update [12-2-16] Update - OVH, CS:GO Rebuilding, Etc

[Roy 10,832 / 0]

Hello everybody, I am here with another update post for GFL. I plan on talking about a lot things in here that I feel will benefit GFL. Let’s start!

Update Posts
In my last update post, I said I would stop making update posts. I was expecting the BoD team to start making update posts but understandably, I don’t think that’ll work out. The problem is, there really isn’t much to talk about from a BoD’s view. For now, I am going to continue making update posts when I have the time and the BoD team will look over it and correct grammar mistakes, etc.

OVH Delay + Issues
As many of you know, we’ve been wanting to move over to OVH for a while now. However, there has been a very long delay on this. Firstly, we still haven’t made any progress on setting a certain geo-location for future OVH IPs. Unfortunately, I just haven’t had the time/motivation to look into this, but I need to step up since this is a very high priority. Secondly, due to lack of time/motivation again, I haven’t been able to talk to @KILLER-Banana about how the Linux back-end is going and how we’re going to implement it into future machines. Thirdly, on top of that, it is suspected that OVH will be expanding into the United States (somewhere in Virginia to be more specific). There is no official ETA on this yet but people are assuming sometime in early 2017. Once this new location is opened, we may not even need to set a geo-location due to Chicago being oversaturated already (it may just be better to stay geo-located in Virginia or NYC). 

With that said, there is a possibility that moving our CS:GO servers from NFO to OVH will backfire. After speaking to a friend and owner of another gaming community, he said there is a possibility that transferring favorites from one server to another via GSLT token may not even be working correctly in CS:GO. This has me very worried and once we do get an OVH machine, we are going to be very careful when moving servers over.

Overall, this should be a high priority for myself but I have been failing to find motivation/time to work on this major project. I will do my best from now on to work on this major project with the time/motivation I have.

CS:GO Division/Rebuilding
Bunny Hop
I am glad to say that we’ve rebuilt the first game mode (Bunny Hop) with the help of @Syrus, @HackingPotato, and the BHop Admin team. A new timer was implemented and ever since then, we’ve been receiving great feedback! There are still a few bugs/issues we need to fix but overall, the rebuilding was a success! Keep up the great work, CS:GO Bunny Hop team!

Surf Timer
The next set of servers we are planning to rebuild are Surf Timer. I feel this will be a very similar process as Bunny Hop. For example, we will probably get a new timer and redo a majority of the server settings. With that said, I also believe we will cut down on two servers (e.g. the Tier 1-4 servers) to make things easier to manage. I will be talking to @Neo about this once I have the time.

Zombie Escape
While this server is already stable, I would still like to address a problem I’ve been hearing complaints about. I’ve seen multiple reports of the server “lagging” a lot more recently. Around a month ago, we moved Purge to the same machine Zombie Escape is on. However, according the the peak CPU usage of the machine, it shouldn’t have affected Zombie Escape’s performance much.

 

68% peak CPU usage isn’t terribly high (non-like our other machine). 

I believe we had this same issue before and the problem has to do with models using the newer hitboxes. I believe we are using player models compiled with the newer hitboxes. These newer hitboxes have a lot more vertexes, etc resulting in more resources being used when players are shooting at the specific model (especially zombie models). There are two ways we can fix this issue, either we remove the player model or compile the player model using the old hitboxes. I believe @Ariistuujj knows how to compile models using the older hitboxes.

Other than that, I think the server performance should be fine. One thing you could try doing is lowering the net_splitrate ConVar, however, that will increase choke (this caused other problems in the past).

Division Leader
One last thing I would like to talk about is finding another Division Leader for CS:GO. Currently, @Dano and @Ariistuujj are basically managing our CS:GO division. However, I feel finding a separate Division Leader for CS:GO will help. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there are any obvious candidates. Therefore, I believe we are going to have to find a candidate with a lot of potential and train them to become a Division Leader for CS:GO.

Garry’s Mod Division
Purge
Currently, our Purge server is suffering from three issues.

1. The Server Manager has recently resigned.
2. We are getting attacked by an (at the moment) unstoppable attack.
3. The server has major performance issues.

