College faction!

[Ecocide]

IGN: Ecocide
DATE: 11/19/23
WHAT YOU WANT TO SUGGEST OR MENTION: Me mentioning this isn't a suggestion it's more about opening up a conversation to the community to give staff better ideas on what to do I guess?
I've mostly heard about college being dead from friends I have around the community but college being on a decline has been a thing for a very long time so I didn't take them all that seriously until recently when I noticed the huge difference between online players in college and online players in bobcat?
now I don't normally play on my school faction accounts so I'm not entirely sure what's going on in the school faction or with its SLT but I'm sure they have some sorta plan going on to fix the current growing issue.

the images below are just images I've taken of tab in the afternoon and another photo I've taken of tab while online (EST timezone)

Afternoon


Late at Night


300+ Players online


IDEA'S IVE THOUGHT OF?
College needs a way to have a active flow of people coming into like higschool has

Idea 1: Getting rid of exams altogether, exams have been an event staff has been running for a few years now, maybe it's just becoming boring and stressful to do? so while getting rid of exams entirely is very boring I think bringing it back to the forms and making it something you apply for/show you have worked for it would be a good bandaid on the problem while the community figures out a better idea.

Idea 2: MAKING EXAMS AUTOMATED!!! There has already been talk or it's already made I don't know but making it a plugin and making it more automated so staff doesn't have to worry about it would also be a very good fix to the problem
My Idea of making it more automated goes somewhat like this

1. Player has gone to enough classes to take the exam (or has played long enough???)
2. Player does a /exam command and is sent to a room to take the test, test is automatically graded
3. If Player fails they have to wait a month or so before they are able to retake it
4. If Player passes they can't take the next exam for a month or two

It is a very rough draft of an idea I was just trying to think of ways staff would no longer have to worry about hosting exams, having it automated into a plugin would benefit staff and the server as no one would have to worry about taking IRL time out of their day to attend such a rare event. Making the exams available at all times would quickly fix this but i know plugins like that might be hard and stressful to make.

Idea 3: Just throwing it out there maybe switching around staff within factions could bring new ideas and maybe new ideas about the issue at hand. maybe people running the school faction are just tired of running it, as it is a very stressful faction where players make it feel like anything they do is never good enough. I wouldn't blame SLT for being tired so maybe trading around factions to other staff members would help freshen it up and give people breaks.

This idea isn't to say current SLT has done a bad job in any way, the highschool side is literally booming! it's just the college side that needs some extra loving.

Idea 3 isn't all that thought out :shrug:


HOW WILL THIS BENEFIT THE SERVER/COMMUNITY?:
I think we all benefit from seeing the school factions more full and active

THIS SUGGESTION ISNT FOR +1/-1 THIS IS FOR THE COMMUNITY TO DROP IDEAS ON HOW TO HELP THE ISSUE AT HAND, PLEASE AVOID BEING TOXIC OR RUDE TO MEMBERS OF STAFF AND SLT MEMBERS, AND REMEMBER THEY ARE ALL DOING THEIR BEST BUT WE ALL HAVE A LIMIT AND NEED HELP.
STAFF ARE PEOPLE TOO, BE KIND PLEASE!!! THIS ISN'T A BLAME GAME.

 

[Customable]

Specific staff are chosen to run factions based on experience and exams are written out by a mix of SLT’s questions to prevent reused of awners to ensure its still a challenge to players progression, so I don’t think either of those ideas will work.

what could help is introducing more exclusive roles and content such as rooms only accessible by college students or roles like Teaching Assistant to help encourage progression into the faction.

 

[Ghostfire]

Specific staff are chosen to run factions based on experience and exams are written out by a mix of SLT’s questions to prevent reused of awners to ensure its still a challenge to players progression, so I don’t think either of those ideas will work.

what could help is introducing more exclusive roles and content such as rooms only accessible by college students or roles like Teaching Assistant to help encourage progression into the faction.

the main problem is that players haven't had any chances to progress into the faction at all, it's not that nobody WANTS to, it's that they really can't

whilst the suggestions are good and would encourage more players than there already are to progress, the main issue is the lack of opportunities for players to progress

the old system for exams is very solid when it comes to ensuring players can't just ask people who've previously taken it for answers to breeze through, however it's inconsistent when actually getting people through progression. Eco's suggestion is pretty much the opposite in both respects, but would likely still be a better solution than how exams are done now

 

[cho0ii]

I definitely agree with ghost, there is a big lack of opportunities to progress. I've been trying to get into college for months, heck probably even a year and because we have had only one exam this year, and I (along with many others) cannot play sports, I cannot get that role. The issue isn't we don't want college, it's that we cannot get it.

