No Nonsense Gamers - Monthly Newsletter: October 2012

PS2 Division Coverage

Our NNG Planet Side 2 Division launched on September 27th and while it hasn't quite been a full month yet, things appear to be kicking off very well. Jaamaw has been working diligently to bring in new people from the PS2 universe with the support of his right hand man HaxardUS. In the past week we've seen our forum member count jump a good 10 players. Not too shabby for a small gaming community like NNG! Even though the game is still in beta form it's given us an opportunity to get a headstart and legup on other gaming communities launching their own PS2 divisions. We're working hard to ensure that new divisions and the associated players feel right at home here at NNG. Each gaming division (so far only BF3 and PS2) will have only three forum sections to cover everything they need. All other discussion and day to day chat will take place in all of the other forum sections to ensure interaction between teams. Though we can't promise a mind blowing level of interaction between the groups, we'd like to maintain the fun family atmosphere we've come to know. Hats off to Jaamaw and Haxard and welcome to all of the new Planet Side 2 members. We're glad you're with us!

Click here to read about a recent PS2 Division success:
http://nononsensegamers.com/forums/threads/who-took-esamir-we-took-esamir.668/


SERVER RANK

Server rank has always been a bit of a tricky subject. Ultimately it's calculated by how often your server is at full capacity. The more full it is all the time, the more it ranks up. After the Armored Kill release last month we gave
it exclusive playtime on our server assuming the community would be lining up in hoards. Unfortunately that didn't quite happen and as a result the server sat empty quite a bit and as a result was dropped into the 600-something rank.

This meant that it was even a less likely candidate for BF3 gamers and was turning into a real dead end. We decided to switch back to some vanilla BF3 maps and things have been turning around quite nicely. Just today we ranked 247 on the GameTracker server scale. We'll strive to keep ranking up but we're in a much better position now to have people in the server at those times that we just want to get in and frag. Thanks to Orestes and Biz for seeding every day and to Lateralus, MR.Awesome, Virus and Marpla for actively seeding and keeping things smooth in the server. It's been a huge help.


ABSENCE OF ARMORED KILL

So like I mentioned in the previous item, Armored Kill has been yanked. It was large, open and epic but the community didn't latch onto it like we had planned. Anyone interested in playing AK at this point will have to use other public servers to get their fix. The real issue with additions and map packs is that Battlelog handles them different by server filter. If they had just removed the ability to pre-filter by expansion, all servers could run all maps all the time. Think how nice it would be to sit down for some BF3 and be able to play through all the maps! Original maps, B2K, Close Quarters, Armored Kill and then in the future the upcoming expansions. Wishful thinking but it would definitely add variety and make the server more attractive to more players. For now, we'll be running the 3 maps that got us where we are plus some Grand Bazaar for some infantry action to shake things up.


GRIEFERS AND LATE NIGHT SERVER STATUS

Most of you probably know that the server is at its most chaotic state late at night. It's our assumption that most players who enter the server simply to cause trouble figure that the admins have gone off to sleep.

Here are some of the problems we've been experiencing lately:

• Rampant Teamkilling
• Ghost Riding Jeeps Into Friendlys
• Uncontrollable Baserape
• Some cheating

Some of these items can be resolved through the use of in-game commands (!punish), but the others aren't as easy. Jeep ghost riding is almost impossible to track down unless you see the name of the person in the jeep before they fly into you. Baserape also yields no prompt for user interaction since it's well within the games mechanics and cheating, when not detected by PB leaves everyone in the server at the mercy of the cheater. Especially when no admins are around.

We're trying to implement tools that will allow users to initiate vote-kicks against such players but it has to be balanced. It has to be fool proof and can't allow griefing players to turn the system on legitimate players. Most of the time we have active admins but the later hours have proven to be difficult. Recommendations are always welcome.


MATCHES

It's been a while since our last scrimmage! We did really well against BS and I'd like to see us do it again. Those types of successes are great for group morale, pride of membership and learning even more about how to play tactically. It's nice to see us take what we know about the game and communicating with each other into the competitive arena. If there are other clans that frequent our server, make an offer for a friendly scrimmage. Have them stop by the forums so we can coordinate something. 8 vs 8 seems to be a baseline scrimmage but I'd like to see something even higher. Let's show those other platoons what NNG is capable of


RAPID GROWTH

Our recent rapid growth with the addition of the PS2 Division and our servers return to full capacity popularity needs to be properly managed. We want to grow at a manageable rate. A rate where we are familiar with those we bring on board. At this point we'd like to enstate a 1 week trial period for all new applicants. This will give us an opportunity to hang with the player, learn what they have to offer and monitor whether or not their personality and attitude are a good match for what NNG is looking for. 1stVirus and Kowl on backup have been performing all the new Member Review Polls on the forums. Here is how we will proceed with new members going forward.