With the combination of these three things, our server has been seeing a drop in population. Unfortunately, none of these issues are simple to fix. I believe we need to focus on two main issues right now. These issues are #1 and #2. We need to be doing everything we can to stop the server from being attacked. Whether it’s e-mailing Valve and the Garry’s Mod Dev team, posting on FacePunch to see if anybody has an idea on how to stop the attack, etc. At the same time, I believe we need to be looking for a candidate who has potential of managing the server and if needed, train them. The Server Manager will need to know what they’re getting themselves into. This server is not easy to manage and the more trained they are, the easier it will be for them to start as Server Manager.

After these issues are fixed, focusing on the last issue (#3) will be important. I have a GMod Purge test server on my VPS that I have ready. I’ve already reproduced the problem with bots and the only thing left to do is spend many hours finding out the cause to the lag (conflicting addons, etc).

DeathRun
I just wanted to say that our DeathRun server is doing pretty well! It is now below the 500th rank on GameTracker (lower = better). Keep up the great work and continue growing the player base!

Supporter/Donator Perks
While putting MOTD Ads on our Garry’s Mod server was a huge success, I still feel we need to improve with Supporter/Donator perks. With how customizable Garry’s Mod is, I believe all of our popular GMod servers should be passing our CS:GO servers in donations. For example, I feel we should be getting more donations from Hide and Seek than CS:GO Bunny Hop.

Division Leaders
Recently, one of our Garry’s Mod Division Leaders have resigned. This, in my opinion, was a big loss. Many users appear to be expecting a replacement, which may still be a possibility. However, I believe we don’t need one.

Currently, we don’t even have a dedicated Division Leader for CS:GO (one of our larger divisions). Our Garry’s Mod division still has two Division Leaders, which, in my opinion should be enough for now. Before we get another Division Leader for Garry’s Mod, we need to ensure the candidate is completely trained and ready to handle the division. The Division Leader should be ready both technically and socially to handle the Garry’s Mod division.

CS:S Division
Zombie Mod
Since @SwegBuster has stepped down and @Joshy has been inactive, I don’t think any progress has been made to Zombie Mod. Once Joshy comes online, I will be talking to him about the future of our Zombie Mod server. With that said, I’m confident we’re going to need somebody who is good at the technical side of things for this server. Either that or we train Joshy

Dust2
According to @Addy, Dust2 is almost ready to release. I’m not sure if we have another Server Manager ready to take over the server once released or not. With that said, there is one issue I will likely have to investigate with TOG’s Chat Tags plugin. Afterwards, I would say the server is pretty much good to go.

Team Fortress 2
Freak Fortress 2 and DeathRun
I feel these two servers need to be finished. It has been a couple months now since we’ve announced these servers and I haven’t heard any progress from our Division Leaders and Server Managers. I am looking forward to seeing these servers releasing in the future! 

Organization
The next thing I would like to talk about is organization. Currently, I feel we need to improve in this area. I will be listing things we will be doing to stay organized.

Redo Chat Advertisements
Currently, all of our servers should be using a plugin pack made by GFL’s developers that includes plugins such as global advertisements. Currently, the default advertisements in the database include:

• {default}GFL is always recruiting! Apply for Membership @ {darkred}GFLClan.com{default}!
• {default}Don't play alone! Join us on TeamSpeak @ {darkred}ts.gflclan.com{default}!
• {default}Buy unique server perks @ {darkred}GFLClan.com{default}!
• {default}Follow us on Twitter! {darkred}@GFLClan
• {default}Type {red}!hop {default}or {red}/hop {default}to view our other servers!

I feel these need to be redone. For example, the “Buy unique server perks…” message doesn’t sound attracting. We need to have more professional messages that will attract new players.

With that said, @Ariistuujj has suggested implementing an include to the plugin pack. The problem right now is {darkred} looks fine for CS:GO, but for CS:S, it looks too dark. What this include will do is allow us to set a variable that can be changed. For example, {gflhighlight}, in which server operators will be allowed change the color of {gflhighlight} (either in hexadecimal or CS:GO colors such as {darkred}).

Please post suggestions for these chat advertisements!

Server Hop List Updating
While playing on CS:S Bunny Hop and CS:S Surf RPG DM the other day, I noticed that we still had DeathRun and GunGame on our Server Hop list. For those of you who don’t know, these servers were removed months ago. This was using GFL’s Server Hop plugin. Therefore, it was my fault for not updating the list. Unfortunately, until I code a PHP page where staff can edit the server list, I am the only one able to do it right now. I will do my best to step up and keep this server list updated in the future.