Adding roles to help this is basically useless if we don't have the opportunity to grade up and it's kinda a smack in the face to say "Players aren't grading up because they don't want to.", I speak for a bunch of people in saying, we definitely want to. We just aren't given the opportunity to. Adding a role to assist us to grade-up isn't going to help if there is no way to grade-up. I think Eco's second idea, although it will take a while to prepare, would honestly be the best option at this point. Yes there is a new plugin for the exams, but it's not being used because it has been 7 months since we had an exam. Not to mention with this new way of doing exams, people with awkward time zones can actually attend, because they don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to take a block game exam.

The second idea right now I think is a really good option, and yes staff has made a new plugin for exams that won't be used, but it hasn't been used for 7 months, it probably isn't going to be used in the long run.

 

[Ecocide]

Specific staff are chosen to run factions based on experience and exams are written out by a mix of SLT’s questions to prevent reused of awners to ensure its still a challenge to players progression, so I don’t think either of those ideas will work.

what could help is introducing more exclusive roles and content such as rooms only accessible by college students or roles like Teaching Assistant to help encourage progression into the faction.

great point with the SLT comment! I do think adding cool roles for college students could bring really fun roleplay, that is such a great idea.

I truly really don't think SLT is the problem, I mainly said that idea is because SLT can get exhausted (can't speak for any of you ofc) i know in the past SLT has switched factions around between each other which is another reason I wanted to throw idea 3 out there but i know its not the best lol

 

[sir meow]

in my opinion, the big part that makes college exams so hard to make and plan times for is everyone in the school faculty not having the best timezone that fit together. While I was a professor I was told that the exams have been planned out, but it hasent been able to have a set in stone date due some other staff members either being on break or not having good timezones.
college right now is in a dire need of more players in order to function correctly because 1, there arent enough college students to attend classes and professors have had to re-use lessons due to lack of players joining and then of course theres the players that are AFK or just avoid the classes entirely so they can all go do their own things instead of going to the classes that are mandatory. 2, most of the sports in college barely have anyone in them and some of them are kind of falling apart and its sad to see if i'm being honest. It feels like there isint much care for the college faction and that is causing it to have multiple problems

How i think it could be fixed? Maybe just having better communication with the community and with the staff themselves, but I of course don't even know the situation of communication between staff members, but right now it isint seeming like there is much of it? I also disagree with the idea of having college be brought back to the forums and I really do enjoy the exams and having them all in one thing instead of just being able to do it automatically because it just feels more realistic and so much more releaving if you actually pass.

i'm not too sure if any of this made sense, but if it did i hope it struck a few cords and i'd really like to see the school faculty staff take more time into thinking of the exams and planning everything out instead of just pushing it away and alting back to the events that in a school sense, don't happen very often.

 

[Infi]

Consider it this way. Let’s take KPD for example; activity gradually decreases progressively in the faction up until applications are reviewed again. That’s how it works with all factions.

College exams are a way of accepting new applicants into college. Every 3 months exams are put on, completely refreshed designed by the current SLT to prevent any cheating, and then handed out all at once. Upon acceptance, you get around 60-100 new college students and the “faction” if you will instantly booms again until the next wave of exams. It feels slow now but I guarantee you as soon as exams drop the college population will triple.

There’s no need to tweak the system that’s already as paper perfect as it is. All making more opportunity to get college does is leave room for loopholes for players to abuse.

I’d also like to add in order to get into college you already have to have x amount of classes attended and credits, so that’s already a thing.

This is just a matter of being patient with the SLT who are working incredibly hard to improve and refine the faction.

 

[Ocean Man]

there arent enough college students to attend classes and professors have had to re-use lessons due to lack of players joining and then of course theres the players that are AFK or just avoid the classes entirely so they can all go do their own things instead of going to the classes that are mandatory.

Pretty much the current problem for us professors at the moment.

 

[Joe.exe]

In fact, I also basically agree that if SLT does not have enough time to hold exams, there should be an automatic exam system, at least grants teachers the qualification to hold exams.
Although as one of the few PHD in the server, I don't need to take the exam, but I don't want there to be fewer and fewer people in College.

 

[Lazeas]

There’s no need to tweak the system that’s already as paper perfect as it is. All making more opportunity to get college does is leave room for loopholes for players to abuse.

its not perfect bruh. if it was we would have had 2 exams by now

 

[Ecocide]

There’s no need to tweak the system that’s already as paper perfect as it is. All making more opportunity to get college does is leave room for loopholes for players to abuse.

it's perfect on paper but not the best in practice, tho I completely understand why SLT does it this way (cough because of a certain salty group cough). I understand why the system is this way but it is not good if it can't be kept up with and if it becomes stressful on people's real lives.

If SLT is scared about loopholes then maybe the better option is to drop exams and bring them back to the forms like in the past so college has a nice consistent flow of people in and out of it like highschool does. <- Even tho again this option is super boring

Consider it this way. Let’s take KPD for example; activity gradually decreases progressively in the faction up until applications are reviewed again. That’s how it works with all factions.

