In a corporate structure, a Board of Directors is appointed by the Shareholders to run and operate the entity on behalf of Shareholders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_directors

Admins are stretched for resources and time. Being a moderator for the game or forums does not mean you are running the game. You want people who are willing to put their time in to make decisions for the game to help further the game.

I recommend creating a "Game Commision" to act almost like a Board of Directors to help run the game. Naturally admins will not only have a spot on the commission but also veto power over it. The duties of said commission would be:-

- Discussing and voting on appointment of game and forum moderators
- Responsible for promoting the game
- Propose and vote on game changes
- Decide on game rules and implementation of them

Members would not have access to code or mod tools.

I don't mind sharing the things that I think would be most helpful for game developers:

1) Getting a better understanding of the problems with the game, such as the parts that aren't fun or feel imbalanced. For players who stopped playing, why did they quit? This is way more valuable than being given suggestions for game changes.

2) Gathering data on player preferences and encouraging otherwise quiet players to share their opinions. For example, we plan to release a new server with very short resets. Which reset start times work the best for the most players?

3) Some method of dealing with the 10% of players who cause 99% of the problems. You mentioned in another thread that you'd like to see this site treated more like a business. Well, I guess I'll go ahead and not say how I think that a proper business would resolve that problem.

Do you mind changing your suggestion to better address those needs? If it helps, my initial thoughts to your bullet points are:

* Discussing and voting on appointment of game and forum moderators - How will a group of players evaluate moderator performance when they don't have access to the moderator tools? You can't just go by what players say because many of them will claim innocence no matter what.

* Responsible for promoting the game - Where does the budget come from?

* Propose and vote on game changes - This is way harder than 90% of players think and it's nearly impossible to do properly without source code access.

* Decide on game rules and implementation of them - Is this really that dynamic of a concept?

I'll address your final points first due to time constraints.



You can investigate a matter without needing specific access to the tools. For example, you would see discussions on moderator channels and forums, you would interview other moderators and even consult with the community. The person responsible for this would post their findings but other commissioners would also have their own beliefs. But it would go to a vote.




It comes down to scale. The playerbase is so critically low that you need to slowly start growing it and you can do so without a budget. If players return then Admins may feel a budget would be warranted to try and attract more players in the future. There are so many Earth2025/EE related social media groups and contact lists available you don't need a budget to get going.

As an example, last time I brought SoF back from the dead a couple of years ago I personally recruited 60 people back to the game in a couple of weeks with just a couple of posts on social media and a mass email. This lead to other tags also recruiting and the game enjoyed a nice boost.

Right now there is less than 150 active players on Alliance if I am not mistaken. With a bit of effort from a handful of people this could easily become 300 within 1 set.




In a Corporate structure the Board of Directors do not personally implement the changes. Basically they would just discuss and decide what changes should be implemented and then liaise with appropriate parties to ascertain how.




Basically the issue is this game goes for long periods of time with no management or leadership. You are here now, but for how long? It would be no issue if there were multiple active and engaged admins. I am giving you a suggestion that the game can be managed and run going forward so that it can grow and not be neglected for large periods of time.