Server Admins On The Forum
Although I haven’t checked recently, in the past, there have been many admins demoted on servers, but not on the forums. I feel we need to ensure we keep up with demotions on the forum and ensure any inactive/demoted admins are not left as “Server Admin” on the forum.

New GFL Logo/Banner
I will be talking to @qReindeer about making a new GFL logo/banner for our website and social media websites (e.g. Steam, etc). I feel our current one has a few issues (e.g. the “dark-gray” area is uneven). With that said, I want everything in GFL to use one logo. I’ve noticed we use different logos for the website, Steam groups, etc and that needs to change. It looks unprofessional when we are using multiple logos like that. We need GFL to have one symbol and that will be our logo.

MOTD Ad Revenue
I just wanted to give an update on the amount of ad revenue we are receiving. Ever since we’ve added MOTD Ads to our Garry’s Mod servers, our ad revenue has skyrocketed. We will be receiving $103.28 in 34 days and $330.47 in 64 days. I expect this month to have around $400 - $600 of revenue depending on how well our Garry’s Mod servers do along with our CS:GO/CS:S servers. Keep up the great work everybody!

Recent Resignations And Training
As many of you know, we’ve been seeing a trend in resignations recently. This has obviously affected GFL negatively. Due to the amount of resignations recently, I feel we are currently slightly understaffed.

With that said, I also feel there aren’t any obvious candidates for higher positions. This basically means we will either not fill in the gaps or will have to find somebody with potential. In my opinion, finding somebody with potential and training them correctly is definitely the way to go, especially in our situation. This leads me to my next point, I feel we need great official training guides and such for our Server Managers and higher-up positions (e.g. Community Adviser and Division Leaders). I’ve made a YouTube playlist of training videos here. However, I’ve received a lot of negative feedback (due to my lack of excitement in the videos). Therefore, I feel either having somebody who will show dedication and make training videos entertaining to our Server Managers+ or have long posts for guides, etc. We will be trying to do both.

Overall, training will become very important to GFL in the future. Training users with potential will highly increase our chances of finding a (somewhat) permanent replacement for the specific position.

[Personal] My Lack Of Motivation And Stressfulness
For the last couple months, I’ve been very stressed out over GFL. It got to the point where I almost fully resigned from GFL. Excluding the past couple weeks, I’ve always worked on GFL mostly alone. I mean yeah, I would talk to whoever I needed to talk to but I never socially interacted with anybody in GFL. Fortunately, starting a couple weeks ago, I started socially interacting with people in GFL on TeamSpeak 3, etc. I feel this has helped me a lot and perhaps gave me more motivation to work on GFL.

I started working at Home Depot on November 1st. This is a job I am not used to due to the scheduling, etc. I am used to having a set schedule which helped me make plans and have certain days where I could just work on GFL. Unfortunately, my schedule is all over the place with this job making it harder for me to plan things (something I’m not good at to begin with). Ever since this job has begun, finding time and motivation to do things in GFL has become much more difficult. However, I don’t plan on giving up, especially with the major projects that need to be done. I just hope I can find the motivation/time in the end.

One other thing I will start doing which should help GFL and myself out a lot is giving our higher-ups things to do. This is something that I have struggled with doing due to usually working alone on things. I will be forced to start doing this due to the amount of time I’ll have in the future.

Overall, I am aware of the lack of time I am putting into GFL which is negatively affecting the community. I will do my best in the future to find time to do things and perhaps stop playing games that waste my time.

Conclusion
To conclude, GFL is still in great shape (better than before). We just have to keep up the great work and come together to work as a team. 

If you have any questions/concerns, please post in this thread!

Google Doc

Thanks for reading!

[Roy 10,832 / 0]

This is the first update post made in the Supporters+ "Updates" section. Expect more in the future!

 

@Shuruia and @Dano, feel free to correct any grammar mistakes (I did my best to go through and correct most of them)!

 

Thanks.

[Addy 1,648 / 18,747]

i made it on the big boy thread.

 

edit: besides the problem with chat tags, dust 2 is 100% ready server-wise. everything else would just need to be stuff on the forums. 

 

glad to see you're taking advice and going to start handing out tasks to the higher ups that are perfectly capable. 

