A Year in Review: Discussion & Problems

[Merlinsclaw]

INTRODUCTION
It's been about a full year since Willard originally launched. It was around this time last year that hype was building for the first launch and in Jan/Feb of this year, things fell flat. I was originally a harsh critic of Willard but it has grown on me in the past year. I have a few things that I'd like to discuss, including what Willard has done right, and what I still think needs work. I'll start off from the beginning.

QUALITY OF RP
Willard has a reputation (it's slightly unserious). In the past few months, Willard has improved greatly in several different fields. The quality of Civil Protection is one thing to note. I'd say that we went from 6'9 Darth Vader cops to actual players, and I'm glad about that.

However, there are still problems. Unseriousness can be a problem at times. An infamous admin had a graphic incident (in the past month!) of shit rp (wtf!) and shit like fart rp is still somewhat common(wtf!!) This is an apparent problem, but that isn't all.

This behavior has carried over into events and serious moments, not just downtime. In the Auspicious Event, earlier this month, it was reported that some GMs were throwing around props at fellow admins and players. In Motherland, just this week, an admin on the Combine side came out of noclip and spammed VCs while the S.R.F was attempting to RP and had a general serious mood. It killed the vibe for a while.

The quality of RP needs to be improved and admins especially need to be addressed.
Good job on some of the things like cops though.

EVENTS
Events are lackluster and there's behind the scenes problems too.

At the current moment, the majority of 'events' occur through Short Stories which has a broad array of events, most of which have no major impact on the server. For the most part, they've all been spectacular.

However, not all events are Short Stories and often times people yearn for a more interesting day-to-day server. These are often lackluster. I've heard that, in some cases, event-box events have been poorly propped and terribly done (Note: I was told this and have not attended one.) Even then, these types of events seem rare.

When major events do occur (ala, Motherland or Auspicious) there are internal problems. They get delayed for months on end or just seem poorly planned. Auspicious, which I had a role in, had several problems which have been discussed elsewhere. Motherland, overall, was fun but had very minimal RP. It seemed hastily thrown together, admins were unserious, and the ending and all seemed rushed and just resulted in admins going crazy with napalm instead of anything meaning.

A Megaevent is in planning, this is public knowledge at this point. I have some concerns, quite frankly. The delays and overall planning and parts of Auspicious worry me, but I do hold out that things have the opportunity to go well. However, this mostly relies on a strong staff team that can be serious and handle events. (Ala, not do shit RP or fly around spamming vcs during serious times.)

I speak from experience here. Megaevents (or as I call them 110 slotters due to Neb) can be some of the most impactful events for a server and can change the very life of HL2RP. Meaningful stories, massive battles, and gut clenching endings can invoke tears, screams, and cheers. Not all megaevents are great but some are and they will stick with you. Motherland was ultimately not one of these events for a multitude of reasons (unserious ending and primarily just an S2K fest) but that's alright. I just hope the Megaevent will be something more.

LORE
Lore is something that I believe Willard is having an extreme problem with. Willard, and its playerbase, sticks to the notion that every single detail must be planned out. Every facility must have a 3 page report. Everything that can every happen must have ONE singular documented thing that happens. Nothing is ambiguous. There's something for everything and they all have a hundred letter names like the ESICEA or the AJIEA lalalaa blah blah blah, I don't care.

Lore should be ambiguous. It should be *show*, not tell. Events and their ideas have been held back due to "THAT'S NOT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!!! THE LORE DOCUMENT DETAILED ON JANUARY 3RD, 2020 AT 3:16 A.M STATES THAT WHEN..."

Please stop doing this. Show. Don't tell.

SPECIFIC PROBLEMS
Don't focus on this section. I just wanted to point out some things people thought was important.

"Turn Base Combat is wonky and shouldn't be around."
S2K is cool. I think it works well for things. Just don't have S2K-fest megaevents or shit, please.

"Play to Win Mentality."
Some people, faction leads, and others have a play to win mentality. They want to win. They want the status-quo. I always say do what is cool for roleplay, not what is boring.

