descentchampions.org

You get bored, you get mad, you get frustrated. Someone annoys you, someone beats you, someone isn’t here anymore. Same old maps, same old pilots, same old game, same old lag. No fun, no time, no patience, no point.

What needs to be done to make people happy and stay and not give up and retire like it’s some kind of statement of futility? People are leaving in droves or play once a season to stay on ladder. Is it the ladder concept that is stale? Does there need to be a new concept of community participation that doesn’t involve cut throat competition among friends to reach a specific spot on an imaginary skill list? One day you are 5th place and the next week due to people showing up you are 17th then back to 8th place.

Are we defining who we are due to our ranking on a ladder of our friends? Is this peer tiering? Who gives a shit anymore what spot you are on the ladder? Mark and Jedi are the summit diamonds...are you diamond? Do you think you will ever be diamond? So why try to climb a ladder where you will never reach the summit? Yeah there are times when Mark or Jedi takes a break and/or some lucky person has a great game and they break through and see above the clouds but is that their true spot? No.

The ladder is not why we play this game. Not anymore. Maybe if there were hundreds of players. But no. It’s a place to draw like minded competitive people who specifically love this particular 23 year old game together in a community of now friends who just can’t seem to uninstall it or even imagine enjoying any other game quite like this one. We are a tribe of friends and some of us are missing and because of that more of us are leaving.

This thing is seriously dying and it’s personally breaking my heart to see it go.

Can we come up with something a little more encompassing than just a ladder alone? People are screaming for something new here. Roncli’s efforts in creating the observatory seems to excite folks and without it I believe we would be dead already. If I could give that man a trophy or a timeshare in Fiji for that I would. We can’t put it all on his shoulders though. FFA’s are fun and the inspiration to create more maps so folks won’t tire of the same ole stuff is fun and necessary for me and other map makers but what about people who just love the game and want to play because it does something for them that no other game does? The forum is neat for connecting with the community and being entertained by the brilliant conversations and humor but people are still leaving!!!

I would like to hear of any ideas if you still have a shred of interest in this game, of what we can do to draw and keep more people to this community. Right now on the dcl, there are about 7 people competing half regularly. Ummm......SEVEN!!! That’s pretty pathetic.

There always comes a time when you need to make a decision to either cut something loose and move on or get inspired and get involved and find a way to keep it alive by evolving it into something that makes people want to log on and play.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Descent Champions ladder is not what makes Descent fun, the community and it’s involvement, it’s friendship and loyalty and dedication to this game and each other are the key ingredients. We all play a part here and we can all do more to keep it alive. If you love flying with your buds, PLEASE speak up and tell us what it would take to make you want to be here with us more. We miss you, sincerely!

Well said, I haven't been here long enough to say I've seen many people come and go but I have seen the remnants of what people have left behind... And Some Completely Gone

Descent as a whole is in Jeopardy, we are slowly Dying... but We will survive! we just need more active players, I hope your post is an eye-opener to all "Inactive" players and also an eye-opener to Devs to try to get a new game mode...

But as you said, if there were hundreds of players, all of us probably not be as close or some of us Great friends!

Its the sad truth but thats our part to step in and try to Fix it, i know we can!

I apologize if my post sounded desperate. I do realize people have lives and this game and community do not define us and this ladder does go in waves. It's just sad to meet you all and get to know you and only seldom see you anymore. Seeing Lee and Maestro retire has left me a bit melancholy and I was taking it out in this post. Live on, play on, be well and enjoy your lives, my friends.

As melvin once said...

God Speed you Beautiful Unicorn

All good things come to an end.

Is our end approaching? It's starting to look like it.

What is the problem? Lack of activity....lack of participants. What is the solution? People coming back out of retirement en masse.

How do you do that? How do you make that happen? No idea.

We either die or we begin to thrive. Maybe I need to turn the lights off at the end of this season and call it done. Write the history down and move on to something else.

This ladder was not designed to work with 5 to 7 people playing on it.

We close this ladder down or those of us that have taken a break or whatever you wanna call it need to decide that it isn't time for the DCL to die.

I would like to see a clear and obvious sign that the pilots of this community are not willing to let the DCL die by the years end.

Unretire.

Play!

If you guys/gals don't do that....well then the community will have spoken and it's time to turn off the lights.

think it over

either way,.....love u guys....it's been a great ride thus far and I'm glad I was here from the beginning!

It's only begun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swarthy, a lot of your post sounds kind of like what the Rangers are there for. Maybe it's not the solution for some other reason, but it is pretty much the current best home for "let's try something different" stuff. It's not the best home for competitive concepts, but that's why we have the DCL.

I don't know whether I'm particularly representative, but I have so many things to juggle that I most reliably show up for scheduled events (one of which I run myself). The Observatory is exactly the kind of thing that works well for that. If there were other event-based things going on I would quite likely attend those too if they were interesting - whether or not they were officially sanctioned by the Rangers.