How to Solve the MCGamer Leadership Crisis

[Col_StaR]

When it comes to Community and Leadership, Col_StaR is a fan favourite. However, he is most likely out of the picture....

Took a break from studying for Finals to drop by, and noticed this post.

I've actually gotten a few emails and Facebook messages asking me to come back to solve this, "leadership crisis". I'm definitely flattered that you guys would still consider me for the community manager role after so long. But given how things are in my life right now, I just don't have the time nor willingness to commit to leading MCGamer again; I already have college work and leadership in other IRL organizations to worry about, and MCG wouldn't be a worthwhile time investment. So to those who are trying to "track me down" and convince me to "save MCSG" by taking the reigns again: please stop.

That being said I've been watching this so-called "leadership crisis" for quite some time now, definitely longer than I would have liked to. It's turning into a rather fascinating case study. Perhaps in the future, I can share this story as an example of the importance of business and community leadership; I only hope that the story has a happy ending.

I'm not here to enact a plan that will solve all our problems, nor am I going to endorse or disparage individual people for leadership roles within the community. This is a crisis that the community itself must endure and overcome on its own if it is to survive to see Christmas. So dig your boots in and prepare for mud slinging, because it's going to get worse before it gets better.

That being said, I'm more than happy to give soft suggestions and perspective on high-level management of this community. Being a Community Manager or Administrator is a very different animal from being a regular player, Moderator, or even Sr. Moderator, so you will need to hire on a different, more intensive criteria.

As someone who has served as the MCG Community Manager, I'd like to mention a few points that have been overlooked thus far:

• A lot of people are suggesting leadership candidates based on popularity. Don't. Just because someone is followed by a lot of people doesn't mean he/she will lead them somewhere better.
• The higher you go, the more politics and public reputation matters. Whoever is nominated to be the leader becomes the de facto face of MCGamer as a whole, which is why such characteristics matter. I know people who shouldn't be considered because of this, and I know people who won't be able to handle the stresses of keeping up appearances constantly.
• When hiring for a Community Manager, Chad had one characteristic that was the utmost important to him: you must be local. "Local", as in, "sitting in the same office as him" local. His rationale is understandable, especially given the network's history. But that facet alone pretty much disqualifies everyone being suggested right now... unless you wouldn't mind moving your home for this gig.
• Lastly, even if there is a new leader, that doesn't mean all of the problems will be solved. Leadership is just one aspect of any organization, and I feel it isn't the only flaw that is affecting the network. New blood should only be but one step in a larger strategy.

All of us are here because we love MCGamer. Even if we never agree on anything, we argue as passionately as we do because we care what happens to MCG. But if everyone at all strata of the network can't get our acts together, and become bogged down with in-fighting and apathy, then we will accomplish nothing. Label it with whatever characteristic you want: that is the true crisis being faced here.

 

[Mooclan]

This is a crisis that the community itself must endure and overcome on its own if it is to survive to see Christmas. So dig your boots in and prepare for mud slinging, because it's going to get worse before it gets better.

The unfortunate part is that so many outstanding members of the community (and by association, the staff team, as well) have moved on, yourself included. Over time, this has left many branches of the community crippled, possibly even faster than the network can grow new ones.

And, well, when it comes to mud-slinging, I'm no longer in a position to "fire shots" at big names. My name no longer holds the same sense of diplomatic immunity that it once did, at least among the forums. Nevertheless, I should be able to convey points just as well.


I finally went through the whole thread, and saw SixZoSeven's series of posts, and I have to say I approve overall. Hearing that you've matured and progressed over the past few years is heartening. Your recognition that your post(s) may result in the offending of some sensibilities is respectable, and I'd like to briefly mention that I noticed it as a concern in previous years, but it seems like you've gotten, or are getting, that under control. Not that I'm a saint, either.

I noticed that you brought up a large number of well-thought out points. I believe you were contacted previously by a certain fellow named Noah, under the username Pikachu? You may be interested in what he has to say.

A lot of people are suggesting leadership candidates based on popularity. Don't. Just because someone is followed by a lot of people doesn't mean he/she will lead them somewhere better.

When I read this, several things came to mind, but there is one in particular that I'd like to mention.

The thing about popularity (and, comparatively, obscurity) is that it's very difficult to find suitable people if they are hidden from view. A person who has logged onto the MCGamer forums only a few times is very unlikely to stick out as a potential candidate, whereas someone who's gotten their name out there is going to be much easier for people to support, largely because they are known. Someone who is from another community entirely isn't going to be familiar with MCG at all, and therefore would start out at a disadvantage.

