Dear SP Community,
After a long pause, I have returned to SimplePlanes, and I've noticed that the community has not refrained from changing in my absence. I consider this a good thing, so long as it is changing in a good direction, however, I've been starting to notice some very apparent problems not only with the SimplePlanes community but also somewhat with the format of the Community. Don't get me wrong, the developers have done a great job at building a community and has been one of the most attached developers to their community I've seen so far, however, there are still problems with the community.
Toxic Comments
Sometimes, I see a cool post and I'm appalled by the comment section. Sometimes there are random debates. Often, the post itself has nothing wrong, and the out of control debate has nothing to do with it, it just popped out of nowhere. It's not as bad as youtube's comment section, but it's still not great. Users should try to get in the mindset of the person who has posted the post. They simply wanted to share something, and in turn, their comment section is flooded by a random fight between two users, usually whom the poster doesn't even know. This is the first problem. In addition, I've always wondered how a game such as SimplePlanes can stir up such debates. When I first joined the SimplePlanes community, I expected a very accepting and sympathetic community bonded by a shared passion for planes (as well as trains, cars, boats, and everything else users make in SimplePlanes). I guess I was naïve on my part. This is the internet after all. But I'm still curious as to how a game such as SimplePlanes, a game focused on creativity and aviation/vehicles in a non-competitive environment, can cause such conflicts. Why can't people just appreciate and support each other? It's okay not to like another person's crafts or disagree with them in a forum, but there is a respectful way of showing that. I'd say most conflicts arise from misunderstanding and impulse. If people took a step back and tried to understand what others are saying, even asking for clarification if necessary, a lot of useless and messy conflicts could be resolved. Additionally, there is a "block" feature for a reason. Instead of flooding other people's posts with accusations that are sometimes no better or justified than those of Among Us, settle the debate calmly, tag a mod, or simply block that person. If they tried to retaliate, they would just be risking a complete ban.
Moderation
The SimplePlanes moderation team is essential in not only upholding SimplePlanes rules but also in guiding new players and clarifying things. Generally, I would say that the mods do a good job at their jobs (with a few minor exceptions, especially in the past, but I will not give names nor specify incidents). I do feel however that we need a better system of accountability for moderators. I am unfamiliar with how a moderator's account works on a technical level, but I feel that there should be a log of all moderator-related activity accessible to the developers, and also possibly other moderators (edit: I've been informed that there is already a manual mod-log, but a automatic one would be easier and safer. I'm also aware that moderators do communicate before taking decisions most of the time). Not only would this deter an abusive usage of moderator functions, but it would also ensure that moderator decisions are the right ones and this would allow for reviews of these actions (again, I'm neither pointing a finger or saying that the current moderators are bad or are abusing of their power). The ability to review a moderator's moderation activity would avoid the usual "you did this and that" from accused players and allow for a factual review of what has been done so as to review a case when a player wishes to appeal to something. I am not saying that our moderators are bad, but they are human, and human error is a thing. The next thing I wanted to address regarding moderators is the community's view of them. First of all, let's address what a moderator really is. It's someone who reinforces SimplePlane's rules and ensures everyone is abiding by them and is being respectful. In some ways, it's the police of the SimplePlanes website. I often see people say, "I wish I were a moderator" or "If only there was a way for me to be a moderator." These people seem to misunderstand being a moderator as a privilege. A moderator is not a privilege, but rather a responsibility. They do not get to freely use their functions, and can only use them to serve their purpose (with the exception of the past bio-editing war between moderators, but that's something else, and they were not were really abusing of their power, just having fun amongst themselves). EthernalDarkness sums this up perfectly in this comment.
Points
The upvote and points system is what drives a lot of people into creating things in SimplePlanes. In addition, it provides nice features such as a feeling of progression, as well as a sense of achievement, and is compatible with smart mechanisms such as the "feature" option to allow more experienced players to highlight less experienced users' creations. I do feel though that many people have started only playing for points. This can happen subconsciously and is somewhat normal from a psychological point of view (I think, I'm not a psychologist). This drives them away from using purely their creativity and leads them to start creating for points, which ruins part of the game. Now, to be honest, I don't honestly have a solution to this problem. I hate to present a problem without a solution, but this is where I am at right now. The point system seems vital, but it also causes a problem. If anyone has any good ideas on how to resolve this problem, don't hesitate to comment on it. I'd be interested.
This is all I really have for now. Now let's hope this post's comment section does not become a battlefield...
Don’t worry about it, I mean it it’s obvious enough with it being in your bio @Vercynis
@PvPSky The old username was getting old, especially with the 50 "i"s in it. Sorry for not communicating the name change.