1. Player signs up on forums.
2. Player complete membership form.
3. Player is PM'ed that they have entered the 1 week trial period. (From here they should try to make themselves available to play with us). (Virus and Kowl, please leverage the forum calendar if necessary)
4. After a week (roughly) goes by Virus or Kowl will post the Membership Review poll for that player.
5. The NNG team will vote yay or nay.
6. In cases where it is abundantly clear that the player is what we're looking for, voting can take place early.

All other pieces of the membership process remain unchanged. Thanks to Linch for the trial period recommendation. It's a great idea.


ADMIN ABUSE

Orestes and I peruse the logs. Sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes to follow up after player complaints. Lately we've been seeing an increasing amount of what appear to be frustration bans. What I mean by that is bans that are not in compliance with the administrative rule-set that our admins have signed off on. This happening in conjunction with our rapid new growth will not make for a good combination. We're getting more attention and will be more under the microscope of scrutinizing and judgmental community members than ever before. Throughout this growth we have to maintain our core standards and what sets us apart from other communities.

Our calling card is the No Nonsense theme, but it has to be applied properly. When a player goes as far as signing up on our forums to protest their ban, something is wrong. The dispute section will always be there because sometimes there are misunderstandings, but if a player comes to the forums, arms in the air, clueless as to why they've been removed from our server, then we have failed. Like I always say, players are our customers. Without our customers our server loses traction. Our name loses significance. NNG becomes just another crummy community. We don't want that to happen. Please administrators, stick to the rules which you have agreed to. Provide proper kick or ban reasons when removing players from the game.

If something comes up on the Battlelog forums regarding our community report it to Orestes or myself so we can discuss our approach. Members who are not following the admin policies are at risk of having their access removed. Let's take this seriously. Thanks.


GAMING TOGETHER - GETTING ALONG TOGETHER

When we game we have the most fun doing it together. That's the way it should be. We're larger than we've ever been so we have more personalities to manage now. As NNG continues to evolve and grow we can expect even more people with different personalities to join up.

We've been truly lucky in that all our members are unique snowflakes. Good people, funny, not too serious, but committed to the cause. The more people you have within a group the more likely your odds are for certain people to not get along with others. It's a matter of mathematics. There is a quote from The Office where Stanley Hudson says "We don't have to get along, we just have to work together". Michael Scott takes offense and I'll side with Mr. Michael Scott here. We do have to get along. This hobby isn't monetized. We're here for no other reason than to have fun. Once the fun goes away, this becomes just like anything else in the world. A job!

If an issue arises between players please try to settle it diplomatically and on your own prior to getting an admin involved or running to the forums. In almost all cases, these can be rectified with little trouble. Part of our job as community leaders will be to make sure we continue to bring on people that will mesh well with the established community. There are options outside of being passive aggressive, or coming to the forums to slam a particular member. We don't want situations to boil over and become large scale, yet trivial matters that divide the group into cliques. We don't have time to handle that kind of stuff. Work to get along with each other. Be considerate on TeamSpeak. Be respectful towards other players, communities and platoons that frequently come to enjoy themselves in our domain. That's all we ask.


CLOSURE

One matter that has been a large chunk of this months newsletter is the addition of new players and our growth. What hasn't been stated is that NNG's membership isn't permanent for anyone. I know I know... I was just talking about keeping this fun! But! If we have to remove a player or ask them to leave the community so that the larger group can continue to play on like normal, we're going to be ready to do that. We have no established criteria for such a situation and no one is anywhere near anything like that, but we will make ourselves available to handle them on a case by case basis.

Remember, anywhere you go to play, when you run the NNG letters, you're representing our community. Represent us as best as you can. Think of how you're being perceived by other players in the server when they hit TAB and see the NNG prefixed to your username. Do us proud

Orestes and I are committed to keeping NNG running strong and will do whatever we have to, to make that happen.

Suggestions, recommendations, comments, complaints, anything, ...are always welcome and expected. Do not hesitate to contact us.

OK,

Let's end on something fun now.
Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job Out Takes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AkbhU7fpYEE#t=43s


Thanks for being with NNG. We appreciate having you guys (and gal) with us more than you could ever know! We're a great little community and we all need to make sure we work hard towards keeping it that way.



Orestes and Ghost

 

GhostSheets: A gentleman and a scholar

 

*scrim was against BS, BSH faught along side NNG

Here's to healthy growth, both server rank, and community members!

 

I'd drink to that

 

I think we can just let that one slide.

 

It put up a good fight but I took care of it. /bruised

 

DOH! I knew I would mess that up. Corrected! Thanks,

 

Great post!

 

Thank you sir

 

*cough* kissass *cough* sorry, im getting a cold