Flying over the cuckoo's nest
A retrospective look at the state of affairs in the native community, after the BnB experience.
Intro¶
We can start with the classic "problem" of the community - whales.
It's a bit horrifying how vulgarized this term has become.
In which topics, in the community, whales are usually mentioned directly or indirectly?
The undisputed leader is of course the abyss theme:
- It's a convenient scapegoat for GMs.
Why is the abyss such a result?
Because there are no/small/need more whales, and the abyss, understandably is won only by the wallet.
(no. proven with special diligence)
- Or as a "tool" that by some unknown and undoubtedly unfair chance, ended up in another GM's possession, but if it had been in our possession, well, then we would have shown everyone!
Among some f2p/dolphins they are sheiks who have nowhere to put their untold wealth, or oppressors of ordinary people's feelings.
Recently observed in NM a real "witchwhalehunt". Guy, not even covering himself with a joke/sarcasm, shamed for donations.
Or here from an older one
But there aren't enough whales!
But if you take a moment and think about it.
it's obvious that whales are not Arab sheiks. And there's no such thing as extra money. Ever. No one. And the average whale (1), in the end, is a keen player, with a strong bias towards the competitive side of the game.
Often, more motivated most near f2p/dolphin, which actually manifests itself in the willingness to spend time and finances on an interesting/favorite hobby.
- True whales are implied.
Do not confuse withfaloimitators, the accidental drivers of accounts of departed kraken.
The latter are dangerous that understanding/knowledge of the game in the head tends to zero, but parasitize on the benefits of the kraken very much want. As a consequence, they have a tendency to give away wishful thinking, which in an untrained listener can cause a state of decay, and familiar with the individual feeling of fierce cringe. Sometimes they try to build themselves as sheikhs, but at the same time they merge with their own $50 bet.
The reasons for this attitude are easily, but erroneously, sometimes written off as "our nationality," then kulaks (1) us oppressors of the working class, now whales.
In fact, it is obvious that the first two theses have a clear causal connection with the subsequent ones.
The use, of such a convenient "excuse" for everything, has its price. And the dismorale of a motivated minority is not its only component.
- I have recently encountered the fact that few people have any idea of who the plebeians are. Kulaks in the mass consciousness to this day approximately similarly perceived, in order to avoid double interpretation, in case of uncertainty, I recommend to look in history of our state, read about who it.
(link to the English version, since the article in Russian is of extremely dubious quality, a lot about the attitude to kulaks, but there is not even a reference to Stolypin's reforms, thanks to which this phenomenon came into existence)
(for the lazy TLDR; Kulaks are in fact the first peasant-entrepreneurs who, as a result of Stolypin's reforms, were given property rights in order to make more efficient production. But in the end, this really efficient production somehow did not match the planned economy, so this right was taken back from innocent people in a very bloody and inhuman way).
The "whale factor"?¶
Is the "whale factor" really that important? Or is it unreasonably exaggerated?
In case of last AbEX, 3(!) ru guilds took out all the 5th bosses. And that's already a historical fact.
Does this mean that they had a chance to compete for the top 1?
It doesn't make sense to consider this question for two reasons:
1) "History does not bear the subjunctive mood".
2) While BnB focus on min relics, cis goal was to kill boss for sure, that would definitely not screw up and fail.
Instead of such speculations, I suggest to inquiring minds thought experiment, which at one time was offered to trafiboy, Ubivash (1), and recently, SirEblo2000 from Aquilon.
- ex-leaders of The Hospital
Thought experiment
- Take a close look, at the active in abyss, composition of your guild(60-70 people).
- Let's imagine that a miracle happened and at the start of the abyss, the entire guild swapped accounts with the whale guild (any of the top 5, at your discretion, but of course exclusively accounts).
- Question: What is the probability that your guild, would exceed the already known result of a top-5 whale gi?
Survey Responses
Don't remember the exact answers, but the gist was the same - zero%.
Main goal of the experiment: there is no interest in how many whales needed to get to shit a little less. Any result lower than that is irrelevant. More on the harms of such speculation below, after a little lyrical digression.
S9 - S10 Trends¶
DISCLAIMER
The author has no experience in data analysis, moreover he's software architect. As a consequence, the following conclusions are just the author's fantasy and are unlikely to have anything to do with objective reality.
Just looking at the numbers, it is easy to notice Akva's extremely confident performance.
If in S9 it was total domination of NM by all means, in S10 Aqua has confidently squeezed the leader in terms of player performance average.
Which clearly hints at the fact that a lot of people did a great job, trying to squeeze the most out of akvah (or on most accounts wagering a small group of people 
).
Looking at the Hurricanes' averages, I can't figure out how Winter(1) scraped up the damage to snatch second place.
- GM Hurricane
I would venture to guess that the guild has obvious problems with coordination/motivation of the squad and as a consequence a lot of mistakes.
NM as usual, a well-coordinated game, judging by the numbers played a bet on key players + competent allocation of resources, as a consequence killed boss, at their own pace, with an obvious reserve.
