Blackrock, why is it so difficult for you?

Why is is so hard for you to do the right thing? To hit the sweet-spot?

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SUMMARY:
1. You should start asking yourself questions about how valuable YOUR spare-time actually is to you.

2. The enjoyment you get is strongly connected to your motivation. Maximising player motivation should be your goal (staff), and players should be more united when it comes down to the quality of their time spent.

3. When making an argument, consider not only your own enjoyment, but also that of your fellow player. What is it that connects you both? And how does the staff deliver in reaching that?

4. Critically review the different features of the server and mirror them to the core principles given. What room of improvement is there in maximising player motivation?

5. Customer is King is what they use to say. Satisfy your players and more will come. The easiest way to get people satisfied, is to motivate them. Give them a purpose, a goal, give them a way to excell, to master, but do this in a free context where people feel that they are autonomous. That they can decide what road to take from A to B.

6. Some rewards demand certain specific and narrow achievements. Just think about an athlete getting a golden medal in the olympics for walking to the boothstand. Or obtaining a Gladiator title from BG's. Ridiculous, right? But most rewards DON'T need such narrow achievements in order to justify them. In those cases autonomy is a better motivator.

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1. You should start asking yourself questions about how valuable YOUR spare-time actually is to you.
I could have started this topic like so many others about what I dislike about what's happening on Blackrock right now.
I could have named some arguments and try to convince you.
You could have read them and think about how much you agree or disagree.
Or you could have thought about how pointless any of these topics really are when considering the succesrate of similar topics in the past.
When really all I truelly want is you to ask yourself this one simple question:

How valuable is spending your spare-time on something you enjoy to YOU?

And now answer it.

2. The enjoyment you get is strongly connected to your motivation. Maximising player motivation should be your goal (staff), and players should be more united when it comes down to the quality of their time spent.
Now I think I can safely say that your spare-time is probably very valuable to you. And even though I don't have an idea about WHAT it is SPECIFICALLY that makes it so valuable to you, I do think I can make some generalisations about it based on science.

The way I do it is based on two assumptions I make about how you spend your spare-time:

1. The stuff you have to do (clean your room, do homework, etc.)

2. The stuff you want to do (play games, do sports, go out with friends, etc.)

Now I think a third assumption I can make is that you playing WoW is you wanting to do it. And here's where it get's interesting. Want is based on desire. Desire is based on drive, and drive is based on deep motivation. And even though I have no clue about what motivates YOU deeply to do whatever you want to do, science tells us that there are 3 core principles of motivation we all share. Principles that are at the core of any motivated decision you make that came from inside yourself, because you WANTED to, NOT because you HAD to. These are:

1. Autonomy: the ability to make your own choices.

2. Purpose: the ability to set a goal/follow one and get there.

3. Mastery: the ability to get better at something through practice.

Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y

So when you answer to yourself the earlier question truethfully, you basically tell yourself how important spending your spare-time on something that motivates you DEEPLY is to you.

3. Consider not only your own enjoyment, but also that of your fellow player. What is it that connects you both? And how does the staff deliver in reaching that?
Now let me finalize this topic with giving you a final question to ask yourself. Now this question is a little harder than the last one, because what I am asking of you is to try to answer this question with not only yourself in mind, but the rest of the population of Blackrock as well. Why? Because when you try to make an argument for change to a people's managing staff, you should consider these people in your arguments. By using the 3 points above:

When you look at Blackrock's current situation, what do you think about it's current performance in motivating people?

Answer this to yourself.

4. Critically review the different features of the server and mirror them to the core principles given. What room of improvement is there in maximising player motivation?

For me personally:

Free Gear for all --> perfect, gives people autonomy to do whatever they want. Allows people to refresh meaning/purpose to a system that has been around on countless pservers for ages.

Professions from 2v2/3v3/soloq --> almost perfect, gives purpose but limits autonomy on how to get it. Allow isle/bg kills to get it too.

Transmogs from soloq/3v3 --> semi perfect, gives purpose but limits autonomy even more by not allowing to obtain it from 2v2, isle of battlegrounds.

Staff-community communication --> imperfect. It is sporadic, non-transparent and decisions made sometimes seem unclear and unsupported. This gives people sense that their autonomy is based on arbitrary non-clear and sometimes non-sensical or out of context arguments made by staff that seems to be only partially involved in their game enjoyment.

5.Customer is King is what they use to say. Satisfy your players and more will come. The easiest way to get people satisfied, is to motivate them. Give them a purpose, a goal, give them a way to excell, to master, but do this in a free context where people feel that they are autonomous. That they can decide what road to take from A to B.

I always thought that the main goal of an entertainer is either one or the two:

1. Make money.

2. Make people enjoy themselves.

Usually those are combined. Since enjoying customers are motivated customers. And motivated customers lead to making money. Either directly or indirectly. Is it then not logical AND sensical to make any goal or direction you want to go in at least in principal be loyal to achieving maximised enjoyment and loyalty?