"Rebel RP is still stagnant"
Crafting is somewhat fixed? Things are still a bit dull. It's the problem with Rebel RP. You can't ultimately change much. Even after the epic riots and things, Geneva is still epic stable!!





Anyways, thanks guys.
I hope it's read up and we can get some discussion.
Willard has made alot of progress this year. The things that I complained about months ago have mostly been resolved.
Discuss below.




​

 

[RogueSynapse]

Yeah events and combat have been the big ones for me. On server events have been very lackluster and nowhere near as nice as Short Stories can be. I remember before the break we had this 'orb' break out in the city that the cops were always getting called to deal with. We did the same garbage /mes of unshackling a vort and having it deal with the 'orb' only to have it reappear the next day. Wash rinse and repeat. I've also been very vocal about TBC. There hasn't been a single engagement I've been in where somebody doesn't say in looc "TBC sucks". It feels broken, slows down combat, and ruins the fun of engagements. I've been told multiple times that TBC was added to level the playing field for people with shit PCs, but this map does that even without the combat so what does it matter anyways?

 

[RedHotGinger]

I remember before the break we had this 'orb' break out in the city that the cops were always getting called to deal with. We did the same garbage /mes of unshackling a vort and having it deal with the 'orb' only to have it reappear the next day. Wash rinse and repeat.

As the person who primarily ran that, you do realize that you could have engaged with it in any other way, yes? CP's made the conscious (and fully independent) choice to prevent any citizens or factions such as CMU/CWU to interact or experiment with the anomaly directly. They decided to use vorts once - a choice which was accommodated - then you guys did it again, and again, and again. Refusing to ever branch out or seek other forms of interaction with the thing, even when the vorts were clearly not working. The vorts themselves were only interested in trying to use it to escape, not seemingly caring much about anything else.

Im a strong believer that player agency typically trumps any preordained outcomes, as such, pretty much every possible 'objective' regarding the Orb was failed. Since no one ever made any progressive calls regarding it. So, not much seemed to have come of it as a result of that.

 

[RogueSynapse]

As the person who primarily ran that, you do realize that you could have engaged with it in any other way, yes? CP's made the conscious (and fully independent) choice to prevent any citizens or factions such as CMU/CWU to interact or experiment with the anomaly directly. They decided to use vorts once - a choice which was accommodated - then you guys did it again, and again, and again. Refusing to ever branch out or seek other forms of interaction with the thing, even when the vorts were clearly not working. The vorts themselves were only interested in trying to use it to escape, not seemingly caring much about anything else.

Im a strong believer that player agency typically trumps any preordained outcomes, as such, pretty much every possible 'objective' regarding the Orb was failed. Since no one ever made any progressive calls regarding it. So, not much seemed to have come of it as a result of that.

One cop shot it and another touched it, it did nothing else.

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

EVENTS

Auspicious: feel like had Auspicious occurred like two months ago it would've gone a lot better and been much better received, Not mentioning our numbers would've been a lot higher, It had the makings for a great story, A group of citizens from a mixed background go through boot-camp together and get shipped off to fight the union's war with the promise of a slightly better life upon return, Criminals have a shot to redeem themselves over death. Instead it took two months and they used city 11 for w/e reason and from the footage I've seen it was just rebels reenacting the Vietnam war and wiping conscript squads out in seconds, That one part where five guys just died to a single rebel.

Motherland: As for Motherland, We knew going in it was an s2k heavy event and was namely there so we would be in a battle for Moscow not many complaints there, However. That being said I really would've appreciated at the end if near the end we had the chance to develop our characters or at least get some passive in with us celebrating our victory instead of Cops rushing our base after being ordered to retreat and admins immediately dropping napalm, Like perhaps @Merlinsclaw 's officer character rallies his SRF soldiers and gives a speech to them and then the curtains are pulled. As opposed to a relatively fun yet lag experience that was motherland. (Loved the intro SRF was the right choice).

LORE

Lore is one of Willards most richest points at least imo, We have so much yet it's majority untapped at least in-game that is, Remember all those documents about Africa the lost continent the OSI/OCIN Systems outside of cities, The militant rebel groups battling transhuman forces with dwindling pre-war combat machines or the synth factories that dot the wilderness? More of this stuff please.