The higher you go, the more politics and public reputation matters. Whoever is nominated to be the leader becomes the de facto face of MCGamer as a whole, which is why such characteristics matter. I know people who shouldn't be considered because of this, and I know people who won't be able to handle the stresses of keeping up appearances constantly.

Thank you for summarizing this so well.

When Dave's dyslexia was mentioned on this thread, it was argued against by saying that his grammar shouldn't be an issue. And I would love to wholeheartedly agree and say that his grammar can easily be overlooked.

But this thread is primarily about Dave in particular, and that is how he appears to the public. His writing is, simply put, sub-par. He has had Senior Moderators and other staff members write things for him, and he may be perfectly adept at holding a conversation in TeamSpeak, but those aren't the largest parts of his public appearance.

And that's what makes his dyslexia a challenge.

When hiring for a Community Manager, Chad had one characteristic that was the utmost important to him: you must be local. "Local", as in, "sitting in the same office as him" local. His rationale is understandable, especially given the network's history. But that facet alone pretty much disqualifies everyone being suggested right now... unless you wouldn't mind moving your home for this gig.

Ah, that's frighteningly unfortunate. Funnily enough, that route would be available to me a year from now.

Lastly, even if there is a new leader, that doesn't mean all of the problems will be solved. Leadership is just one aspect of any organization, and I feel it isn't the only flaw that is affecting the network. New blood should only be but one step in a larger strategy.

And it is due to this, or the meaning behind it, that I appreciate Sixzo's strategy layout, but have simultaneous concerns about the follow-through.

Although, I do know of a 70-man handpicked staff team that I'm in the process of refining even further. That could be fun.

---

Col and Sixzo, we all know that none of us are in a position where we can single-handedly resolve this. Col has his priorities, and Sixzo and I are both old news. If you'd like to casually "confer, converse, and otherwise hobnob with [our] fellow wizards," (Wiz. of Oz) sometime this summer, that could potentially prove to be quite informational - and maybe even productive. I'm sure that both of you have strains on your time, probably even more so than I, but I figure it's worth a shot to reach out to you two - as well as anyone else who may be interested in the discussion. Heck, why not include Dave? I'd love to hear his thoughts, as another major player on the scene. Perhaps Chad might take notice of something that comes out of it.

An informal invitation, perhaps, but it's there nevertheless in case any of you happen to have some free time and get bored enough to return your thoughts to this topic.

 

[Ceroria]

If you were to search for a more active member, Ceroria is a potential candidate. An ex-senior mod. However, I don't know how much experience he has with administrative responsibilities and outright community management. I haven't personally seen him in action, but the MCGamer Awards say good things - not that there's much competition for those nowadays, judging by the second and third place forumers in the MCGamer Awards, and the state of the forums.

You could go with someone from the Clan scene, such as Zeno. Leadership, right? He's made a series of wildly successful clans. There's also people such as Darkrai202, but he isn't exactly well-respected for his maturity.

Or, a YouTuber. I'm sure the players would love it if Huahwi or someone else very well-known took over. But then, there are doubts about their actual leadership, community management, and administration experience. Being a YouTuber requires, among other things, a consistent work ethic to upload - wait a second. Didn't Huahwi disappear? Twice?
Mmk.

A lot of people are suggesting leadership candidates based on popularity. Don't. Just because someone is followed by a lot of people doesn't mean he/she will lead them somewhere better.

Putting aside the local hire factor, I believe there are some interesting points that could be argued both ways regarding popular or experienced figures. Most cases, something like this depends on the situation. For example, when you, Col, were hired, Chad needed an active community manager who could simply step in at a time early enough in the lifespan of the network where the person holding the position could grow and learn with the server, and an outside hire could work perfectly fine because little background knowledge would likely be necessary. Again, I don't know how much experience, if any, you had with the server before Chad approached you, or if he asked you to familiarize yourself previously, but either way the situation is similar.

When a situation such as this is approached, there are multiple points this candidate has to be able to handle effectively outside of what would be usually looked for. The most important thing currently is someone who is able to take action to fix the persisting problems at hand. Let me tell you know, there are plenty more issues circulating than just the major ones being pointed out by community members, and there are more than enough of those already. A person such as this has to be able to look at big-picture things and make choices responsibly, handle tough decisions fairly and with a mature presence, and most importantly they have to be connected with the people their decisions are effective which is why an outside hire could be an absolute disaster. For four years this community has been directed by people who have done nothing but managed it, and in typical situations that makes absolutely perfect sense. People with management skills make management decisions in the real world, but speaking in the terms of a Minecraft server there needs to be zero gap between the attitude of the staff and higher-ups making decisions and the people playing the server.

