Can we bring back the old playerbase count?

[Vurtex_]

I want to hear from Management if they feel their Admin team is doing EVERYTHING in their power to control the controllables? Meaning the people they put in staff are the best people for the job? Are they doing their roles with integrity? Stability is the biggest thing a server needs, especially a server that’s been around this long.

 

Not here blaming anyone, just want to hear if they’re fully confident in their team.

Edited December 9, 2024 by Vurtex_

[fruit]

36 minutes ago, Mmartin said:

The component you're missing is that in an overwhelming majority of the cases, after a person assumes position where they can make a difference after loudly and proudly proclaiming they'll be able to, they become inactive almost immediately.

 

I don't agree with this.

 

Management almost always takes too long to give up some control to other players or onboard new members on the team. For example, if I express a desire to join a certain staff team, it will most likely take a few weeks before that process is concluded. Motivation comes and goes in waves. By the time when you're given a position where you can influence stuff, that motivation is probably at the downwards trend of the wave. Had the process of onboarding someone not taken weeks, but rather 1-2 days, that motivation would've still been fresh and the person would keep their activity. Its an issue that has been around for a long time, which is why you see it happen for a majority of the cases.

 

The average age of an LSRP player is much much older than what it used to be. We've got commitments and not a lot of time in the day to spend on LSRP. You simply cannot afford to follow the same laborious processes from before and expect the community to not get frustrated and eventually leave. For example, seeing the state of businesses on the server and how inactive they were, I expressed a desire to furnish some businesses for the server for free, no strings attached, so that they can be put on auctions or for leasing. No response apart from the generic "We'll look into it" response for a month. I don't understand what cons there can even possibly be for the management to still be "looking into" it. Eventually I decided to say fuck it, bought myself a business, bought a donator, furnished it in a couple of days and offered to give it away for free to the leasing team for them to utilize but again, received a generic "We'll look into it" response.

 

I'm offering free stuff as a token of appreciation for the server, but every time, it seems like I'm not welcomed. Does this give me a sense of belonging in the community? No, not really. Does this make me feel like I'm filing paperwork for the government or filing taxes, rather than trying to make some positive changes in a niche roleplaying community from 2007? Yes it does.

[Salazaros]

2 minutes ago, Vurtex_ said:

I want to hear from Management if they feel their Admin team is doing EVERYTHING in their power to control the controllables? Meaning the people they put in staff are the best people for the job? Are they doing their roles with integrity? Stability is the biggest thing a server needs, especially a server that’s been around this long.

 

Not here blaming anyone, just want to hear if they’re fully confident in their team.

I don't think they would address that publicly to us even if they would think so. Because it would surely demotivate the ones that are trying to do a good job.

[Salazaros]

4 minutes ago, fruit said:

 

I don't agree with this.

 

Management almost always takes too long to give up some control to other players or onboard new members on the team. For example, if I express a desire to join a certain staff team, it will most likely take a few weeks before that process is concluded. Motivation comes and goes in waves. By the time when you're given a position where you can influence stuff, that motivation is probably at the downwards trend of the wave. Had the process of onboarding someone not taken weeks, but rather 1-2 days, that motivation would've still been fresh and the person would keep their activity. Its an issue that has been around for a long time, which is why you see it happen for a majority of the cases.

 

The average age of an LSRP player is much much older than what it used to be. We've got commitments and not a lot of time in the day to spend on LSRP. You simply cannot afford to follow the same laborious processes from before and expect the community to not get frustrated and eventually leave. For example, seeing the state of businesses on the server and how inactive they were, I expressed a desire to furnish some businesses for the server for free, no strings attached, so that they can be put on auctions or for leasing. No response apart from the generic "We'll look into it" response for a month. I don't understand what cons there can even possibly be for the management to still be "looking into" it. Eventually I decided to say fuck it, bought myself a business, bought a donator, furnished it in a couple of days and offered to give it away for free to the leasing team for them to utilize but again, received a generic "We'll look into it" response.