QUALITY OF RP

For the love of god, The fart rp is awful, We all know the players who do it mainly minges but occasionally you'll see regulars partaking in it and its honestly really upsetting to see, I hope we see a 2022 free of this cringe because nothing takes me out of immersion then seeing some pig shitting themselves in a /me because they're 5 and think poop funny. If you're going to be a menace ic do so ic, Much like that guy who made a scene at sam ito's funeral, He at least did that stuff IC and even tried to start a riot outside of the funeral. Hopefully with the Paramilitary repeal and with the re-birth of rebel rp we can see some interesting new stuff this coming year. /hopefully/. More futurist Weimar tensions and Threat of a Soviet/Londoner coalition/invasion force as opposed to rebels hanging out geared on surface doing nothing then having their bases destroyed.

 

[ZeroPants]

As the person who primarily ran that, you do realize that you could have engaged with it in any other way, yes? CP's made the conscious (and fully independent) choice to prevent any citizens or factions such as CMU/CWU to interact or experiment with the anomaly directly. They decided to use vorts once - a choice which was accommodated - then you guys did it again, and again, and again. Refusing to ever branch out or seek other forms of interaction with the thing, even when the vorts were clearly not working. The vorts themselves were only interested in trying to use it to escape, not seemingly caring much about anything else.

Im a strong believer that player agency typically trumps any preordained outcomes, as such, pretty much every possible 'objective' regarding the Orb was failed. Since no one ever made any progressive calls regarding it. So, not much seemed to have come of it as a result of that.

I desperately wanted to be part of this event, but was forced to watch from a mile away as anything interesting happened

At the end when people started getting sucked into the orb portal I volunteered to jump in to help rescue the people on the other side, I would have worn some sort of tether of some sort, I was told by the cops and CWU on the scene that doing that would have been too dangerous, but why would the combine care about my safety? I would have ran and jumped into the portal if there wasn't any risk of me getting killed by the cops after the event, because what would have been the point of the event if I just get killed for participating in it?

Interesting city events often get ruined because of how the civil protection faction works, it always just ends with the cops blocking something interesting off and CWU wearing hazmat suits and getting to do the fun stuff.

 

[RedHotGinger]

One cop shot it and another touched it, it did nothing else.

Never heard of any cop ever shooting it and those who previously touched it found it was incredibly cold. Frostbite inducing. If there isn't an admin around, or able, to perform this though, naturally that isn't going to come through. No need to turn this entire thread into a debate over a long gone event though. Just worth pointing out that you all chose to approach it the way you did and that such choices were properly accommodated - for better or worse.

 

[RogueSynapse]

pretty much every possible 'objective' regarding the Orb was failed

We unshackled vorts to try to work with it, tried to move it, shot at it, touched it, tried to communicate with it, and even tried to contain it.

Now that it's over, what cryptic strategy did you expect players to employ in order to have something actually happen with it?

 

[Noh]

These are often lackluster. I've heard that, in some cases, event-box events have been poorly propped and terribly done (Note: I was told this and have not attended one.) Even then, these types of events seem rare.

The main issue with Admin Box events is the size. U can't carry more than 6 players into it - and if you do anything except cramped winding corridors with scene builder the players will just bum rush the build and not even attempt to roleplay.

To remedy this you'd try to combine the two as the box, through testing, is capable of having like 3 layers stack on top of each other. So if I wanted too I could build 3 layers of a bunker or sewers (and I have). I've at two points spent at least a week propping one build for OTHER admins only for'em to use 10% of it. propping it for a 1-hour event. The point I'm getting here is that I, or any other admin who can even remotely build, can spend hours creating a dupe for an event, only for it to end in 20 - 30 minutes.

Not only does one have to prop up the shell - but they also have to decorate. So what may take 1-2 hours to build the shell of a build, decorating it is a whole other story. Depending on the size as well, I may have to take 2-3 hours to decorate it to the point where players won't go 'wow this looks like shit' even tho they don't know how to rotate a prop on their own.

Finally, once you got everything down you gotta' persist it all so that if someone fucks up and spawns a gredwitch tank - crashing the server - I don't have to redo it all.

