Goodbye Synergy (Please Change)

[Yekkow]

Reason for leaving: 

This is going to be long, but I’ll try it anyway. I joined the server with a misunderstanding of what I was allowed to do. I ended up trying to make the most of this situation, so I joined the 212th Battalion. I wanted to become an ARF, but there was no one who could train me when I joined, so I had to give that Idea up.

 

I wanted to be useful for the Battalion so I set my mind to becoming a Medic. I then found out about the 2nd Airborne Company (due to one of my family members being a Paratrooper in the U.S. Army) I knew I had to join. My mind was set. I ended up becoming Support for a short time and remembered my love for Aviation. It was after getting support that I made it into the 2nd Airborne Company. Sadly, however, things seemed to go a bit downhill from there.

 

Let me start by saying that no one in particular caused me to do this. It’s more of a thing that I have felt in the back of my mind for a bit now. I have heard tales of how great the server "was" and how much fun people had playing on it. I sadly joined at a time where there was seemingly no life left in it. There are people that are pouring their heart and soul into keeping the server alive, but when the Management & Developers seemingly do nothing to help support those people, the server starts to suffer. I have my issues with people abusing or misusing positions of power and, after hearing and seeing that occurring on this server, I chose to write this resignation.

 

I initially wanted to just submit a ROA and wait until the new map was released but, after hearing about how it has been in development for over a year and a half, I really started to have my doubts. That alone convinced me this was the best option. As someone who paid money to the server, I expected a certain level of professionalism and respect for the player base. That has not been given. I expected that, in giving money to the server, its quality would improve, but that did not happen. Seeing these things not be addressed by anyone, Developer or Management, has shown me that most of them either do not care or have a hard time doing their jobs.

 

The biggest issue I have found is that the people of the highest authority seemingly fail to see that the server is dying and has issues, or if they do see it, they try to ignore it because they think it would be easier to not deal with the problems. Why be in a position of power if you are not going to be responsible with said power? As you can see, the more we start to sit down and think about these things the more Red Flags arise.

 

To sum this all up: Development, Founders, and Management have seemingly done an awful job at taking care of the thing that they are responsible for and, in turn, it has withered up and died. The reason I call them all out is due to the fact that they are meant to be a team responsible with maintaining the server and keeping it healthy. I understand that I am comparing the server to something like a plant (A flower in my mind) but it is what fits the best. To have a proper environment for people to Roleplay there must be a structure of people who take their roles of maintenance seriously and it is clear to me now that they do not.

[shadowlegion11]

i agree with what u have said. i myself believe that we have been in a position where some corruption from higher ups is possible, and Gatekeeping may be a issue as well. certain things on this server needs to change, this is supposed to be a nice laid back community. but i do think that somethings are better suited for hardcore servers and the case is this is not one. be it from selections needing improvements to management itself something needs to be done to reward the player rather than from my experiences be a time waster. the one thing that can be improved upon in itself is the some of the community here as can see some people will always  regardless of what they are saying and trying to understand them or at least listen to it they immediatly spam it and for my situation i and much more are in the negatives.

Edited June 8, 2022 by shadowlegion11

[Clutch]

51 minutes ago, Yekkow said:

I initially wanted to just submit a ROA and wait until the new map was released but, after hearing about how it has been in development for over a year and a half, I really started to have my doubts.

These trailers and teases of the new stuff in the update that won't come out for months is like taking a kid into a toy store and not letting them get anything, or its like hanging a toy in front of a dogs face and not letting them have it, eventually they will give up and that's the point where lot of the people in the community have come to after hearing of all of the delays. But shout out to you for being a bigger person and calling out high command. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Clutch
My grammar is ass

[Yekkow]

42 minutes ago, Clutch said:

These trailers and teases of the new stuff in the update that won't come out for months is like taking a kid into a toy store and not letting them get anything, or its like hanging a toy in front of a dogs face and not letting them have it, eventually they will give up and that's the point where lot of the people in the community have come to after hearing of all of the delays. But shout out to you for being a bigger person and calling out high command. 

Thank you! I think that it's worth taking the chance to call out the people that are meant to be responsible for the server. I've heard about how great the server used to be, and I often think about how great it could still be. I feel like the whole point of the forums is for the community to have a voice and speak their minds about issues, including these.

