I haven't seen this discussed in-depth for a while, so I thought I'd make a thread now.
What does everyone, both new users and old, think about where the site is now, the direction its taken over the time you've been here, and the direction it's taking now?
What do you think of the community and how it's changed? What do you think of Sandbox lobby itself, or any of the other lobbies for that matter? What do you think of the moderation of the website?
What about the game of Mafia? Does it still have replayability factor for you? Is it functional? Do you still come back for the website because of it or do you do it for something else?
User SpookyNoodle is unable to access the site due to the European ban, so he requested that I post his thoughts for him:
"it sucks"
deletedover 6 years
it wouldn't change anything to merge the lobbies, it would just annoy people in main if comp games get pushed down the page because of sandbox games and vice versa
deletedover 6 years
sandbox players are gonna be pretty pissed once they actually start getting vios for harassment
I'm sure some of you may disagree, but I think the site should be completely overhauled and put back into one lobby *until more people join*. There's no point in having multiple lobbies if no one/barely anyone is using them. Yes, sandbox is unmoderrated for the most part, but this can be resolved in one lobby by simply stating that only ranked games will be moderated going forward. Unranked games will not be moderated, unless there is harassment, or you know, other personal violations committed. Please understand that this can easily be reversed down the road once the user population is stable again.
GMS, to add on your enhancement idea, I think that making reports easier to read would help new players as well.
I agree that bug fixing should be priority but some small QoL or UI changes suchs having different colors for death, wills and system messages is not something difficult to add in the short term.
That wouldn't change much for the main lobby but for us sandboxers that would help a lot, it's easy to miss a carol or a penguin report when there is a huge red wall of text if too many people die.
I've been here almost 7 years. Sometimes I leave for a bit but I always come back. I've met probably hundreds of different players. There's always been some bad apples, but overall I have to say I've had an overwhelmingly positive experience on this site and have met so many wonderful people.
I think it's obvious that Lucid has lost interest in this site for the most part, and that's okay. But with that comes the question of, what now? I don't think he should relinquish full control of the site to someone. I think there should be more of a co-owner or two, someone talented enough to fix the game up (bugs, roles, enhancements, etc.). I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Lucid is the only person with access to that right now. However, the reason for a co-owner would be so Lucid can still control things if they really get out of hand, such as if the co-owner starts adding crazy things like a subscription service or just has a breakdown and starts deleting people/things. I'd really like to see someone already trusted on this site become a co-owner.
I think we have enough roles, for right now at least. There's only so many roles a mafia site can have before you go into overload trying to remember them all. I think there are more glaring issues that need to be fixed before we add more roles. The order should go like this:
1) Bugs (sui glitch, etc.)
2) Enhancements. One enhancement idea I came up with yesterday was when the game starts and your role is revealed ("You are X!"), you should be able to highlight the role name ("X") to get details about your role.
Don't worry, my roles aren't going anywhere. This year will see many new creations by me, I assure you, and I think even more of them will become part of the game.
A few personal shout-outs from me to the people I think deserve one. This list is based from my perspective, I cannot see everything so if you feel like you did something better or should be included, I am not omnipotent. Don't feel insulted.
Golbolco; Where are my new roles at? One of the head leaders in creating new roles, even if they don't always get accepted. I appreciate your efforts, please don't give up I believe! SirAmelio: I didn't always agree with you, we both know that. But you are good for the community and dedicated to a tee, thanks for being part of the community and trying to make it better. Sl0nderman: You probably think I'm a scrub, if only I cared. Nonetheless you want to see change in the current setup, even tho the community isn't ready for change. Your vision for more setups makes sense, it can't be forced tho (golbox *cough*). So keep trying, I'm sure there's another setup we all can enjoy playing.
What pleased me the most is that when I thought of users I like and dislike, the like list consist of the vast majority of players, while the dislike list is only three names long. (one who self deleted, one who got banned and one who isn't even around anymore so who cares). This was for me one of the reasons to say this place hasn't become worse.
Not gonna list the names for I'm sure most of you who I consider as a fun player, or a nice person should know this by now. (yes you scrub, get used to it since this is gonna be one of my few posts where I express my honest opinion).
To the people who believe I think negatively of them, you shouldn't worry since I do not hold grudges, nor do I view anyone only negative. I prefer to judge people fairly on both their wrong and right-doings, so even if you have some grudge for me I honestly don't see you as completely evil. That doesn't mean I won't attempt to increase your salt level at times cause I enjoy the jests.
I could write a whole paragraph considering new player friendly subject, so I'll leave that out for now. Maybe some other time.
After a little nudge from someone, together with some time to think for myself I finally found an answer that I am content with on answering the question: How do I feel about the current sandbox?
I drifted long in the so called; nostalgia moments of EM, when everything used to be 'better' and 'more fun', being convinced like several other people that this place is declining and getting worse overtime, hoping it would one day return to its former glory. But the more I thought about it, the more things didn't add up, like why it is I personally return to this place, or what actually defines this 'better' sandbox from the past. And if it was 'more fun'back in the day, why is it that I stil have fun most of the time when I'm here.
After putting up all the facts in comparison inside my own mind, I can honestly say that sandbox made both positive and negative changes. Ofcourse most of these are based on personal feelings towards the game and community as it is, an opinion that can differ based on everyone's own experience.
Needless to say, I do miss some of the good ol' users that made my games feel special, yet saying that the users of today are mere fillers of the void they left behind would not do just to those who came after. Everyone has their unique playstyle, behaviour and quirks, ones I enjoy in a different way the the ways of old.
Do we need improvement? Yes, sitting still is not good and sandbox flourished under the creativity of its users. Calling it worse than before is still wrong in my opinion, since if nothing changed game-wise it cannot be worse than the past. But the development is worse, that I agree upon.
An update to the UI along with some bugs fixed would greatly improve the site in my opinion. That sui bug and the mentality of suiciding in general is the bane of sandbox, it has ruined many interesting games but that should probably be a separate topic for a different occasion.
Anyway, although I like to try different setups I never really got tired of the popular 12-players one that have been around for as long as I've been here. While I'm not involved enough to notice if the site is better or worse I still feel positive towards it thanks to everyone's efforts to at least make it better.
I always come and go and usually have long breaks, I just hope one day when I come back the site will still be up and working. It would be sad to see a deserted EpicMafia.
