Goonhub
09-19-2021, 02:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-19-2021, 06:01 PM by Leeanei. Edited 3 times in total.)
I'm going to write a little introduction before I spill my thoughts out onto this page. I used to come to this server very frequently, and was getting close and involved with the community until I applied for HOS years ago. The extremely toxic, negative, and disgustingly aggressive response that came out of this made it clear that there is a rotten portion of this community so I walked away for about a year. Then I came back, and just played on the server on and off while I kept that part at arms length. Since then I've grown increasingly frustrated with the present direction.
Part of why I'm so blunt and harsh about these things is I want to just lay out honestly where I am in relation to things around here. I expect my thoughts to be rejected entirely, or a repeat of the last time I tried to reach out here and was told in no uncertain terms I wasn't welcome. Regardless, given the fun I've had, friends I've made, and stellar admins I've known I feel it' worth the effort to lay this all out and let the community decide if it's worth the words to read.
So to get into my thoughts proper, I'm increasingly wondering just who the server is actually for. It seems like every time I join, there's a new change or removed feature that used to be fun.
The first time I started questioning things is when I heard Ass Daye was removed. Now this I can understand when it was explained to me that admins had to deal with a lot of complaints, but this is also where my original question started to crop up. Who complained? Why do they matter? Why is one day of wacky chaos somehow too much? Obviously I'm not able to actually know what behind the scenes stuff happened, and I'd never want to oblige the admins to run something they didn't enjoy running, but I feel like the obvious response to any complaints would have been simply "shut up and come back tomorrow."
Following on from that, I've noticed plenty of changes that made things more painful as a player. Tasers got nerfed, making me abandon putting in any effort as security at all as a matter of fact- there's really no point. Icons got changed without any attempt (that I know of) to ask the players if they wanted any change, or to offer choosing between the classic icons and the new ones.
Obviously I don't want to be be at all negative towards whoever put in the time, effort, and clear care for the new icons- but to have the change thrust on me without any input came off as needlessly top-down.
The final straw was a mild, trivial, one. The Borg sound synth is now extremely limited in how it can be used and practically useless. I cannot possibly imagine this was such a big problem that yanking that from peoples hands was the right approach.
So in conclusion, I'm just not sure who the server is for anymore, and it's a little tragic for me. I adore Goonstation, I adore the administration and their ability to turn the game into the truest form of a sandbox ever imaginable. Yet 2021 Goonstation sure isn't 2019 goon station, and while I'd certainly never want a return to the poop covered hellscape of 2012 Goonstation I think the balance is shifting far too much towards a sort of "polished" game instead of the open ended fun it used to be.
I realize a lot of these thoughts are possibly explained by "well you aren't on the discord so how the hell are we supposed to get your input," but given the games changelog and plenty of ways to field-test changes I don't think this is a valid argument. Field-testing and taking input for the new icons, the taser nerf, etc would have gone a long ways to make me feel more like this was a consensus based approach vs blizzard changing the Overwatch balancing again over everyones heads. If that's what you want, then I can't argue against that- ultimately it's not my server.
So there's my effort post. I expect it to be rejected out of hand, yet I still feel like it was worth doing. My name is Angela Ziegler, fart fuck hell, I'll see you in another server.
As another note, due to my own awful f5 f5 f5 anxiety I'm only gonna check this once a day if that, this is a limitation I'm putting on myself just because of my anxious personality.
E: If anyone does want to talk Gladi#0451 on Discord is the best way to get to me, that's a lot less anxiety inducing than trying to F5 the thread all day.
Part of why I'm so blunt and harsh about these things is I want to just lay out honestly where I am in relation to things around here. I expect my thoughts to be rejected entirely, or a repeat of the last time I tried to reach out here and was told in no uncertain terms I wasn't welcome. Regardless, given the fun I've had, friends I've made, and stellar admins I've known I feel it' worth the effort to lay this all out and let the community decide if it's worth the words to read.
So to get into my thoughts proper, I'm increasingly wondering just who the server is actually for. It seems like every time I join, there's a new change or removed feature that used to be fun.
The first time I started questioning things is when I heard Ass Daye was removed. Now this I can understand when it was explained to me that admins had to deal with a lot of complaints, but this is also where my original question started to crop up. Who complained? Why do they matter? Why is one day of wacky chaos somehow too much? Obviously I'm not able to actually know what behind the scenes stuff happened, and I'd never want to oblige the admins to run something they didn't enjoy running, but I feel like the obvious response to any complaints would have been simply "shut up and come back tomorrow."
Following on from that, I've noticed plenty of changes that made things more painful as a player. Tasers got nerfed, making me abandon putting in any effort as security at all as a matter of fact- there's really no point. Icons got changed without any attempt (that I know of) to ask the players if they wanted any change, or to offer choosing between the classic icons and the new ones.
Obviously I don't want to be be at all negative towards whoever put in the time, effort, and clear care for the new icons- but to have the change thrust on me without any input came off as needlessly top-down.
The final straw was a mild, trivial, one. The Borg sound synth is now extremely limited in how it can be used and practically useless. I cannot possibly imagine this was such a big problem that yanking that from peoples hands was the right approach.
So in conclusion, I'm just not sure who the server is for anymore, and it's a little tragic for me. I adore Goonstation, I adore the administration and their ability to turn the game into the truest form of a sandbox ever imaginable. Yet 2021 Goonstation sure isn't 2019 goon station, and while I'd certainly never want a return to the poop covered hellscape of 2012 Goonstation I think the balance is shifting far too much towards a sort of "polished" game instead of the open ended fun it used to be.
I realize a lot of these thoughts are possibly explained by "well you aren't on the discord so how the hell are we supposed to get your input," but given the games changelog and plenty of ways to field-test changes I don't think this is a valid argument. Field-testing and taking input for the new icons, the taser nerf, etc would have gone a long ways to make me feel more like this was a consensus based approach vs blizzard changing the Overwatch balancing again over everyones heads. If that's what you want, then I can't argue against that- ultimately it's not my server.
So there's my effort post. I expect it to be rejected out of hand, yet I still feel like it was worth doing. My name is Angela Ziegler, fart fuck hell, I'll see you in another server.
As another note, due to my own awful f5 f5 f5 anxiety I'm only gonna check this once a day if that, this is a limitation I'm putting on myself just because of my anxious personality.
E: If anyone does want to talk Gladi#0451 on Discord is the best way to get to me, that's a lot less anxiety inducing than trying to F5 the thread all day.