The US Server..

[iamindy33]

Ok so the reason I bumped that other topic was because at this time we are in the same position asking the same questions

What to do with the US sever?

 

As we have seen time and time again the us server get quite empty during the day, thats pretty normal during the week, but usually at night it got half full (or just half empty if you think like viirus) but lately it has done squat, jack shit, zip, nadda, zero.  Random russians who wake up at night are out numbering it in the eu server, its just not being played.

 

I don't want this topic to be about closing the us server or decreasing slots!

 

I like to play on the us server, I would prefer it to eu anytime but when it rarely gets to "playable" numbers it just seems like a complete waste.  Its still being paid for, money isn't the problem (yet) its a good thing new players on eu are still buying vips... But I still don't want to continue to waste it having it less then half full all day.

 

So what I have noticed about it is that we use to have about 18 loyal players who would play it on a daily bases and then whether it would be randoms or eu players it could get full, but now even on weekends those 18 loyal players has decreased to maybe 9?  Now I'm not sure why they stopped playing whether the don't have time anymore or they got bored and moved on to other things.  But that's not all, when I do play it many times I see players who try to join end up just getting kicked right away because they have been banned (wrote a little about this in my new b3/rq system topic)  But what I also see is regular rulebreakers from eu playing it, and I know the kind of rule breaking that happens when no admins are on.  We also now have the UU knife server, which is also located in the us and more times then not I see more players there instead of in the us server.  I'd be interested in what others have also noticed on why maybe it isn't being played anymore.

 

Solutions-

What are some things we can at least try, right now not changing anything would be the worst thing we can do I think.  So we can use this to gather ideas on how to make it more playable for new or old players

 

Some things I thought of, was having more bots, a lot of people wish they could play zam in a private match or they go there to play alone with bots, maybe we could  spawn 8 bots instead of 4 at the start to spice it up a bit, maybe a more kid friendly training type server with really easy spots.  Maybe it could be ONLY small maps, maybe a map with only parkour, and it will use the new small bunkers coming.  This might sound dumb but maybe run a different mod on the server, it can be just like zam or zam related like party games, or an older version of zam or a knife version of zam...or well a 1.8 test version of zam, something that can make it different from eu so it might bring some eu players to it besides just the ones who come to break rules, maybe a zam with no rules!?!?!!?

 

All of these are just ways that the us server can be changed, I'd like to hear what you guys especially players from the us server think

[The One Patriot]

What your saying makes sense to me indy. I was thinking to "keep US 1 step head of EU" sort of like whatever we add to US server. After 1 month later, then it will be added to EU, or a system similar to that. EU players might find this racist and beat me up but i gotta speak up for US. like griggz said USA USA USA. 

We can do more special things like different VIP and MVP classes. Or add some  FREE classes that EU server does not have. This would encourage non vips to play the US server more. How about 2 free basic classes that eu does not have. I am not sure if there are free classes already planned for 1.8, if so maybe add them to only US? I will keep you up when more ideas come to mind. 

 

Or every full set of 15 maps you get 1 random party game (OIC, Stick n Stones, gun game). This is ONLY 1 party game for the whole 15 maps. I dont think it is too much.

[Cookie Monster]

Ok so the reason I bumped that other topic was because at this time we are in the same position asking the same questions

What to do with the US sever?

 

As we have seen time and time again the us server get quite empty during the day, thats pretty normal during the week, but usually at night it got half full (or just half empty if you think like viirus) but lately it has done squat, jack shit, zip, nadda, zero.  Random russians who wake up at night are out numbering it in the eu server, its just not being played.

 

I don't want this topic to be about closing the us server or decreasing slots!

 

I like to play on the us server, I would prefer it to eu anytime but when it rarely gets to "playable" numbers it just seems like a complete waste.  Its still being paid for, money isn't the problem (yet) its a good thing new players on eu are still buying vips... But I still don't want to continue to waste it having it less then half full all day.

