Sign In
Create Account
Follow Us on Twitter
Like Us on Facebook
Subscribe on Youtube
Dear Soldiers,
as you may have witnessed here and here, Operation7 Service is going get terminated at the end of December, the 28th.
Over the last couple days I wanted to give you all the time to assimilate the message of service termination. Now since the weekend is over and the first shocks are wearing off, it is time to particularize a few things regarding the current situation, actions and reactions.
Disclaimer:
As always, I will only talk about myself and my position as [GM] and Staff Member for Operation7. My views doesn't reflect those of Netgame and/or other Staff Members.
First of all, I am too - very sad that Operation7.eu is getting closed. But as it is in life in general and of course with every game in the gaming industry: No game lasts forever. Sometimes the circumstances why a game is getting closed are more understandable, sometimes less, sometimes different, but yet in the end they are all the same, the game has reached the end of its product life-cycle. I have explained this multiple times all across the forums. Even the greatest games are going to end sometime.
Some may say that what matters is how it ended. I say that what should matter is - the great times someone had with the product he consumed. All those great and happy memories, all those good times, those are the things that should count. And even I have and had some great memories from all those past years. I honestly believe that one of the greatest memories will be the creation and establishment of the Season Event. We practically asked for the technical implementation like it's currently more or less standard in every modern game. After getting declined, we asked ourselves:"Is the there a way to do something like that without any technical implementation at all?". And we figured a way to do it. This was the most insane and most time and energy consuming thing I ever did during my years of OP7...
...which leads me to my own OP7 career. In 2010 I joined the OP7 Staff Team of FIAA, based in Siegburg, Germany. I met a ton of interesting people and ultimately worked with them. Back at that time, I was doing my apprenticeship in the marketing devision of OP7. The game had reached the growth state of the product life-cycle and [GM]Matt, [GM]Stirb and I had to do all the advertising we could to make the game more popular. Doing all the navigation and conversation with all the different gaming websites was very exciting at the time.
After that I had to finalize my educational part and returned to the game early in 2012. Maya's calender turned out to not happening at all and so I joined the Staff Team again, this time as a regular [RGM] under the banner of [RGM]-Leader Hebus. From 2012 until the very day I was promoted to [GM] in June 2016, I learned a lot from all the peoples I have met. Of course I also saw a lot of bad things happening beyond the curtains which leads me to another topic...
...power abusing:
Of course at this point I won't share any details about anyone in particular. There will be no name-calling at all as well. But from the very start of the success of FIAA, people weren't more or less able to handle the rate of success, they had. Establishing something of their own, something unique, something that differed from all the other games currently on the market, lead to feelings that no one can match with you from now on. Members felt like they were in charge of everything. And If someone wanted to mock them, they had to show their position, mark their territory so to speak. Back at the time it didn't seem to matter since for every banned players, three new ones were accumulated through marketing.
As mentioned nothing lasts forever and like it is with every downfall, behind curtains tons of wrong decisions were made. After having returned in 2012, already different people were in charge than before. The game was still in a good spot, but had already reached the end of the growth stage. Back in 2012, the game had already reached the Maturity stage. Slightly growth through already established marketing spots, but mainly and mostly living from past work. Many teams were closed and only a few were left to work on content patches and maintaining the game. Even back then, it was already clear that the technical aspect of the game and the engine used weren't meant to endure.
From that moment on, it was very clear to me that every suggestion that is ever going to be made - had to work on that old engine. Every great idea was hitting directly technical issues from that point on. Same goes for the forum software. Uploading patch notes meant hours of work since the old software wasn't made for it to work. New software won't happen since the game was already in the Maturity state. In comparison, Blizzard's F2P Card-Game Hearthstone is running for four and a half year now and is still in the growth state. Simply take a moment and think about difference and the meaning of that fact alone.
So to me it was clear that the game was in a very difficult state. From that point on - OP7 was running another 5 and a half year. To me, that is pretty much amazing. Sadly the other side of the coin was the part - that the others never had that epiphany. Power-abusing continued. And without getting three new users for every banned player, the game suddenly degenerated in population. All the personal user-emotions aside, I am only talking from an economic point of view of course. All this happened until 2015.
In 2015 the game had already reached the decline state and the Staff behind the back changed again, for the fourth time to be precise. Finally someone capable appeared and tried is best to extended the decline phase as best as possible. Maybe even get back to the Maturity stage with an extension:
Even though the game had already reached decline stage, we tried our best to get this great game back on course. New game modes were developed despite all the old coding software. New rules regarding bans and many more changes were set in stone to get this game back on course.
Sadly the Staff and company changed again and again and without someone being in a spot barley longer than half a year or a year at max, no clear direction was maintained and things always changed in the back. The game went back to decline stage quickly and from 2016 until today, I did my best to extended that phase as long as possible.
To me personally, almost three years is quite a long time. Many other games are diminishing way more quickly than that. So in the end I want to say thank to you all from giving me a blast and letting me experience all the things I witnessed. In good times as in bad times. You have been the most toxic community I had ever the pleasure of working for so to speak. And I mean that in a positive way. If it wasn't for you, the game would have surly closed its gates way earlier.
Thank you for and amazing time. My contract is going to end on the 30th of November. Over the course of the last couple weeks until Friday this week I had started to dish-out rewards for the all the Mcash I had saved for events and will continue to do so. If you want an shop Item, simply join the game on Wednesday and Friday this week and be one of the lucky players that will receive something gifted.
Please keep in mind that you will be able to comment on this very thread as well. But I have to and will delete any cursing or rambling towards other Staff members as part of the policy. Try to be polite as possible even though I know that it is difficult sometimes.
Thank you all again and I hope to see you ingame two last times on Wednesday and Friday this week.
Best Regards
[GM]Sparrow
Edited by (GM)Sparrow, 26 November 2018 - 10:50 AM.
Back to top
Report