[Mystic]

It's a shame people feel this way, i don't think it ever should've gotten this bad as, believe me, you're not the first (or gonna be the last) to post something like this. The server HC hears it all the time they hear these complaints and know its an issue. Granted the communication has gotten a little better! From what i've heard they want it out this year at the latest, hopefully you and lots of others come back for the new map, as it seems we are at the end of the waiting period. Glad people feel able to voice themselves on the forums, and im glad you did it peacefully. Nice explanation.

[Jad]

2 hours ago, Yekkow said:

To sum this all up: Development, Founders, and Management have seemingly done an awful job at taking care of the thing that they are responsible for and, in turn, it has withered up and died. The reason I call them all out is due to the fact that they are meant to be a team responsible with maintaining the server and keeping it healthy. I understand that I am comparing the server to something like a plant (A flower in my mind) but it is what fits the best. To have a proper environment for people to Roleplay there must be a structure of people who take their roles of maintenance seriously and it is clear to me now that they do not.

I'm terribly sorry to hear of your experiences in our community. But, there's something that really hit a nerve here for me. Please explain what we have done or not done in this case. I'm genuinely confused which is why I'm asking. Regarding transparency, the map hasn't been in development for a year in a half. I'm not quite sure where you heard that from but, @Jayarr officially joined our development team this year and has poured his heart and soul into getting everyone a map they can truly enjoy. If you showed up to the Q&A you would've heard why development has been slow as well. Just in case you didn't read the thread or listen to the recording I'll list those reasons as well. Development had to come to a full stop when we started to run into stability issues, our only source of action was to start a server clean. When this clean started it meant that we could no longer add content as it would increase the length of the clean and further decrease server stability. For further transparency; A server clean means a complete rebuild of the server, from going through all the add-ons to the very large amount of lua scripts. Everything has to be checked, deleted, re-made, and updated. The server clean is coming to a close which means development is full speed ahead on getting content out to make up for the time spent on the clean. Most of the files being reworked or "Shwacked" (Stole that one from Maxwells) is linked to other files in a never ending mess of spaghetti. Untangling this mess and putting it all back together has been a ridiculous consumption of time. Sure it could of been done quicker, if we all did this as full time jobs. Synergy is not something we can call a full time job even in the slightest, it is a passion project that we welcome everyone to participate in.

Current Development members are Coordinator @Maxwells Devs @Jayarr@Daytona211 Dev Assistants @Xaze@Baron with myself and @Square
I refuse for any of these members to be called failures as they are working their asses off trying to get the server its best possible content. From reworking the entirety of our databases to ensure proper transfers of items and stats to creating entire new systems to further player engagement.

On the Management side of things we have our Coordinator @Woeny and our lone member @Sock Monkey. Sock nonstop checks everything Synergy related, from player interaction to how staff are performing. Woeny Is the general community overseer ensuring that all practices and standards Synergy related are being upheld and only stepping in when necessary. These two are insanely at-tentative to almost everything happening within Synergy. Both of them are constantly looking into ways to improve the community and are incredibly disheartened by posts such as these.
 

3 hours ago, Yekkow said:

The biggest issue I have found is that the people of the highest authority seemingly fail to see that the server is dying and has issues, or if they do see it, they try to ignore it because they think it would be easier to not deal with the problems. Why be in a position of power if you are not going to be responsible with said power? As you can see, the more we start to sit down and think about these things the more Red Flags arise.

We don't believe the server is dying because we can see player interaction and direct player population. Since our time as founders, population has actually increased by a fair amount and we take great care to continue facilitating anything that would increase population even more. Your Red flags you're speaking of are great but please provide examples of these as I may be able to provide further insight. We've not once ignored anything that has affected our community in a negative fashion. We're fully aware of current population being decreased and it's because of lack of updates, and lack of new players is from a server browser issue. The server browser issue is being addressed during the clean and should be taken care of once done.

TLDR; I feel you've come to conclusions based off second hand information, and that's incredibly unfortunate. You're welcome back anytime to eat your words.