 

I'm offering free stuff as a token of appreciation for the server, but every time, it seems like I'm not welcomed. Does this give me a sense of belonging in the community? No, not really. Does this make me feel like I'm filing paperwork for the government or filing taxes, rather than trying to make some positive changes in a niche roleplaying community from 2007? Yes it does.

I fully agree with you that the process of certain things are taking far too long. So people like you would definitely make a change for us players with those ideas that you mentioned.

[Cake]

I'll piggy back on Martin and Michael and more or less just echo what they're saying. I haven't spent nearly as much time as them, but I still think I brought a lot to the table, but my experience was already the same as theirs. I add one thing and it's all fine for a day or two, then it's back to "priorities are wrong!", "that's useless!", "what about us?!", etc.

 

Nothing that will be added will be sufficient for anyone, but even so, we're playing on a script that has been maintained for over a decade, there won't be any game changing features that will change how you play or experience the game at this point. I remember Kane working hard as fuck some years ago adding new stuff left and right, and everyone seems to have suddenly forgotten about all those contributions as if they never happened and it's now impossible to roleplay on the server.

 

It's left to the community to get together and form what LS-RP used to be and keep it running, but everyone is busy complaining at management and each other. Nothing will be done at this rate and we're headed to a rapid descent. I'm not saying that as in "we're destined to fail" but rather as a wake up call to get together and actually play the game to enjoy the game. There's definitively a possibility of turning the descent around, but it won't happen with all the negativity that the community is orbiting around.

 

If you don't think it's possible to "save" the community, one has to ask what the fuck you are still doing here complaining.

[DDaniels]

1 hour ago, fruit said:

 

I don't agree with this.

 

Management almost always takes too long to give up some control to other players or onboard new members on the team. For example, if I express a desire to join a certain staff team, it will most likely take a few weeks before that process is concluded. Motivation comes and goes in waves. By the time when you're given a position where you can influence stuff, that motivation is probably at the downwards trend of the wave. Had the process of onboarding someone not taken weeks, but rather 1-2 days, that motivation would've still been fresh and the person would keep their activity. Its an issue that has been around for a long time, which is why you see it happen for a majority of the cases.

 

The average age of an LSRP player is much much older than what it used to be. We've got commitments and not a lot of time in the day to spend on LSRP. You simply cannot afford to follow the same laborious processes from before and expect the community to not get frustrated and eventually leave. For example, seeing the state of businesses on the server and how inactive they were, I expressed a desire to furnish some businesses for the server for free, no strings attached, so that they can be put on auctions or for leasing. No response apart from the generic "We'll look into it" response for a month. I don't understand what cons there can even possibly be for the management to still be "looking into" it. Eventually I decided to say fuck it, bought myself a business, bought a donator, furnished it in a couple of days and offered to give it away for free to the leasing team for them to utilize but again, received a generic "We'll look into it" response.

 

I'm offering free stuff as a token of appreciation for the server, but every time, it seems like I'm not welcomed. Does this give me a sense of belonging in the community? No, not really. Does this make me feel like I'm filing paperwork for the government or filing taxes, rather than trying to make some positive changes in a niche roleplaying community from 2007? Yes it does.

 

It's sometimes unfortunate that things go that way, I agree, I've learned from my many years of playing LSRP to just keep reminding that one person, because to be honest? Most teams usually have way too much to do at the same time, that it's very easy to lose track of what still needs to be done.

 

I do completely agree with Mmartin, though. Especially when it comes to "people getting the rank and going inactive". It's the exact reason why I stepped down as a lead admin and FTC after LSRP:V's launch. I did what I could with the knowledge and experience that I had and stepped down when I felt like I was going to start going inactive, so that no one can point a finger and call FTC inactive, but rather so I can get replaced and things get picked up instantly after I leave.

 

I think what most people don't realise that being in the lead team especially is very tough. The more you go up the ranks, the more work you gotta do. It's not simply them going in game and doing refund requests, but usually goes a lot deeper with all the work that's being done behind the scenes, and I do agree, there's not enough appreciation from the community regarding that.