Then you got the size of the box, and if you want to know how big it is, just go into singleplayer and find it near the City Admins office. It's a decent size, but it's still quite small. So if I want a well-paced event inside of it I have to take less than 6 players who are of good roleplay quality and TP them up there. Like the times when I did try and run 12+ player events, they goofed off and fucked around as mentioned before. So already as one of the sole event runners, that's an off-put.

So in the end, it's not just the fault of propping - but mechanics like Advanced Dupe and other needed building tools lacking, the overall unseriousness of players in any capacity (as u said, fart rp), and more.

So that's why they are fairly rare, but I and even another CWU still try to give you all stuff to do. And if players are going to make fun of building what is, essentially, a map for them to play free of charge made by not just staff but by other players, then they can just cope with it.

 

[emmet]

As the person who primarily ran that, you do realize that you could have engaged with it in any other way, yes? CP's made the conscious (and fully independent) choice to prevent any citizens or factions such as CMU/CWU to interact or experiment with the anomaly directly. They decided to use vorts once - a choice which was accommodated - then you guys did it again, and again, and again. Refusing to ever branch out or seek other forms of interaction with the thing, even when the vorts were clearly not working. The vorts themselves were only interested in trying to use it to escape, not seemingly caring much about anything else.

Im a strong believer that player agency typically trumps any preordained outcomes, as such, pretty much every possible 'objective' regarding the Orb was failed. Since no one ever made any progressive calls regarding it. So, not much seemed to have come of it as a result of that.

To be fair, I wanted for some scientific faction to take a look at it but the ones who decide are rank-leaders so.

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

To be fair, I wanted for some scientific faction to take a look at it but the ones who decide are rank-leaders so.

I've heard people talk about wanting a Science faction for awhile, Theres currently a branch of CMU IRRC that handles that, But Perhaps its time to include such a branch into the CWU.

 

[emmet]

I've heard people talk about wanting a Science faction for awhile, Theres currently a branch of CMU IRRC that handles that, But Perhaps its time to include such a branch into the CWU.

Willard Industries when

 

[Triviality]

Okay, here's my opinions on what I read

[Quality of RP]

I kind of like watching goofy unserious characters shit on the street. I like meeting characters with funny names, the fact that people can be goofy isn't a question of the quality of RP. Whoever plays that knight character is a perfect example because ingame I can speak in a old-timey dialect and I got a cup of coffee out of him.

I think some of the more fun times I've had on Willard was being the only one in a group of people willing to engage with some of the dumbchars that pop out, and humor them.

This gamemode in general (Not this server <3 i've noticed) is full of people with sticks up their ass trying to be the next drama award winning writer, so to see some funny characters not getting pulled into an admin box, but getting to interact with the world, especially in CRP is a treat, for me and several friends who play on the server.

As for those SHort-Stories/Military/Whatever event server environments stuff, I have no, and can't have an opinion on it. I play the game to pretend i'm some half life character. All the heavy military RP or serious drama stuff isn't for me, too dry and too serious for me to have fun, this is a videogame first and foremost for me

[Not enough day to day events]

Big agree here, Nothing happens and factions leads are definitely running their factions like Uni Classes or actual accounting jobs. CWU is the only factions really pushing for "Events" that spice up citizens days and the out of game workload for them is easy. Other factions like CMU don't really bring events to the city and the CBU streamlined itself into a hard commitment faction.

More stuff like weather events would be nice, when that cancer wind was up people we're def reacting to it and seeking shelter.

"/event you hear an explosion" or random zombie mob is dry but its still welcome. The orb stuff was interesting but it def does lead into a problem I have

[Cops hijacking events and expecting it]

Just a general note, but if your gonna throw an event in the plaza and be like "Muh player freedom" you REALLY gotta expect that CP's are gonna take it over, since ofcourse they are

No citizen is gonna risk his precious gamer score to be part of some event that would probably kill him anyway. Events like these gotta be catered to neutral citizens first, not rebels, not CPs, the orb event was good for the people who got to participate but there we're definitely a bunch of new players who got shoved to the sidelines for that.