[Mystic]

18 minutes ago, Jad said:

I'm terribly sorry to hear of your experiences in our community. But, there's something that really hit a nerve here for me. Please explain what we have done or not done in this case. I'm genuinely confused which is why I'm asking. Regarding transparency, the map hasn't been in development for a year in a half. I'm not quite sure where you heard that from but, @Jayarr officially joined our development team this year and has poured his heart and soul into getting everyone a map they can truly enjoy. If you showed up to the Q&A you would've heard why development has been slow as well. Just in case you didn't read the thread or listen to the recording I'll list those reasons as well. Development had to come to a full stop when we started to run into stability issues, our only source of action was to start a server clean. When this clean started it meant that we could no longer add content as it would increase the length of the clean and further decrease server stability. For further transparency; A server clean means a complete rebuild of the server, from going through all the add-ons to the very large amount of lua scripts. Everything has to be checked, deleted, re-made, and updated. The server clean is coming to a close which means development is full speed ahead on getting content out to make up for the time spent on the clean. Most of the files being reworked or "Shwacked" (Stole that one from Maxwells) is linked to other files in a never ending mess of spaghetti. Untangling this mess and putting it all back together has been a ridiculous consumption of time. Sure it could of been done quicker, if we all did this as full time jobs. Synergy is not something we can call a full time job even in the slightest, it is a passion project that we welcome everyone to participate in.

Current Development members are Coordinator @Maxwells Devs @Jayarr@Daytona211 Dev Assistants @Xaze@Baron with myself and @Square
I refuse for any of these members to be called failures as they are working their asses off trying to get the server its best possible content. From reworking the entirety of our databases to ensure proper transfers of items and stats to creating entire new systems to further player engagement.

On the Management side of things we have our Coordinator @Woeny and our lone member @Sock Monkey. Sock nonstop checks everything Synergy related, from player interaction to how staff are performing. Woeny Is the general community overseer ensuring that all practices and standards Synergy related are being upheld and only stepping in when necessary. These two are insanely at-tentative to almost everything happening within Synergy. Both of them are constantly looking into ways to improve the community and are incredibly disheartened by posts such as these.
 

We don't believe the server is dying because we can see player interaction and direct player population. Since our time as founders, population has actually increased by a fair amount and we take great care to continue facilitating anything that would increase population even more. Your Red flags you're speaking of are great but please provide examples of these as I may be able to provide further insight. We've not once ignored anything that has affected our community in a negative fashion. We're fully aware of current population being decreased and it's because of lack of updates, and lack of new players is from a server browser issue. The server browser issue is being addressed during the clean and should be taken care of once done.

TLDR; I feel you've come to conclusions based off second hand information, and that's incredibly unfortunate. You're welcome back anytime to eat your words.

i love Jad for reasons like this. He said what i was going to say in mine, we have real lives, just like the devs and founders do. its not a job make sure to always keep that in mind <3

[A-a-ron]

2 hours ago, Jad said:

I'm terribly sorry to hear of your experiences in our community. But, there's something that really hit a nerve here for me. Please explain what we have done or not done in this case. I'm genuinely confused which is why I'm asking. Regarding transparency, the map hasn't been in development for a year in a half. I'm not quite sure where you heard that from but, @Jayarr officially joined our development team this year and has poured his heart and soul into getting everyone a map they can truly enjoy. If you showed up to the Q&A you would've heard why development has been slow as well. Just in case you didn't read the thread or listen to the recording I'll list those reasons as well. Development had to come to a full stop when we started to run into stability issues, our only source of action was to start a server clean. When this clean started it meant that we could no longer add content as it would increase the length of the clean and further decrease server stability. For further transparency; A server clean means a complete rebuild of the server, from going through all the add-ons to the very large amount of lua scripts. Everything has to be checked, deleted, re-made, and updated. The server clean is coming to a close which means development is full speed ahead on getting content out to make up for the time spent on the clean. Most of the files being reworked or "Shwacked" (Stole that one from Maxwells) is linked to other files in a never ending mess of spaghetti. Untangling this mess and putting it all back together has been a ridiculous consumption of time. Sure it could of been done quicker, if we all did this as full time jobs. Synergy is not something we can call a full time job even in the slightest, it is a passion project that we welcome everyone to participate in.

Current Development members are Coordinator @Maxwells Devs @Jayarr@Daytona211 Dev Assistants @Xaze@Baron with myself and @Square
I refuse for any of these members to be called failures as they are working their asses off trying to get the server its best possible content. From reworking the entirety of our databases to ensure proper transfers of items and stats to creating entire new systems to further player engagement.

On the Management side of things we have our Coordinator @Woeny and our lone member @Sock Monkey. Sock nonstop checks everything Synergy related, from player interaction to how staff are performing. Woeny Is the general community overseer ensuring that all practices and standards Synergy related are being upheld and only stepping in when necessary. These two are insanely at-tentative to almost everything happening within Synergy. Both of them are constantly looking into ways to improve the community and are incredibly disheartened by posts such as these.
 