 

I do have to admit myself that I've been very vocal these last couple of weeks, not because I'm not appreciative, but because I've seen that sometimes it's required to be vocal for there to be a change. And I do want to apologize to anyone if they've gotten the feeling of them being unappreciated by me, because it's not always that easy to comprehend your own words in someone else's POV.

 

Management and leadership are doing what they can, and I know they are. We might not always agree, which is fine in an environment like this (where people from all around the world come together to make a project happen), but at the end of the day most people want the best for the server, while still having fun.

 

And I've said it multiple times before aswell, but it's not the same from ten years ago anymore. These people have grown up, and so have their mentalities. Some have become mature, and some have become even more childish. It's for us as a community to be able to work together.

 

My faction and I have had countless disagreements with members of staff, the faction team, et cetera, but we've not given up nor do we intend to. We're going to be sticking around for as long as possible, because at the end of the day this is a community we all build together, whether it was through bringing in dope roleplay, features or ideas.

[risen]

  There’s no better way to put it than how Michael said: it's a mentality issue more than anything else, and it's becoming increasingly clear over time. From my experience in-game, both as an admin and as a member of an illegal faction, it's truly draining to witness the attitudes of both players and some staff members. The same individuals shouting “fix LS-RP” or jumping on the “it’s dying” trend are often the ones contributing to its downfall by ruining players’ experiences. They bend the rules to get some free DM, use whatever undetectable hacks they can get to gain an unfair advantage, and generally undermine the community.

 

Roleplay has always been a game mode where players are expected to hop in and create their own enjoyment. Features from the dev team are meant to enhance the experience, not serve as a prerequisite for engaging in the game. Waiting for the dev team to deliver some groundbreaking update before deciding to log in defeats the purpose of the server entirely. LS-RP thrives on the community’s contributions from factions to videos, to just people playing the server in general. Management understands this well, and currently, I believe we’re at a peak of transparency and opportunities for community members to be heard and appreciated.

 

On 10/10/2024 at 10:44 PM, fractillaG said:

The issue is straight, the community fell out of touch and the faith in once a staff team so majestic and elite no one wanted to step a foot in the wrong and miss out on what once used to be a hotspot, LS:RP. 

 

This is an older comment from the thread, but it's still an ongoing issue. With SA-MP reopening, the staff team adopted a lenient “education over punishment” approach to try and improve relations with players. However, it felt like this leniency was exploited and negatively impacted the player experience. The reporting players often felt wronged, believing that admins failed to take proper action, while rulebreakers developed a “getting away with it” mentality, further pushing boundaries. An issue is always going to be where we draw the line, when do we start handing out permanent bans or increasingly long ajails in hopes that it prevents this type of behavior from pushing the genuine members of the community who are here to roleplay away.

 

As the community has grown in age, people no longer fear "stepping out of line", they have other responsibilities to worry about and simply don't care if their position is terminated or they're punished on the server etc, and that’s a significant problem we need to somehow resolve. Roleplaying is a game mode where one person’s misstep can ruin the experience for many others, often triggering a domino effect.

 

Piecing everything together is challenging because, in my experience, some of the most active community members are also the ones most intent on consistently breaking rules. They often seem surprised when action is taken against them. I completely agree with Michael’s point about entitlement. This issue spans all areas of the server, from legal roleplayers to staff members and illegal roleplayers alike. It seems like no one is willing to take a loss anymore. I’ve seen people repeatedly log in to kill each other upon respawn, only to report each other and then complain when both are punished. It genuinely makes no sense to me.

 

I appreciate that there are often issues within the staff team, people feel like they're not being heard or their contributions are under appreciated. However, a lot of the issues that we face on the server are impossible for staff to fix alone, as I highlighted earlier, LS-RP is and always will be here because of the community, and often it's made out to seem like staff are working against the community and vice versa, which shouldn't be the case at all.

[ROZE]

I'm not getting involved with the drama posted here before me. My reply is to the topic's original title: "Can we bring back the old playerbase count?".