 

i wouldn't mind helping out whoever gets manager for dust 2 or bhop (dust 2 would be easier for me, but i still know a good bit about bhop)

 

#RoyChamp

Edited December 2, 2016 by Addy
PogChamp

[SwegBuster 892 / 15,966]

If you need any help in training for my successor for ZM. Feel free to reach out.

Edited December 2, 2016 by SwegBuster

[Alucard33rd 1,177 / 15,169]

1 hour ago, Roy said:

With that said, there is a possibility that moving our CS:GO servers from NFO to OVH will backfire. After speaking to a friend and owner of another gaming community, he said there is a possibility that transferring favorites from one server to another via GSLT token may not even be working correctly in CS:GO. This has me very worried and once we do get an OVH machine, we are going to be very careful when moving servers over.

 

Probably this is a good chance to do this as I have been noticing slight increases in lag on CSGO the past few weeks. (mostly ping increase and sv increase) Personally, for some servers is almost unplayable at times during the day. Not even sure if that would even fix it.

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

The next set of servers we are planning to rebuild are Surf Timer. I feel this will be a very similar process as Bunny Hop. For example, we will probably get a new timer and redo a majority of the server settings. With that said, I also believe we will cut down on two servers (e.g. the Tier 1-4 servers) to make things easier to manage. I will be talking to @Neo about this once I have the time.

Still tight with this community and I know that most people want to keep the Tier 1-4 as it brings in regulars, currently getting the most population at times. Cutting this server will destroy the surf community. Personally the only servers Surf needs to survive is a US 1-3 server, US 1-4 server, and one EU server with all tiers. Defiantly talk to Neo, I talked to him recently and the changes are long due.

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

One last thing I would like to talk about is finding another Division Leader for CS:GO. Currently, @Dano and @Ariistuujj are basically managing our CS:GO division. However, I feel finding a separate Division Leader for CS:GO will help. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there are any obvious candidates. Therefore, I believe we are going to have to find a candidate with a lot of potential and train them to become a Division Leader for CS:GO.

I believe @Dano and @Ariistuujj are doing a great job and always have been. But, getting a suited DL is a good idea as CSGO has been lacking good support 24/7 when a DL is in need but offline or busy. Glad to see this change come and hopefully it will benefit.

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

I just wanted to say that our DeathRun server is doing pretty well! It is now below the 500th rank on GameTracker (lower = better). Keep up the great work and continue growing the player base!

Thank you. @Violator, @Rcool64, @Nubz have put lots of work into this server and it turned out awesome and fun to play. We have an incredible admin team and lots of regulars and new people joining daily. Personally, I believe this was far successful and hopefully will be miles better then last time. I and honored to be apart of the team and it was a decision I do not regret. Thanks @Rcool64 for the opportunity.

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

While putting MOTD Ads on our Garry’s Mod server was a huge success, I still feel we need to improve with Supporter/Donator perks.

If you are referring to new perks or changes it definitely needs one. Want needs to be done from my POV is better perks for Supporter/Donator and VIP as well as a more define deference between Supporter and VIP. 

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

The next thing I would like to talk about is organization. Currently, I feel we need to improve in this area. I will be listing things we will be doing to stay organized.

Guides for Staff for all Servers/Proper Training, More Consistent MOTD's, Consistent information and logos, Server Side things, etc. Not sure if this was the kind or organization you were looking for but those were things I noticed on the Server side of things.

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

Redo Chat Advertisements
Currently, all of our servers should be using a plugin pack made by GFL’s developers that includes plugins such as global advertisements. Currently, the default advertisements in the database include:

Don't have to use but here are my suggestions: @Roy/@Ariistuujj

- Apply For Membership Today and be part of the GFL Family!

- Meet New People, Socialize, and Earn Fame in our TeamSpeak Server made for Gamers like you!

- Be the cool guy and get the perks you deserve by Purchasing Support/VIP Today!

- Don't be that guy who isn't up to date on GFL's Events. Follow us on Twitter!

 

I tried

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

This leads me to my next point, I feel we need great official training guides and such for our Server Managers and higher-up positions (e.g. Community Adviser and Division Leaders). I’ve made a YouTube playlist of training videos here. However, I’ve received a lot of negative feedback (due to my lack of excitement in the videos)

Although the Guides were good, you are indeed right that the videos are not exciting at all and to top that of they are long. Finding a Manager, or really anyone, who is will to pull out all of the important stuff in your videos and creating their own Video Guide, while adding some humor, will surely make more entertaining and motivating videos for Managers.