We don't believe the server is dying because we can see player interaction and direct player population. Since our time as founders, population has actually increased by a fair amount and we take great care to continue facilitating anything that would increase population even more. Your Red flags you're speaking of are great but please provide examples of these as I may be able to provide further insight. We've not once ignored anything that has affected our community in a negative fashion. We're fully aware of current population being decreased and it's because of lack of updates, and lack of new players is from a server browser issue. The server browser issue is being addressed during the clean and should be taken care of once done.

TLDR; I feel you've come to conclusions based off second hand information, and that's incredibly unfortunate. You're welcome back anytime to eat your words.

I'm just gon wait for the update to start playing again, we've been on Anaxes for so long all there is to do is Bhop around the map. I really hope this update is worth to wait or I will be 

[Guac]

*straps kneepads on*

Nothing against you Yekko, as it appears you haven't been here for very long to understand the frustration that comes along with threads like these, so majority of this message won't be directed at you. However I am disappointed that you didn't have a great experience on the server, and at one point come back. With that being said, it is perfectly reasonable to wish that the development process was faster, but that just isn't the case. These things take time, and to assume that Management+ have the ability to speed that process is equally as frustrating, especially members of it that feel as though no matter how they justify their actions, it will never be enough.

Expecting non-bug related updates to be a regular occurance, especially from a development team of this size, in order to sustain player pop; is incredibly unfessible. Management+ have made multiple efforts to attempt to engage the player base in conversation regarding issues, one happening just last week.

I want to ask an honest question. At what point to we begin to look inward? At what point, do when find ourselves: not engaging with the rest of the community, not even attempting roleplay outside of an event that force feeds it too you, try to fuck over other players in an attempt to further your own gain etc.; do we find ourselves part of the problem. I haven't been here as long as others, but I know for a fact these complaints, brought directly to a member of Server Leadership, do not fall on deaf ears. But when they are answered, it just seems like no one wants to listen.

*unstraps kneepads*

yEa, uMummM.... fOunDEr uHhH ....liKe dOnt WoRk? 

[Jayarr]

9 hours ago, Yekkow said:

I initially wanted to just submit a ROA and wait until the new map was released but, after hearing about how it has been in development for over a year and a half, I really started to have my doubts. That alone convinced me this was the best option. As someone who paid money to the server, I expected a certain level of professionalism and respect for the player base. That has not been given.

As Jad mentioned, this time frame is certainly exaggerated. In fact, I'm only coming up on a full year as a developer in roughly ~5 more months, seeing as I joined back again in october.

I would love to go into every little detail on why the map is taking the time it has taken, but in truth, no one needs to know that. Through hell and back with compiling issues, bugs, issues we can't even fix, sometimes things like this just take time. This whole experience was a fresh and new challenge for me as a whole, I never even made a star wars map before, let alone this huge. But we've stuck through it as a team, and it's grown and developed into something new and better then ever. My skills as a mapper have grown tenfold, and that's all thanks to this project. 

That being said, the biggest thing I can put forward and mention is the fact that at one point, we completely lost the ground section/exterior section of the map. Through two months of work, the map ended up dropping dead over a small change I couldn't even trace, and neither could other namely experienced mappers. This was a huge set back. and primarily killed off a huge chunk of my motivation as a whole. Square let me take a bit of a break after this happened, as I was pretty much dead in the waters on what to do. But, we got around to it and kicked things back into action.

I started conceptualizing a new, fresh ground section over the course of a week, and we've been constantly modifying, adding, and testing the whole map over the span of these past few weeks. We've hit a great position in time for the map itself, and as answered in the Q&A, there is only one or two issues holding us back, which we are certain to work out in one way or another.

In general, I've heard frustrations like this countless times from the community over the spanning few months, and I completely understand it. Hell, I made a huge post about it back in 2020, covering similar issues to this. But something I realize now is how unfair it is to completely bash and demoralize the teams working on these updates, especially when you know said updates are in the works and coming out. As Jad pretty much covered in his whole post, we all have been working around the clock on separate things that are all going to equate to something bigger and better then ever, but it's going to take time, and that time certainly is not unwarranted, albeit frustrating on both ends.

Just to end this off, I actually want to post what the original ground section was going to look like. I'm glad that we did move on, because not only do I prefer the new map, but this one would have been a little too small, lacked aerial gameplay, was too dark, etc etc. Don't get me wrong, it's very beautiful and I love it to death for how it helped me grow, but by all means, this is not something we can use.
The album is linked here.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Jayarr

[Conrad]

IDK i'm kinda immune to it at this point in terms of calling that the server is dying. I've heard it since 2018 and wow we're still here so you kinda just start to enjoy the game after you play long enough I guess.