Something to maybe think about.

6. Some rewards demand certain specific and narrow achievements. Just think about an athlete getting a golden medal in the olympics for walking to the boothstand. Or obtaining a Gladiator title from BG's. Ridiculous, right? But most rewards DON'T need such narrow achievements in order to justify them. In those cases autonomy is a better motivator.

I am not asking for a dumping-down of requirements for certain achievements. That is after all against one of the key principals of motivation: purpose. People want meaningful purpose. And yes, some rewards DO demand a certain limited autonomy to get it. Just think about it: obtaining Arena Master title in battlegrounds is just plain wrong, no? It kills our purpose.

But I am trying to make a case here. Not all rewards need to be that limited in availability. In fact, whenever possible, science tells us that more autonomy is usually the best way. So whenever you're thinking about giving out rewards to enhance purpose, perhaps think about how strong your arguments really are AGAINST giving multiple ways to achieve it.

Thanks,

Judgelwl

drugs are bad for you bro

Would be great if we could get some staff to take a look at this, he's got a alot of valid points!

idd, interesting and well presented

Maybe that not directly connected to the topic but in my opinion there is a lot of space for improvement when it comes to Isle of queldanas and more custom pvp areas.
- make it possible to skill profs in Isle
- change the allowed grp size every few hours
- make more custom pvp area to give some variation.
- queldanas and the other custom pvp areas should alternate with each other. A portal is always only to one pvp area available to make sure that there are enough player parcipating in the battle.

Ideas for custom pvp areas:
I always wanted a team deathmatch battle like in ego shooters.
Wouldnt it be awesome to have custom pvp areas that have the same features like maps in online ego shooters?
There are so many locations in the open world of WoW that would be perfect for a custom pvp area.
For example some castle could be used for a team deathmatch.

what a waste of time [...]

Do you have other things going on in your life? People told me the unemployment rate in Europe is high.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFEoMO0pc7k

Its time to grow up and move on with your life judge lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Breakyaneckx

Would be great if we could get some staff to take a look at this, he's got a alot of valid points!

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The post is too good to receive any staff attention.

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Originally Posted by Draconic123

The post is too good to receive any staff attention.

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Lack of staff replies doesn't mean it hasn't been seen.

First i'd like to point out that the starting post for this thread is one of the most useless and redundant post ive ever seen. While i wont go into too much detail, you are explaining things people already know but more importantly that are generally accounted for already.


blackrocks problem isnt a lack of "trying to connect" the players or a time spent to fun having ratio. its the fact it DID try to connect all of the players early on.

blackrock when it was known as AT was known for having a very active 3v3 scene with very skilled players all around. for a while the server pop started to dip so they decided to add new stuff (presumably). one of those new things was solo Q, or the death of 3v3, as ive come to call it.

SoloQ was created to allow the less skilled players to have a chance to get a group for a 3v3 type match. and at first it was fine... but then they added transmog and gear too it. and sure enough as time went on 3v3 became near empty.

with 3v3 being empty alot of the "Challenge" is gone, as most pvpers dont want to do 2v2 or do YoloQ (as the skill level for those 2 is marginally lower then real 3v3). so most of us have just moved on to another of the warmane realms (i mean if im going to have to do 2v2 for my only source of arena, i might as well be able to pimp slap the lich king if i so choose).

the starting post only needed 1 line to improve the server "make 3v3 active" if they can manage that (even if the skill cap isnt as high as it used to be) then the blackrock realm will start to draw more people back. but with soloq still being as it is, making 3v3 (the bracket that literally divided the AT server pop between bad players and good players) active again will be near impossible.


its all about options, and atm the option for "practicing 3s" is limited to soloq, and with soloq you have limited control with who you play with. and could easily get a bad partner (or partners if you actually soloq it instead of duo) and that just ruins the whole learning thing.

Edit: (you have to know your "customers" or in this case fanbase, and there reason for coming to your realm. in blackrocks case (both before and after the AT+molten merge) the reason was to play vs better people and learn there class. something that is hard to do when your limited to only 2v2 or a psuedo 3v3 bracket. add in the fact the skill cap and skill floor for the realm have been dropped dramatically over the years and the fanbase just isnt as happy as it once was.)

First of all I am happy to see this topic has been picked up by many people. Regardless of given feedback I appreciate it.

@Krohlee:

1. People getting motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose feels very familiar and can therefore been looked upon as common knowledge. Unfortunately this is not the case, as is proven by many scientific studies. Carrot-and-stick approach (if you do this, than you get that) is still most dominant and prefailing way to get people to try and perform better. This works fine for rudamentory skills, but counterproductive for any skill that requires cognitive skill.

Inside Arena-Tournament 'carrot-and-stick' approach has been common for years, first of all by requiring people to farm arena-points and honor to get the gear they need, to be forced to play soloq or 3v3 to get the transmogs they want. This approach is no surprise. though, since such a practise is common in both retail AND other private servers since the business-model of most games is heavily dependent on it.

