Navigation section

Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

SignUp Now!

Is willard begining to fade?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Donavin Jones
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Donavin Jones

Guest
This is something I wanted to talk about for a few days, but I didn't think the issues would last this long.
So I thought it'd be a good time to talk about it, plus given the reasons that might suggest willard is going to no longer be with us.


Some of you may of noticed, a big drop in players. We would normally get around 40-60 players and on the weekends we'd get near max.
Now, we have only really gotten 15-25 players and thats just on the weekends now, and with the glitches and frequent crashes, its not dumb to assume willard may be passing.


And with the equionox ddos attacks that happened recently.
But I wanna hear your guys opinion, whether or not if people do think willard is fading, and could give any ideas on how we could fix that issue.
 
This is universally applied to all servers at this time of year. We have entered the examination period academically, which is one of the reasons I haven't touched the server in a while except for short stories. A few of my peers are on the same boat.

I'm personally expecting a little hibernation period until the holidays themselves, arrive.

Also IDK what you mean about "Equinox DDOS attacks". Equi would not do that and I wouldn't ever see him do that. It was the host provider themselves that got hit by something related to the sort affecting their whole port and not us directly, which was an entirely one-off-situation. The crashes are a problematic issue and we have applied numerous fixes though the most and main perpetrator alludes us regarding crashes.

I hope this provides something of a clear answer until after the academic nightmare that has made itself clear these past few weeks.
 
I would reckon its just IRL stuff taking priority that is the major cause of the drop. Outside of that, the server has been mostly, if not entirely, stagnant lately which is a problem that seems to be getting worse rather than better. So, player drive is probably a bit low overall. The regular crashes are not helping either, like you said, server had nearly 40 people on earlier, but then went down for a bit. I believe another event server outside of Willard probably took some population away from it this weekend too.

It just has a lot working against it this weekend. It's not dying though. Willard can always lean on its impressive dev work to maintain its life amidst any other option. No matter how many other mistakes are made (Within reason), the code work remains well done. It's probably just a temporary lull in activity and nothing more. (Besides, its not like the base fundamentals of the server have changed. Still the same one that hosted the large pop times.)
 
Last edited:
Mostly around this time it's the end of the semester for many so they must be busy with finals and what not. Vacation trips for the summer as well. I very much doubt Willard's end is here or coming near.

The DDoS attacks and crashes are something completely out of the player's hands. Crashes can be fixed, just possibly with every new fix there's another bug or something else to cause a crash. But it'll all die down soon and we'll be back to normal.

As for the 'lack of content' on the server. It's mostly just a lack of events recently. Not many admins get on now (to clarify just in case, not their fault and they aren't paid to be admin here. So they can do whatever they want with their free time). so not many events happen. Especially considering most of the time when they are on, they must be busy with tickets or trying to RP.

So personally I think you're exaggerating a bit or a bit too paranoid rather lol. Everything is fine.
willard-this-is-fine.jpg
 
I'm just gonna note that this is entirely a meme made by Equinox, which is in all honesty rather funny. He isn't behind the attack that happened on 06/07 as it was our ISP being attacked directly, so they had to limit all traffic on certain ports till they managed to mitigate it, it's why the server had those lag spikes and felt jittery.
Donavin Jones said:
And with the equionox ddos attacks that happened recently.
But I wanna hear your guys opinion, whether or not if people do think willard is fading, and could give any ideas on how we could fix that issue.
Click to expand...

Outside of that, it's been a very unfortunate weekend for Willard as our ISP essentially getting DDoSed and now the recent crashes the last few days that we've been investigating so far, we have an idea what is potentially causing them though but still trying to confirm it.
Also to note when the server crashes, it destroys the mood of everybody and it's unlikely that people will join back for a bit due to it, so that will explain the lower player numbers as well the recent few days. I'll have to note as well that it's the exam/school ending season for a lot of countries roughly at the moment, our players mainly consist of British and American players, so some people will have their focus IRL instead right now over the server.
I will keep everyone updated over the Discord announcements when manage to figure out the culprit of the crashes but essentially there's been a lot going on and it's a pain for everybody.

Edit: We are still working on pushing the narrative for the server to make things more interesting but people involved like RAD have their exams and other things to work on till can push the things forward again.
 
