Author Topic: how do we get players back to BL  (Read 8444 times)


Here's an idea.

In TF2 servers, there are a lot of public servers hosted by Valve that people can join for a good authentic TF2 experience.

What if Badspot adopted something similar to that? Badspot could host his Block Party, and other popular game modes. Games that would have an authentic Blockland experience. It could be administrated by very trusted members and be used to create a healthy environment for new players.

A block party, a superkart server, a rocket deathmatch at least. Maybe a decent TDM as well?

Here's an idea.

In TF2 servers, there are a lot of public servers hosted by Valve that people can join for a good authentic TF2 experience.

What if Badspot adopted something similar to that? Badspot could host his Block Party, and other popular game modes. Games that would have an authentic Blockland experience. It could be administrated by very trusted members and be used to create a healthy environment for new players.
Although this is a great idea in practice, Badspot has seemingly demonstrated that his care and love for the game and its success has dwindled a lot. I personally don't think he would be up to the task. He gets a lot of crap from the community and probably doesn't see any good reason to give back. The game, although not being even close to dead, has run its course in regards to being a popular game. The engine is old and not very versatile, many important and impactful members have left the community for various reasons (grown up, moved on to other things, left due to unhappiness in our unusual community), and the community has been given a very bad rap for being so toxic. Badspot obviously knows these things, and probably doesn't feel like it's worth it to put much more time into Blockland this late in its life, with it being likely that not much would come of it.

Even though it's sad to think of Blockland being in such a state as it is right now, if we want change, success, and growth, we absolutely must take initiative and start creating more content. That probably sounds like a broken record to many of you, but it's the hard truth. There really isn't much else we can do at this point. As said earlier in this thread, people buy the game, play it for a day or two, only to find there is a huge lack of content and variety of servers to play on. The starfishs who ban new players/inexperienced, incompetent players on sight don't help, either. I know this is a small community, but it is really toxic speaking objectively. New members are held to an extremely high standard when first becoming part of it, which is another factor that drives people away.

There are a lot of things that need to be fixed before this game sees any significant growth in the future. But if we as a whole take initiative, create content, and become more open to new players, chances of making Blockland great again (excuse the joke) are much higher.

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I do like the idea of a bunch of "default" servers hosting default gamemodes 24/7. If Badspot wouldn't do it, this could be something one of those upcoming hosting services can do - just host the default rampage, speedkart, freebuild (maybe? might want to avoid the need to administrate if possible), etc gamemodes not accociated with anyone at all times.

I do like the idea of a bunch of "default" servers hosting default gamemodes 24/7. If Badspot wouldn't do it, this could be something one of those upcoming hosting services can do - just host the default rampage, speedkart, freebuild (maybe? might want to avoid the need to administrate if possible), etc gamemodes not accociated with anyone at all times.

Thing is why would anyone host those gamemodes when they retain very few players and anyone can host them themselves. I'd rather have servers that are always enjoyed but rarely hosted be used if they can.

anyone can host them themselves.
ya but it very rarely happens

hosting gamemodes on 24/7 servers won't work if thats all thats being done, eventually it'll die and no one will ever join it again
there has to be a tiny bit more like the host popping in so theres 1 player

ya but it very rarely happens

Because a lot of those gamemodes have very little replay ability and aren't very fun to most?

And yea I agree a 24/7 server would not be that good cause people would eventually get bored of what is being hosted. That server could have multiple games though that are either shuffled or voted for. Server shouldn't be up all time either to let players try out other servers being hosted.

Okay, what about not having just default gamemodes?

Lets take the most popular gamemodes that have ever been hosted.

Deathkart? Blockparty? Trench wars? There are tons of gamemodes that were shown in Teneksi's Blockland Trailer that looked fantastic. I can't put my finger on what they were called, but I'm sure if we had like 10 really popular servers that were up, it would attract a lot of players.

More fun servers + game updates


I hear this all the time, but could you elaborate on exactly what you want to be updated?

but could you elaborate on exactly what you want to be updated?
the only things necessary are bug fixes

speaking of which is the hosting runtime error thing and the loading freeze things still there or were they fixed in the recent revision

More original servers + more active community = more players

It's not that hard to grasp, but then again, people move on.

one thing that would help is official content updates.

sure, you shouldn't expect badspot to make mods for the community. but look at how widely default stuff is used, and how much it contributes to the available content out there. remember that the sports items and bot holes are systems developed officially.

if there were more official addons that have engine-level or official support, it would open up more avenues for modders to take when making their own mods. the bot holes are a good example.

one idea is official static shape map support - map making using static shapes could become a new avenue for modders to take if they want to make their own maps, and it would help offset the lack of base content to play with or explore. i'm sure a bunch of us want to make maps for the game, but building takes a while and not everyone's computer can support massive builds, while it seems most computers can support a bunch of non-moving static shapes, even when doing shaders.

it wouldn't compare well to the maps of old, but it would definitely open up an entire new avenue of modding and essentially make blockland more moddable >> more content by community >> more attractive to outsiders
« Last Edit: November 04, 2016, 07:52:21 PM by Conan »

honestly blockland's a pretty niche game. I don't think most people could get consistent enjoyment out of it for a long period of time. it doesn't need more players

Okay, what about not having just default gamemodes?

Lets take the most popular gamemodes that have ever been hosted.

Deathkart? Blockparty? Trench wars? There are tons of gamemodes that were shown in Teneksi's Blockland Trailer that looked fantastic. I can't put my finger on what they were called, but I'm sure if we had like 10 really popular servers that were up, it would attract a lot of players.

I agree
BL is BL, not Garry's Mod or Minecraft
we should be promoting gamemodes unique to BL
like Grapple-Knife TDMs and the others you mentioned
we should also host gamemodes that utilize all of BL's features
Fort Wars is a good example