2. There is no attempt to queue up games that the community actually wants to play.
Newbie Queue
: In short, the
2d3 setup is potentially more flawed than Matrix6 and has a D1 optimising strategy that's brought up in about half of Newbie Games. On top of that, I heavily suspect that over 50% of possible setups are benefited by a D1 No Lynch due to how many unchecked investigative roles there are. It's no secret that the setup is swingy and imbalanced depending on the column.
Matrix6 was not as swingy and had fewer roles that solved the game by way of "Follow the Investigative".
Bringing up those concerns has been met with a response of "let's just see how it plays out", essentially "don't knock it til you try it". There has otherwise been no substantial response to community input.
Open Queue
: The majority of current approved open setups are ridiculously outdated, and good setups are not being added to rotation as promised by the queue rules. The list hasn't changed in
years
. There are issues with balance, swing, and breaking/optimising strategies for different sides that unfairly disadvantage newbies inexperienced with mechanics.
A few of them have been fixed or replaced -- that was the point of
the Open Setup Autopsies thread. No actionable response.
I also proposed to administration that they assign someone knowledgeable about setups to find out what setups are popular, fill fastest, are broken, or have been effectively replaced. That "listmod assistant" would handle all of the listmod's duties actually related to the setups themselves, including updating the wiki's stats and database. (Yes, I obviously recommended myself, but I don't actually care if it's me as long as SOMEONE changes things.) No response.
Normal Queue
: I think the complaints about the recent changes, specifically the removal of the greylist rule, have been sufficiently discussed in the
Changes thread.
Micro, Mini Theme Queue
: In short, since these queues should in theory require the fewest extra duties, it shouldn't be difficult to verify that the reviews for these games actually validly occur, that mods don't flake, and that these are games that people actually want to play.
- The modding requirement is important because people don't tend to join games run by complete newbies onsite. Yet someone bypassed modding requirements and held up the queue for 2 months.
This breach of requirements was brought up to administration, to no response.
- The ratio of unbalanced games (not advertised as such) in 2018 in these queues has been ridiculous. As a mod in both queues, there was no oversight to make sure my reviewers actually signed off in good faith.
3. The team seems continually invested in doing the least amount of work for the queues possible, rather than delegating work to people willing to do it.
None of the above problems should have happened.
There have previously been listmods that went above and beyond in advertising for their games, or even allowing game advertisement in their queue threads (hyping up games is now banned in all queue threads since the change in management). It's possible to run the queue efficiently AND get people into games.
I get it though, not everyone needs to be above and beyond. The mod team has seen repeated changes in the past few months, in combination with real life creeping in. So for each individual listmod/admin, this is all understandable. That's why I'm adamant about not singling a particular listmod out.
The fault is in management as a whole, not any particular listmod.
- There's a backup listmod position. Besides that, listmods are capable of filling in for each other, or splitting up the work.
- Assistants can be brought in to do the busywork of the queues, like tracking sign-ups and giving mod permissions. Or running NRG or Open Setups.
- Queue automation has been promised for
years
to relieve the listmods of said busywork. It's unclear how much progress has been made, and waiting for this is no excuse for poor queue management.
- The wiki group could be put in charge of someone who is active onsite. As of now, the talent in the group is being wasted because we don't know what we're supposed to be doing, or don't have the permissions to do what's asked of us.
- The NRG could have added more members instead of shrinking in size.
- The
Scummies Steering Committee and Judges are in large part outdated with no advertisement for joining them.
Solutions exist. These problems are not complicated. I'm not asking for some massive overhaul of the site. Big Grand Gestures aren't necessary.
All I'm asking for is indication that the administration/listmod team gives a fuck about the site staying alive, and shows dedication to the fundamental duty of firing games in their queues.