NA Server Population & Admins

[willy wilson 87]

Hi Nide.gg community, I know I'm not the most active player right now, honestly over the past six months I've played intermittently, mostly on random weeknights probably two to three times a week depending on my schedule for a few hours at a time though since returning to ze and playing with some consistency. I wanted to make a note of this at the beginning of my post as I have a bias and am not entirely cognizant of all the communities issues and trends. I do think though that my long time in ZE, almost eight years now (of that I've played on nide at night time for six or seven of those years), my former stay as an admin on nide from 2020 until 2021 / 22 (can't really remember), being the first admin on nide to start North American events and watching numerous communities such as syndicate gamers, steam gamers, and gfl css die, that my experience may provide some insight and some basis for the existing nide leadership and player base. I want to emphasize that I care A LOT about ensuring that this server stays alive to that as many people as possible can enjoy zombie escape going forward. 

There is a disturbing trend that I have noticed in the past few months, and it's a declining amount of admins and active north American players, specifically on casual maps and I think these issues are interrelated. I've noticed in the past few months multiple admins be demoted, notably Toxic, Hobgoblin, and MaxingKing though I may have missed others. These admins have explained frustrations to me with the server though I don't know everyone's perspective and am going to hold off on making any judgement, though I feel like if three active admins that have play consistently and try to populate the server, there at least needs to be replacements prior to demotion. With older admins such as StickyClicker or bacon seem to not being as active as they were months or years ago, and newer admins such as Doogla and Parta have come on, and are doing a great job, they aren't able to fill the same gaps of experience from other admins simply and due to time constraints. 

The trend of lower player numbers during na time, especially on casual maps, isn't impossible to fix, and can't be blamed entirely on "css is a dead game it's 20 years old" as people have been making that argument since 2017, when nide's na nights were dead as f*ck with 15 people and no admins, and css player counts have remained somewhat consistent since then. Someone may also say "school is ending it's finals season" but this has been an issue since march and I doubt that finals have been taking place for three months. There have been more and more occurences recently of me being on the server and an admin not being present to mute, or help fix a broken map, this happened just tonight where a map glitched and no admin was on to slay zms at the end so humans had to suicide to end the round. I think an overemphasis on tryhard maps has been a major issue as of late, and the server is burning itself out for na players. Na has historically been primarily casual with some tryhard, and it's fine to vary it up, however there are a lot fewer admins who are appealing to the more casual players and it's being shown through the decline in server population during na hours. My experience is one person's though there have been numerous nights recently where I've had to come on and populate nide to get the population from 10-15 players to 30+ using lotr maps, boatescape and the like, and while I can do that, I think more casual admins need to be appointed to fill that role and ensure the na playerbase doesn't die.

I want to ask nide in this post to seriously examine if there are any potential candidates or volunteers to help fill the roles that more casual admins played to keep newer players joining the server through more casual maps, or potentially work out any differences with former admins such as toxic, hobgoblin, or maxingking who could assist with the server still though in a diminished capacity, such as remaining "trial admins" until any outstanding issues are resolved or replacements are found. There is simply a lack of admins and people to help populate na night time after the tryhards leave the server and it's become a much more apparent issue lately. 

tl;dr I think it's short sided to demote long time server admins without at least finding suitable replacements who can ensure that na hours remains populated and have a consistent flow of casual maps to keep newer players happy and joining the server. I am asking that nide think about promoting or scouting people who could pop na during the night time and offering them a chance as admin. The server population during na hours has been on a consistent decline due to this. 

[Hobbitten 571]

Hey @ willy wilson

Sadly the 3 mentioned admins have been demoted from various reasons and replacements are something we are looking out for and I agree we do not have the same amount of active admins for NA as we had in the past it for sure have declined in activity and it is something I began to become aware of during the play of our contest maps. Very few NA admins joined during them sadly. 

For doogla and stickyclicker + parta are both inactive due to some irl stuff lately. They are back soon again to handle NA sessions from I understand. 

I'll notify my highup staff team about looking for NA people who could be good trial admins in the future. 

 

[ransmi 2]

Biggest problem I've noticed as an NA player is the lack of maps people want to play at these hours. EU cycles through all the desirable maps the instant they're available while NA is at work/school so we're left playing Port Royal for the 3rd time that day at 1am then cycling through surf and nemesis maps till EU really wakes up. 