 

1 hour ago, Roy said:

[Personal] My Lack Of Motivation And Stressfulness

To sum up, if I were in your shoes I would find someone trusted, dedicate, and has free time to be you dedicated "Secretary" who will take your information and expand on it when sharing it with Higher Ups. 

 

 

Nice update post, enjoined reading it and you made some good points that are longing to be done.

Edited December 2, 2016 by CrusTi

[Joshy 4,382 / 45,371]

Sent you a PM.

[HackingPotato 1,297 / 14,301]

5 hours ago, CrusTi said:

if I were in your shoes I would find someone trusted, dedicate, and has free time to be you dedicated "Secretary" who will take your information and expand on it when sharing it with Higher Ups. 

 

Yup...  Thats me. 

 

Edit 1: I think @Roy we need to shift some things on your spread sheet. Make the purge investigation a high priority and start giving some tasks to DLs and BOD. 

 

Edit 2: nevermind... I revised the spread sheet for you

Edited December 2, 2016 by HackingPotato

[Chormee 2,973 / 29,227]

7 hours ago, Roy said:

I feel we should be getting more donations from Hide and Seek than CS:GO Bunny Hop.

Honestly, i feel the same way.

 

Ill be sure to tell admins in HNS to advertise donator perks to players, since the players we get are mostly randoms, if we were to get players to stay on the server as regulars (i mean, we have many regulars) but if we got more, we could increase population and donations by a lot.

 

Ill also be planning on talking to Dana, the manager, and Gmod Division Leaders about extra perks we could add, as well as other things about the server.

[Roy 10,832 / 0]

I forgot to add one thing.

 

Rust

Currently, we have no official server manager for our Rust server. The server hasn't been populated either. Currently, our machines are overloaded, especially the machine the Rust server is on. With that said, Rust is currently using 68% (8.5% total) CPU while no players are on.

 

While there have been a couple individuals wanting to run the server, I believe it would be best to shut it down. The servers on the machine are already lagging due to the machine being overloaded. If the Rust server started doing better, the machine would become even more overloaded resulting in our servers extremely lagging. On top of that, I personally do not like running Rust on our NFO machines due to the Managed panel not fitting with the game.

 

Once we buy an OVH machine, I am definitely up for trying out Rust again and in my opinion, it should easier (full control, better hardware, etc). 

 

If you have any questions/concerns, please post in this thread!

 

Thanks.

[Otter 890 / 10,500]

no

Edited December 26, 2016 by 12345678910

[HackingPotato 1,297 / 14,301]

2 hours ago, Otter said:

 

 

can we not shut down rust??

 

Ive approved this because I would like to know if he has any valid counter-points on why we should keep the server up. 

[Argyros 35 / 2,141]

Looks like GFL is moving into the right step.
It's definitely good to see some improvements being made and the fact that you made this post to let the community know.
@Roy If you need help with some things let me know. I have experience running and managing servers.
Lastly, I believe there should be an increase of perks on other servers, for example, the ZE server only has skins for extra perks. Most of these extra perks are for supporters, but hardly any for VIPs not to mention that the reserved slots don't seem to be working either as most people get dropped due to it.
 

[Bae 2,489 / 41,565]

I'll just ignore the section where I don't understand and respond to the ones I do.

First, I did not know a dl from gmod resigned. Second, I don't think it's necessary to have another one. And lastly, there's still two more... and they already have potential and works very hard.

As for lack of team, I mean, if the server got a good team then it's fine. If not, I think it'll still be the managers decision iin finding someone who is dedicated to help out. I believe it's more on the side that managers aren't trusting on other players for giving them a chance. It may be bad overall, and they might get demoted but at least they tried to help out. In all the Communities I've been through, gfl is strict in just one small thing. When someone is starting a fight, it becomes a big deal for being unprofessional. It's an auto demotion from their high rank. But it feels more of auto suspension than an auto demotion. Unless this admin like went rampage and started bringing the same topic over and over throughout the forums, teamspeak, or even servers. To me, this may be the caused of it. 

 

As for the rest, I'm just going to nod in agreement of understanding the situation . 