 

So what I have noticed about it is that we use to have about 18 loyal players who would play it on a daily bases and then whether it would be randoms or eu players it could get full, but now even on weekends those 18 loyal players has decreased to maybe 9?  Now I'm not sure why they stopped playing whether the don't have time anymore or they got bored and moved on to other things.  But that's not all, when I do play it many times I see players who try to join end up just getting kicked right away because they have been banned (wrote a little about this in my new b3/rq system topic)  But what I also see is regular rulebreakers from eu playing it, and I know the kind of rule breaking that happens when no admins are on.  We also now have the UU knife server, which is also located in the us and more times then not I see more players there instead of in the us server.  I'd be interested in what others have also noticed on why maybe it isn't being played anymore.

 

Solutions-

What are some things we can at least try, right now not changing anything would be the worst thing we can do I think.  So we can use this to gather ideas on how to make it more playable for new or old players

 

Some things I thought of, was having more bots, a lot of people wish they could play zam in a private match or they go there to play alone with bots, maybe we could  spawn 8 bots instead of 4 at the start to spice it up a bit, maybe a more kid friendly training type server with really easy spots.  Maybe it could be ONLY small maps, maybe a map with only parkour, and it will use the new small bunkers coming.  This might sound dumb but maybe run a different mod on the server, it can be just like zam or zam related like party games, or an older version of zam or a knife version of zam...or well a 1.8 test version of zam, something that can make it different from eu so it might bring some eu players to it besides just the ones who come to break rules, maybe a zam with no rules!?!?!!?

 

All of these are just ways that the us server can be changed, I'd like to hear what you guys especially players from the us server think

what if everyday at like 16 pm party games start for 2 rounds(gun game oitc sharp and more...)but no rewards ofc

[Fluffle Puff]

What your saying makes sense to me indy. I was thinking to "keep US 1 step head of EU" sort of like whatever we add to US server. After 1 month later, then it will be added to EU, or a system similar to that. EU players might find this racist and beat me up but i gotta speak up for US. like griggz said USA USA USA. 

We can do more special things like different VIP and MVP classes. Or add some  FREE classes that EU server does not have. This would encourage non vips to play the US server more. How about 2 free basic classes that eu does not have. I am not sure if there are free classes already planned for 1.8, if so maybe add them to only US? I will keep you up when more ideas come to mind. 

 

Or every full set of 15 maps you get 1 random party game (OIC, Stick n Stones, gun game). This is ONLY 1 party game for the whole 15 maps. I dont think it is too much.

 

 

The old "Get it first on Xbox One" trick. Lol, what if we just made it were when the counter end's, it spawn's more zombies than survivors. So the zombies actually are a challenge instead of having two zombies being camped on by 6 survivors. Or make a little ZAM promod type thing were you can only do normal cade's and can't by other gun's or limb protector ect? If none of those idea's tickled your pickle, maybe give the zombies some new items as well? Survivors get all the cool stuff while zombies have had the same thing sense I can remember. Give those suckers "Dead Man's Sprint" <-- (Ninja). Make the zombies more of a challenge!

 

 

Also if you could somehow fuse the knife server with ZAM that would also be amazing. Kinda like you do with party games. If you guy's need it you can milk me of idea's, I'm filled with many. 

[viirus_iquickz]

what if everyday at like 16 pm party games start for 2 rounds(gun game oitc sharp and more...)but no rewards ofc

For people who don't know what 16 pm is then I'll tell you. 16 PM = 4 PM. I love 24 hour clocks.

 

I too have noticed that not that many people play on the US server nowadays. You aren't the only one who's thinking that way, indy. Back then I remember making a topic on how to make the mod bigger and better and to get more people to play it. Aha, here it is: 

http://undeaduprising.net/new/index.php?/topic/3173-suggestion-about-making-zam-bigger/

Feel free to copy and paste that link above and view the topic yourself. You might get some ideas from that topic. I mean you guys can bump it if you want too but I'm not sure if it's necessary. I mean we got this new topic to comment on.

