Right. Just a few words before I start presenting my arguments:
Right, so here we go. In my opinion, here are, the reasons why so much worthy people are loosing any faith in LFS and why they are going to other sims after being disgusted with the way LFS is managed:
1) The developpers are ignoring those who really put a lot of involvement in the community, and do not support them. They also are not aware that LFS needs get some prestige and keep it to keep the interrest. From my own experience, almost every single person who have been really active in the LFS community, such as league organisators, top drivers, and such. I'm not saying that the developpers should be on the forums 24/7 and always available for everyone willing to set up any interresting LFS related project, but I really have the feeling that they are not aware that they are not the only persons who made what LFS is right now. I have the feeling that anyone is treated as random players out there, no matters what they've done in the community, or what they want to do.
LFS.net could be a showcase of what's going on in the community, telling people what sort quality stuff they should follow, instead of being a dead place where everyone can read what updates we should have received 1 year ago in an ideal world.
Also, real life racers are also totally ignored, while they should be a pride and a force for LFS. I'm not even sure that 10% of the licensed players are aware that the Williams F1 test driver used to play LFS and used to drive in leagues that you and me can join. Here again, LFS.net is the answer. How much time would this have taken to make a short article when Williams announced Vallteri Bottas, with a few sentences about his real life carreer and what he has done in LFS? 20 minutes at maximum.
Why does this represent a lack for the community?: Because if LFS maintain a decent prestige, more and more worthy people will get interrested on what's going on and will want to get actively involved. Also, people will actually be proud of LFS and what they are doing inside of LFS and will promote LFS by themselves, to their friends their family, at their workplace, etc.
I remember how I got involved in the league side of LFS, 2 years ago. I found somewhere on this forum a streamed version of a league race of the LFS Beginners' Cup, ran by NDR(it has stopped since then), made by Jonathan Palmer(dekojester). It looked like a TV coverage, and I was so much impressed that stuff that I decided that I HAD to be part of this kind of show one day. It was absolutely magnificent, but attracted very few people because dekojester had no other way to promote his work than putting it on LFS Forum in the middle of some other various pointless threads made by other people. I am sure that if this broadcast(and any other MoE/IGTC coverage by the way) was promoted by the developpers, put on LFS.net and presented in any decent gaming show where LFS is present, it would attract a lot more people.
This looks a bit schematic but basically, the league organisors, broadcast commentators, top IGTC/MoE drivers are treated by the devs like random public racers noobs, while they are producing top notch work that would be able to be an incredible force for the community, but unfortunately remain very confidencial due to the lack of promoting(simply because they do not have the legitimity to do that by themselves). If they continue to feel ignored like this, you can be sure that they will get bored at some point and will decide to leave LFS like burglars and see if there isn't any sims actually interrested in their talent.
What can be done about it:
2) The official forum is not properly moderated and became an heterogeneous melt of trolls, perverts and kids thinking that LFS will help them to sort their childish problems, mixing with legitimate LFS lovers willing to share their passion with other people. No need to give much explanation on that one. I'm sure that any active forum user has realised at least once that the moderators, for some reason, are not able to do their job properly, and that it is possible to insult any other members publicly or spamming without receiving any warning.
Why does this represent a lack for the community?: Unlike most of the other sims, LFS has one central forum where any worthy international project is presented here. This should be a force, not a drawback. The problem is that, due to the several problems LFS Forum has been facing, it has a disastrous reputation and I cannot count the amount of people thinking that LFS Forum is the shame of LFS, and do not post here anymore. Due to the fact that LFS Forum is the heart of the community, it should get and maintain a perfect reputation and should be a place where everyone can share his passion about LFS and can express his own opinion without having the fear to be flammed.
What can be done about it:
What can be done about it:
- I'm starting this thread not for the fun of moaning, but to help everyone to realise what obvious mistakes have been done with LFS' developpement and promotion. I'm doing so just because I do love LFS and the community and sincerly wish to see the developpers to realise that they've gone the wrong way at some point in LFS' history, and that LFS is never going to be the equal of iRacing or any respectable sim if they carry on that way.
- I would ask everyone who sincerly enjoy LFS to post their own opinion on the matter.
- If this thread comes to be closed by a moderator at some point, I would sincerly ask him a) Why is he doing so? b) What are his views on how LFS is developped and on LFS' future? c) What are his motivations in moderating this forum?
- Last thing, if any troll is going to act in this thread, I would sincerly ask him to realise that he would not have the balls to do so if he was in front of real people, instead of his computer screen.
Right, so here we go. In my opinion, here are, the reasons why so much worthy people are loosing any faith in LFS and why they are going to other sims after being disgusted with the way LFS is managed:
1) The developpers are ignoring those who really put a lot of involvement in the community, and do not support them. They also are not aware that LFS needs get some prestige and keep it to keep the interrest. From my own experience, almost every single person who have been really active in the LFS community, such as league organisators, top drivers, and such. I'm not saying that the developpers should be on the forums 24/7 and always available for everyone willing to set up any interresting LFS related project, but I really have the feeling that they are not aware that they are not the only persons who made what LFS is right now. I have the feeling that anyone is treated as random players out there, no matters what they've done in the community, or what they want to do.
LFS.net could be a showcase of what's going on in the community, telling people what sort quality stuff they should follow, instead of being a dead place where everyone can read what updates we should have received 1 year ago in an ideal world.