 

Do you remember when first joined LS-RP, reader? It was exciting being thrown into a world with loads of people living their own virtual lives, you were meeting new people, joining new groups, you were having fun and learning more about the community. Everything was new and you were impressed by the big factions and businesses. 

 

We still get a lot of new players here, and this is still the experience that they have when they join the server for the first time.

 

I'm in the unique position to be running such a big company in game, I speak to a lot of new players, probably more than almost anybody in this community, my company receives about 3-5 applications a day, a majority of them being from new players. We give them a chance to learn how to rp and get to know them. I often ask these new players how they found out about LS-RP, what they like, what they don't like, and how they feel about things overall. I hear positive feedback from nearly 100% of the new players I speak to.

 

Unfortunately when asking old players the same questions you will receive negative feedback from most people. The new car smell has worn off.

 

My point in saying this is because one of my main goals as a new lead admin is to create a strategy to bring in new players and improve the player count.

New players that end up sticking around are generally some of the nicest and most motivated people that I get to talk to. 

 

With the way things are setup right now, LS-RP is not user friendly for new people, we don't have an up to date tutorial, the news paper is gone, it's complicated for new people to join factions or jobs, the /help system is outdated, our website does not have a clear home page, etc etc. These are all things that will be worked on with urgency after the 14.0.0 update, which is coming very soon. 

 

When asking new players how they found LS-RP, an overwhelming majority of them say that they found us via YouTube. With this information in hand, I have recently been in discussions with a couple of prominent content creators in our area of roleplay, such as Userone, in order to gain feedback on how we can work with them to make the content-creation experience better for those looking to do so in LS-RP. In the coming days we will be launching a content creator program where people can earn credits, additional support, and recognition for their videos from the staff team.

 

Making LS-RP user friendly to new people and creating a better platform for content creators, hopefully we can bring in new players and retain them, upping the overall player count. We also have plans to have our server back on the server browser.

 

You can also help with upping the player count by being more open to new players, you were a new player once and people probably helped you, you might even still remember those great people from back when you first joined. A lot of people are extremely dismissive to new players.

[Cursed_King]

Back in the day all i needed was /me and /do to start some shit and have fun, it's really a mentality issue, hard to swallow pill but it's the truth.

[epicness]

Just now, Cursed_King said:

Back in the day all i needed was /me and /do to start some shit and have fun, it's really a mentality issue, hard to swallow pill but it's the truth.

fr, you have all the /cmds that you need to create a fun environment, they started to add some fun that we needed and didn't need to enjoy the gameplay.

Not every day will be filled with rp activities but thats just how it is somedays...

[MeowTheEpic]

IFT/IFC Issue aside, the community's unending negativity also took its toll. People stopped roleplaying for fun and simply started to RP to win as evident by the same people reporting one another over scenes that shouldn't even happen in the first place. We should go back to our roots and enjoy simple passive RP and relax a little. Instead of these never ending shootouts that are obviously aren't even fun for their participants since they always end up in a /b fiesta and a report.

[Natasha Valentine]

1 hour ago, Cake said:

I'll piggy back on Martin and Michael and more or less just echo what they're saying. I haven't spent nearly as much time as them, but I still think I brought a lot to the table, but my experience was already the same as theirs. I add one thing and it's all fine for a day or two, then it's back to "priorities are wrong!", "that's useless!", "what about us?!", etc.

 

Nothing that will be added will be sufficient for anyone, but even so, we're playing on a script that has been maintained for over a decade, there won't be any game changing features that will change how you play or experience the game at this point. I remember Kane working hard as fuck some years ago adding new stuff left and right, and everyone seems to have suddenly forgotten about all those contributions as if they never happened and it's now impossible to roleplay on the server.

 

It's left to the community to get together and form what LS-RP used to be and keep it running, but everyone is busy complaining at management and each other. Nothing will be done at this rate and we're headed to a rapid descent. I'm not saying that as in "we're destined to fail" but rather as a wake up call to get together and actually play the game to enjoy the game. There's definitively a possibility of turning the descent around, but it won't happen with all the negativity that the community is orbiting around.

 

If you don't think it's possible to "save" the community, one has to ask what the fuck you are still doing here complaining.

