Restart Genesis with more or less open source code
Posted: 19 Mar 2014 20:00
Okay,
So Genesis is suffering from lack of players, lack of wizards, lack of energy and positivism. Yeah there's really no denying any of that. Our players are generally pretty uninterested and grind on scripts while complaining about whats wrong with the game (like I am now). Our wizards, which are extremely few, arent very active and even the most positive ones, like Gorboth, seem to be lacking energy lately. We have a very imbalanced guild setup which is making the game an imbalanced mess...We have nobody working on promoting the game. We have a very closed game, thats extremely hard to get into as player, but even harder to succeed as a wizard.
I mean honestly, the only reason there are even some players are is mostly for nostalgic reasons. Once we all leave, which is happening slowly over time, Genesis will be empty. And eventually the plug will be pulled from the server.
So, I mean whats the point of this secrecy and stuff? We're like what? 50 unique players? At most? Including the wizards. Its extremely clear the current setup, the current leadership structure is not working at all. Player and wizard numbers are proof of that.
There is only ONE way Genesis could ever be a populated and successful game again I think. And that is if new energy is pumped into us old users somehow. The current wizards are not gonna do it. I mean if they have been trying now for many years to get the game on its feet, but they dont have the time, the numbers, nor the energy to make it happen. Sorry guys, I am not personally blaming you really, I know you've tried, but well, it's not working and you cant do it alone. It's a job that either requires more people helping out, or a small group working full time on it. The latter probably isnt gonna happen. So we need more people helping out I think.
But it's pretty clear that if we continue doing things the way we currently are, it WILL lead to the plug being pulled, and it's probably not gonna be that many years from now.
So what to do?
I say, lets make Genesis open source, more or less, and completely redo what being a wizard means.
Basically: Let anyone who wants to help out, help out. No apprentice projects, no lieges to tell you what to do, no years of earning trust to get access. Everyone who wants to be a full wizard immediately can be one, and gets full access to everything. All wizards have read access to the entire game. Everyone have the same chance to work on what they want.
If Laurel wants to recode the rangers. Fine! If Windemere wants to fix the Kender guild. Fine! If whoever wants to create a new homepage, do it! Wanna keep on playing anyway? Sure! Present your idea to the game designer (see below) and get started once you get a green light. No need to "prove yourself". Have an idea thats accepted, get to work. If you fail, well then you fail, no hard feelings. Feel free to try something else. And so what if anyone can see code? What are they gonna do with it? Steal it and start their own imbalanced and flawed Genesis game that nobody wants to play?:)
I also suggest everyone starts from zero. All current wizards and players treated equally. We dont have our current positions of keeper, lieges, arches etc. Create a new system instead, and system where everyone VOTES who takes which position. When you're voted in, you have a year. Then there's a new vote for the major positions of "power". That way we get system where productivity and skill is rewarded amongst wizards. If you dont do anything, or if you mess up, well, someone else will get a shot. If you do a good job, you'll keep it. That way we also hopefully get the right person in the right position. For the first vote, anyone who's willing can be voted in. No matter if your name is Gorboth, Irk or Draugor, your chance of being the lead game designer is the same, and Petros might end up being in charge of balance, but say for instance Kas has an equal chance.
I'd suggest these positions, lets call them arches for now, to keep the Genesis feel:
Arch of Game Design
A person that's responsible for the overall direction of the game. This is a person that fairly actively also plays the game, and is updated on how it is being a player. Who has an eye for what's needed and whats not needed. This person approves new projects, and presents more global projects that others can volunteer to work on. Does not necessarily have work on own coding projects, but can of course do so if time allows. Is in charge of big global changes to the game.
Arch of Code
A skilled programmer who's basically in charge of making sure the game code is running smoothly. That means checking new code so it works like it should, and making sure the game runs like it should and is fairly bug-free. Any new code will have to be cleared by this person before entering the game.
Arch of Balance
This is someone who constantly tweaks all guilds and abilities in the game. And this person does should NOT spend his or her time writing new code. No, this person should probably be one of our most active PLAYERS, with several different characters, who actively play the game and constantly test things out, and tweak the code for races and guilds to make the game as balanced as possible.
Arch of Marketing
A person that does NOT code on the game itself. This person works only at marketing the game. This could be in the form of re-creating the homepage, setting up advertisement campaigns, collecting money to be used in promotion, contacting magazines, blogs, etc. No programming skill is needed for this position. Experience in marketing is a good of course, but generally you'll probably get far if you just have time and will do to it. Perhaps the most important position we have currently.
And once a year there is a vote for each position. A vote where every unique _user_ of the game, player or wizard, gets one vote each. You can of course keep a position for as long as you want if you keep getting the most votes, but you'll at least be guaranteed a year to do the best you can.
All other wizards present projects to the Game Designer, or if it's a marketing related project to the AoM. Projects could be anything. From fixing a typo, to recoding a whole area, creating a new guild, creating/re-running an event, creating web banners... well. Anything goes. Have an idea? No matter how small or big, present it, and unless it's totally crazy, you'll probably be approved to work on it, then just go. You have full access to everything. I mean you could basically decide to fix ONE typo, and that's all you do. But thats fine. Thats one typo less. Well done. Or you could aim for something more advanced. And if you just wanna code simply to learn how to code, you can do whatever you want in your local working area, without approval from anyone, but still with full access to all other code in the game, so you can learn from it.
Yup. This how I would get Genesis back on its feet. Maybe it wont work either, but I mean we have nothing to lose from trying something new.
What we do now and have done for a decade is absolutely NOT working. That we do know. Trying something new at least has a chance of working.
