Some of the highlights from the past few posts:
Keefie wrote:My post was not intended as criticism of the Clan department so please do not get all defensive.
You literally criticized the entire CD Team, and then called two specific people out in a later post. Do you even realize that you are a walking contradiction?
IcePack wrote:Part of that is something Keefie touches on, stagnation. Pointing to one attempted event and a recent poll that says they dont want another of that event doesn't mean that clans wouldn't welcome or aren't interested in new events. It might just not be THAT event that they're not interested in. Again, I would agree with the statement that CD's are there to help facilitate and not completely organize every event. But this is also where the answer can't be that they're doing nothing either. Its hard to grow anything if its rinse, recycle, repeat and thats it.
The shift from Community Driven Events and Team Driven Events that Keefie is referencing occurred because there was less interest from the Community (as JD points out) so less things were happening. As thats a major issue to keep clans interested, growing, engaged and entertained the Team / Site at the time started developing their own to keep things going. (sort of a, if you build it they will come mentality, which generally worked w/ a few exceptions) It appears there is still little interest / ability from the Community to take on this task, and since the CD team has reverted to not doing very many of their own events expecting the Community to step up, stagnation will / has(?) occurred.
I disagree with the notion that the CD Team has done nothing. CC and CL are two huge events that the CD Team puts on, and we wanted to try and see how CWC would be taken. I will admit that we initially did not communicate the intent of the tournament very well to the Clan World. And we have, and will, own that mistake. CWC is now understood as a supplemental tournament to CC and CL, one that took a very long time to work the details out on. And I agree, just because the Clan World doesn't like CWC doesn't necessarily mean that it will not be receptive of new tournaments. However, for the longest time, the Clan World hasn't been receptive to another major tournament outside of CL, CC, and RL. I agree that CWC could have been communicated better, but even if CWC would have been ran perfectly, would the Clan World still have accepted it? In your honest opinion, do you think the Clan World would accept any new tournament?
I think there is room for improvement in every department on this site, certainly the CD Team. But haven't done "nothing."
IcePack wrote:Not to nitpick, but the CAT Forum wasn't "created" by the current team. It existed as a private space already that was a continuation from long ago (CLA, CD & Friends, CAT) that as Keefie had pointed out, was already discussed and planned to be moved to the public forum and had undergone testing with me & KA to prove the concept worked.
I'll grant you that. CD&F did exist before I was brought on, and I am not aware of any conversations you had with the admins. However, you and I both understand the difference between prototype and production (referring to an industry standard). A lot of careful transitioning is needed to take an idea and create an actual avenue for that idea to flourish.
IcePack wrote:So on this front, what is being done by the team to facilitate this discussion if its something that'll reap a ton of benefits - why isn't it happening? At the very least, I would think to help the Community the team would lead these sort of "beneficial discussions" and try to get the Community moving in the right direction even if they aren't solely responsible for running the resulting events.
Right, the discussion would be beneficial to understand why individuals may or may not want to lead clans and create/run tournaments. And you are right, we should be discussing that. So let me start this conversation in here, and we can move to another post if we deem it necessary. My observation on why individuals do not have an interest in running clans or running events is that is extremely time consuming, and people over time lose interest. No amount of tournaments hosted by the CDs will change that.
I have personally experienced this, because I have contacted many people in the Clan World about helping me run a few minor Clan Tournaments or Clan Events. The answer I would always receive is that no one either had the time (due to other commitments in their clan or personal) to help me run the event or they did not have interest in running the event.
I have experienced this second-had as a CD, because I have been contacted by several individuals if they could run a Clan Events. In some cases, I even offered to help them run the event as a secondary organizer. Eventually, even if I poured a considerable amount of effort behind the scenes to assist these individuals, they would lose interest, and they would cancel the event.
If we answer the question as to why people lose interest or don't have the time to run clans or events, then we can better understand our role in facilitating that. See a quote below, just made in this topic:
willedtowin1 wrote:It takes 2 boat loads of extra time to run a clan.......lol
I ran OSA temporarily and believe me..... I am relieved Benga ( Worlds Most Bestest Clan Leader)
came back to continue his top notch Clan. Its not Easy and very time demanding.
Another question that we should probably be asking is the reason people are losing interest because it is too difficult? Are there any site-wide changes that we can make for Clan Leaders/Clan Event Organizers that will make the actual leadership/organization easier? Right now, Clan War and Clan Event managing is a very manual process.
Nut Shot Scott wrote:1. Make the clan world more inviting to players by not being so closed off. Like, clan league finished - how is that not banner worthy? Clan mvp should be posted, winners celebrated. CCXI should be pinned to GD. People are competitive, let then see there is a competitive part to this site and that its fun. Pump up clans, and thats on CDs. You have to get out and at least try. Clans should be the premier part of the site - players should WANT to get involved. Not have to hunt for anything clan related or have no idea it even exists. Imo, this is the most important thing. If the CDs and the site dont care, then its damn near impossible.
I actually agree, the results of CL & MVPs would be very beneficial if added to the Banner. I'll take an action to discuss that amongst the CDs and see if we can't get that to show up. Appreciate the suggestion on this one!
Nut Shot Scott wrote:Maybe there needs to be a clan leadership pipeline and everyone needs to be ok with it. For example - nobody in Venom wants to lead but maybe there are one or two players spread across other clans who are ready and able to lead a clan. A resource for that, that doesnt end in someone screaming "poaching!!!", might be a good idea. Just a thought. It's in everyone's best interest to have a good number of clans active. The more the merrier.
I think this goes back to the
Active Player Restriction discussion, or at least a portion of that discussion. "Poaching," as you put it, is what initialized this discussion a while ago. It may be worth revisiting the discussion now.
Keefie wrote:As long as the current Head CD is happy doing nothing, then nothing will change. Let JP or shoop have a chance to lead us out of this quagmire of stagnation.
Does this make me the court jester?
IcePack wrote:That being said, I also have no idea what’s being planned (or not being planned) as the teams been pretty quiet. Nothings been said / announced by Dave since shoop joined the team a year and a half ago? And the team itself has been pretty quiet, I just noticed Lindax isn’t even on the team anymore? Not sure when that happened or if it’s temporary.
Definitely could be more outreach to the Community, besides Jd posting every once in awhile I don’t really see the team posting much
No, Lindax has left the CD Team. We appreciate the time that he served as a CD.
We are in talks about a few things. One of those things we have been talking about recently is CWC, which is why I posted a poll to gauge interest. That poll essentially gave us the answer as to whether or not we would run the event. But, as I am sure you are aware, some things come down to time and timing.
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Ultimately, and I have said this before, we appreciate
constructive feedback. We understand that we aren't perfect and that we don't always get everything right, or necessarily come up with the best plan. And we try to own mistakes when we make them. But what I have made abundantly clear over the years is that I am always approachable. Some of you that are reading this do send me PMs with questions and concerns. I would welcome all of you to do that when you reach that tipping point.