I was very upset with how the founders where handling things just even like a month or so ago. It was awful and I felt in the dark even as Chancellor on the direction of the server and what was happening dev wise in order to try to prepare for it in game. I couldn't imagine how the standard player felt. However I can say I'm only happy with the steps taken recently, namely the question and answer section they have set up, but past that with the addition of @Xazeand @Baronto the dev team fills me with even more confidence.

We should hold the founders accountable, I 100% agree, but i'mma be honest it sounds like they're listening and trying based on their actions this past month.

[SEXICO]

Welcome to synergy! o7 tho, good luck man

Edited June 8, 2022 by SEXICO

[Yekkow]

@Jad @Jayarr @Guac @Conrad I want to start by thanking you for responding to my post.

I have read over each of your responses and understand most of what you talked about in them. As someone who is currently working on an IT degree and has gone to school for game development, I understand a lot of the issues that each of you have listed. I also understand why some of you felt the post was hurtful. For that, I am sorry, as it was not my intention to berate people. I was focused on pointing out how communication seemed to be very lackluster and how, when looking from an outsiders perspective, it seemed that there is not much interaction from "most" of the higher ups.

I want to address why I said “everyone.” I said that because, in my mind, as someone who worked in a manager position in retail, that is how the “blame” falls. As a group of people, you should be seen as a team, and working as a team means that everyone gets blamed. I understand that it can come off as harsh and maybe a little unfair, especially if you know that someone that is being blamed had nothing to do with an issue, but it is unfortunately how people view projects like this. I think that if people have stated what I have in the past, and new people continue to say that same thing, then surely it must be an issue that needs fixing? Granted, players should also come forward so that management can deal with issues when they arise. I know that if it I heard the same complaint for years on end, it could get annoying. I understand how that makes it feel like no solution that you come up with will ever be the "right" one and how it can feel like nothing will ever be good enough.

Synergy, from what I have been told, has a lot of people that play on it. If that is true, then there has to be a level of professionalism that is expected from the higher ups, especially when the server charges money for things like VIP and SUB: at that point, in my mind, you *are* becoming game developers and charging for a product.

I have not listed examples of the issues that I am talking about and the people I’m thinking of because those people are still  involved with the server, and I do not wish any ill will to come to them. This isn’t meant for drama, just to broadly explain why I wanted to leave. Therefore, I am not going to “name names” or refer to them here to protect them from any backlash.

I have heard stories from people that have been on this server since 2017 and people that have been on the server since 2020. They all tell me about how things have changed, even in the other posts in this forum. Some of them say that things have gotten better despite some issues, which I’m happy about. I want to say that I am glad you took the time to respond, as that was seemingly part of the issue I have heard from said people: communication. As for the passion project statement, I can understand that this is everyone's project and that it is not a full time team of people that only work on the server. That *does* make things understandable regarding the development timeline.

I am going to end this response with the following. I think that Synergy is great on paper, what the server offers for the Star Wars Roleplay community is also great, and I hope it keeps doing well and continues to improve. However, after seeing how management treats things, I personally disagree with their methods and do not plan on coming back to a server that is being ran the way it is now. Nevertheless, I thank anyone who responded for responding.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Yekkow
Grammar corrections

[Square]

who are you again?

[Square]

6 minutes ago, Comics said:

I understand your frustration with this post and many posts like this. But don't you think maybe some introspection is required?

like Jad and Jayarr are taking this seriously because, while the OP doesn't speak for everyone, it's another example of members being extremely exhausted with how the founders are handling the server.
And your response to this, seemingly your first repsonse to any of this criticism is a perfect example of exactly what this post is about. 

This is an unbelievably out of touch thing to say. You've basically just spit on the entire community for le epic ownage XD

 

If these posts make you angry then maybe consider why there are so many. Instead of trying to humiliate people with real issues maybe consider what they're saying. 

My brother in christ. Everyone is working hard to get you guys new content.

[Comics]

Just now, Square said:

My brother in christ. Everyone is working hard to get you guys new content.

I don't know how I am supposed to explain this to you. Can you just read the post? can you read any criticism anyone has. A majority of the community are complaining about exactly these issues.

There is no communication, there is nothing from higher ups. Things just happen with a blank silence in between. It's not hard to acknowledge these things. The community is basically screaming for you to be more open and communicative and not treat it as some big joke. 