Finally many solutions offered by players or staff in the past are not in accord with motivation theory in general. Changing to a patch 3.3.5c, nerfing specific comps, boosting other comps, narrowing options for people to play bracket they want for rewards to stimulate brackets that specific people like. All of these are not general motivation stimulators. They serve a limited purpose.

In that regard my post sheds new light on it for people to potentially use as 'anchor' to mirror to any idea they have for server improvement in favor of more joy and motivation among players to come to this server or stay here.

2. Connecting people can be a good thing to build up a community. But it can be hurtful if connection is 'forced' upon by allowing people to only obtain specific rewards (gear, transmogs, titles) trough certain, very narrow channels that seem to serve no other purpose than what meaning a few individuals give to it. This is why I find stimulating 3v3 with a carrot-and-stick approach (If you dont play this THEN you can't get that) is counterproductive and damaging to server.

3. Rest of your post seems to be very case-specific and in my opinion not strongly argumented. Mainly because some of what you write is very assumptuous ("the reason was to play vs better people and learn there new class. something that is hard to do when your limited to only 2v2 or pseudo 3v3 bracket. add in the fact that skill cap and skill floor for the realm have been dropped dramatically over the years and the fanbase just isnt as happy at is once was").

I can agree with a few things, but most of it is very subjective. It could perhaps reflect your opinion or view on things, but it isn't really have sound proof as basis.

EDIT:

Besides I feel many times that people here write like a 'damage report' as explanation for why server is in shape it's in and to use as basis for future plans. As if popularity of a server can be restored by simply neutralizing damaging factors (example: nerfing a comp, removing soloq) and if that isn't possible (WOTLK 'has grown old') you give up. That's an approach that somehow seems very trusted, but lacks any vision and insight and totally prohibits creative input imo.

Removing negative associations alone isn't a policy for stimulating joy. It's a policy for stabilizing it. You need knowledge of motivation theory and creative input that embeds good ideas within these motivational principles to lead to good practice if maximising joy is your goal as a server.

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Originally Posted by Judgelawlx

EDIT:

Besides I feel many times that people here write like a 'damage report' as explanation for why server is in shape it's in and to use as basis for future plans. As if popularity of a server can be restored by simply neutralizing damaging factors (example: nerfing a comp, removing soloq) and if that isn't possible (WOTLK 'has grown old') you give up. That's an approach that somehow seems very trusted, but lacks any vision and insight and totally prohibits creative input imo.

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We (the staff) agree for the most part. We've been looking for ways to make the realm more attractive, and we feel we've managed to do that to some extent. But when it comes right down to it, we have to be proactive on our approach, not reactive. Which means new ideas and features that add to the game, rather than to change the current game or take away from it in hopes of making parts of it more acceptable. A few issues of balance, while important, is not what will "make or break" the realm. Having content to do and play with, fun things to do, people to chill with, etc. is why people choose to or not to play the game. Not because X or Y is a little strong or weak, or because Z feels cheesy or weird. We're definitely looking forward to topics and suggestions like these provided by our community. So please, by all means, continue. We are watching and reading, I can assure you.

Thanks for your swift reply, and I do agree also. New input is needed to stay ahead of the curve. However, what is also important is to reflect on existing features and evaluate their succes based on scientific principles rather than personalised subjective opinions about how it should be from one or two standpoints. That way you do not only show you want to "neutralize" mistakes made in past for a grand public (and not only your own needs), but also show vision in the direction you're taking it.

Most practical example I can give in this regard is choice from Malaco to allow for new transmog system with more freedom and autonomy. People were apparently not fully satisfied with the existing feature, but rather than to work down a checklist with everything wrong with it, he did more by actively looking for a scenario in which it would actively stimulate autonomy. He furthers this by stating to me that specific transmogs that were previously only avaiable trough 3v3/soloq will be more broader accessible), again stimulating autonomy of players.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judgelawlx

Thanks for your swift reply, and I do agree also. New input is needed to stay ahead of the curve. However, what is also important is to reflect on existing features and evaluate their succes based on scientific principles rather than personalised subjective opinions about how it should be from one or two standpoints. That way you do not only show you want to "neutralize" mistakes made in past for a grand public (and not only your own needs), but also show vision in the direction you're taking it.

Most practical example I can give in this regard is choice from Malaco to allow for new transmog system with more freedom and autonomy. People were apparently not fully satisfied with the existing feature, but rather than to work down a checklist with everything wrong with it, he did more by actively looking for a scenario in which it would actively stimulate autonomy. He furthers this by stating to me that specific transmogs that were previously only avaiable trough 3v3/soloq will be more broader accessible), again stimulating autonomy of players.

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Well we may as well see what's in store for us days, weeks, months later from now with every update Blackrock gets. Probably a few of your points have been taken into consideration, just a few, but hey I am just putting that out there.