[Otter 890 / 10,500]

no

Edited December 26, 2016 by 12345678910

[Viision 45 / 2,276]

On 12/2/2016 at 1:07 AM, Roy said:

Hello everybody, I am here with another update post for GFL. I plan on talking about a lot things in here that I feel will benefit GFL. Let’s start!

Update Posts
In my last update post, I said I would stop making update posts. I was expecting the BoD team to start making update posts but understandably, I don’t think that’ll work out. The problem is, there really isn’t much to talk about from a BoD’s view. For now, I am going to continue making update posts when I have the time and the BoD team will look over it and correct grammar mistakes, etc.

OVH Delay + Issues
As many of you know, we’ve been wanting to move over to OVH for a while now. However, there has been a very long delay on this. Firstly, we still haven’t made any progress on setting a certain geo-location for future OVH IPs. Unfortunately, I just haven’t had the time/motivation to look into this, but I need to step up since this is a very high priority. Secondly, due to lack of time/motivation again, I haven’t been able to talk to @KILLER-Banana about how the Linux back-end is going and how we’re going to implement it into future machines. Thirdly, on top of that, it is suspected that OVH will be expanding into the United States (somewhere in Virginia to be more specific). There is no official ETA on this yet but people are assuming sometime in early 2017. Once this new location is opened, we may not even need to set a geo-location due to Chicago being oversaturated already (it may just be better to stay geo-located in Virginia or NYC). 

With that said, there is a possibility that moving our CS:GO servers from NFO to OVH will backfire. After speaking to a friend and owner of another gaming community, he said there is a possibility that transferring favorites from one server to another via GSLT token may not even be working correctly in CS:GO. This has me very worried and once we do get an OVH machine, we are going to be very careful when moving servers over.

Overall, this should be a high priority for myself but I have been failing to find motivation/time to work on this major project. I will do my best from now on to work on this major project with the time/motivation I have.

CS:GO Division/Rebuilding
Bunny Hop
I am glad to say that we’ve rebuilt the first game mode (Bunny Hop) with the help of @Syrus, @HackingPotato, and the BHop Admin team. A new timer was implemented and ever since then, we’ve been receiving great feedback! There are still a few bugs/issues we need to fix but overall, the rebuilding was a success! Keep up the great work, CS:GO Bunny Hop team!

Surf Timer
The next set of servers we are planning to rebuild are Surf Timer. I feel this will be a very similar process as Bunny Hop. For example, we will probably get a new timer and redo a majority of the server settings. With that said, I also believe we will cut down on two servers (e.g. the Tier 1-4 servers) to make things easier to manage. I will be talking to @Neo about this once I have the time.

Zombie Escape
While this server is already stable, I would still like to address a problem I’ve been hearing complaints about. I’ve seen multiple reports of the server “lagging” a lot more recently. Around a month ago, we moved Purge to the same machine Zombie Escape is on. However, according the the peak CPU usage of the machine, it shouldn’t have affected Zombie Escape’s performance much.

 

68% peak CPU usage isn’t terribly high (non-like our other machine). 

I believe we had this same issue before and the problem has to do with models using the newer hitboxes. I believe we are using player models compiled with the newer hitboxes. These newer hitboxes have a lot more vertexes, etc resulting in more resources being used when players are shooting at the specific model (especially zombie models). There are two ways we can fix this issue, either we remove the player model or compile the player model using the old hitboxes. I believe @Ariistuujj knows how to compile models using the older hitboxes.

Other than that, I think the server performance should be fine. One thing you could try doing is lowering the net_splitrate ConVar, however, that will increase choke (this caused other problems in the past).

Division Leader
One last thing I would like to talk about is finding another Division Leader for CS:GO. Currently, @Dano and @Ariistuujj are basically managing our CS:GO division. However, I feel finding a separate Division Leader for CS:GO will help. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there are any obvious candidates. Therefore, I believe we are going to have to find a candidate with a lot of potential and train them to become a Division Leader for CS:GO.

Garry’s Mod Division
Purge
Currently, our Purge server is suffering from three issues.

1. The Server Manager has recently resigned.
2. We are getting attacked by an (at the moment) unstoppable attack.
3. The server has major performance issues.