Edited May 22 by ransmi
don't want to conflate good maps with maps people want to play

[Midknight 72]

58 minutes ago, ransmi said:

Biggest problem I've noticed as an NA player is the lack of maps people want to play at these hours. EU cycles through all the desirable maps the instant they're available while NA is at work/school so we're left playing Port Royal for the 3rd time that day at 1am then cycling through surf and nemesis maps till EU really wakes up. 

I dont think its this, personally. NA has had a lot of maps taken out of time restriction more recently, i think its more issue with lack of leaders willing to go very hard maps

[ransmi 2]

3 hours ago, Midknight said:

I dont think its this, personally. NA has had a lot of maps taken out of time restriction more recently, i think its more issue with lack of leaders willing to go very hard maps

Yeah "hard maps" sure, but not maps that drive players in to the server. I really hate to put it this way but Doogla's Mako event was the first time I've seen that time of day on NA at high pop, and that was just 10pm. If we can't get those kinds of maps every now and again people are just going to play CS2 ZE where you can find those maps and an almost full server at 3am.

Edited May 22 by ransmi

[Kamisama Kaneki 29]

I think the decline started with the absence of sticky cause hes like the Main na admin doing Events, tryhard sessions or fun sessions with kickers etc. He was like the only one keeping the sv populated during na times

[Subaru Natsuki 17]

14 minutes ago, Kamisama Kaneki said:

I think the decline started with the absence of sticky cause hes like the Main na admin doing Events, tryhard sessions or fun sessions with kickers etc. He was like the only one keeping the sv populated during na times

yeah, as a NA player, i can confirm we are experiencing lack of events/players/admins..since the previous month i guess
and we had no chance to try those new maps in NA hours, am personally forced to join the EU team to try them..and it was an amazing run..(speaking from 1st time)
sticky has always been the backbone of NA Team, we can say "NA Team Leader"...his absence really left a big effect, same with other NA Admins..

[crzykerns 6]

whos the NA team ill take admin you need one im here to help all you gotta do is ask  depends on players and map choices need keep server alive vote maps that gonna bring people im here dawg if ya need me 

Edited May 22 by crzykerns

[Tex 107]

I have felt the decline as well.

I know personally i have not been spending as much time on the server as i once did. But willy's thoughts i would echo 

[willy wilson 87]

10 hours ago, Hobbitten said:

Hey @ willy wilson

Sadly the 3 mentioned admins have been demoted from various reasons and replacements are something we are looking out for and I agree we do not have the same amount of active admins for NA as we had in the past it for sure have declined in activity and it is something I began to become aware of during the play of our contest maps. Very few NA admins joined during them sadly. 

For doogla and stickyclicker + parta are both inactive due to some irl stuff lately. They are back soon again to handle NA sessions from I understand. 

I'll notify my highup staff team about looking for NA people who could be good trial admins in the future. 

 

Hey Hobbitten, I didn't mean to blame or judge doogla, sticky or parta, for any perceived lack of playtime. Obviously irl stuff >>>>>>> ze just wanted to note the issues I felt the server was experiencing. I do however want to say thanks for checking in on who could be good trial admins or finding people to fill the roles that have either been demoted or are on a leave of absence / down on playtime. 

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I know personally i have not been spending as much time on the server as i once did. But willy's thoughts i would echo 

Regarding Tex, sorry I didn't mention you as I have seen you around more recently and still appreciate the job that you do as admin and felt you had become one of few. 

 

Quote

I think the decline started with the absence of sticky cause hes like the Main na admin doing Events, tryhard sessions or fun sessions with kickers etc. He was like the only one keeping the sv populated during na times

@ Kamisama Kaneki  and @ Subaru Natsuki  I like both of your perspectives and thank you for posting, however I feel like the server needs a self sustaining population during casual maps as well. Constantly playing tryhard maps will mean players constantly expecting tryhard maps, and when they drop off the population for casual maps can't sustain itself. I think it's unrealistic to expect as many events / tryhard sessions as were happening though I think these do need to happen on a regular basis, just not as much as previously. 

Edited May 22 by willy wilson

[crzykerns 6]

in tex I TRUST!!! MY DAWGGGG

[Tex 107]

@ willy wilson No harm at all dude, I know i have been more inactive lately. 

@ crzykerns  Thanks daddy

 

[Metroid Skittles 1]

20 year old game btw.

[willy wilson 87]

8 hours ago, Metroid Skittles said:

20 year old game btw.

Literally addressed this criticism in my initial post.