how do we get players back to BL

Author Topic: how do we get players back to BL  (Read 8443 times)

Back on the server ideas topic... I've wanted a relaxed freebuild-esque server, but with PTG terrain (flatlands to make building easier). I'll probably end up hosting this myself at some point, but I have yet to pick out addons from my ridiculously long list to use on the server as to not bloat it with mods that don't contribute to building. It would also be a persistent world (assuming it wasn't a dedicated server) meaning that you could build a base or town with friends and keep coming back to it.

I think the issues with consistency can be fixed with hosting services
I'm certain BL Glass even said they were doing it, so if people rely on a  secure system to host their servers for them then not only will that free up a lot of time for those concerned about time constraints but more people will do it because it's easy

concerning time constraints specifically,
if a person is having trouble with a project we can always help them out
that and if the person elects a group of admins that can continuously monitor the game properly he doesn't even have to go on

not to mention there are gamemodes on BL that don't even really require moderation
99% of the time I go to Cat123's Grapple Knife TDM, there's no admins or moderators there
but there doesn't need to be because the concept of the game is so simple and so well-executed the players can self-moderate

and I think self-moderation is another thing that we can work on
yes, we already have the Drama section, but we usually put people in there who are just annoying or weird in personality, not a lot of people who actually did something wrong
I'm not saying don't make dramas about anything but badmins, I'm saying let's be a little bit less liberal with our dramas
if their personality leads to them doing something bad, whether in a position of power or not then by all means drama them
just don't be a richard about it and then the two communities that are the forums and the gamers will assimilate into one community
how it's supposed to be

I think the issues with consistency can be fixed with hosting services
I'm certain BL Glass even said they were doing it, so if people rely on a  secure system to host their servers for them then not only will that free up a lot of time for those concerned about time constraints but more people will do it because it's easy
doesn't fix the content gap. i have regular access to a free vps provided by a generous friend, but i barely host anything since I don't really have things to host. putting up a gamemode pulled off the gamemode forum is pretty meh - one time i spent a week making a full scale TDM and hosted it. first two days were populated, then i left the server up for a week since i had to go to school and it stayed dead for a week. no point in leaving it up really - it just gives me a rep that my server's empty or boring af.

concerning time constraints specifically,
if a person is having trouble with a project we can always help them out
that and if the person elects a group of admins that can continuously monitor the game properly he doesn't even have to go on

not to mention there are gamemodes on BL that don't even really require moderation
99% of the time I go to Cat123's Grapple Knife TDM, there's no admins or moderators there
but there doesn't need to be because the concept of the game is so simple and so well-executed the players can self-moderate
the thing here is its not the server lacking moderation - its the server content itself. it doesn't magically appear - it takes months of work

for something like halloweenfest, which might be considered simply a build, we took about 3-4 months to get the build done, and the server is fairly script light. now imagine a custom TDM scripted with its own custom shop system or some other thing.

and I think self-moderation is another thing that we can work on
yes, we already have the Drama section, but we usually put people in there who are just annoying or weird in personality, not a lot of people who actually did something wrong
I'm not saying don't make dramas about anything but badmins, I'm saying let's be a little bit less liberal with our dramas
if their personality leads to them doing something bad, whether in a position of power or not then by all means drama them
just don't be a richard about it and then the two communities that are the forums and the gamers will assimilate into one community
how it's supposed to be
not related to lack of players. people are willing to put up with stuff communities if the game itself is fun. look at the fanbase of minecraft, cod, undertale, etc, and look how many people still play it or associate themselves with it anyways.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2016, 09:03:54 PM by Conan »

Playercount is almost completely dependent on the servers that are open. Tons of people launch Blockland to check which servers are online and if they see one they like they'll join which adds to the player count, but a lot of time the they don't see anything fun so they get off. It isn't that complicated, you don't need to figure anything out. It's simple as that.

There have been numerous other threads that are basically the same as this one. OP just says we need to come up with better server ideas, great. But nobody actually does anything after people say their ideas.

Host better servers if you want more people to play the game.
crown is right, I do this all the time, and so does a majority of the playerbase

doesn't fix the content gap. i have regular access to a free vps provided by a generous friend, but i barely host anything since I don't really have things to host. putting up a gamemode pulled off the gamemode forum is pretty meh - one time i spent a week making a full scale TDM and hosted it. first two days were populated, then i left the server up for a week since i had to go to school and it stayed dead for a week. no point in leaving it up really - it just gives me a rep that my server's empty or boring af.
this is true
if the server is just dedicated and then just left there its going to eventually become empty and die out because no one wants to join a server with a playercount of 0

More fun servers + game updates



I'll try to bring back my Endless Zombies for Xmas

I was wondering myself how I (or anyone else) could try to get Blockland more popular. A thought I had was to try to get a streamer (I was thinking of Vinesauce Vinny) to try to stream the game and do some messing around on servers. I was worried however that streaming Blockland might make it look bad/boring due to the low amount of players and how... "free" I guess the community can be, so I never took action.

However, one could potentially see Blockland in a different way. Vinny mentioned he would like to explore more lessor known/obscure online games while streaming stuff like Active Worlds. Perhaps then it might be entertaining and we could get a few people exploring the game.

It's useless to get a lot of players to try out the game, if theres nothing to make them stay. Over 100k new players bought the game on steam and all of them left.

It's useless to get a lot of players to try out the game, if theres nothing to make them stay. Over 100k new players bought the game on steam and all of them left.
My friend from highschool bought this game and tried it out.  Before I say what he told me, THESE ARE NOT MY WORDS THEY ARE HIS WORDS! He told me that the game seemed boring and it was really childish.

Okay, so here's how to solve the we-need-people-to-make-things problem:
We make and host or host existing simple, plain-ol'-fun gamemodes like my Canyon CTF, Tezuni's Slopes CTF, Randomizer DM, Bumper Kart, etc., and run servers for those regularly. Then people join, play for around a month, then those who are going to make things will probably have decided to do that now and do so.

It's useless to get a lot of players to try out the game, if theres nothing to make them stay. Over 100k new players bought the game on steam and all of them left.
this is true

an influx of players from videos or streamers is useless if there's nothing that will keep them here

The game needs to fundamentally change and be revamped in order to be appealing to new players. That and it needs to be advertised more.

Badspot does not seem interested in doing that, however. He just doesn't seem to care anymore, however that is understandable considering how long this game has been around. He's got other interests now.
« Last Edit: November 03, 2016, 06:55:21 PM by Planr »

The game needs to fundamentally change and be revamped in order to be appealing to new players. That and it needs to be advertised more.
IMO Blockland 2 needs to come out, on a more up-to-date engine, with vehicles and weapons being just brick constructions with certain things applied to them via wrench menus. Basically everything can be made with bricks, not just static constructions.