The Community: Making a difference

Before I get started, if you are of the opinion that this community can not get better, you might as well hit the back button. I would be wasting your time. For those of you who do not care to read the whole thing, don't bother starting to read it. This will be some of my thoughts for this community because I know this community can get better and will get better. Make fun of me all you want, taking a F2P game/community as serious as I do. If you can't get past your ignorance and see that this game has potential some day, then you truly are blind. I sincerely believe that the community makes the game, not the other way around. Now that we have formalities out of the way, let's get started.

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.

Go the extra mile. It's never crowded.

As I browse through these forums, I certainly can not argue with many points made about Crossfire's technical difficulties, cheating problems, latency issues, etc. I agree that these issues should be fixed which in result would make the game 100 times better. However, that is only half of the battle.

The community, with all the players in it, could contribute to help make the game a little more tolerable. I have seen these "Forumer Games" showing up every now and then, that is a good start. I have also seen recent threads such as Aero's "Common Courtesy" that outlines how you can show some courtesy in communicating with your fellow forumers. I have started a movement, if you will, on educating those who are ignorant in blaming Z8Games for many of the game's faults, to show that blame has been misplaced.

My point on this topic is, slowly but surely I can see a select few people coming out and actually attempting to help this community get better. The staff (GM's and Moderators) can only do so much, and we, as a community, can only do so much. We have to help each other, instead of fighting constantly. Imagine if there were even 10 or 20 more people who wanted to help make things better? By making things better, I am referring to anything that is considered positive outreach and contribution. Whether it is helping to encourage others to post their own ideas or holding mini-events such as these forumer rooms, etc. Helping can be considered, in this case, anything other than doing nothing and watching this community get worse.

A good example has twice the value of good advice.

So, how can we start to change this community you ask? By setting good examples for others to follow. How can you ask someone to change their ways if you yourself are doing the same thing they are? In this case, adhering to the rules laid out in plain sight. They are all there for everyone to read, yet I am willing to bet 3 out of 5 people have never read all of them. Recently, I have seen some arguments over Moderator actions. I can 100% say that if the rules had been read, those users might have understood what certain actions were taken. I have not seen any Moderator step out of the scope of their authority.

Setting an example will most surely cause others to follow in those footsteps. Actively posting in a mature, non-offensive manner than will help the users more than it will hurt them. Knowing when to be serious with your comments and when to be funny. To a new-comer, this community can be quite the animal. I, myself, was welcomed by Bruce and a few others. I was invited in-game to learn the ropes as well as out of game to learn the basics of this community. Now, if only more people could do that, we might have a less bitter group of members. Remember, treat others as you want to be treated. You treat people like crap, you'll get treated like crap. Very simple.

Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.

We need to grow. Sure you can blame everything on the game being bad, that is your right. But as a community, we could grow even with all the faults and negatives that come with it. This community has grown sour, just sitting and waiting for Z8Games/G4Box/SmileGate to do something about it all. Sooner or later, you must all realize that change isn't going to come quickly. This community could be doing a lot more to better itself, most importantly attitude. Make the best of the game, regardless of how crappy the issues are. You obviously still enjoy the game a little bit, you are still here playing it. Even after all the complaining and whining. Let's come together and make this community a little more enjoyable to everyone. Don't be afraid to share your ideas, your thoughts on how to make things better. Don't worry about what others are going to think.

The only wrong idea, is no idea

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