State of SG

[Caution]

Hey everyone,

 

This thread has been a long time coming, and admittedly I should have made it earlier. I'm making this so you guys can hear stuff directly from me, and not another BD. Not that I don't trust them to get the right info out, but hearing it from me and avoiding a middleman is long overdue. This is addressed to everyone, from the Regulars to the Directors. I've been reading and seeing a lot of frustration coming from everyone. Some of it aimed at me, the Board, the Server Managers, etc. Most of you won't see it, but even the Directors are frustrated. They're in Discord venting that frustration the same way that the lowest ranking members are. I get it. 

 

First and foremost, I want to immediately and up front address that SG is not in any danger of 'shutting down'. Yes, it is extremely ideal to have a situation where we are positive cash flow, but ultimately I am able to finance SG personally. When I took over the reigns from Spartan nearly 7 years ago, I knew that there might be a day where I would have to pay out of pocket for SG. I started playing on SG servers when I was 13 years old...15 years ago. Even though I'm not nearly as active as those days, believe me that SG will always hold a special place in my heart...meaning that to the point of sheer stubbornness, I would never stop paying for the lights to stay on here. 

 

What does that mean? Well, it does mean that I am going to be less likely to just 'hand' money out. That's not saying that I won't, it just means that I expect plans, details, etc., when it comes to spending money, because at this point it is coming out of pocket for the most part. If we can save money by going to one dedi (which is the current plan), I encourage that as well. This also allows more money to be given out to marketing and giveaways and whatnot. It also forces us to really go back to the basics and focus on fewer servers at one time, instead of spreading our attention everywhere. Beyond this, however, I really don't want anyone focusing on money. This sounds counterintuitive, but I believe that after establishing popularity again, it will shortly follow. I do want to see the donator setup continue to get revamped.

 

I'm still in the Middle East and have a lot going on in my personal life, including starting up a business that blew up unexpectedly. I walked away from SG pretty much completely and entirely about a year ago, handing the reigns over to the BD team. I made sure money flowed where it needed to and when it needed to, and that's about it. I've been slowly adding more time for SG, but this is mostly done by catching up on changes, proposed changes, and just reading in general. I'm a firm believer in leaders passing recognition and taking blame, and I do fully take responsibility in letting SG get to the state it's in now. With the integration of me getting back involved in general community affairs, I do also plan on getting active again on the servers. This doesn't mean 4 hours a night or anything, but I do plan on hopping on. 

 

I've seen a few threads with the general premise of brainstorming how to get SG populated again. I greatly appreciate threads like these and think they're a great idea. I want to encourage that, outside of clear shitposting or just saying 'game over man, game over', none of the posts should be getting deleted or the threads getting locked. This is just going to discourage people from posting and contributing, and that's not what I want to see happen. There have been a few ideas tossed around in these threads that I have been greatly considering, including mass unbans and promoting people that were previously demoted. 

 

For those who have been around SG for awhile, especially back when it was ZM, there have been a few dark days like this. SG has been on the actual verge of being shut down in the past. It's never ideal and never fortunate, but we've always pulled through completely and solely due to the determination and general love for SG from the player-base (which is everyone). Once again, I greatly appreciate the hard work and brainstorming that everyone has put in, and please feel free to provide input and suggestions on how we can make this place thrive again, and feel free to tag me in stuff or send me PM's. If I don't respond within a day or two, please send a follow-up.