Executive Marketing Manager Applications

  • @"Panther"#54 is the current Executive Marketing Manager. However, his position has actually only been interim so far. In the interest of involving the community, the permanent Marketing Manager will be chosen by vote. If you are interested in the position, simply reply to this thread and explain why you are the most suitable person for it; there is no template.

    14 16 days from now, applications will close and voting will be held in a separate thread that OPs can participate in. If there is only one applicant (including Panther), the vote will be yes/no.

    And since the Senior window has also opened today: applying for this position and Senior Admin at the same time is allowed.

  • I will be running for this position again. Many here do not agree with my view on how TotalFreedom should work on its retention and playerbase issues, but I ask that especially those people consider the paragraph below.

    The state of TotalFreedom right now makes it unrealistic to improve the freedom server to a degree where it can attract players. The development position we are in requires that we focus on updating the server to the latest version and working around TFM, and we need to do it with very few active developers. I know the marketing manager position is supposed to be focused on the freedom server, however, in efforts to avoid the mistakes of the previous marketing managers, I feel that it is better to realize now that we are going to need to improve the gameplay experience on our server significantly in some manner in order to retain players. Many before me have tried various methods, such as creating more voting incentives, creating promotional videos, and attempting to improve TotalFreedom's SEO (search-engine optimization.) While a lot of effort was put into this, I believe it failed because the server in reality still wasn't interesting despite those efforts. Ask yourself: What is there to do on TotalFreedom right now? I made a thread asking why people play on the server. Many replied that they stay for community-related reasons, but new players can't use that as a reason since they have not spent a significant amount of time with the community. A popular answer was that people have simply lost interest and don't play on it anymore at all. To me, that means that our path forward should be to work on some form of interesting gameplay. Since improving the Freedom server is going to be exceedingly difficult from the position we are in, I have proposed numerous times that we begin work on another gamemode. I have various reasons for supporting the idea of Anarchy primarily, but I also believe that any type of continuous, coherent, and original gameplay could really help us out. Take a look at how the Earth SMP went under Seth - it saw a lot of success for a short period, since people in the community finally had something interesting to do on the server, but it eventually failed because we didn't expand on it and continue to make it interesting.

    I have advocated for a more gameplay oriented approach so far. If I am elected as the EMM, my methods to improve our player retention and playerbase issues include the following:

    • Working on new gameplay to regain the interest of the current community
    • Ensuring the quality of gameplay on the server meets expectations and has originality
    • Tailoring the gameplay to best suit the interests of the community
    • Promoting and marketing gameplay that actually interests the current community to an outside audience rather than exaggerating what the server is now
    • Expanding on gameplay that the community finds interesting by introducing variety and updates frequently
  • An admin interested in the position has asked me for a deadline extension so that they have enough time to formulate a proper plan. Since we have an active interim Marketing Manager, I am not too concerned about the applications being delayed. That is why I am extending the application window by 2 days, so until December 5.

  • Thank you, Steven.

    Compared to many TF veterans I'm a pretty fresh member of the community. Despite that, I have quickly become a trusted and respected admin. I want to make good use of my reputation and knowledge to actively help the place that gave me some good times and is currently struggling to keep people interested.

    I have spent some time looking around and talking with some experienced members about the current activities and issues of the freedom server to get a clearer picture of what is actually needed to keep the freedom server afloat.

    The main issue about the freedom server is that, of the 60-90 new players hopping in every week, almost nobody comes back. This is a clear sign TotalFreedom already has enough visibility and the real problem is retaining players.

    My primary mission as the Freedom Game Mode Marketing Manager will be to supervise the work needed to improve the overall experience in the server. This is not a one-man-job. I believe teamwork is the key to success. The other executives and their teams will be directly involved in their respective scopes.

    My focus will switch to advertisement strategies when we will have ensured there are actual, solid features we can advertise on other platforms.

    Awareness of the current issues


    TotalFreedom's server is constantly swinging between being a sandbox freeOP server and a creative one. This means new players will have a hard time understanding the way of playing in it, as there actually is not any, leading to confusion and/or boredom.

    The very low player count we have now means new players either will not find anybody available to guide them into using the available resources or getting around the bugs we still have (to mention one, we still need to tell them to run /opme or they can not use WE without rejoining). Furthermore, few or no players around means new ones have a hard time socialising.

    Low player count also means close to zero development resources to fix bugs and introducing new features to keep people interested in sticking around. And for the few ones that want to help, the risk of feeling like being pressured into doing work they can not or do not want to, if they properly apply for MB or developer, is too high because of the huge backlog.

    Addressing current issues


    Given the current situation, It is hard to make accurate predictions in a nice, detailed plan, like RedEastWood made for his ESL application. However, I have drafted some ways of acting to address the main issues and get the TotalFreedom's server out of the quagmire it is currently stuck in.

    Players must be aware of all the things the freedom server has to offer, and some of the perks I can highlight are what made me stick around at first:

    • a lot of tools and plugins, all free to use
    • the possibility of playing with hacks and mods
    • sharing buildings / items with others, or simply showing off each other's skills
    • fun role-play with the help of in-game guilds
    • a long-living community with a rich history

    I would like to work closely with the ECD and EMM teams to help new players being aware of these things we have to offer. Some ideas have already been explored, like a "getting started" area where they can learn basic but cool facts about the server and community, but, to my knowledge, they still have to be implemented.

    Players also need an actual welcoming, exciting environment. Admins have been instructed to be more friendly and to engage with players before needing to punish them. Some are still working hard on it, however admins are not chosen for their social skills but for their ability to keep things under control.

    To address that, I would like to work with the ECM to overhaul the current Event Hosts system. My idea is to form a team of Animators. Their responsibilities will go beyond the mere organisation of events, and will be directly involved in giving new players a proper welcome, organising minigames and doing whatever is needed to combat the many moments of boredom in the freedom server.

    If we succeed in keeping more players and getting them involved in the server's activities, we will be able to start developing again new features to keep the server relevant. I would like to work closely with ECD and ELD teams to ensure working for them will be a nice experience, and that any amount of effort players are willing to put into their tasks will be appreciated.

    Edit: fixed typos

    TotalFreedom's Executive Community & Marketing Manager