The community would think content is coming out if you made it clear that it was. We have Jad and Jayarr running PR for the founders who seem to not even be apart of our community anymore. You can't get away with cheap shots at real criticism like in 2017. The community clearly isn't on the founders side anymore, you can't win them over with these epic comebacks.

All you had to say is explain why your personal communication is the way it is, what your thinking and why you take the actions you do. But no you have to try and own this Staff Sergeant who was annoyed the founders seem to not even know they own the server. 

[Square]

2 minutes ago, Comics said:

I don't know how I am supposed to explain this to you. Can you just read the post? can you read any criticism anyone has. A majority of the community are complaining about exactly these issues.

There is no communication, there is nothing from higher ups. Things just happen with a blank silence in between. It's not hard to acknowledge these things. The community is basically screaming for you to be more open and communicative and not treat it as some big joke. 

The community would think content is coming out if you made it clear that it was. We have Jad and Jayarr running PR for the founders who seem to not even be apart of our community anymore. You can't get away with cheap shots at real criticism like in 2017. The community clearly isn't on the founders side anymore, you can't win them over with these epic comebacks.

All you had to say is explain why your personal communication is the way it is, what your thinking and why you take the actions you do. But no you have to try and own this Staff Sergeant who was annoyed the founders seem to not even know they own the server. 

I understand the complaints bro and the fact that you are saying we aren't addressing them is absolutely absurd. We've already acknowledged the communication issue and implemented processes to fix that. And yes Jad leads community PR. Sorry he's doing his job? We all have roles that we take care of. This specific update has taken an immense amount of work to put forth. This is through me graduating and with a fulltime job, maxwells attending university, Jad with a fulltime job, Forseen approaching graduation, Dragon with a fulltime job. Some of your mentality is that things can be done with a snap of a finger. We've communicated many times even before this "communication issue" that this particular time period was going to be extremely rough for all of us. This is also why we brought in extra help onto the dev team. Jayarr, Xaze, Baron. It seems like only the negatives are focused on now which is truly saddening. 

I've been in this community since day one and have been leading it for 4-5 years. People have said this server wasn't going to make it past 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. It's always the same. One thing I will say, many of you are quick to blame upwards, however this is by far the most toxic state I have seen the playerbase in. I don't mind sticking my neck out there and getting dumbs to reality check some of you because it's pretty crazy to see the separation of those who actually think about things before they post and put themselves out there to help the community compared to those that just shitpost on the forums. 

[Whataburger]

11 minutes ago, Square said:

I understand the complaints bro and the fact that you are saying we aren't addressing them is absolutely absurd. We've already acknowledged the communication issue and implemented processes to fix that. And yes Jad leads community PR. Sorry he's doing his job? We all have roles that we take care of. This specific update has taken an immense amount of work to put forth. This is through me graduating and with a fulltime job, maxwells attending university, Jad with a fulltime job, Forseen approaching graduation, Dragon with a fulltime job. Some of your mentality is that things can be done with a snap of a finger. We've communicated many times even before this "communication issue" that this particular time period was going to be extremely rough for all of us. This is also why we brought in extra help onto the dev team. Jayarr, Xaze, Baron. It seems like only the negatives are focused on now which is truly saddening. 

I've been in this community since day one and have been leading it for 4-5 years. People have said this server wasn't going to make it past 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. It's always the same. One thing I will say, many of you are quick to blame upwards, however this is by far the most toxic state I have seen the playerbase in. I don't mind sticking my neck out there and getting dumbs to reality check some of you because it's pretty crazy to see the separation of those who actually think about things before they post and put themselves out there to help the community compared to those that just shitpost on the forums. 

you're thinkin way to big lil man. Jad and jayarr have been working for the past 2-3 months trying to repair PR with the server so the state of the community is "The most toxic you've ever seen it" and you go ahead and post some dumbass shit on posts like these.

Real time big-dickin' the community XD

[A-a-ron]

13 minutes ago, Square said:

One thing I will say, many of you are quick to blame upwards, however this is by far the most toxic state I have seen the playerbase in.

Did you just blame to delayed update on us?

[Square]

1 minute ago, A-a-ron said:

Did you just blame to delayed update on us?

Super cool take man!

