SORRY, THIS IS LONG!
Sorry, this is LONG!
Yes, I realize that this is a full time job in itself, I have one as well as many others here. Why is it outrageous to assume that the site made by gamers for gamers wouldn't make this "extra activity" a top priority? They did after all nurse it to where it is today...so we all assume that it's important to them. As for leadership qualities and people appointed by the owners, well, let's just say that nobody is perfect. We can't make the right decisions all the time now can we. I'm not saying that all leadership is no good, I'm simply saying that without a doubt, some of it is a lil shabby at times. Surely you can accept that. When you get your information from another person, and you choose to relay that information yourself, i'm sure you do it well. That is not what i meant by that. I'm saying that it couldn't hurt for them to make an appearance and motivate the kids who look up to them everyday. Which I'm certain they will at some point. Sorry to hear about your cell bill, and I am aware that people have jobs, lives and families as well and yes your right, emergencies do happen from time to time (been there myself). I know nothing about any hysteria about missing signatures. I heard about it when it happened and no one said much on my end so I assume the hysteria was elsewhere. I absolutely agree with you on doing a good job on fixing the glitch as well. You went above and beyond (time wise) and tackled the issue head on. Now that's what we like to see!
(((The logistics of developing and implementing new software are a hefty task. And without the funding (cough) to pay for the management, testing, and implementation of improvements such as these, hiccups like this are going to happen.))) Are you saying that your developing and implementing a new software here, or are you referring to something else? Are you talking about the subscription software? Anyway, people lash out because they feel betrayed, bent out of shape, confused, or just plain let down as you know just as well as any of us. We all love the idea of improving this site, and we are all behind it 100% And the future of this company is held by its leaders large and small. I would never lash out at any of you, you might remember it for a while if I had. lol In any case, I just want you all to know I think your doing a good job and to keep up the fine work you do here.
As far as the importance of XG to all of the leadership, it is a number 1 priority for a large majority of us. That's how we got to be where we are today, as I am sure that you feel about your current position - hard work and dedication. I am more referring to the fact that, back in the Halo 2 days, we used to preach that no issue was so big that it could not wait until Sunday to be handled. Specifically because we all donate our time (our GAMING time, which is our recreation time) to making XG the best experience that it can be for all of its members.
I think that is something that may need to be reiterated every once in a while - we all want to see situations resolved as soon as possible, but one can only handle so much while running out the door for work, or between cooking dinner and putting their kids to bed. I know a lot of times I have just looked at my roommate and shrugged while in the middle of handling a situation, and she has made me up a plate of food and brought it in to the room for me.
I do not mind the phone calls that wake me out of my sleep, which is kind of extreme, most leaders have set the boundaries saying, I go to work at this time, please respect that when I give you my phone number. I tell people to use discretion when waking me up out of my sleep. It's just what my schedule allows for - I can get a phone call at 5:00 in the morning and still get in enough sleep to make it to work.
No, you are correct that it is not new software in regards to the subscription services, that was a bad presentation on my part. It was, though, a change in the management of existing functionality. It was more of a generalization regarding all of the different changes we have experienced in the website over the past few years.
And the implementation of the CCMS front page of the site went well, without a hiccup, and I'm sure that was by far a larger project. And I just wanted to state that I in no way had anything to do with actually fixing the glitch - that was all the man behind the curtain
headadmin
And I agree that people lash out for those reasons. What bothers me, though, is that people who have taken up leadership positions in the community (and this is in no way directed at you, there were a few people caught up in the drama that took it to an extreme as a personal affront), have, instead of actually waited with patience to hear the full story, reacted, and made poor, uninformed decisions.
The reason that bothers me is that leaders chosen in this community are supposed to take the time to find out all sides of the story and make informed decisions. That is what our rank structure is based upon. And I cannot claim that I have not been there, and wanted to make a rash decision, being upset, and feeling hurt and betrayed definitely does it to you. I can, by NO means, claim that I have not made rash decisions, because I received information and I did not have the time to get the whole story or handle the situation as it should have been, making a decision to handle something temporarily until I had time to handle it fully. I admitted, at the beginning of all of this, I was irked. Mostly because I was uninformed.
But, as stated, no one is perfect, as we all should well know just from life experiences outside of XG in general. But pointing fingers and laying blame about how something could have been handled better does not help those who made the mistakes (and those who dealt with them) to grow and become better leaders. What does help us to all learn and grow is rational conversations such as this about the mistakes and how to fix them for the future. I will make sure that some of the concerns that you stated here are brought up in Sunday's meetings, and actually will let you know that one of the things that you have stated was previously brought up this week to be discussed on Sunday. I have also offered to lend a hand since I do have a lot of experience understanding the back end and structure of databases and user interfaces and their relations. That is what I can do to help in the future to prevent such things from occurring in the future.
Everyone's friend list is only so big - so just like the chances of someone random running in to you in pregame lobby are based upon the networking in the community, then the chances of someone ending up in pregame lobby with me, or any of the leadership all of the way up, for that matter, are based upon the same. I can remember back in Halo 2, one of the big things that I did as a General was hang out in an open pregame lobby, and post on the forums. People bounced in, people bounced out. People got to meet each other, find other people to play games with, and there you go.
The reason I bring that up is because I was notorious for it. I ended up in a party with a few of the Council, and we decided to open the party and time how long it took to fill up (I believe it was under two minutes). People always know when you are with the Council, and everyone wants to meet them. We just need to realize that there are a lot of us, and not many of them, and we ask that they focus on the community to grow it, so there are constantly people needing to their time and attention... and we all have to share
By the way, what is the actual amount of active members within xiledgaming.com?
Who knows? Even knowing that, there is no way to know how many would ACTUALLY pay for any level of the subscription services, and it's not expected to be a large number. Just enough to help pay for things that we want to bring to the table. We all reap the benefits of the community, and I have no problem with helping to fund it, myself...
For instance, they have only sold about 40-50 of the XG t-shirts I think. I am sure that there will be more sold before MLG Orlando, but still, not exactly enough money to further a community of this size very far.
Blondii and shadow, very informative and well opionated post, i enjoyed reading them even though they took a while, haha. They we're worth the time though. Perfect examples of well spoken, thought out post!
Thanks Redneck
