about the mod (example: http://www.ahoyworld.co.uk/topic/5081-answer-for-uniform-requests/) 

 

Also i see too much "we are not a milsim server" being used to block ideas and thoughts from the community. I feel that these points are raised by people because they are wanting a more structured type of play for downloading the addons that make the game seem more like a simulation of current military activity but this is being let down by the way that the server is being managed because people are not listening to the chain of command and as a fire-team leader it often feels that i am talking to myself when it comes to giving orders to my fire-team as it is becoming harder and harder to get a response from the team members. Again i believe this was due to the introduction of ACRE as people were communicating effectively before this change occurred. 

 

So I conclude with a brief list of the points i aim to have covered within this post: 

1) Communication with community members and staff needs to be improved - maybe via the forums an update before any big changes are made to see what the community thinks of the changes. 

2) Let the community have input on the mods that are changed/added to the server - Voting through google docs of the eligable mods that could be used as a replacement WITH a NO CHANGE option.

3) we are not a milsim server is not a reason to prevent something from happening. 

4) I feel this is the biggest one of them all. Listen to the community - it is great talking to them and asking but if the views of the majority are not taken into account then it really is a wasted exercise. 

 

Thank you for reading, Ghostdragon

[razgriz33]

I would rather you post your points to a friend that could be there, putting it out for public display here fuels a bit of a fire to be honest. a bit like smack talk before a wrestling event  

[GhostDragon]

Sorry , I pvt messaged you last night but didn't get a reply so was not sure on what you wanted.

Sorry again