I love the KPD example lol while its true factions gradually decrease this should never be true for the school faction as an entirety, especially when so many other factions within the school rely on players in HS and College. People say "Well this is ScHoOl RoLePlAy" and those players are right this is Schoolrp and the well-being of the college side of Schoolrp should be prioritized right now. I think the college and highschool side should always at least TRY and stay somewhat balanced as this makes for better roleplay situations along with more people coming to team tryouts which is another thing I've heard complaints about mostly from team captains/members.

College exams are a way of accepting new applicants into college. Every 3 months exams are put on, completely refreshed designed by the current SLT to prevent any cheating, and then handed out all at once. Upon acceptance, you get around 60-100 new college students and the “faction” if you will instantly booms again until the next wave of exams. It feels slow now but I guarantee you as soon as exams drop the college population will triple.

Again I completely understand why it's done like this and I'm sorry I keep repeating myself but like Choi said here

would honestly be the best option at this point. Yes there is a new plugin for the exams, but it's not being used because it has been 7 months since we had an exam.

It's apparently been 7 months?? I am not sure if that is completely accurate but this goes back to my previous point about the system that we currently have sounding amazing on paper but not being the best in practice.


also thank you to everyone who's been putting their feedback in about the situation i love seeing all your points of view and opinions on the topic!

 

[NoZinth]

The exam system is fine as is. Understandably there's been a lack of them over a few months, but that's not related to the system. Shouldn't be issues going forward.

 

[Infi]

The exam system is fine as is. Understandably there's been a lack of them over a few months, but that's not related to the system. Shouldn't be issues going forward.

Fax no printer

 

[Ecocide]

The exam system is fine as is. Understandably there's been a lack of them over a few months, but that's not related to the system. Shouldn't be issues going forward.

that's extremely comforting to hear

 

[solorize]

i actually agree with what customable said a lot. i think being in college just isnt as "hype" as it used to. i think events or exclusive perks of being in college could make being in the faction more exciting. idk why they removed it and maybe this is a bad idea but bringing back frats and sororities could be fun?? maybe open up more intership oppurtunities?? or do something like that where its a college exclusive thing.

 

[cho0ii]

it's perfect on paper but not the best in practice, tho I completely understand why SLT does it this way (cough because of a certain salty group cough). I understand why the system is this way but it is not good if it can't be kept up with and if it becomes stressful on people's real lives.

If SLT is scared about loopholes then maybe the better option is to drop exams and bring them back to the forms like in the past so college has a nice consistent flow of people in and out of it like highschool does. <- Even tho again this option is super boring



I love the KPD example lol while its true factions gradually decrease this should never be true for the school faction as an entirety, especially when so many other factions within the school rely on players in HS and College. People say "Well this is ScHoOl RoLePlAy" and those players are right this is Schoolrp and the well-being of the college side of Schoolrp should be prioritized right now. I think the college and highschool side should always at least TRY and stay somewhat balanced as this makes for better roleplay situations along with more people coming to team tryouts which is another thing I've heard complaints about mostly from team captains/members.



Again I completely understand why it's done like this and I'm sorry I keep repeating myself but like Choi said here

It's apparently been 7 months?? I am not sure if that is completely accurate but this goes back to my previous point about the system that we currently have sounding amazing on paper but not being the best in practice.


also thank you to everyone who's been putting their feedback in about the situation i love seeing all your points of view and opinions on the topic!

7 months with no exams. Technically its 7 months and 21 days (So almost 8 months... it's almost been a year) and we were promised one more set of exams at least before 2024.

 

[Melotism]

+1.
I understand this problem and i would love it to be a system to automaticly do exams. I would make it classes based; if a 12th grader joined 50+ classes in a month (E.G.) they should be able to get the exam. Or when SLT agrees on them having it

 

[klarzs]

The exam system is fine as is. Understandably there's been a lack of them over a few months, but that's not related to the system. Shouldn't be issues going forward.

id like to take the moment to remind certain players it has unironically been half a year since exams.6+ months is already an issue since this is a MCRP server. player retention on SRP is important and college is one is the ways. there’s like ~70 active players who have College slots, all of them who have been playing before these exams were held.

+1 it’s even been acknowledged by academic SLT this is an issue. they’re already half automated but i don’t see the issue

 

[Arocatula]

I never really payed attention to the amount of college students online until seeing the images, so I agree with the whole exam thing as long as it doesn’t become a problem.
It is kind of annoying for exams to not be held as much, but again, the SLT and other staff have enough to deal with regarding the whole server, meaning either way it wouldn’t be a win/win.
Having automatic exams on the other hand would possibly be a better solution in this scenario (especially with the amount of college students on these days).

 

[NoZinth]

id like to take the moment to remind certain players it has unironically been half a year since exams.6+ months is already an issue since this is a MCRP server. player retention on SRP is important and college is one is the ways. there’s like ~70 active players who have College slots, all of them who have been playing before these exams were held.

+1 it’s even been acknowledged by academic SLT this is an issue. they’re already half automated but i don’t see the issue

Paitence is a virtue. 76% of unverified statistic turn out to be true!