[A-a-ron]

17 minutes ago, Square said:

We've already acknowledged the communication issue and implemented processes to fix that

The main communication is a Q&A which means we have to stockpile questions since they won’t be answered unless they’re asked in a Q&A. Seems like this will just lead to more communication issues

Edited June 8, 2022 by A-a-ron

[Square]

2 minutes ago, A-a-ron said:

The main communication is a Q&A which means we have to stockpile questions since they won’t be answered unless they’re asked in a Q&A. Seems like this will just need to more communication issues

Do you expect us to be at your beckon call? That's not how this works. There's an entire streamlined communication process embedded into the community. And no it's not just a QA.

 

And maybe instead of kicking rocks and waiting for a community QA you can check out this cool and whacky link that's been there for years! https://synergyroleplay.com/forums/forum/299-questions-answers/

[A-a-ron]

4 minutes ago, Square said:

Do you expect us to be at your beckon call? That's not how this works. There's an entire streamlined communication process embedded into the community. And no it's not just a QA.

How is me requesting questions be answered more then once a month me asking you to be at the community’s beckon call?

 

Also the Q&A adds the cop out response of, wait until next Q&A for this to be answered

Edited June 8, 2022 by A-a-ron

[Square]

6 minutes ago, A-a-ron said:

How is me requesting questions be answered more then once a month me asking you to be at the community’s beckon call?

 

Also the Q&A adds the cop out response of, wait until next Q&A for this to be answered

Maybe try asking the questions? That usually tends to help. This is an issue for not this post. 

[Slak]

3 hours ago, Square said:

Maybe try asking the questions? That usually tends to help. This is an issue for not this post. 

When there is a timer to something, that means we can't ask anymore question, hence having to wait an entire month to ask for more communication.....

[Bane]

7 minutes ago, Square said:

Do you expect us to be at your beckon call?

Did you not come to the staff team in April talking about how you hoped to have the update out “soon” and how it had been originally planned for march? We’re quickly approaching mid june. I understand what you guys do is hard and how little errors can set back the project, but come on dude. You can’t deflect legitimate concerns, confusion, and frustration on “toxic players”. Like it’s really just as simple as updating us on the progress of the update. “Hey guys, small setback because of X”. “Hey guys, we’re getting closer!”. The communication thus far makes it seem like the update is just around the corner when it’s obviously not true. We would all rather the update be done right and to the vision of the Founding/Development team, we just need to know what’s going on. 

[Square]

Just now, Slak said:

When there is a timer to something, that means we can't ask anymore question, hence having to wait an entire month to ask for more communication.....

https://synergyroleplay.com/forums/forum/299-questions-answers/ :)

[Square]

3 minutes ago, Bane said:

Did you not come to the staff team in April talking about how you hoped to have the update out “soon” and how it had been originally planned for march? We’re quickly approaching mid june. I understand what you guys do is hard and how little errors can set back the project, but come on dude. You can’t deflect legitimate concerns, confusion, and frustration on “toxic players”. Like it’s really just as simple as updating us on the progress of the update. “Hey guys, small setback because of X”. “Hey guys, we’re getting closer!”. The communication thus far makes it seem like the update is just around the corner when it’s obviously not true. We would all rather the update be done right and to the vision of the Founding/Development team, we just need to know what’s going on. 

 

[Metro]

I will say this - For the first time in a while there is actual development happening outside of copy paste from the suggestions into the server. It's nice to see and appreciated. People seem to forget that this is all the developer's 2nd jobs. Most of them have IRL obligations as we all do.  This isn't a major company like DICE where we can expect updates weekly, or monthly in the drip feed method, it's just not feasible. I understand the frustration but look at it from all angles. When the update does come, we are going to see real changes, not only a custom new map and some new models but with the new NPC Systems and Performance improvements. I definitely get @Square's point on the toxic comment, this is by far the most combative Synergy as a player base has been towards Developers. But that's just my take. Everyone's entitled to an opinion I guess.

[Dono]

Ultimately the problem In my opinion is a just a general mentality of people to be unwilling to take on risk with trying something new (or try to do something ambitious that may have fallen apart before). 
 

I can say personally I have held an immense amount of ambition before on this server and tried to spearhead large projects before on my own to bring something refreshing and interesting to the table for once to unfortunately just be burnt out by the general lack of support that exists among community leadership sometimes for people who are willing to do something different then the status quo. Not only this, school kicked my ass hard since I focused so much on gmod in order to accomplish my Ambitions , which sucked my entire will to play on synergy before. One thing I have found tho, is that I’m addicted to this thing called synergy swrp and find myself right back where I left 3 months later after the storm passes. I’ll Probably need to go to counseling eventually for this community but that’s a later problem. - I’m actually writing all this on vacation rn too. 
 