So Genesis is suffering from lack of players, lack of wizards, lack of energy and positivism. Yeah there's really no denying any of that. Our players are generally pretty uninterested and grind on scripts while complaining about whats wrong with the game (like I am now). Our wizards, which are extremely few, arent very active and even the most positive ones, like Gorboth, seem to be lacking energy lately. We have a very imbalanced guild setup which is making the game an imbalanced mess...We have nobody working on promoting the game. We have a very closed game, thats extremely hard to get into as player, but even harder to succeed as a wizard.
I mean honestly, the only reason there are even some players are is mostly for nostalgic reasons. Once we all leave, which is happening slowly over time, Genesis will be empty. And eventually the plug will be pulled from the server.
So, I mean whats the point of this secrecy and stuff? We're like what? 50 unique players? At most? Including the wizards. Its extremely clear the current setup, the current leadership structure is not working at all. Player and wizard numbers are proof of that.
There is only ONE way Genesis could ever be a populated and successful game again I think. And that is if new energy is pumped into us old users somehow. The current wizards are not gonna do it. I mean if they have been trying now for many years to get the game on its feet, but they dont have the time, the numbers, nor the energy to make it happen. Sorry guys, I am not personally blaming you really, I know you've tried, but well, it's not working and you cant do it alone. It's a job that either requires more people helping out, or a small group working full time on it. The latter probably isnt gonna happen. So we need more people helping out I think.
But it's pretty clear that if we continue doing things the way we currently are, it WILL lead to the plug being pulled, and it's probably not gonna be that many years from now.
So what to do?
I say, lets make Genesis open source, more or less, and completely redo what being a wizard means.
Basically: Let anyone who wants to help out, help out. No apprentice projects, no lieges to tell you what to do, no years of earning trust to get access. Everyone who wants to be a full wizard immediately can be one, and gets full access to everything. All wizards have read access to the entire game. Everyone have the same chance to work on what they want.
If Laurel wants to recode the rangers. Fine! If Windemere wants to fix the Kender guild. Fine! If whoever wants to create a new homepage, do it! Wanna keep on playing anyway? Sure! Present your idea to the game designer (see below) and get started once you get a green light. No need to "prove yourself". Have an idea thats accepted, get to work. If you fail, well then you fail, no hard feelings. Feel free to try something else. And so what if anyone can see code? What are they gonna do with it? Steal it and start their own imbalanced and flawed Genesis game that nobody wants to play?:)
I also suggest everyone starts from zero. All current wizards and players treated equally. We dont have our current positions of keeper, lieges, arches etc. Create a new system instead, and system where everyone VOTES who takes which position. When you're voted in, you have a year. Then there's a new vote for the major positions of "power". That way we get system where productivity and skill is rewarded amongst wizards. If you dont do anything, or if you mess up, well, someone else will get a shot. If you do a good job, you'll keep it. That way we also hopefully get the right person in the right position. For the first vote, anyone who's willing can be voted in. No matter if your name is Gorboth, Irk or Draugor, your chance of being the lead game designer is the same, and Petros might end up being in charge of balance, but say for instance Kas has an equal chance.
I'd suggest these positions, lets call them arches for now, to keep the Genesis feel:
Arch of Game Design
A person that's responsible for the overall direction of the game. This is a person that fairly actively also plays the game, and is updated on how it is being a player. Who has an eye for what's needed and whats not needed. This person approves new projects, and presents more global projects that others can volunteer to work on. Does not necessarily have work on own coding projects, but can of course do so if time allows. Is in charge of big global changes to the game.
Arch of Code
A skilled programmer who's basically in charge of making sure the game code is running smoothly. That means checking new code so it works like it should, and making sure the game runs like it should and is fairly bug-free. Any new code will have to be cleared by this person before entering the game.
Arch of Balance
This is someone who constantly tweaks all guilds and abilities in the game. And this person does should NOT spend his or her time writing new code. No, this person should probably be one of our most active PLAYERS, with several different characters, who actively play the game and constantly test things out, and tweak the code for races and guilds to make the game as balanced as possible.
Arch of Marketing
A person that does NOT code on the game itself. This person works only at marketing the game. This could be in the form of re-creating the homepage, setting up advertisement campaigns, collecting money to be used in promotion, contacting magazines, blogs, etc. No programming skill is needed for this position. Experience in marketing is a good of course, but generally you'll probably get far if you just have time and will do to it. Perhaps the most important position we have currently.
And once a year there is a vote for each position. A vote where every unique _user_ of the game, player or wizard, gets one vote each. You can of course keep a position for as long as you want if you keep getting the most votes, but you'll at least be guaranteed a year to do the best you can.
All other wizards present projects to the Game Designer, or if it's a marketing related project to the AoM. Projects could be anything. From fixing a typo, to recoding a whole area, creating a new guild, creating/re-running an event, creating web banners... well. Anything goes. Have an idea? No matter how small or big, present it, and unless it's totally crazy, you'll probably be approved to work on it, then just go. You have full access to everything. I mean you could basically decide to fix ONE typo, and that's all you do. But thats fine. Thats one typo less. Well done. Or you could aim for something more advanced. And if you just wanna code simply to learn how to code, you can do whatever you want in your local working area, without approval from anyone, but still with full access to all other code in the game, so you can learn from it.
Yup. This how I would get Genesis back on its feet. Maybe it wont work either, but I mean we have nothing to lose from trying something new.
What we do now and have done for a decade is absolutely NOT working. That we do know. Trying something new at least has a chance of working.