To summarize S10,
The fact that SirEblo2000 write the arrogant post towards Eddy, but Hurricane wins after all, was brings a lot of lulz to the community.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, the Aquilonians were stronger, showed a well-coordinated team game, but most importantly - demonstrated their potential!
Within the cis scene, this is a strong statement and a definite "LIKE"!
The Death of Community¶
"Speculative rhetoric in community leaders", this is definitely a disturbing and destructive factor for the competitive part of the community.
The exodus of whales is obvious to any and there isn't much fresh blood.
The old guys often can't take the degree of general toxicity anymore.
Fun fact
Sir often imputes whaling to Rezz in his jokes, in one form or another, calling him a "whalehunter".
In the first approximation it may seem so, but in reality, Rezz does not have to work hard, there is no need to hunt, if the whales themselves swim to you.
If describe Rezz's role, i'd say, it's more akin to an undertaker or a churchman who's burying the whales on their last journey.
How many whales have returned to their home community? :)
After NM, there are usually two ways:
- If you know the language and have the desire, foreign guilds.
- If leaving the native swamp is not an option, then to a premature1 rest.
Why is this happening?
The answer lies on the surface, it is worth barely paying attention.
There is no guild in the Russian community yet that would help/facilitate a motivated person to unlock their gaming potential.
The guild entertainment menu for the player ± the same across the community.
- CIS Menu
-
Dish Avail You like whale hunting? Welcome, it's an all-season pastime. 007 fan? There's a lot of room to play, secret strategies to the abyss don't steal themselves. Or maybe you're looking for your nemesis or dreaming of declaring war on someone in the cis! That's on the menu. Are you into speculation, conspiracy theories, and theoricraft in general? Plenty of it. You got a lot of experience with couch analytics? Come here,sweetheart. Get high on emotional moments and drama? Surprise around every corner. ♪ Oh, yeah, there's all kinds of rules to follow Why? To be a cool guy. I mean, what does that have to do with the game? - ♪ It's gonna take a little bit, a little bit of routine in the abyss ♪
As you can see, community activists are busy people, and we don't always have time to play.
So just to play with us is a rare guest. But on the abyss, limited edition, can be seen on the menu.
The choice of toppings, of course, is not very rich, mostly whining and snot, but, as they say, what is rich and happy.
What can be offered to a person who just wants to compete in the Game, in a pleasant company?
I give credit to trafy, that openly said that he does not know what he can offer a whale who wants to play AbEx.
Joked aside, the absolute lack of understanding of player needs, is due to lack of experience/low knowledge of management/leadership.
Outcomes:
- Communities built on archaic principles and concepts that are mostly alien to the player.
-
Feedback, in its infancy, is available in a limited number of guilds.
Is it worth while to say how conducive this is to the discovery of the needs of the players, whom one would wish to retain?
Often surprised by the outflow of people, but ask about the reasons, does not come to mind.
But the funny thing is that if a member yourself comes to the leaders with feedback, they often see anything: an opinion, an idea, a point of view, a suggestion, a complaint, an insult, a personal grievance, dissatisfaction, etc., but not feedback.
There is a suspicion that leaders simply do not understand the fundamental difference between feedback and some similar given examples.
It is easy to underestimate the importance and power of feedback, which is a very big mistake.
The skill of dealing with feedback in a competent and timely manner can build a strong community itself. -
Post-analytics on AbEx results are, for reasons unknown, not honored.
It is not known whether is it afraid to analyze errors or I dunno. The consequences of this may not be obvious, but it is very important for development, both personal and guild-wide. Analyzing mistakes and cause-and-effect relationships is a basic development mechanism inherent in us by nature. By ignoring it, people not only lose the very opportunity for growth/development, but are left alone with questions about how it happened, that happened, what happened. You don't have to go far for an example. After the AbEx, there were rumors about Hurricanes disbanding, and information about Winter's comment. In which a lot of personal reasons (work/do/family) are stated, but not a word about the guild. Bravo.
And this list could go on...
It all paints a sad picture of a dying community strangled by its own leaders.
There's no malice, of course, they don't even realize the consequences of their actions.
And there is no one's personal fault here, the fact is that the Cis is in general have trouble with competent managers.
It is important to say that the words do not contain a single gram of pessimism.
The main message: the current situation is not a verdict, it can and must be worked with, you just need to find the strength to realize it.
It's still a mystery to me, why GMs so believed in recruiting in such circumstances, btw in which they're skilled up a lot.
And this is not a easy skill to master, but it's time to raise up other important skills.
P.S¶
Prodota¶
If this post came across someone who is knew my mom and they made it to these lines (thank you!), this postscript is for you and people like you.
Sunny(1), during a recent visit to the capital, passed along thanks on behalf of PD (names withheld) for the AbEx | Helper. Said it was help you. If so, I would like to express my thanks in return, it is extremely gratifying and very important to me.
- Member of "No Mercy"
There are problems with the feedback tools, so I had no idea if this was useful to anyone or not.
Find out that it did was extremely important!
It gives me motivation to keep working on it, thank you!