cindyslug
Community Leadership
- Nov 29, 2015
- 8,275
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- Thread starter Garfy
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- Status
- Oct 23, 2014
- 2,095
- Jan 29, 2015
- 1,454
With our Half-Life 2 iteration drawing to a close, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what we have accomplished, both as team members and as a greater community.
TnB faced many hardships from the very conception of this iteration's second chapter in early 2024. An already fatigued community was further tested by a prolonged development cycle marked by a host of challenges, including great limitations on implementing major changes to the gamemode's script in our team's pursuit to deliver something new to the playerbase. An extremely limited capacity for much of any script development after launch saw our capabilities severely hampered to a meager level, and also brought about the eventual removal and cutting of many features initially planned for the server in spite of early successes. Furthermore, the year also saw the launch of several popular servers with overlapping community interest, which drew many curious players from an already fractured community, among many more issues including the onboarding of new team members and overall adjustment to my overnight assignment as the sole manager of what was the final remaining server of one of Garry's Mod's oldest communities with little to no preparation. It was this perfect storm of challenges which resulted in an overtly dreary Summer 2024 with community confidence and turnout at an all time low, and both the server and the greater community left crippled shortly after launch, despite the season typically being one of TnB's best performing periods in its history.
Yet, despite every obstacle, I can say with confidence that the server has maintained an administration team that stayed dedicated to providing a tailored experience to an equally fiercely dedicated playerbase from start to end. When TnB had been on the very brink of its own existence and the administration was imbued with both burnout and an overarching loop of negative feedback from the then-single-digit remnants of the community, we pivoted. In September, beginning with the introduction of the early Uprising with new experiences such as the Worktown Helvetia segment, we saw the very early beginnings of what would become a historic, perhaps record breaking comeback with the Uprising narrative which far exceeded even my own expectations in the months to come, shattering several modern assumptions of what was possible for a Garry's Mod text roleplay server- in TnB's own specific style of roleplay, no less- and what we had been able to develop from that.
As is tradition, I want to extend my deepest thanks to every single admin and contributor, past and present, who helped shape this chapter; something which is a feat in and of itself when you consider the sheer scale of City 13, which has gone on for just under an immense 3 years in its overall timespan from 2022 to 2025, one which rivals core City 17's span- and maybe even exceeds it, when you also factor in its predecessor, Half-Life: New America. Being a setting originally conceived from my very own inspirations from pre-Beta Half-Life 2 concepts that I originally intended for an in-character story, I want you all to know that there is no limit to my gratitude for having been able to work alongside you in bringing this vision to life the best we could, and I don't believe many others could've done nearly as well if they were presented with the same circumstances.
As it becomes time to look forward to what comes next, I find myself more optimistic for TnB's future than I had been in early 2024. With a far more capable and dedicated development team whose efforts have by no small means amazed me, I see multiple exciting prospects that could be the opener of a new era for TnB as we finally regain the means to embark on new, unique, and larger projects, and hopefully the capacity to support smaller, innovative projects and ideas brought forward and suggested by the community themselves through means such as Random Roleplays in the near future. Though my time as SCL is coming to a close with this iteration, my own commitment to encouraging and supporting the individual pursuits and experiences of players remains as strong as it was when I was first assigned the role, and I anticipate a return from overseeing server/community-related affairs to further work directly on projects and ventures in my own efforts to innovate and refine my capabilities to deliver the best experiences to players.
Through it all, this has still been a wonderful experience in managing a server for a community with as much history as TnB, and an immense learning experience- even if I may not have made that known very often as my general activity waned in recent times. For that, I want to once again thank everyone who has been there to dedicate the time of their day to assist and provide so many people with this experience, especially those who stood by the server and offered their support through its darkest lows and greatest triumphs in these nearly three long years. I can only hope that this message shows that immense gratitude well.
TnB faced many hardships from the very conception of this iteration's second chapter in early 2024. An already fatigued community was further tested by a prolonged development cycle marked by a host of challenges, including great limitations on implementing major changes to the gamemode's script in our team's pursuit to deliver something new to the playerbase. An extremely limited capacity for much of any script development after launch saw our capabilities severely hampered to a meager level, and also brought about the eventual removal and cutting of many features initially planned for the server in spite of early successes. Furthermore, the year also saw the launch of several popular servers with overlapping community interest, which drew many curious players from an already fractured community, among many more issues including the onboarding of new team members and overall adjustment to my overnight assignment as the sole manager of what was the final remaining server of one of Garry's Mod's oldest communities with little to no preparation. It was this perfect storm of challenges which resulted in an overtly dreary Summer 2024 with community confidence and turnout at an all time low, and both the server and the greater community left crippled shortly after launch, despite the season typically being one of TnB's best performing periods in its history.
Yet, despite every obstacle, I can say with confidence that the server has maintained an administration team that stayed dedicated to providing a tailored experience to an equally fiercely dedicated playerbase from start to end. When TnB had been on the very brink of its own existence and the administration was imbued with both burnout and an overarching loop of negative feedback from the then-single-digit remnants of the community, we pivoted. In September, beginning with the introduction of the early Uprising with new experiences such as the Worktown Helvetia segment, we saw the very early beginnings of what would become a historic, perhaps record breaking comeback with the Uprising narrative which far exceeded even my own expectations in the months to come, shattering several modern assumptions of what was possible for a Garry's Mod text roleplay server- in TnB's own specific style of roleplay, no less- and what we had been able to develop from that.
As is tradition, I want to extend my deepest thanks to every single admin and contributor, past and present, who helped shape this chapter; something which is a feat in and of itself when you consider the sheer scale of City 13, which has gone on for just under an immense 3 years in its overall timespan from 2022 to 2025, one which rivals core City 17's span- and maybe even exceeds it, when you also factor in its predecessor, Half-Life: New America. Being a setting originally conceived from my very own inspirations from pre-Beta Half-Life 2 concepts that I originally intended for an in-character story, I want you all to know that there is no limit to my gratitude for having been able to work alongside you in bringing this vision to life the best we could, and I don't believe many others could've done nearly as well if they were presented with the same circumstances.
As it becomes time to look forward to what comes next, I find myself more optimistic for TnB's future than I had been in early 2024. With a far more capable and dedicated development team whose efforts have by no small means amazed me, I see multiple exciting prospects that could be the opener of a new era for TnB as we finally regain the means to embark on new, unique, and larger projects, and hopefully the capacity to support smaller, innovative projects and ideas brought forward and suggested by the community themselves through means such as Random Roleplays in the near future. Though my time as SCL is coming to a close with this iteration, my own commitment to encouraging and supporting the individual pursuits and experiences of players remains as strong as it was when I was first assigned the role, and I anticipate a return from overseeing server/community-related affairs to further work directly on projects and ventures in my own efforts to innovate and refine my capabilities to deliver the best experiences to players.
Through it all, this has still been a wonderful experience in managing a server for a community with as much history as TnB, and an immense learning experience- even if I may not have made that known very often as my general activity waned in recent times. For that, I want to once again thank everyone who has been there to dedicate the time of their day to assist and provide so many people with this experience, especially those who stood by the server and offered their support through its darkest lows and greatest triumphs in these nearly three long years. I can only hope that this message shows that immense gratitude well.
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