[Science Faction]

I'm gonna be devils advocate here and say that this is kind of a meme. Like, I don't get what kind of roleplay this offers despite adding more OOC documents people gotta sift through. Unless we're out here offering priority rewards to shitizens willing to be guinea pigs to experiments, I don't want a faction that's just people writing up documents about stuff ''

Only other thing I could see about a science faction is decoding the cryptic steps for some of these admin events. Big credit to @ZeroPants who actually drafted instructions on how to get Jinx to spawn that deathbox through the power of christmas, which allowed ANY REGULAR player to be able to participate in those weird events. If thats what the Science faction is gonna do, sign me up lol

TLR-----------------------------
-Quality of RP is fine if you have a lax perspective
-Events need work, gotta expect CP's to hijack them
-Science faction is a meme
-Not enough tools for players to run events or have Individual Influence (CMU, CBU, Excessive Grinding, No ConstructionTabTools/ADV DUPE for reg players)

-Atle didn't add Cigars/Pipes/Weed to my smoking gamemode

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

[Science Faction]

I'm gonna be devils advocate here and say that this is kind of a meme. Like, I don't get what kind of roleplay this offers despite adding more OOC documents people gotta sift through. Unless we're out here offering priority rewards to shitizens willing to be guinea pigs to experiments, I don't want a faction that's just people writing up documents about stuff ''

Only other thing I could see about a science faction is decoding the cryptic steps for some of these admin events. Big credit to @@ZeroPants who actually drafted instructions on how to get Jinx to spawn that deathbox through the power of christmas, which allowed ANY REGULAR player to be able to participate in those weird events. If thats what the Science faction is gonna do, sign me up lol

The CRU Was essentially this, We were CRU And tasked with research/containment/extermination of xenians both the mold you see encrusting sewers and fighting off xenian fauna like pit drones anomalies like those floaty germ things and barnacles. Essentially you'd be called in by cwu/cps to suit up get your weapons most likely a fire-axe or a machete (In extremely rare cases a gun) And go deal with them, This wasn't limited to this mind you. Science based factions can be fun however they heavily require things like events and GM's or bare minimum weapons/organization for when they head into sewers or apartments to fight an Infestation. Unless we had a small Sub faction added to the CMU The only other way imo it'd work is to bring the CRU Back.

The day they unified the CWU was a sad day.

However were we to do a Science faction it would likely revolve around a facility that studies xenians and ways to contain and in a very secretive OSI level way, Ways they can benefit the combine empire, Think events where you go off with a group of CP's or OTA to an overrun city or something to research anomalies gathering data which can be practically applied. Or just overall containing the things we see in day to day life, Perhaps an upgraded system to keep antlions at bay is researched.

 

[Triviality]

This wasnt limited to this mind you. Science based factions can be fun however they heavily require things like events and GM's or bare minimum weapons/organization for when they head into sewers or apartments to fight an Infestation. Unless we had a small Sub faction added to the CMU The only other way imo it'd work is to bring the CRU Back.

Terranova and Shockcore had a system where the map was in essence Territory Control based on forum-posted actions of factions. CRU existed on terranova and admins would place infestation based on how much work they did at the end of the week.

In terms of willard that would be like if infestation did nothing for a week, and Triumph became part of the slums, or they busted ass and Indigent became a loyalist section.

That was cool but yeah, I think the current climate of the server needs rennovation that gives more power to individual players, not to serverwide influence at the hands of GM's or staff

 

[ShadoWiz4rd]

Terranova and Shockcore had a system where the map was in essence Territory Control based on forum-posted actions of factions. CRU existed on terranova and admins would place infestation based on how much work they did at the end of the week.

In terms of willard that would be like if infestation did nothing for a week, and Triumph became part of the slums, or they busted ass and Indigent became a loyalist section.

