I would like to start this proposition with praise: Ibis is my favorite server currently available to me in NS2. It’s one of the few more ‘vanilla-esque’ servers, with fewer custom maps that overpopulate the map votes with too many choices. It has a generally welcoming regular playerbase, who don’t take things too seriously, allowing newcomers to both the game and the server to spread their wings. When people like Razz, Wallowick, Putin, Anachu, Happiness, Rupper, Major, Salty, Cryoraptor Cryptocurrency are on, you generally know that you’re going to have a good time.
Most importantly, ( and the very thing I want to put emphasis on here, ) is that this server is regularly maintains a silver ( Squad Leader ) average. Sometimes on the weekend, you might see a shiny gold next to the server. I think this is one of this servers strongest pull when it comes to enticing players to join, even if it’s just for getting seeded. This puts IBIS as the mid-tier level in terms of playerskill, being accessible to both new players and the sub 4k player base. This means IBIS is never wanting for players, and lets it compete squarely with DMD and other such server, which often put out gold and above average games, which are far less welcoming of weaker/learning players.
There are very no other servers that I know of in the US region that fill that important niche role in the playerbase. The closest would be the few Rookie servers, but they exist purely for new players and the occasional smurfs, and fill a very different niche in the biome of NS2’s playerbase.
Now with all that being said, I do have criticisms of how the server is currently run: Currently, we run a very lax server, where harrassment is far more regular than it should be, with very weak rules that are often rarely enforced. Slurs can and are dropped without anyone batting an eye, and older/more experienced players can often get away with straight up verbal abuse. And I’m talking worse than Salty or Zero’s long salty rants, which are to be honest, one of plusses of the server. ( What can I say, both your salt tirades are endearing in your own way. You guys both have the sense to never really point fingers specifically at anyone in your call outs. )
Both players and admins are never really given a proper brief of the code of conduct for the server. We could really use an MOTD plugin so we can at least ensure our players have a chance of reviewing them. That way there can be no excuse for breaches of conduct. On the admin side, I think it’s okay for admin powers to be purchasable, but I myself struggled to really find any sort of guidebook. The current rules we have posted are so barebones it only really encompasses the very basic framework of any server. I think we need a proper look of social behaviour. We don’t even need to make an elaborate book about it or anything, we can just draw a very hard and basic line. I have an example from another server community I frequent that I think should be looked at, which is both fair and neutral.
And finally, I think we need to have a proper discussion about the server’s place in the entire biosphere of NS2. Whether this is us making a hard call on where we draw the hiveskill line, or if we implement plugins that prevent high skill level players from joining mid game. One of the biggest frustrations I think a lot of our players have when playing on IBIS, is when you have any 4k+ player join the game ten minutes into a match, turning a once equal game into a slow and frustrating stomp.. This is extremely prominent when it comes to Marines getting a sudden orange player, as said player can often just carry his team to victory. This can and does happen on Alien side, but I feel like the nature of alien’s gameplay relies a lot more heavily on organized teamplay for aliens compared to Marines, especially for the average player we have on IBIS.
To Summarize
- IBIS is an excellent place in terms of its community, giving the America regions a place for mid-tier players to join and have a good time.
- We have a very strong core group of regulars.
- We have an excellent selection of maps that lets both new and returning players familiarize themselves with the more standard and vanilla maps
- We currently are really lacking in terms of rules, which I think is a detriment to our playerbase, as it means comms is often filled with a lot of arguing, harassment. Admins themselves have no actual litmus test to help enforce what rules wwe have, meaning often we let our own community light their own torches and raise their pitchforks. Mob justice is not something anyone should really be proud on a server as notable as ours.
- We lack a MoTD plugin that can both advertise our servers services, as well as display rules.
- By nature of our midtier average playerbase, the presence of orange ( Sanji Survivor ) can really tilt games to a degree of straight up frustration, which I have witnessed more than once killing the server, requiring time being spent reseeding.
Rules, Enforcement, and Engaging Our Admins
This is honestly the easiest thing for us to do. Currently, admins at most can feel like just ‘special’ to other players. They have abilities that others do not. I don’t think this is what is intended. Admins should be more interested in policing/improving the quality of the server than anything else. Purchasing admin powers is fine and dandy, but with that power comes a basic level of responsibility. Admins are the ones who ultimately make the final calls, as outlined by the server rules we already have here on the forums. That should be their first priority above all else.
Currently, I don’t believe you have to read any material regarding rules before of after you pay for the service. I think that should be the first thing to be done. Admins should know what is expected of them, to help prevent misuse.
Second, we need a proper MoTD for the server, so that players understand what is expected of them on IBIS.
Third, we need a proper set of code of conduct. Like I said earlier, this does not have to be a long wall of text. It’s far easier for us to draw a hard line in the sand that will allow all walks of life and people to enjoy and use our server, without infringing on any so called personal liberties. As an example of this, I present to you the basic rules for another community I frequent, in another game, that outlines how simple this is:
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Obviously, some of those rules are specific to Day of Defeat, but I think the rest are perfectly valid here: Hard no on politics, ( including usernames, as we’ve seen our fair share of antisemitic/political names on the server, and it’s caused IBIS to mob justice the wrong person. We’ve kicked someone for being baited by a /pol/ username. That isn’t cool. ) A strong stance on basic sexism/racism. Basically: If it’s going to provoke someone on the server, just fucking don’t. Let’s just agree to play a video game and leave the real world where it belongs, not interfering with our escapist fantasies of space aliens and space men.
This one is probably going to be the most controversial topic, as it means having a hard discussion on what sort of players can actually make use of our servers, and I think some might be hesitant on it.
So I propose two options for tackling this: The harsh approach, or a more withdrawn approach.
Harsh
The Harsh approach is simply denying the server to players above a particular hiveskill. This means we don’t really have to deal with a sudden orange player dropping into an even game and causing a loss on the opposing team. This ensures IBIS place and identity within the grand scheme of things, and allows us to cultivate a stronger core playerbase.
The downsides to this are pretty straight forward. We’d be willing segregating the playerbase and cutting out a portion of our playerbase. Someone may even try to argue to remove purple players from participating in the future. There’s also regular players we have attaining orange rank, thus risking them being excluded.
However, I don’t think this is actually an issue in the slightest. Almost all orange ranked players are inactive community wise. They’re often just streaming and thus don’t participate in comms or in text chat. On top of that, the actual population of orange players is incredibly small, we wouldn’t really miss the presence of Shu or Whoops, for example. They have plenty of other servers available to them.
And the skill range of Purples is very shallow, I find. The difference between Platinum and purple isn’t that wide in my own opinion. While they’re often strong players, they themselves are rarely able to carry an entire team that a strong orange can. And unlike oranges, there are actually a fair number of them, population wise, meaning that you’ll often find them on both teams in any one match. Some of our regulars are in that rank.
And finally, we can decide on a particular hive skill level as our barrier of entry. This will ensure our regulars who are on the cusp of hitting Sanji of still being able to actually play on their favorite server. The gulf of Sanji players is infinitely wide after all. Particularly big fish are so far ahead of the actual baseline, that they represent exceptions and not the norm.
Withdrawn
We make use of existing plugins available to basically force players in ready room of a certain skills to have to either wait for a fresh game, or replace a player of equal skill of the current match. This semi-helps with the current player drop in problem, allowing for more consistent matches.
The only real downsides to this is, well, no one really likes to wait around when they could just drop into another server. And this would essentially apply to everyone, and not just the problem players in the first place. This can negatively impact the player population in the long run, as people just shift off to more active servers to play on.
Improving the community of NS2 in IBIS, a Proposition
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