Hi everyone,
I am pretty bored and missing this server so I want to just give my suggestions to you guys who are newer or have been playing for a while or even to the Devs. Please don't delete this and I want to see if people agree with me or not on this matter and whether I should move on.
I am unfortunately banned from eclipse and have been banned many times. I love this server a lot, and I think at some points in my life I have been addicted to this server to an extreme, playing upwards of 18 hours daily or even more. I have done literally everything on the server, and have been around longer than almost anyone that is currently playing besides a couple admins and of course the developers. My first experience that I can find throughout my accounts started in 2018, but I believe I played the server before that even. I have seen the server go from being a fishing simulator where everyone used to hangout at the pier, to it being ruled by big gangs and becoming a huge gang server. My most recent character was Muhammad Mahmoudi where I played for a month until MarcoD caught me evading which I am sorry for doing. Anyways those are my credits, and I think that might give me a little credit to say my suggestions to this server.
Give everyone a second chance.
By everyone, I mean everyone who wasn't cheating, or might have knowingly done something bad to the server.
I think almost everyone who have had an active time in the server and were good to the community, but might have done something to mess up in a heat of a moment thing should absolutely be given a chance to play on the server again. People who were banned for DSO back in the day simply for speaking their mind should absolutely be given another chance to say their piece and be given a chance to come back with a type of probation. People who were banned for even things like Ban evading should be given another shot to come back. Ban evading is something that has been looked at too harshly in my opinion, and is treated almost like you committed a terrible atrocity to the server. Yes its bad, yes you should face the consequences, no you shouldn't be banned for playing on the server forever.
I think almost every ban should be lifted (excluding cheating and very serious things), and yes this could possibly reak havoc on the server for a day or two, but it will increase the population on the server by more than double the current pop for a long period of time. It could even potentially bring the server back to where it was 4-5 years ago, where this server was the most addictive and certainly the most fun.
A community meeting
I think there needs to be a community meeting with players who have have had an impact on the server or have something to say should be invited to a large call with staff/admins/developers. Staff and developers should hear out the community, outside of this forum. It's very easy to neglect and deny something that is said on a forum over text, but if people are allowed to be heard out I believe it would be much easier to communicate.
The current state of the server.
I believe the server can be fit into three large subcatagories of players at the moment.
New players - The amount of real "new players" vs ban evaders is 1:10. Almost no real new players have any incentive to currently play the server, there is 0 marketing on this server so I can assure everyone (which everyone knows this already) that everyone single new player you run into has played this server in the past. There is an occasional new player who might have been suggested by his friends to play.
Medium length players (1-2 years) - These people are unlikely to be ban evading, but if they aren't they are either in a GOV job, or a very rare amount of them are crims. These people are 25-35% of the servers population on a peak weekend. If they are criminals the chance of them being banned within a couple months to a year is almost guaranteed.
Long time players (2-5 years) - I believe that there is maybe 3-5 people besides staff that have been playing the server since release that still actively play, and these people are in Civ jobs, or are just here to be friends with people. There is not a single crim left from 2020 that I have met in game that I recognized due to them being banned. A majority of these players who are left on the server however though, are bored 99% of the time. A majority of them are cops and they have very poor RP. Last time I was in a car with them while being arrested and were on the highway praying that a group of people would shoot at them so something fun could happen. As soon as it did - they pulled out mkII weapons doing drivebys.
Almost every long time player will agree that there should be a ban lift on 50-60% of the bans that were placed on players. This WOULD not only revive the server, but it will make it better.
The gangs left on the server don't actually do anything like they used to in the past. The drug labs aren't held by gangs anymore, people don't even do bank robberies as much. In 6 months from now we will see a majority of people who were in gangs leave the server or disband marking the end of significant gangs in the server, which will eventually mark the end of server itself only leaving behind those who have friends here.
I am asking the admins and the community to please see reason, this server is the ONLY good RP server. Admins and developers have experience, you have an incredible set of people who are willing to play the server. People who have been playing for years still come in everyday to play, but will not be coming back if there's no incentive.
I want to say in the end that I don't have an end all solution. I will always understand that I will never be unbanned from this server as I have done too much and broken too many rules and don't seek to be unbanned. I really do believe this server to have an unbelievable amount of potential as to what it can still be and what it can become. Please tell me what I am missing, if any staff/developers/players disagree with me or have more to say let me know I am willing to have my mind changed.
My end all goal is for this server to become what it used to be again.