Imperator RAD-X said:
This is universally applied to all servers at this time of year. We have entered the examination period academically, which is one of the reasons I haven't touched the server in a while except for short stories. A few of my peers are on the same boat.

I'm personally expecting a little hibernation period until the holidays themselves, arrive.

Also IDK what you mean about "Equinox DDOS attacks". Equi would not do that and I wouldn't ever see him do that. It was the host provider themselves that got hit by something related to the sort affecting their whole port and not us directly, which was an entirely one-off-situation. The crashes are a problematic issue and we have applied numerous fixes though the most and main perpetrator alludes us regarding crashes.

I hope this provides something of a clear answer until after the academic nightmare that has made itself clear these past few weeks.
Click to expand...
the equinox ddos attacks is in reference to the Equinox Vortigaunt image, where Equinox, in a stunning display of comradery, posted his fully nude body, barring his genitals which were covered by an impromptu vortigaunt head, in #memetopia with the text, "its over willard... booter activated..."

1652045025232.png
 
Exams + ddos + equinox + Votton spilling drinks on the box = bad time for the server

Up and until general "Summer time vacation" has started, the player numbers are most likely to dwindle and stay in the lows 10-20s.
 
I don't like doomer-posting.

As with any other year, this period is where the player count for every server and most games in general hit their lowest point. It's around the start of the summer vacation and an exam period for most people. People are more focused on their IRL education and their job. And they should be, IRL always takes priority.

Player-count is nothing to worry about, because this happens literally every year.

As for the server itself, the reason there haven't been many events is because the Creative Team is undergoing a rework with an entirely new and revamped GM system, but until then, minimal events. After that though, expect to see more events as more people get their hands on tools to creat them. I know we have some big ones coming up fairly soon and I'm looking forward to that.

Lack of staff is something I'm seeing myself. Personally I'm very caught up in IRL efforts so I'm not putting in the time I used to, but I'm still around when needed. Other staff is also putting their IRL priorities first, staffing is a volunteer hobby for all of us after all. But we'll all come around once urgent IRL business has settled and we have more free time again.
 
I think it might just be that time of year.
May is the end of schooling and one of the most difficult months for people.
Semester Exams, Final tests, and Graduations, it is all a lot for some people.
I expect a huge pick-up in June/July.
 
To be honest, in some ways, sort of.

The current minge infestation we're facing is something that should be addressed with more strict moderation and extending ban lengths, in concurrence with stricter rules. If you want a functioning and fun community, then you will need to moderate it accordingly.
 
Votton said:
I'm just gonna note that this is entirely a meme made by Equinox, which is in all honesty rather funny. He isn't behind the attack that happened on 06/07 as it was our ISP being attacked directly, so they had to limit all traffic on certain ports till they managed to mitigate it, it's why the server had those lag spikes and felt jittery.


Outside of that, it's been a very unfortunate weekend for Willard as our ISP essentially getting DDoSed and now the recent crashes the last few days that we've been investigating so far, we have an idea what is potentially causing them though but still trying to confirm it.
Also to note when the server crashes, it destroys the mood of everybody and it's unlikely that people will join back for a bit due to it, so that will explain the lower player numbers as well the recent few days. I'll have to note as well that it's the exam/school ending season for a lot of countries roughly at the moment, our players mainly consist of British and American players, so some people will have their focus IRL instead right now over the server.
I will keep everyone updated over the Discord announcements when manage to figure out the culprit of the crashes but essentially there's been a lot going on and it's a pain for everybody.

Edit: We are still working on pushing the narrative for the server to make things more interesting but people involved like RAD have their exams and other things to work on till can push the things forward again.
Click to expand...
Just gonna update regarding this as did an announcement on the Discord server.

The server crashes we've been experiencing this weekend should be all fixed now, essentially one of the admin tools we had causes fuckery and crashes the server, causing it to loop crash as well, so when the server went up then things like containers missed the textures/models (showing up as errors).
Thanks to Robert's help in discovering the issue and being patient, also the other devs too who helped in coming up with ideas to figure out what the issue was.
 
Alright, I say we can conclude this thread and that willard IS NOT fading away.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top