I was wondering who Vercynis was when I took a look at the people I follow, I wonder what brought about the name change
@Viridi
NP
Thank you for removing the curse... @KnightOfRen
This had 69 comments until i posted this.
@SuperMeteor Well said.
@Someterribleuser If you could time it well enough and maybe have a decent beginner build as a fresh soul in the platform you could have bronze under a week or so.. It always has to do with timezones, user activity of the hour, and attention grabbing borderline clickbait screenshots and titles that gives the sweet dopamine release from upvotes.
@Someterribleuser I like the creativity of the idea, but I definitely don't think that should be a thing. 1. You should not rush new players 2. You should not incite them to grind for points 3. You should not put deadlines in games like this 4. There would still be many bronze + inactive users
@ParziParziTheVal Cool. I've seen Ready Player One (wish I could say I read it... might read it if I find the time).
@ParziParziTheVal Ah. Now I get why this is personal for you.
@Horsepower No harm done. Pointing out flaws is just as important as pointing the good things. Thank you for the support and the recognition. I get your point about the point system, and I must recognize that it's really not a priority, just something worth thinking about. Really I'm not directly trying to incite change here, but just get people thinking.
@Viridi Iz alright man. I personally went a little too far accusing you of raking in points and whatnot. I actually really appreciate your effort and vision for the greater good. I just tend to pinpoint the negatives. Even if it were all in vain, you did a good job on identifying and addressing these problems in a logical manner, and have effectively provided a central source of information for everyone searching. Although I will stick to my point about the points system, it's always good to hope for better things, that's how new ideas are born.
I used concrete details. ;-) @EternalDarkness
Hey, I'm being used as a positive example :)
@Horsepower I get that. I was not trying to approach this as a know it all. Sorry if I made that impression. I'm also aware that these are known problems, I just feel like they are not really being addressed enough, but that's my opinion. I also do agree that my ideal here is a unrealistic utopia of SimplePlanes, but trying to get closer to it is better than nothing.
For the point system, I would not necessarily call it a problem, nor was I aware if a recent rise in drama in its regard. I just felt like this was a sort of thing going on, that really happens beyond SimplePlanes and on a lot of website now, and that it sort of ruins parts of the games at time.
I agree that the problem does not completely lie in the toxic people, but I would not say that they are exempt from causing a problem. Those who easily get offended are essentially throwing fuel into the fire, thus that in some ways makes them part of the problem, but the random toxicity is what starts the fire. I would say that the problem is equally between the toxic people and those responding to them. Again, this is my opinion. And yes, those who respond to toxicity are indeed usually bad at listening. Will definitely not contest that.
I was not trying to make a big deal out of this stuff (and as I re-read it, I realize I kind of did...), I just felt like looking into these problems as a way to start looking for solutions, even if these are not priority problems.
@Someterribleuser True, but useless.
@AWESOMENESS360 How does it screw up the points system tho. Like what do you wanna do about it, introduce censorship? Its not broken so don't fix it. Allow people to have some fun and you will notice everything getting a little easier. And yes for serious posts you need to post quality content to get more upvotes, nothing wrong with that idea.
Points also seem to have lately become a thing of toxicity in the sense that people will make shitposts that end up getting more upvotes than actual good creations, and it really screws up the point system in the game, along with the idea that you need to post good things in order to get a lot of points or upvotes.
@Viridi Nah, i just say whats on my mind, the purpose is usually to have fun not create a firestorm. Tbh it's just that I got tired of these know-it-all posts. You may have not known, but this is indeed being addressed a lot already and is pretty much common knowledge by know. I must say you summed it all up very well though, I'm pretty sure you covered everything. It just seems like you strive for an ideal we all know can never be attained. Mistakes are made and most dont bother and move on. All this does is create more drama over things that really aren't a big deal at all. For example, the drama over the points system, which has been working fine for years, but now suddenly people are getting upset with it. And on toxicity; the problem does not lie in those few toxic people, but rather those who are so easily offended by it. In both cases there is nothing you can do about it, as those kinds of people tend to be bad at listening. I do agree fully with your points on the moderators taking a big responsibility though. Besides that you're just exaggerating unimportant matters.
@WarHawk95 Pour être honnête, c'est pareil pour moi. Je ne suis pas obsédé avec les points, mais je les ignore pas non plus.
@exosuit That could be true I suppose. But when I initially started playing a few years ago, it was not this bad. @exosuit
@Viridi disons que c'est intéressant, tu dis des choses vraies bien que dures à entendre pour certaines. Prenons l'exemple des points, même si je ne me force pas à upload pour en recevoir, je vois bien que je le prends mal quand un autre membre du Discord me dépasse ou que j'ai peu d'upvotes sur certains builds....
@Viridi it's more noticable because you're not here often
@WarHawk95 Cool. Qu'en penses-tu?