Also, real life racers are also totally ignored, while they should be a pride and a force for LFS. I'm not even sure that 10% of the licensed players are aware that the Williams F1 test driver used to play LFS and used to drive in leagues that you and me can join. Here again, LFS.net is the answer. How much time would this have taken to make a short article when Williams announced Vallteri Bottas, with a few sentences about his real life carreer and what he has done in LFS? 20 minutes at maximum.
Why does this represent a lack for the community?: Because if LFS maintain a decent prestige, more and more worthy people will get interrested on what's going on and will want to get actively involved. Also, people will actually be proud of LFS and what they are doing inside of LFS and will promote LFS by themselves, to their friends their family, at their workplace, etc.
I remember how I got involved in the league side of LFS, 2 years ago. I found somewhere on this forum a streamed version of a league race of the LFS Beginners' Cup, ran by NDR(it has stopped since then), made by Jonathan Palmer(dekojester). It looked like a TV coverage, and I was so much impressed that stuff that I decided that I HAD to be part of this kind of show one day. It was absolutely magnificent, but attracted very few people because dekojester had no other way to promote his work than putting it on LFS Forum in the middle of some other various pointless threads made by other people. I am sure that if this broadcast(and any other MoE/IGTC coverage by the way) was promoted by the developpers, put on LFS.net and presented in any decent gaming show where LFS is present, it would attract a lot more people.
This looks a bit schematic but basically, the league organisors, broadcast commentators, top IGTC/MoE drivers are treated by the devs like random public racers noobs, while they are producing top notch work that would be able to be an incredible force for the community, but unfortunately remain very confidencial due to the lack of promoting(simply because they do not have the legitimity to do that by themselves). If they continue to feel ignored like this, you can be sure that they will get bored at some point and will decide to leave LFS like burglars and see if there isn't any sims actually interrested in their talent.
What can be done about it:
- A properly maintained official website, promoting the work of the community such as streams, leagues or skinpacks. Also, it should be a place where you could find interviews about the top drivers, etc. Seriously, it doesn't require so much time to make one article once in a while(or ask any serious person to do so as a volonteer), about the upcoming MoE/IGTC race for example, Lynce's new pack, or some article explaining Airio's features, I don't know.
- A better presence on the forums from the devs, and not only in the Progress report thread. IMO, the devs should go in the forums more often and see what kind of activity is going on, and also comment, make suggestions about the more worthy projects. A "good luck" or a "nice job!" doesn't take much time to be posted, but coming from Scawen, Eric and Victor it is an awersome motivation for anyone, and would give the feeling to anyone interrested.
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2) The official forum is not properly moderated and became an heterogeneous melt of trolls, perverts and kids thinking that LFS will help them to sort their childish problems, mixing with legitimate LFS lovers willing to share their passion with other people. No need to give much explanation on that one. I'm sure that any active forum user has realised at least once that the moderators, for some reason, are not able to do their job properly, and that it is possible to insult any other members publicly or spamming without receiving any warning.
Why does this represent a lack for the community?: Unlike most of the other sims, LFS has one central forum where any worthy international project is presented here. This should be a force, not a drawback. The problem is that, due to the several problems LFS Forum has been facing, it has a disastrous reputation and I cannot count the amount of people thinking that LFS Forum is the shame of LFS, and do not post here anymore. Due to the fact that LFS Forum is the heart of the community, it should get and maintain a perfect reputation and should be a place where everyone can share his passion about LFS and can express his own opinion without having the fear to be flammed.
What can be done about it:
- Be harsher with offenders. If someone do not have enough maturity to hang out there, warning, and then, ban.
- Hire new moderators, as the current ones seem to be running out of motivation.
- Remove problematic and offensive posts/threads.
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3) There is an obvious lack of honesty and transparence coming from the developpers about the way LFS is developped. I do admire what the developpers have done so far, but I do not like the path they have been following in the last 2 years. It is useless to explain what you are/have been working on if you are trying to hide what is going wrong in the developpement. The fact that 18 months have passed since the last significative update show that obviously something is going wrong behind the scenes. But the developpers have never been explaining this clearly, which leaded into endless rant and speculation going on the official forums. Seriously, I think that most of the people would understand and respect the developpers position if, instead of acting like dead people, they decided to tell everyone why the developpement speed is going slower than it used to be. Even if, for example, they would tell everyone that they lack of motivation(which is probably the case), and therefore, do not work as fast as they used to do...
Why does this represent a lack for the community?: Because, obviously, no investissor would be interrested in financing an LFS project if they see such a poor way of public relationship from the devs. Also, no need to say that LFS would get more customers if there was actual signs of life going behind the scenes.
What can be done about it:
- A developpement blog, or a sub-section on LFS Forum reserved to official statements about LFS' developpement. The devs shouldn't be affraid of people moaning and trolling: they could easily get rid of those people with good and active forums moderators.
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Conclusion:
- The bad shape where LFS is stuck is mainly caused due to the poor politic of public relations made by the developpers since the expansion of the sim(I would say, S2 Alpha release)
- The heart of the community will never be able to maintain LFS in a good enough shape on their own as long as they are not decently supported by the developpers
- The bad politic of public relation does not directly affect the daily number of players playing the sim as most of the players are casual drivers that are not aware of the LFS community and the way LFS is developped due to the fact that LFS' related websites are badly advertised. On the contrary, it will affect the amount of active players in the community, as they do not feel understood by the developpers
- There is no way LFS can match iRacing or any other decent sim as long as no big changes are made in the way LFS is maintained, promoted and developped.
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Here are my 2 cents. What about yours now? Please take a bit of your time, you, active LFS players, to express what you truely feel.