Think about it in terms of events that have already occurred. There have been plenty of updates that were brought to this network that made perfect sense logically, but were directly opposite and unwanted to players. An example of such would be the way the AntVenom merge and MCGamer V2 update happened. All of these things were smart moves, and many things that came out of them were great, but they pulled apart the community for multiple reasons.

- The influx of gamemodes expanded the size of the server, and spread out the attention of the staff team to cover all of these gamemodes while the majority of the players still had their focus on competitive play. On the positive side, there were improvements made to the anti-cheat and hit detection that made this competitive play much more enjoyable.
- The dynamic servers hurt the already changing community feel. The previous organization of servers gave all players a home. Clan players used the back server board (125-200 ish) for clan battles, scrimmages, events, etc. Players looking to find some competition, or run into some more popular players who resided in these servers would use servers 1-10, and the rest of these servers were mainly used for regular SG play. This server organization made it easy for everyone to join, comprehend, and see a plain, organized server board that paid tribute to the impressive expansion of a server that used to be a large, hub-less network of servers.


The most important thing for a server in MCSG's situation is relation to its players. Oh, another example. When was the last time you directly heard a player refer to our server as MCGamer? Even the players who joined well after the rebrand in June 2013 all refer to the server as MCSG. I've really only heard it used by staff members for professional purposes, but everyone still refers to it as MCSG in a casual setting. It's been three years since the rebrand and the name MCGamer seems to be nothing but something occasionally used sarcastically.

All of that aside, even if there were to be a change up top, something like this would be hard because it's impossible to please everyone. There needs to be a figure chosen that the majority of the community would be willing to respect (which rules out Dave, considering there are large populations of people who have had negative experiences with him), and the majority of the staff team can respect. It needs to be somebody who has been a player for enough time to see the clan scene, YouTube scene, competitive scene, etc. evolve through multiple generations to make the decisions they need to make, and it needs to be someone with a solid public presence. Somebody who people will down the road enjoy interacting with, feel like they can approach, and can respect the decisions of. They must be strong-willed, and able to make tough decisions and present them in a way where everyone, or at least most people, are willing to accept them instead of just blurting out the information and surprising everyone (example of when this was done poorly? Well, let's just say we're down a region and it's players because of it). This person must also be able to have a strong will considering they will be initially up against many people in the existing order who are very driven for self-interest and have very large egos. This person must check egos at the door, and effectively make decisions to put the staff members in a better and less hostile environment, and sequentially the community in a less pitiful environment.

Last but certainly not least, this person must be active, they have to be there. It's the job of a leader to delegate and oversee, but it is not the job of a leader to disappear and only make appearances when necessary, and it is not the job of a leader to act above everyone else. A leader's most important skill is their ability to listen to and interact with the people whom they preside over, and if those characteristics can be found in a new leader, we can make this server great again.

 

[demonsushi]

Took a break from studying for Finals to drop by, and noticed this post.

• A lot of people are suggesting leadership candidates based on popularity. Don't. Just because someone is followed by a lot of people doesn't mean he/she will lead them somewhere better.
• When hiring for a Community Manager, Chad had one characteristic that was the utmost important to him: you must be local. "Local", as in, "sitting in the same office as him" local. His rationale is understandable, especially given the network's history. But that facet alone pretty much disqualifies everyone being suggested right now... unless you wouldn't mind moving your home for this gig.

Despite Ceroria commenting to overlook the second point, I believe it will be the most challenging to overcome. Considering all the criteria that Col and Mooclan laid out, it seems to be that in terms of a Venn diagram of all MCGamer players these two points do not have a lot of overlap. Combine that with the necessary commitment to actually fill the roll, as well as the age requirement suddenly your list of known candidate shortens to 1. Since Col is no longer willing and all other candidates that fit these criteria have either left or have no interest in filling the role, it is left for one person: ChadTheDJ. He literally is the only one that can fit the criteria.

The path I see forward is similar to something that Col said, and that fresh blood is necessary. I think he's right; Chad needs to bring in someone fresh, someone who is excited and willing to interact with the people that make the server thrive. Where I saw the server start to fall apart was when there became a disconnect between what players wanted and what looked good for the server. Ceroria pretty much summed it up as best as anyone could, but the most important thing to 'solving' all of the problems is bridging the gap between player and staff. I think that was one of the goals in terms of the hiring process for mod late 2015 - I'm not really sure why this didn't help at all. I can think of 12 names that fit, but still this period is known as the worst in staff history (happens to also be when I was a mod :/ ).