I personally don't really care what you guys change on the US server I'll still love it the way it is.

[Hunting]

Pat should crash the EU server more, so players will move to US server, that easy x)

[Plattfuss]

What your saying makes sense to me indy. I was thinking to "keep US 1 step head of EU" sort of like whatever we add to US server. After 1 month later, then it will be added to EU, or a system similar to that. EU players might find this racist and beat me up but i gotta speak up for US. like griggz said USA USA USA.

We can do more special things like different VIP and MVP classes. Or add some FREE classes that EU server does not have. This would encourage non vips to play the US server more. How about 2 free basic classes that eu does not have. I am not sure if there are free classes already planned for 1.8, if so maybe add them to only US? I will keep you up when more ideas come to mind.

 

 

Or every full set of 15 maps you get 1 random party game (OIC, Stick n Stones, gun game). This is ONLY 1 party game for the whole 15 maps. I dont think it is too much.

 

i totally agree with Patriot , myself cant play on us server caue my ip are banned. So than try it out what above stand  my text and add some nice features like more weapons (2) and give some more free vip weekend for only usa server than comes alot ppl back ...
 

[wildey475]

Well you could do free MVP/VIP more often because that brought a lot more people in but at the same time they will get bored of that and want more stuff soon... so I don't really know I think the bots thing is a good idea

[stlmokevin]

I think the problem lies in all of us that call the US server our home. Nobody is as active as they used to be, for whatever reason. I think if we just got on more, our friends would see us playing and log in as well. Chain reaction type shit. Anyways, 1.8 is the cure-all that will change everything. Please don't make the US server a kiddie version. Please don't make it only small maps. No modified ZAM or bonus' for playing on US over EU (which i'm sure NOBODY would complain about :P). Just keep US how it is. We all need to step up and play more. 1.8 will help out both servers.

[Bloody]

I think if we would change the "normal look" of ZAM (change black cades, background, camos, starting weapons, stuff like that) atleast one time in a mounth, it will attrack more players to join the servers, because there's something new.

Of course we can't change everything and add new stuff to the mod. However I don't think it's right that only if there is the free VIP&MVP weekend the servers are full 24/7, because they get something for free and if it's over again they don't join back again.

 

I personally would like to have more events like Halloween or Christmas in ZAM.

These ideas increase a lot of work, but it would help both servers.

[░MyXa░]

What your saying makes sense to me indy. I was thinking to "keep US 1 step head of EU" sort of like whatever we add to US server. After 1 month later, then it will be added to EU, or a system similar to that. EU players might find this racist and beat me up but i gotta speak up for US. like griggz said USA USA USA. 

We can do more special things like different VIP and MVP classes. Or add some  FREE classes that EU server does not have. This would encourage non vips to play the US server more. How about 2 free basic classes that eu does not have. I am not sure if there are free classes already planned for 1.8, if so maybe add them to only US? I will keep you up when more ideas come to mind. 

 

Or every full set of 15 maps you get 1 random party game (OIC, Stick n Stones, gun game). This is ONLY 1 party game for the whole 15 maps. I dont think it is too much.

 

What you're saying is make the EU players play US. It really won't change anything.  We have a limited number of players that play, so therefore taking a bunch from EU to play US is really fucking pointless. Yes.. that fixes so US has more players... but then eu will be left with fuck all... Not being rude but just wanted to say...

 

About the game modes you said i would agree to be honest; zam is getting boring now, and game modes would probably spice it up

[iamindy33]

ZAM has been boring for the longest time now since about 1.5 the only other major thing that changed was raven, we all know what happened to that, what keeps me coming back is the people in the server, the people who play for fun and have a good personality, and now it seems less and less fun players are on and everyone is just a lame fucking duck

[BIGz]

Bring back the pistol  drops those where so fun.

