True, running a succesfull community is hard. Certainly not something I am an expert in. I think it was more active when it had more channels though, which further suggests it's the preferred platform.
The big question right now; what are the goals for WoWemu and what are the plans to archieve them?
If I may make a suggestion; attracting members and retaining them.
Short term, member activity could increase if some of the channels return or new ones are created. Branding ourselves as a community by veterans from acweb will help thanks to nostalgia.
Long term, members and non-members will need a reason to visit WoWemu and stay. I'd suggest we take a page from Acweb's success formula from back in the day; exclusive content by the staff.
Obviously that's easier said than done. We're all older and have less time. Yet, I do believe it's what's needed. So ignoring time constraints for a moment, what kind of exclusive content could be developed by the staff?
- An official repack
- Released every quater to include the latest fixes
- Non-blizzlike to standout more?
- Provide a blizzlike version too?
- If successfull; multiple repacks for different patches/exp?
- Webdesigns, CMS & feature plugins
- Most server websites seem to use older CMS projects with limited active development. Maybe a dedicated custom CMS isn't right for the emu scene any longer.
- Perhaps create designs and plugins for mainstream CMS' so the base code can be maintained from outside the emu scene.
- SQL releases
- AI might be able to help here. E.g. if we feed AI example Retail item data from a DB, could it create new but similarly balanced weapons with stats and everything?
- Shopping malls, Item sets, quest lines, events (maze/stairs), leveling zones
- Official guides & FAQ's
- FAQ's with pictures and maybe even videos?
- Monitor support channels both our own as other communities' to get insights on what information people are looking for and issue's they're having.
- Project/team pages
- Allow teams to have a dedicated blogpage on WoWemu's domain to post updates on their progress and provide support
- On an invite-only basis for larger/serious teams
- Could also be used for Official WoWemu projects/teams
It's likely not everything can be done with the current staff size. Recruiting new staff might be neccasary. Besides that, we don't have to do everything all at once.
Organizing the staff appropriately will require some new roles;
- Website administrator
- Forum/Discord moderator
- Official Content Creators
- Content coordinator: to coordinate with the teams, plan, copy editing and check for quality standards
- Repack team
- SQL team
- Guides & Support team
- etc.
Other things to consider;
- Prerably all releases are free, because free stuff attracts people. Which is what we want; growth. ideally any bill gets paid for through donations. Otherwise we can consider free and premium variants.
- Even though we're all doing this for free, joining the staff comes with responsibilities. If one isn't able to dedicate enough time, that's understandable, maybe work on releases as a community member instead. It's fair to set some requirements and let go of staff who can't meet them.
- Consider making everything open source or atleast make sure all source codes are available internally and not managed by a single staff member. In case someone else has to take over.
The emu scene is not as active as it used to be. I doubt all this will bring back the activity the scene once had. But doing nothing will result in nothing, while activity comes with activity.
Edit: fixed some formatting
