This will be a read, but for those who care to read it then here we go. And I know, I was just banned, I'm a troll, etc etc.
I put 6 months into a character's development and despite what anyone says my faction provided a ton of RP in many ways overtime. A lot of unofficial factions have as well both here and gone.
You can look at a good majority (not all) of staff members whom hold a management position and haven't posted anything related to role playing or actually being in game and contributing some sort of rp. Their excuse, "we have a life", as if none of you playing have nothing going on beyond this game and just devote your time and soul into this (some of you do, but I digress). And no, screenshots aren't the metric used to showcase ones development, but it's a huge factor to the entertainment and portrayal that we all seek to have within our characters which is why almost all of us do it and take time to edit, etc.
With that being said, a lot of the focus and actual development of the server itself lies with the management team. How does a staff team whom doesn't even provide consistent game updates, offer boring and redundant script additions/schemes, seldomly propose bland innovations in rewarding unique rp, and who constantly refute the lack of communication with the broader unofficial faction community, expect players who actually come ig for 2-3 hours a day to just purely RP and contribute? There's a lack of incentivizing, rewarding and nurturing new/stable factions which is why this conversation keeps coming up.
I've proposed solutions when @Scumpy asked the unofficial faction leaders at the time a couple of months ago some things to improve on in IFM. I gave him my recommendations and got nothing from any staff members or IFM about my submission, or if any implementations were being discussed. Wtf was the point?
Speaking of admins, look at these individuals post record.
@Michael @badhbh @izumi I see a lot of forum reporting, wtf do ya'll do behind the scenes? Orchestrate the decrease in PB? We're barely getting quality updates, don't get me started on IFM implementations. Factions should be able to easily (24-48 hrs reply time frame) rp a score, something nuanced and elaborate and provide screens via discord to an IFM member for script money, without the tedious scheme application for each score. Factions lasting 3-4 months out of character should be able to own multiple businesses with less restrictions (obviously a limit here) without needing to go through the leasing process, and funded by the server. Basic and beneficial requests that are overlooked even though multiple people have probably said it. It's GTA SA, not a supreme court hearing. And you have IFM members to lean on heavily in making decisions because most of the guys outside of staff member IFM actually play the game consistently. What do you guys even rp, cause I have no clue what you guys do in an in-game perspective. Keep in mind folks, these are the individuals running the server as we speak and mainly all aspects of its success. Prove me wrong though.
@Mmartin Where are donation money going to? Premium members money, and show me the updates that you guys keep saying "the players are asking for". Aren't you head of development? I had to keep answering that exact question because I got banned on 4 accounts, contributions of @Spectre. Galleani is one example of an illegal faction that for some reason keeps their official status, but could easily be toppled over by other factions official and unofficial. They should of been removed a long time ago for their inactivity and lack of contributions. And none of the accusations made by @trksthtmn3 even tho we had our issues were formally addressed. Yes, I made a staff report on him too, and it got shut down in what? 1-2 days time? You wonder why people have no faith and trust in you, since your takeover of the community, we've seen a drastic and steady decrease ultimately leading to lsrpv's failure and now soon to be this iteration. Maybe you're the root problem, but everyone who speaks out against you is scolded and banned.
If you have read this long and I'm not banned for this then kudos to you. The funny thing about this whole debacle is that lsrpv failed epicly, and they think this will last. The pure definition of insanity right there.
You want player retention? Should have listened to our requests/qualms. Want to embrace and promote the success of this role play? Should focus more on unofficial factions, 80% of the bloodline within this community.
Until you can work on that part of this declining server, maybe you can retain what's left of the nostalgia pizza. Because at some point it'll run out, and that nostalgia fuel is gone whether you like it or not.