I strongly agree, you even brought back Lenny the train conductor! Really Amazing, I also viewed over DrumJ's biker camp which was also pretty cool! But ya, you did great Cake! And even if I don't play samp, I still respect your contributions to samp and the part of the community that plays it and enjoys it to this very day! 🥰 LennyV2 #LSRPV

[Salazaros]

It's important to acknowledge the passion and frustration that underlie much of what's said here. The server and its community have a long history, and those deep roots are why people care so much about its direction. However, labeling serious concerns as ''toxicity'' or ''negativity'' can easily undermine legitimate feedback and create a divide between leadership and players. This isn't helpful for anyone. When players raise concerns about issues on the server, whether it's staff inactivity, fairness, or server direction, calling it ''complaining'' minimizes their intent. Many of these posts are not aimed at tearing people down but at expressing genuine frustration and a desire for change. Constructive criticism isn't always perfectly worded, but that doesn't make it invalid. 

I agree that the community has a role to play, but let's not overstate its guilt. Yes, there are players who break rules or act entitled, and they do harm the overall experience. But the majority of the community is here because they wanna sustain LS-RP and want it to move forward. Blaming the community as a whole shifts focus away from actionable solutions we can take together. Instead, leadership should work to build together, offering transparency and clear steps to rebuild trust. Community members, in turn, need to approach criticism with respect and patience. The community need a shared understanding that criticism isn't an attack.

At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: to see LS-RP move forward. Feedback shouldn't feel like a fight between ''us and them.'' When concerns are raised, it should spark a conversation, not defensiveness. I have to acknowledge the effort and dedication that's been put in where it matters most. @Cake and @ImperiumXVII have been absolute pillars, keeping this community alive with their dedication to developing the server scripts. Their hard work hasn't gone unnoticed by us players, and it's clear they've made a huge difference. But retiring like this doesn't solve anything. This will just kill the last hope that people had with sustaining it. My intent with these comments wasn't to bash management directly. But to offer good criticism and open a dialogue. We all care about LS-RP and nostalgia, which is why we're still here.

[brigada]

Another issue or for me even the main one is that general playerbase decreased and the toxicity became more vocal. As activity and years of experience  brings/brought more entiltement. Given that it’s generally old guard who wants more and more.

This is a struggle of every community which is on its last legs, loyal players become toxic (in some cases without noticing) and super vocal on what they deem to be right which eventually triggers a downfall domino effect - there is no way to go around. During prime or even good years of lsrp, same people had same issue, were toxic in a same way but the voices were blurred to some extent and as long as player number is high - server was going on and on, it simply required more than a grease on a wheel but even with that this situation was inevitable. 

I’ve had my issues with this run, have been vocal and still to this day feel righ about what I did but this nostalgia trip was a good gift and everyone should show appreciation to staff for doing this.

 

There is no one at fault, we simply became a small community with super high standard. Maybe with better approach the end coukd have happened months later but it still would have happened. Role-play is about players and creativity, there is so much you can drill from 25+ year olds with families. Our standards became too high and are impossible to satisfy due to us being a small comunity from where we simply can’t press more rp out of, it’s that simple. 

 

Hopefully V can be revived or prep for VI will start on time and LSRP can be top once again, as it should. 

Thanks to staff team even though some are questionable people who jerk over the game and are drenched in sweat, effort has been undeniable. Nostalgia trip was all worth it.  

 

ps: I’d love to help in any way. but im also labeled as toxic sadly. 

Edited December 9, 2024 by brigada

[Cake]

36 minutes ago, Natasha Valentine said:

I strongly agree, you even brought back Lenny the train conductor! Really Amazing, I also viewed over DrumJ's biker camp which was also pretty cool! But ya, you did great Cake! And even if I don't play samp, I still respect your contributions to samp and the part of the community that plays it and enjoys it to this very day! 🥰 LennyV2 #LSRPV

 

What's funny about this is that people still found a way to complain about it and tried complaining that Lenny the train addition was a completely and utter useless addition that no one asked for...