How to fill the queues

[Nancy Drew 39]

Most of them are partially empty and/or games seem to take forever to fill. I know it wasn’t like this when I initially joined back in 2018.

[Enchant]

QUALITY > AMMOUNT

[Nero Cain]

but are these higher quality games being played than like 5 years ago or something? Eh...site is prob just on its last legs

[Enchant]

I didn't mean games. Atleast, not only them.

[Prism]

The administration has to first give a shit. They do not, not even remotely.

The queues falling off a cliff and the site dying out are a wonderful little inevitabilities, and anyone actively trying to recruit or retain players are just sadly fighting the losing fight in ignorance. Let them try if they want but bless their lost souls, hospice is the way.

Zoraster took a vacation in 2020 and it never ended. He doesn't care, no he's not going to pass it off to someone who does, and you're stupid for even thinking anyone wants to play forum mafia in 2022.

[Prism]

I'm hype for Team Mafia 2022, I'm sure the team has put in a lot of effort reworking it this year.

Mini Theme queue which is the lifeblood of the site is completely dead with 0 attempts to revive it on the part of the listmods, either through queueing or a design contest. I wanted to design something (ex. a Persona 5 theme) to throw in there but instead I decided...

Let's do a Large Theme, it probably won't fill but it's worth a shot! I'm the only one queued in two months.

It's sat in the empty large theme queue for 18 days. I made the mistake of waiting on T-Bone once in the MU Championships voting, I made the mistake of waiting on him twice, I'm not falling for this again and waiting on him a third time ever again.

[NorwegianboyEE]

I don't really get it, why is it the fault of the administration?

[Ircher]

Let's do a Large Theme, it probably won't fill but it's worth a shot! I'm the only one queued in two months.

It's sat in the empty large theme queue for 18 days. I made the mistake of waiting on T-Bone once in the MU Championships voting, I made the mistake of waiting on him twice, I'm not falling for this again and waiting on him a third time ever again.

T-Bone has in my experience been typically very on top of things. I looked over his recent posts, and his last one appears to be him saying he would help with the championship voting. I bring this up because it appears he has not been on site since then which would explain why your game hasn't been green-lit yet. (I assume you tried pm'ing him, and he hasn't picked it up yet.)

I do agree though that this is something that zoraster should be keeping tabs on. zoraster should notice when a game hasn't been approved in an empty queue after two weeks.

[Prism]

If your view of the administration is as stewards with 0 responsibility to try and galvanize queues, encourage setups, and recruit/retain players, then it is not their fault. I do not believe this, and think that while a hands-off approach might be passable when the site is running, it is inexcusable when it is not.

In their view I'm sure that at least half of the site death and queue slowdown is just a reflection of "the internet/userbase not really wanting forum mafia anymore", even as another site thrives.

While my main criticism is of the queues/playerbase, part of this is entangled with my miserable experience with MU Championships. The administration actively got in the way/effectively sabotaged MU Champs voting only to try to blame it on "the community not really wanting it or putting in the effort", even as we begged the modteam to help organize. It required me to unilaterally step up and essentially strongman it, outline a robust voting system that could be trusted even if I couldn't, and finally AniX (as a discussion mod, bless their soul) deciding to throw me a bone and help out.

It was appallingly negligent. I think their approach to queues/playerbases is the same, and post 5 was all concrete criticism/measures they could take and not at all abstract (TM 2022 w/ lower numbers, queue/contest it for Mini Theme queue, check the Large Theme queue once a month). These are small changes, but there are much larger ones related to site visibility/driving traffic.

[Prism]

I don't really blame zoraster for not keeping tabs on each individual queue. I absolutely blame him for watching playernumbers and queues completely fall off a cliff without thinking that perhaps some sort of intervention or change is in order.

[Nancy Drew 39]

I don't really get it, why is it the fault of the administration?

I think it’s a multifaceted problem. There are sitting empty queue spots and an awful lot of games that are queued aren’t filling. So there seems to be both a lack of interest in both modding and playing games. So we need to fix that.

Eta: Moderation Transparency and Accountability

[Gamma Emerald]

I agree that there's little incentive to mod games especially when they can be pretty taxing to run, but I also think there's a lack of new players, which has been a bit of an issue for some time with the exception of the peak of the pandemic where everyone was shut inside with nothing else to do

[Nero Cain]

websites die. It's possible that there are members leaving b/c they don't like how the site is handled and you could say that's on the administration. Players losing interest in mafia or a player leaving b/c their friend left or whatever reason isn't on the administration.

[Nero Cain]

I mean yeah, going and telling people about this site is something that can be done but its not like we can force players to play.

[NorwegianboyEE]

Tbh i'm considering leaving this site. Or at the very least, drastically limiting my involvement.
And i wouldn't say it is because of the administration.

[furtiveglance]

If we merged the newbie queue with the normal or open queue (by which I mean no more NewD3 and Newbies can join an open or a normal), those games might fill quicker. I feel like Newbie queue has lost its value, most newbies already know mafia a bit and should be invited to a fun game/setup instead of the basic one.

[Nancy Drew 39]

If we merged the newbie queue with the normal or open queue (by which I mean no more NewD3 and Newbies can join an open or a normal), those games might fill quicker. I feel like Newbie queue has lost its value, most newbies already know mafia a bit and should be invited to a fun game/setup instead of the basic one.

+1

I think that’s a really great idea.

[Nero Cain]

yeah they need to just combine it with central park and mayfair club and only run newbie level games when there are actual newbies that join and need/want a low impact game to learn.

The road to central park and the Mayfair Club

[Nancy Drew 39]

yeah they need to just combine it with central park and mayfair club and only run newbie level games when there are actual newbies that join and need/want a low impact game to learn.

The road to central park and the Mayfair Club

Like I’m currently signed up for a micro that is taking forever to fill - IF if ever does.

[Nancy Drew 39]

Most games take forever to fill and something really needs to be done about it asap imo.

[furtiveglance]

I see we have a twitter, but it isn't that active. Maybe more of a social media presence would attract more players. Some people might baulk at this but the fact is people are on Social Media, not forums anymore. I think an active account, even something like Facebook or Instagram, might get more traffic. Thing is we'd need people to get on that and I don't have social media. But just an idea