[Ramsy]

Relying on the "free VIP/MVP week(end)" stuff is more pointless than useful, because it's nothing but a temporary solution. Sure, you'll probably get a few players here and there that will hop on the server more frequently, but for the most part it's gonna be nothing other than a bunch of people who solely joined the server for the sake of that said free VIP/MVP, because they still can't afford to buy that for themselves. Unless you made the server a type of permanent free VIP/MVP thing, I still think this would be rather pointless, as I said. But you should also remember that it's best to keep what's in the US server the same as on EU (read what Kevin said).

 

Adding new textures and items that don't affect the size of the mod too much, and (realistically speaking) are generally possible to add at this point (i.e. a small ammount of shop menu items, replacing current textures with newer and better looking ones, possibly a new sky-box?) will help, but, once again, only to some point. It's also a temporary solution, but still a far better one than just doing the free VIP/MVP stuff.

 

Party games are fun and definitely attract players, but you can see that everyone keeps going back to the same point - rather than hosting party games at random times (announcing them via the Steam group(s), which is bad for two reasons - people might not be on at the time and people might simply miss the announcment(s)), there should be a specific time when party games would play. There's like, what, 14 maps in the map queue in ZAM? After the map queue passes (Array - WMD), host one round of each party game automatically, without it having to be set up manually by a staff member. If the round ends in under a minute or a minute and a half, then possibly even have that round reset (but only once, you don't wanna end up doing 5 rounds of gun game, for example).

 

Finally - and I think this is the best way to both increase the general population of BOTH ZAM servers, and give back to all the players of ZAM - host tournaments. Properly organised tournaments, with rules and restrictions (and prizes too) that anyone can take part in. You can do anything from hosting a simple knifing tournament with ladders (quarter-finals, semi-finals and so on) to anything far more complicated. Prizes should be stuff like: free VIP/MVP (with a solid duration or life-time lasting), smaller ammounts of Steam wallet, Steam items (items that the tournament organiser(s) don't really need and are willing to give out as prizes), free GFX (given that the organising team is consisted of GFX-ers) and so on. To make this even better, why not add a section on the website where ANYONE can set up a tournament? It'd be easy - you set up a date and time (if it hasn't already been taken, you're free to go with it) and say everything you have in mind for your tournament, and then you could have staff members dedicated to reviewing and declining/accepting these tournament hosting requests. Also - do not forget that you'll most likely get the best of players if you host tournaments that are, at the same time - fun, reasonable and unique (while knifing is always fun and hectic, unique camping and cading tournaments never get old (to me, anyway)).

[iamindy33]

us server- mvps gets intervention, eu- m40a3 xd

[The One Patriot]

 

Finally - and I think this is the best way to both increase the general population of BOTH ZAM servers, and give back to all the players of ZAM - host tournaments. Properly organised tournaments, with rules and restrictions (and prizes too) that anyone can take part in. You can do anything from hosting a simple knifing tournament with ladders (quarter-finals, semi-finals and so on) to anything far more complicated. Prizes should be stuff like: free VIP/MVP (with a solid duration or life-time lasting), smaller ammounts of Steam wallet, Steam items (items that the tournament organiser(s) don't really need and are willing to give out as prizes), free GFX (given that the organising team is consisted of GFX-ers) and so on. To make this even better, why not add a section on the website where ANYONE can set up a tournament? It'd be easy - you set up a date and time (if it hasn't already been taken, you're free to go with it) and say everything you have in mind for your tournament, and then you could have staff members dedicated to reviewing and declining/accepting these tournament hosting requests. Also - do not forget that you'll most likely get the best of players if you host tournaments that are, at the same time - fun, reasonable and unique (while knifing is always fun and hectic, unique camping and cading tournaments never get old (to me, anyway)).

I think temporary VIP/MVP is a great idea. We can make the  Prices to be earned a lot more easily. So more people get the prices. For example, number 1 winner gets 1 month of mvp/vip. Number 2 winner gets 20 days. Number 3 winnner gets 10 days of vip/mvp. More winnners, all have fun. Thats what they want. They dont want for the big pro guys to win all the time. That is why we need more prices and more winnners.