Folk Year 2

[fer]

Most complaints about server being down or incoming updates to the server and thus certain players not being able to play can be backtracked to a fact that they themselves don't keep up to date with latest news about the server.

That's true, but therein lies the issue for Folk. With a more normal group that has certain expectations of its members, you can count on people being motivated to check regularly (and take personal responsibility). With the Folk sessions, which were originally designed for guests that are too time-poor to commit to regular groups, we almost have to assume that the norm is not to check between sessions.

Another misconception a lot of people have is that whenever a new version of something is released, they must instantly update.

Excellent point. However, there's still a challenge, particularly with popular mods - and it's actually exemplified by the current approach to CBA on the Folk server. We have a permitted version of CBA right now, but it's not the latest. For guests who only play at Folk that's not such a big deal, but for those who come from groups / other communities, it's a complication; they have to keep two copies and know when to switch. It's not too bad with a small addon like CBA, but imagine asking people to keep two different copies of a major mod installed? That may create too much hassle for guests, causing them to stop attending Folk sessions in favour of their addon-using groups.

Well, I am greatly sorry if I appeared in any way hostile on the stance with FOLK usage of addons.

Apologies, comrade! I didn't mean you were being hostile at all (I thought your post was really constructive and useful); what I meant was that in replying I hoped that I wasn't coming across as hostile/bitter. I'm very glad you enjoy the Folk sessions, and grateful that you are taking time to post in this thread with thoughts and challenges - it is very useful.

[Draakon]

That's true, but therein lies the issue for Folk. With a more normal group that has certain expectations of its members, you can count on people being motivated to check regularly (and take personal responsibility). With the Folk sessions, which were originally designed for guests that are too time-poor to commit to regular groups, we almost have to assume that the norm is not to check between sessions.

Why not have a addon only session in FOLK on certain days then? For example, every saturday or any other day we play with addon x or y. That way, people have variety and still can still enjoy vanilla Arma 2 sessions on sundays

Excellent point. However, there's still a challenge, particularly with popular mods - and it's actually exemplified by the current approach to CBA on the Folk server. We have a permitted version of CBA right now, but it's not the latest. For guests who only play at Folk that's not such a big deal, but for those who come from groups / other communities, it's a complication; they have to keep two copies and know when to switch. It's not too bad with a small addon like CBA, but imagine asking people to keep two different copies of a major mod installed? That may create too much hassle for guests, causing them to stop attending Folk sessions in favour of their addon-using groups.

Well, thats up to a person to person indeed how they manage their addons. But this problem is easy to circumvent. Both by server and client. Before my great reinstall of Arma 2, I had like 5 versions of CBA alone. Latest for ACE, latest for some other mode, x, y, z versions for other servers. Every client can rename their addon folder to something else, for example @CBA-for-folk-sessions were you keep the CBA version FOLK server only allows. As for server, its the same as well. Servers can use the addon folder method as well with bunch of different version. Its up to an server admins to decide what versions they want to use on their server. And also they can stick with it indefinitely if they wanted to.

Anyway, in my opinion, a more simpler question about addons that should be asked first: Do FOLK players want to have FOLK sessions with addons (for example every saturday)? This question itself should tell any community owner on what their players want.

[fer]

Changing this to a standard topic now. Thank you to all comrades who posted to the original thread. A few small things will change (or have already changed) as a result of the discussion:

Openness / Advertising - The Folk forums will remain invisible to non-comrades, but over the coming weeks I plan to resume the release of mission packs in order to gain a little profile for Folk; in addition to the usual community places (ArmAholic, BI forums), we might post these to other places, such as Something Awful and PC gaming forums.

Required addons: The Folk sessions will retain their vanilla focus, but we now permit guests to connect with client-side addons enabled.

In-game communication: Again, the sessions shall retain their existing VON + TeamSpeak 3 approach, but we shall be asking all guests to be familiar with CC and how to enable/use it. A very helpful guide is already available in the Getting started with TeamSpeak 3 (for ArmA2) thread.

Our comrades in ARPS: Again, the conclusion appeared to be that no major changes were necessary. However, two ARPS comrades have very kindly (bravely?) agreed to become members of Folk's 'hosts' team:

• Comrade Admiral Nullkigan
• Comrade Bodge

Please treat them with the same much more courtesy you extend to existing hosts like comrade Tigershark and myself. Thanks!