With the combination of these three things, our server has been seeing a drop in population. Unfortunately, none of these issues are simple to fix. I believe we need to focus on two main issues right now. These issues are #1 and #2. We need to be doing everything we can to stop the server from being attacked. Whether it’s e-mailing Valve and the Garry’s Mod Dev team, posting on FacePunch to see if anybody has an idea on how to stop the attack, etc. At the same time, I believe we need to be looking for a candidate who has potential of managing the server and if needed, train them. The Server Manager will need to know what they’re getting themselves into. This server is not easy to manage and the more trained they are, the easier it will be for them to start as Server Manager.

After these issues are fixed, focusing on the last issue (#3) will be important. I have a GMod Purge test server on my VPS that I have ready. I’ve already reproduced the problem with bots and the only thing left to do is spend many hours finding out the cause to the lag (conflicting addons, etc).

DeathRun
I just wanted to say that our DeathRun server is doing pretty well! It is now below the 500th rank on GameTracker (lower = better). Keep up the great work and continue growing the player base!

Supporter/Donator Perks
While putting MOTD Ads on our Garry’s Mod server was a huge success, I still feel we need to improve with Supporter/Donator perks. With how customizable Garry’s Mod is, I believe all of our popular GMod servers should be passing our CS:GO servers in donations. For example, I feel we should be getting more donations from Hide and Seek than CS:GO Bunny Hop.

Division Leaders
Recently, one of our Garry’s Mod Division Leaders have resigned. This, in my opinion, was a big loss. Many users appear to be expecting a replacement, which may still be a possibility. However, I believe we don’t need one.

Currently, we don’t even have a dedicated Division Leader for CS:GO (one of our larger divisions). Our Garry’s Mod division still has two Division Leaders, which, in my opinion should be enough for now. Before we get another Division Leader for Garry’s Mod, we need to ensure the candidate is completely trained and ready to handle the division. The Division Leader should be ready both technically and socially to handle the Garry’s Mod division.

CS:S Division
Zombie Mod
Since @SwegBuster has stepped down and @Joshy has been inactive, I don’t think any progress has been made to Zombie Mod. Once Joshy comes online, I will be talking to him about the future of our Zombie Mod server. With that said, I’m confident we’re going to need somebody who is good at the technical side of things for this server. Either that or we train Joshy

Dust2
According to @Addy, Dust2 is almost ready to release. I’m not sure if we have another Server Manager ready to take over the server once released or not. With that said, there is one issue I will likely have to investigate with TOG’s Chat Tags plugin. Afterwards, I would say the server is pretty much good to go.

Team Fortress 2
Freak Fortress 2 and DeathRun
I feel these two servers need to be finished. It has been a couple months now since we’ve announced these servers and I haven’t heard any progress from our Division Leaders and Server Managers. I am looking forward to seeing these servers releasing in the future! 

Organization
The next thing I would like to talk about is organization. Currently, I feel we need to improve in this area. I will be listing things we will be doing to stay organized.

Redo Chat Advertisements
Currently, all of our servers should be using a plugin pack made by GFL’s developers that includes plugins such as global advertisements. Currently, the default advertisements in the database include:

• {default}GFL is always recruiting! Apply for Membership @ {darkred}GFLClan.com{default}!
• {default}Don't play alone! Join us on TeamSpeak @ {darkred}ts.gflclan.com{default}!
• {default}Buy unique server perks @ {darkred}GFLClan.com{default}!
• {default}Follow us on Twitter! {darkred}@GFLClan
• {default}Type {red}!hop {default}or {red}/hop {default}to view our other servers!

I feel these need to be redone. For example, the “Buy unique server perks…” message doesn’t sound attracting. We need to have more professional messages that will attract new players.

With that said, @Ariistuujj has suggested implementing an include to the plugin pack. The problem right now is {darkred} looks fine for CS:GO, but for CS:S, it looks too dark. What this include will do is allow us to set a variable that can be changed. For example, {gflhighlight}, in which server operators will be allowed change the color of {gflhighlight} (either in hexadecimal or CS:GO colors such as {darkred}).

Please post suggestions for these chat advertisements!

Server Hop List Updating
While playing on CS:S Bunny Hop and CS:S Surf RPG DM the other day, I noticed that we still had DeathRun and GunGame on our Server Hop list. For those of you who don’t know, these servers were removed months ago. This was using GFL’s Server Hop plugin. Therefore, it was my fault for not updating the list. Unfortunately, until I code a PHP page where staff can edit the server list, I am the only one able to do it right now. I will do my best to step up and keep this server list updated in the future.