That was cool but yeah, I think the current climate of the server needs rennovation that gives more power to individual players, not to serverwide influence at the hands of GM's or staff

Yeah I really liked that kinda stuff, Especially on TN. I don't see that working really well however for our gameplay unfortunately. That being said however, The chance to lose Indigent to rebels/Xenian fauna completely potentially triumph could be very interesting if done properly

 

[ZeroPants]

Only other thing I could see about a science faction is decoding the cryptic steps for some of these admin events. Big credit to @@ZeroPants who actually drafted instructions on how to get Jinx to spawn that deathbox through the power of christmas, which allowed ANY REGULAR player to be able to participate in those weird events. If thats what the Science faction is gonna do, sign me up lol

I had a ton of fun doing research, it actually made me feel important when I gathered a bunch of people and summoned crystals, even if it was a bit silly to sing Christmas songs and offer up kebabs to a statue to summon something from xen.

Even though the event was only meant to be taken partially IC, I actually felt like my actions contributed to something. The event showed how fun doing research could be, the admin overseeing the event allowed a ton of freedom when it came to interacting with the crystals, like when someone attempted to take a sample and a ton of zombies appeared, only for us to find out the zombies were copies of us.

They allowed everyone to experiment with it, and it was mostly not blocked off by and factions like CP or CWU, *mostly*.

Research is at its very best when it has an actual use, which is why I really hope we get more events that require people to do investigation, it gets people more involved.

One of the best examples of the interactions players could take in the event was a rock in the slums that was covered in decorations, there was some text that hinted that it would be possible to add more decorations to the rock, and when I added some decorations a crystal appeared, it made me feel like a genius when I did it.

I can't thank @Jinx enough for hosting that event, it was a ton of fun and I hope we get something similar in the future.

My thoughts on a research faction:

I really want to be part of a science faction but from my experience they tend to be very inactive. I joined the CMU in hopes I could do research on the side. If a research faction were to be made it should be a group that players in the CWU and CMU can be part of on the side, so they can still do their normal jobs while doing research on the side, because research projects arent usually frequent.

 

[Aspect™]

As the person who primarily ran that, you do realize that you could have engaged with it in any other way, yes? CP's made the conscious (and fully independent) choice to prevent any citizens or factions such as CMU/CWU to interact or experiment with the anomaly directly. They decided to use vorts once - a choice which was accommodated - then you guys did it again, and again, and again. Refusing to ever branch out or seek other forms of interaction with the thing, even when the vorts were clearly not working. The vorts themselves were only interested in trying to use it to escape, not seemingly caring much about anything else.

Im a strong believer that player agency typically trumps any preordained outcomes, as such, pretty much every possible 'objective' regarding the Orb was failed. Since no one ever made any progressive calls regarding it. So, not much seemed to have come of it as a result of that.

As a wise man once said,


You shouldn't expect players to do the right thing all the time. If they do something wrong, try to guide them to the right choice. You (or someone else of authority) could have, for example, directly ordered the CPs to get CMU/CWU involved with the situation.

Sure, you could say that then the event would feel 'guided' and player choices would not matter, but there is a time and place for player choices. In my opinion, this one was not it. If the end goal is to accomplish a more favorable goal that is more entertaining and produces more roleplay, I do not see any problem with subtly guiding people to the right place, you know?

 

[MrMindBlow]

It was okay. The server had some ups and downs.

8/10

___

The only real concern is still the lack of citizen-based events which are actively being created or at least tried but it always ends up in the hands of another faction or there is generally no interest from players with "something" to lose. I believe most problems Willard faces, like many others, are player-based.

Of course, you could also argue about RebelRP this and that but from personal experience so far, crafting is not the issue neither is the way the eco-system of buying, trading or "groups". It is unironically the fear of losing "precious" scripts that ARE, and this is factual, hard to acquire and require actual waste of precious IRL hours on a game mode directed through roleplay. Systems like these are not easy to fix and probably never have been in the past.

 

[Aspect™]

In terms of willard that would be like if infestation did nothing for a week, and Triumph became part of the slums, or they busted ass and Indigent became a loyalist section.

My Infestation Control system could help with that. More details will be in the respective Development Blog once it gets posted, but, there is a system for the infestation to expand on its own over time. That means, it can't just figure out where to spawn on its own, but it can follow a pre-determined path. So if the Infestation Control team of the CWU doesn't deal with it, so long as admins have actually set it up properly, it can keep expanding and expanding until it reaches the end of its determined path.