Poll

Do you agree with the OP?

100% - Yes, It's like the OP read my mind.
75% - Yes, I think most of what I've read holds true.
50% - Meh, Some of it I agree with, some of it I don't.
25% - No, For the most part, I don't really see any of this, but I can agree with a few things.
0% - No, The OP clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

Author Topic: Blockland Today - The Fun Is Missing... Or is it?  (Read 21867 times)

Blockland Today - The Fun Is Missing (Original Post/Topic)

They say all good things must come to an end, but I assumed Blockland would still have a couple of years on it yet. I've been rather on and off for the past few months, occasionally working on my programming skills and knowledge of torque, while trying to refine myself as an individual to better accompany the apparently high standards players seem to think everyone respectable should portray. But, that's another story. What I'm here to discuss is the seeming downfall of Blockland as a form of entertainment. I've stuck around this game since v8, and back then, things were fun, I was continually discovering new mods and games to play, as well as tons of interesting and unique builds. Lately however, I've seen a massive decline in overall gameplay and general fun. For the first time ever it seems that the stupid, uncreative and underdeveloped servers are the ones at the top, rather than the interesting and well made ones. If I had a dollar for every time I saw a "Floating Knife TDM" or a "Family/City RP" of any kind, I'd be rich. And so far, the only servers to offer anything different was a fort wars server with a travel time of 20 minutes, and a fight time of 5 seconds; and a "boss battle" server that has literally no bricks other than platforms to get from point A to B. It also strikes me as unfortunate when the only impressive builds I see, never see the light of day after they're started (Mine included, although I try to avoid it). Fact is, when I join a server with a half-way decent build, I save it, not because I'm going to use it , but because I know I'll never see it again. Anyone with building skill uses it to make vistas, as opposed to gameplay, and those vistas are never even reused. It's a sad state to be into. This, combined with the fact that I'm pretty sure the average age of players in the game has dropped from 16 to 9, just seems to depress me. The people I even deem "respectable" and those I deem "capable of producing fun gameplay/builds" spend all their time prodding the forums, remembering random things and making post after post all day long, it's rather unfortunate. Did you know that the off-topic and drama sections of the forum have more posts than any of the others? It's simply a disgrace to even think I would play a game where it's more important to talk about when the next episode of MLP is on, or how some random guy called you a friend somewhere, then it is to actually do ANYTHING fun. I am by no means trying to single out anyone in particular, or make people feel bad. I merely wish to convey how I feel about the situation.

Is there hope for Blockland? I like to think there is, and I am by no means posting this with the intention of giving up. I keep trying to motivate myself to make something fun, and to get others to as well, but so far, we're not moving anywhere fast. There are still plenty of good builders out there who are open to good ideas and innovations, but we have to keep pressing the envelope. We need to keep trying to make things for everyone to enjoy, things that can make us as proud as I was to be playing Blockland back in v8/9. Fact is, the thing that makes games fun, isn't the game itself (Although it helps), it's how fun the players make it.

Perhaps there are some situations I missed, or things I overlooked, I'm not as vigilant as most people, and neither am I as good at brown townyzing situations as I'd like to be. And, to be honest, there were random isolated incidents where really fun things appeared on Blockland, but they never lasted long enough to be properly enjoyed.

So, what do you think? Am I hitting the nail on the head? Or speaking total rubbish?

New Developments!

As a way to fix this issue, me and a group of dedicated individuals are planning to create a series of informative videos/toutorials on how players can learn how to be good builders/eventers/server hosts, to make the game more fun for everyone.
Check through the topic if you're interested, or shoot me a pm.

So far, the active list of ideas for said toutorials are...
  • How to become a good builder.
  • Proper etiquette in the blockland community.
  • Useful and efficient building techniques for good builds.
  • How to host a good server.
  • What add-ons are recommended for good servers?
  • The basics of handling blockland (Download and installing add-ons, managing add-ons, ect.)

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/BLMU

Even if you don't think there's a problem, I'm pretty sure we can all agree that this is a good idea, right?

Slimabob has been nice enough to post his toutorials for installing add-ons on a Mac and on a PC.


Check out the fancy project logos so far! Maybe once we get a few more, we can start up a vote.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2012, 09:56:21 PM by Rykuta »

Much of this is very very true. Like the Unoriginal servers having the most players and the creative servers having the least or not being up long enough for many to enjoy it.

I would go in favor of this seeing as blockland has become quiet rubbish in recent times due to just the community mainly being rubbish, And don't be offended forum from my comment.

blockland is awesome now. stop crying and host your own server. these topics pop up all the time lol. I log in and have fun every day

moronic doomsday prophesizing

blockland is awesome now. stop crying and host your own server. these topics pop up all the time lol. I log in and have fun every day
this is directed towards the general mass of servers on blockland. your server is one of the few decent ones out there.


I feel your pain bro. There has been a lack of good (and successful) minigame servers these days. It's all pretty much relegated to a few popular servers amid a mass of RP's, knife TDM's, and other noob stuff.

I'd build a TDM but I have a large project underway. These days the new, upcoming good servers don't have much of a say until they're advertised on the forums.

The fun comes and goes. Blockland will never be what it was like when everything was new and fresh, but there will always be those great servers that pop up every once in a while.

stop crying and host your own server.
Rykuta hosting a server is a bad idea.

Blockland hasn't declined in quality, it just has grown a significant amount. That means it will take some sifting to find originality and more effort to make a creative contribution.

Like life, Blockland is what you make of it. Find a good server. Even if you just have one, it is better than nothing. Fine good friends. Then, maybe, regardless of the server, you'll still have fun. But if you really aren't happy about it, change it. Make suggestions. Find a friend who can host or make friends with a host. Try to pool creative ideas together and create something unique or something simply enjoyable to make.

And, maybe back when everything was new and shiny, you just found it more enjoyable. Have you considered that, perhaps, it isn't the game that has changed, but rather you? :u

The fun comes and goes. Blockland will never be what it was like when everything was new and fresh, but there will always be those great servers that pop up every once in a while.
If only they could stick around long enough to feel like you actually participated and had a good time doing it.

And, maybe back when everything was new and shiny, you just found it more enjoyable. Have you considered that, perhaps, it isn't the game that has changed, but rather you? :u
My mind just exploded. o.o

« Last Edit: February 23, 2012, 08:51:34 PM by Rykuta »

Blockland hasn't declined in quality, it just has grown a significant amount. That means it will take some sifting to find originality and more effort to make a creative contribution.
QFT. Too many new noobs hosting servers that nobody joins, but they host anyways in the hopes of getting people.

The removal of requiring port forwarding to host now seems like a bad idea. Oh well.

You just grew out of it. Sadly, a sandbox game isn't fun anyone when one is no longer imaginative.

When I was 12 I'm sure all my builds sucked. But I still had a blast because I was always thinking of new things to do.

I wish I had my skills, still, I don't have much imagination like I used to either. but I've always got time to build.

same thing with drawing

host your own server.
If I could find a way to motivate my creative side to putting the time and effort into building something fantastic and fun I would, but I'm fresh out of motivation of the sort.

QFT. Too many new noobs hosting servers that nobody joins, but they host anyways in the hopes of getting people.

The removal of requiring port forwarding to host now seems like a bad idea. Oh well.
maybe these!"noobs" host good servers. you guys should stop limiting yourself to popular servers or hosts you know. the servers dont suck you guys just cant have fun