Server Admins On The Forum
Although I haven’t checked recently, in the past, there have been many admins demoted on servers, but not on the forums. I feel we need to ensure we keep up with demotions on the forum and ensure any inactive/demoted admins are not left as “Server Admin” on the forum.

New GFL Logo/Banner
I will be talking to @qReindeer about making a new GFL logo/banner for our website and social media websites (e.g. Steam, etc). I feel our current one has a few issues (e.g. the “dark-gray” area is uneven). With that said, I want everything in GFL to use one logo. I’ve noticed we use different logos for the website, Steam groups, etc and that needs to change. It looks unprofessional when we are using multiple logos like that. We need GFL to have one symbol and that will be our logo.

MOTD Ad Revenue
I just wanted to give an update on the amount of ad revenue we are receiving. Ever since we’ve added MOTD Ads to our Garry’s Mod servers, our ad revenue has skyrocketed. We will be receiving $103.28 in 34 days and $330.47 in 64 days. I expect this month to have around $400 - $600 of revenue depending on how well our Garry’s Mod servers do along with our CS:GO/CS:S servers. Keep up the great work everybody!

Recent Resignations And Training
As many of you know, we’ve been seeing a trend in resignations recently. This has obviously affected GFL negatively. Due to the amount of resignations recently, I feel we are currently slightly understaffed.

With that said, I also feel there aren’t any obvious candidates for higher positions. This basically means we will either not fill in the gaps or will have to find somebody with potential. In my opinion, finding somebody with potential and training them correctly is definitely the way to go, especially in our situation. This leads me to my next point, I feel we need great official training guides and such for our Server Managers and higher-up positions (e.g. Community Adviser and Division Leaders). I’ve made a YouTube playlist of training videos here. However, I’ve received a lot of negative feedback (due to my lack of excitement in the videos). Therefore, I feel either having somebody who will show dedication and make training videos entertaining to our Server Managers+ or have long posts for guides, etc. We will be trying to do both.

Overall, training will become very important to GFL in the future. Training users with potential will highly increase our chances of finding a (somewhat) permanent replacement for the specific position.

[Personal] My Lack Of Motivation And Stressfulness
For the last couple months, I’ve been very stressed out over GFL. It got to the point where I almost fully resigned from GFL. Excluding the past couple weeks, I’ve always worked on GFL mostly alone. I mean yeah, I would talk to whoever I needed to talk to but I never socially interacted with anybody in GFL. Fortunately, starting a couple weeks ago, I started socially interacting with people in GFL on TeamSpeak 3, etc. I feel this has helped me a lot and perhaps gave me more motivation to work on GFL.

I started working at Home Depot on November 1st. This is a job I am not used to due to the scheduling, etc. I am used to having a set schedule which helped me make plans and have certain days where I could just work on GFL. Unfortunately, my schedule is all over the place with this job making it harder for me to plan things (something I’m not good at to begin with). Ever since this job has begun, finding time and motivation to do things in GFL has become much more difficult. However, I don’t plan on giving up, especially with the major projects that need to be done. I just hope I can find the motivation/time in the end.

One other thing I will start doing which should help GFL and myself out a lot is giving our higher-ups things to do. This is something that I have struggled with doing due to usually working alone on things. I will be forced to start doing this due to the amount of time I’ll have in the future.

Overall, I am aware of the lack of time I am putting into GFL which is negatively affecting the community. I will do my best in the future to find time to do things and perhaps stop playing games that waste my time.

Conclusion
To conclude, GFL is still in great shape (better than before). We just have to keep up the great work and come together to work as a team. 

If you have any questions/concerns, please post in this thread!

Google Doc

Thanks for reading!

@Roy @ButterKing5000

It seems that your revenue from Motd is amazing, But still could make a ton more maybe by adding this quick suggestion.

So I've been thinking that every time someone is jailed they have an option to be released early by watching a video, Kinda like those apps who give free money if u watch a 30 second ad etc.

I've thought about this and someone asked about what if someone bails the player during a video, You guys might have to remove the bail system. but imagine the profit to be made here.

Edit: About the server manager guide's I can definitely whip something up from your videos if you'd like I'll get started on it right away

Edited December 6, 2016 by Viision
Added sentence