Goonhub
02-24-2020, 05:47 PM
There seems to be a relatively large divide about the direction which the game is trying to head towards, and there has been for a very long time. Coders have always been empowered to work on passion projects, which in my eyes is definitely a good thing, but leads to a lot of disagreements not just within the community, but even among the wizard/coder/admin groups alone. Often times things will require "the permission of the wizards," but from personal experience all that really means is messaging one coder/wizard that you know and asking them if you can put a thing in the game, and chances are if you've clout with them they'll make it happen for you. The admin team is so decentralized that the decisions of one wizard can have large overbearing impacts on the game, even if not a single other person on the team has heard of the thing being added.
Furthermore, features and additions to the game itself frequently have disputes and backlash by different parts of the community, and it feels as though literally no-one at all is ever on the same page. New people come in, old people leave, old people re-enter and the tone and direction of the game is constantly up int he air in this turbulent state. Sometimes the focus is on mostly RP and player interaction, sometimes the focus is on admin gimmick rounds every other shift. Sometimes the focus is on weird PvP power balance. While it's perfectly alright, and honestly encouraged to work on all parts of this multifaceted game, it genuinely needs an agreed upon direction that is not just decided by the wizard team, or what the coders feel like making today, or what the players want to play, but a mix of all three. This should be something explicit that isn't too limiting, which details what kind of experience a player is supposed to have playing this game, and how they can expect it to evolce going forward.
As an aside, there's been a much higher instance of "Goon-Drama" in recent time. "Oh jeez somebody leaked the code again, better counter leak that right away" should not be something that comes up this frequently. The feuding of many subgroups within goon management has been more vocal than usual in the recent years, and although censoring of these quarrels means that you only get to hear about it if you're in the loop, that doesn't mean that it's good for the game.
Finally, kinda harping on what DyssalC said earlier, Maid's post in the News section of the goon discord talks about three things, Cirr leaving, Zamujasa being removed, (both of which are given plenty of time and verbiage, with little to no detail about what actually happened), and then glosses over the fact that 10, TEN of the pillars of the goon community have left. These are not small names either, Haine, Spyguy, fukken Wonk himself? We're gonna talk about what a bummer it is that someone like Cirr leaked and left, and then we're just gonna send off these people who literally shaped and molded this game for years by just saying "Oh they're off the team for now."
Goon needs a lot of things. It needs a mission statement that the wizards/coders/admins/players can use to know what direction the game is going to be built in. It probably needs an administrative structural overhaul that makes it easier for people to be on the same page. What it needs more than any of that is a LOT more transparency about admin drama, updates, and general goings-on, because unless you know where to look, the community only ever hears the fallout of these events, and doesn't have any impact at all on them. Without trying to be rude, I don't think goon is going to do most, if any of that, and now with almost all of the old guard gone, old-goon is no longer on life support, and is just genuinely dead. Good luck with new-goon, don't ruin it too much, I loved this game once.
Furthermore, features and additions to the game itself frequently have disputes and backlash by different parts of the community, and it feels as though literally no-one at all is ever on the same page. New people come in, old people leave, old people re-enter and the tone and direction of the game is constantly up int he air in this turbulent state. Sometimes the focus is on mostly RP and player interaction, sometimes the focus is on admin gimmick rounds every other shift. Sometimes the focus is on weird PvP power balance. While it's perfectly alright, and honestly encouraged to work on all parts of this multifaceted game, it genuinely needs an agreed upon direction that is not just decided by the wizard team, or what the coders feel like making today, or what the players want to play, but a mix of all three. This should be something explicit that isn't too limiting, which details what kind of experience a player is supposed to have playing this game, and how they can expect it to evolce going forward.
As an aside, there's been a much higher instance of "Goon-Drama" in recent time. "Oh jeez somebody leaked the code again, better counter leak that right away" should not be something that comes up this frequently. The feuding of many subgroups within goon management has been more vocal than usual in the recent years, and although censoring of these quarrels means that you only get to hear about it if you're in the loop, that doesn't mean that it's good for the game.
Finally, kinda harping on what DyssalC said earlier, Maid's post in the News section of the goon discord talks about three things, Cirr leaving, Zamujasa being removed, (both of which are given plenty of time and verbiage, with little to no detail about what actually happened), and then glosses over the fact that 10, TEN of the pillars of the goon community have left. These are not small names either, Haine, Spyguy, fukken Wonk himself? We're gonna talk about what a bummer it is that someone like Cirr leaked and left, and then we're just gonna send off these people who literally shaped and molded this game for years by just saying "Oh they're off the team for now."
Goon needs a lot of things. It needs a mission statement that the wizards/coders/admins/players can use to know what direction the game is going to be built in. It probably needs an administrative structural overhaul that makes it easier for people to be on the same page. What it needs more than any of that is a LOT more transparency about admin drama, updates, and general goings-on, because unless you know where to look, the community only ever hears the fallout of these events, and doesn't have any impact at all on them. Without trying to be rude, I don't think goon is going to do most, if any of that, and now with almost all of the old guard gone, old-goon is no longer on life support, and is just genuinely dead. Good luck with new-goon, don't ruin it too much, I loved this game once.