Section 8 Clan Forums

Someone came on the server a few days ago saying we were playing a 20 year old game and our server/clan was dying. I find that not true, and it seemed funny they were there playing too. I told another player at a different time, we'd leave the lights on for them. I'm wondering now if what I said was accurate.

I like playing. I REALLY like the server and the Clan members and the admins. As well as I can tell about others over the internet, it seems like a group of great ladies and gentlemen of many countries, ages, and backgrounds. Because of these reasons I donate. What concerns me is the large negative balance we have on the server's account. If that is accurate, what could be the duration of our server? Granted I'm a CPA and most things for me boil down to $$$$$.

I see some donate a lot and some donate a little, some are probably out of excess and some are real sacrifices. I really appreciate these donations and I'm sure everyone playing appreciates it, for without those donations we wouldn't be playing.

I'm just wondering how we can continue the server at such a negative balance and can we brainstorm a way to increase the number of people that donate? Or am I incorrect in any of my reasoning or concerns.

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Why so serious, let me put a smile on that face.

I just saw the balance and I feel like that's not right. I am pretty sure if we were indeed in the negative, we wouldn't have the server running.

I will admit I need to Donate and have been meaning to. I've just been forgetful in the fact of doing so.

I also can't imagine that the server balance is actually in the negative.. We get some regular very generous donations, so it ought to be covered.

And I wish I could afford to donate, but I am a student with no job on the side, so I live solely on the governmental student aid (yes, Danes get free education AND are paid for studying). And as I recently moved to a new appartment with a significant increase in rent, I can only just get by each month.
So I am very grateful to those who donate money and make it possible for everyone else to keep having a great time on our server.

Game server balance shows to be $-1422.54 for the server, S&D Server and Team Speak.

The B3 & Bot donation site does not show a balance.

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That which doesn't kill you, disappoints me.

Need Version COD 4 v1.8? Click

I'll never comment on anyone's donation or no donation. Everybody's situation is different. But are we really in a bind and someone is carrying us? I guess Vagisil would tell us if we were in dire straights and needed a large influx of cash for operations. I'm still new and maybe what this shows has been a topic of discussion before. I appreciate playing with you guys. It is a good distraction from other things in my life!!!! //Jim

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Why so serious, let me put a smile on that face.

@Trogg -- Thank you for opening the conversation and for your donations and genuine concern. Really interesting topic that I am going to use as a springboard for a deeper conversation. Before I get too far off topic...

I wanted to summarize what I think of in terms of what has made this clan so successful. It comes down to three main "resources": financial (cash), servers/systems (tech), and human (people).

From a cash standpoint, we have had dependable financial support from members and regulars for many, many years. This is something we should all be extremely grateful for. Our out of pocket per month for paid services:
* $42.98 to Gameservers for a 26 slot COD4 ($22.05) and 20 slot COD4 ($16.95) servers, and a 25 seat TeamSpeak ($3.98) server
* $9.95 to LowPingGameservers for B3 hosting

Technically speaking, we are beholden to paying for the aforementioned third party services. For the most part, this has worked dependably for us but it would be great if we could host our own bot someday. Unfortunately this is above my pay grade. There is also the hosting of our website and forums, which has been generously donated to the clan for several years by MrD3a7h (a long-standing executive member and former leader). He and I are basically the front-line website support, and there are a few select admins have credentials to perform various server maintenance when needed.

The most important part of the equation is the people. This is hands down, without question. You all...the ones reading this very forum...you are the cornerstone and reason for the success of our clan. Lest you forget back when you started out as a faithful "pubber" only to one day decide you wanted to tag up and become a member too. It's the people that set us apart and we are so lucky to have a great member base full of quality people from all over the globe. Thanks to this clan I have become very good friends with many people and even fortunate enough to have met a few of you in the flesh. You all contribute to a great playing environment by ensuring our code of conduct and server rules are maintained. You contribute by posting on our forums and making them worth visiting. And you contribute your hard earned money to help keep the lights on and your time in game and on our forums. Thank you all for making us who we are.

These three things are have ensured our survival as a clan and we now are one of the few remaining COD4 clans out there.

Now circling back to something Trogg mentioned earlier and my springboard. This clan was founded as a Call of Duty 4 clan, a game released in November 2007. I don't know how other games stack up, but 10+ years seems like an extraordinarily long time for a game to have an audience (a hell of a run if you ask me). COD4 has pretty much been our sole focus this entire time. As games and technologies have evolved, we have seen literally hundreds of members vanish, usually with little or no explanation. People break/upgrade PC's and lose software or CD keys, they find other games or hobbies, they switch to consoles (*barf*), encounter personal issues (like consoles), or life simply becomes occupied by other things. Thankfully we have a relatively stable member and player base, but the potential for growth has been limited for quite some time.

I think the evolution of games, online gaming and technology in general all pose a very real threat. The harsh reality that we are faced with (and not something I foresee in the near future) is that at some point we will have to evolve and adapt in order to ensure our member base is sustained and continues to grow. We have a functional website and forums, a Facebook presence, and we are experimenting with Discord (seems like a natural evolutionary next step as a gaming "community" but not a replacement for the website or forums). There are a few technically savvy folks to help maintain things and I think we could afford to welcome a few more skilled chefs into the kitchen so our presence stays relevant.

So, I have now mounted and shall dismount my springboard with a question to the group: What sorts of things do you think are necessary to help ensure that the Section 8 Clan continues to exist and flourish?

Any and all thoughts and ideas are welcome. If you'd rather not post in forums, send them to me in a PM and I will be happy to share anonymously or simply have a 1:1 conversation.

Thanks everyone for your consideration.

V

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Vagisil. Use only as directed.

I agree with everythingt Vag says.

To answer the question, I think everyone agrees that CoD4 is a classic game - personally I still think it is the best in the CoD franchise altogether, even though the graphics are not top-notch.
As a result of that, I am confident that people will keep coming to our server, and I am confident that the regular players - who all seem to have established some great relationships with a lot of other people, and have a lot of fun playing together - will stay as long as we manage to keep the server going, exactly because of the great community that thrives on our server.

I imagine that this community is also what causes people to make such generous donations in the first place - if they did not feel like the server was something special, why would they find it worthy of their money? I play on various servers in other games, but I don't have nearly as affectious a feeling when I go there, so I do not feel like it would make a difference if all of a sudden they were not there anymore - I would just go to the next server instead.

So, in short, I think the server is self-sustaining, community-wise, on the premise that we manage to keep ensuring its connection stability. I find it highly unlikely that people will suddenly choose to abandon CoD4 altogether in favour of newer games, and I feel like the mere fact that they are still here at this point speaks in favour of that hypothesis.