The unfortunate part is that so many outstanding members of the community (and by association, the staff team, as well) have moved on, yourself included. Over time, this has left many branches of the community crippled, possibly even faster than the network can grow new ones.

And, well, when it comes to mud-slinging, I'm no longer in a position to "fire shots" at big names. My name no longer holds the same sense of diplomatic immunity that it once did, at least among the forums. Nevertheless, I should be able to convey points just as well.

This is another annoying and yet important point to look at; no one is really willing to stay super committed to the server for more than 3+ years. We all, whether you like it or not, will grow out of MCGamer (I have always preferred MCSG). I have already left twice (not that I was important) which is why the point that the person is new is important again. However, we would all love to see someone who has been here since 2012. Those two things don't lineup, narrowing the requirements again. All the people who were here and define the glory days have either grown out of MCSG or grown with it. The 'leader' needs to have experienced the server but also still be driven to help it succeed.

 

[Giggity69Goo]

"I love you Mooclan"

lmao did she say mooclan )))

EDIT: Is she actually hot tho? pics or it never happened

 

[Pikachu]

There's also people such as Darkrai202, but he isn't exactly well-respected for his maturity.

Nick saw this and his reaction is hilarious, he is not happy with you sir

 

[demonsushi]

lmao did she say mooclan )))

EDIT: Is she actually hot tho? pics or it never happened

Got to be honest, thought you were gonna write some long amazing piece about saving MCSG and I just read this... I laughed so hard I cried.

 

[Giggity69Goo]

Got to be honest, thought you were gonna write some long amazing piece about saving MCSG and I just read this... I laughed so hard I cried.

i already wrote a post on this thread ages ago. plus it wouldn't really be worth my time if we're convincing MCGamer that they need a change but they won't listen to us.

 

[Col_StaR]

....
If you'd like to casually "confer, converse, and otherwise hobnob with [our] fellow wizards," (Wiz. of Oz) sometime this summer, that could potentially prove to be quite informational - and maybe even productive. I'm sure that both of you have strains on your time, probably even more so than I, but I figure it's worth a shot to reach out to you two - as well as anyone else who may be interested in the discussion. Heck, why not include Dave? I'd love to hear his thoughts, as another major player on the scene. Perhaps Chad might take notice of something that comes out of it.
....

I'd be up for that, for sure. Feel free to PM me anytime.

 

[Ceroria]

Despite Ceroria commenting to overlook the second point, I believe it will be the most challenging to overcome. Considering all the criteria that Col and Mooclan laid out, it seems to be that in terms of a Venn diagram of all MCGamer players these two points do not have a lot of overlap. Combine that with the necessary commitment to actually fill the roll, as well as the age requirement suddenly your list of known candidate shortens to 1. Since Col is no longer willing and all other candidates that fit these criteria have either left or have no interest in filling the role, it is left for one person: ChadTheDJ. He literally is the only one that can fit the criteria.

Besides Chad's personal preference to have someone on site that he can communicate with, what other benefits does a local owner have? Almost every other successful Minecraft network is owned and managed by people all across the globe, communication is just as easy for the purposes it serves, I mean we are speaking of an online community anyway where all communication is done online.

If that were to be a dealbreaking criteria, and if we're saying there is going to be a search for someone to take a leadership position (which it it unlikely there will be), there will literally be no candidates that will do a better job than is already being done. It's time to let go of some standards here unless whoever actually has power here is willing to watch MCSG fall through the cracks.

 

[demonsushi]

Besides Chad's personal preference to have someone on site that he can communicate with, what other benefits does a local owner have? Almost every other successful Minecraft network is owned and managed by people all across the globe, communication is just as easy for the purposes it serves, I mean we are speaking of an online community anyway where all communication is done online.

If that were to be a dealbreaking criteria, and if we're saying there is going to be a search for someone to take a leadership position (which it it unlikely there will be), there will literally be no candidates that will do a better job than is already being done. It's time to let go of some standards here unless whoever actually has power here is willing to watch MCSG fall through the cracks.

It's looking grim isn't it.

 

[Giggity69Goo]

Although, I do know of a 70-man handpicked staff team that I'm in the process of refining even further. That could be fun.

IT'S LIT