I’ll do a deep dive so prepare to read or ignore this entirely (fair enough)
—————————————————-

the large scale event project that ran for 3 huge projects being the most prominent example of my ambition. We worked so incredibly hard to put things together so that we could shake up the pot and attempt to show people that if you have a dream of something ambitious but aren’t someone leading the community from above - enough sweat can make something happen. While we didn’t go nearly as far as we hoped - I think it was a pretty big success.
I remember having this dream for doing deployments that used both main server and event server the first time I joined the gm team over a year ago - but for months whenever I brought it up around other people who held somewhat substantial leadership positions it was usually met with “it’s been done before and didn’t work at all” or “that just won’t work, it’s too much to do”. 
 

it did end up happening when a group of people came together and decided to push so hard that they ended up staying up late for multiple weeks straight to build, plan and prepare these projects to prove our ambitious dreams could be done. 

 

i guess what I’m trying to say, is that leadership all around needs to understand that the founder and development team isn’t enough on its own to keep this community popping. The community needs ambition and spark from its own players to continue being unique and amazing. If you have an idea and you fully believe in it - don’t let anyone else kill it. If your a leader in this community and someone brings an idea for something new / unique don’t just dismiss them - provide constructive feedback and start a positive cycle of thought.
 

Leaders are nothing without the people who support them. Every person in this community has a part to play in making it exciting to actually play on the server. 
 

Additionally, the founders did drop dead for communications for awhile but now seem to be fixing it. They will prove their words in time with their actions. I have hope for that at least. 
 

I respect everyone who takes on a leadership role in this community to improve it. But leadership shouldn’t be the only people trying to improve things - the entire community needs to work together to find more ways then just relying on others to make things happen. This is a team effort, work together, be ambitious and creative. It goes a long way. I’ve seen dozens of huge ideas that seem so amazingly fun but take an immense amount of work to accomplish fall to nothing. Gmod becomes interesting when something ambitious is done on it. 

[Gears]

Man some of you people are the biggest backseaters when it comes to this while knowing absolutely nothing. Genuinely get infomation first and stop making bold claims without substance.

The Q and A was great, not perfect. but a massive step forward for the Founders. I do hope they wont be stopping dev questions being answered inbetween. But from stuff ive heard DIRECTLY from Founders, They are putting their head down on this. Many of you are very entitled, dont get me wrong, I myself am fustrated with the state of dev, but this QnA really helped me understand. 

Some of you people look at these founders and poke them with a stick over and over and expect them to dance. They do this for all for you and the majority of you spit in their faces. Get a reality check.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Gears

[Finn]

4 hours ago, Square said:

I've been in this community since day one and have been leading it for 4-5 years. People have said this server wasn't going to make it past 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. It's always the same. One thing I will say, many of you are quick to blame upwards, however this is by far the most toxic state I have seen the playerbase in. I don't mind sticking my neck out there and getting dumbs to reality check some of you because it's pretty crazy to see the separation of those who actually think about things before they post and put themselves out there to help the community compared to those that just shitpost on the forums. 

I'm truly amazed at this sentiment. The complaints the community has aren't just from a few trolls on the forums, my guy, they're coming from everyone. Your staff, you're High Command, old head, newfrogs, EVERYONE has had the same frustrations with the Management team for months now. While the recent communication increase is good, and well needed, it doesn't erase the previous 6 months of radio silence from you guys. And deflecting to "the player base is toxic" because we're not happy is a really poor mindset to have IMO.

 

I understand the pressure you guys are in to balance real life, and the server, and I understand how much work goes into some of the development stuff you're trying to accomplish, but the direction you guys have been going is not healthy, and I don't think it's fair to blame the community for that.

[Jad]

Hey guys! If possible i'd really prefer if this conversation came to a close here. I don't personally believe we're going to come to any conclusions here that would satisfy everyone. As always I will be available for any other questions either during the Q&A, the forums, or even Discord. If you have genuine or urgent concerns feel free to reach out!

I would like to leave this conversation off on a good note though. I truly appreciate the people who continue to put in hard work to make Synergy a great community regardless of your position! Stay strong and keep those chins up, we'll get everything sorted out one way or another.

 

[Eclipse]

I feel like we go through this cycle a lot. Ceaseless wheel.
Founders make post and communicate > happy playerbase > playerbase waiting for update > silence as update is worked on > angry playerbase > post about lack of communication > founders make post and communicate and then it all repeats
Just me? Idk.