Well well well...
I predicted the downfall of Monolith in My old forum post about 2-3 years ago. For those of us who don't remember, Monolith was a BEAST. It was THE Garry's Mod DarkRP server, completely uncontested. It was packed, full servers on the weekend, you couldn't even get in. Then, a couple years ago, the warning signs were there. Like the age-old tale of Noah, I shouted warnings across the forums begging for change, but much like the ignorant fools of that day who ignored those warnings, you all ignored these warnings and met a similar fate drowning in the waves of indifference and irrelevance. Pathetic.
What happened?
There was NO competition to Monolith back then. All the other DarkRp servers were more or less the same, but this one, it stood alone, truly earning it's name as a monolith of Garry's Mod creativity, truly the peak of social rp gaming. How many memories do we collectively share of this once incredible server? How many weekends have we spent mining away, crafting guns, robbing banks, gambling, partcipating in epic car chases and inevitably enduring grueling admin sits as we reckon with the consequences of our actions? How could something so great die in this manner, to the point where not even a single player chooses to give this server a chance? Historians may try to account for the fateful day that Monolith died, but few will know the truth. Like most once-great servers, it didn't just shut down one day, it slowly withered away like terrible restaurant who no longer knew what it's customers wanted, but just blindly continued its flawed recipes, selling one less plate each day until it found its chairs empty.
Here's where they went wrong:
Admin's no longer took their own server seriously
What happens when your reports stop getting answered? What happens when players can RDM or Mass RDM without a ban? What happens when police can just murder anyone for no reason, and you still have to wait a 4 minute death timer and lose exorbitant amounts of your hard-earned money?
Multiple things, but as it turns out, each led to catastrophic results.
When you are constantly dying due to unfair means, you can no longer save up money. No point saving up for a car or a gun, you won't make it that far. Most of the game becomes pointless.
When Police or Secret service are just killing everyone, it takes out the immersion, it's not fun anymore. Have you ever tried playing an imaginary game of Lego's as a kid with some friends and that weird kid your parents invited over joins and he just knocks everything over and pulls the heads off of all the characters? Yeah, this server devolved into that pretty much. Roleplay is GONE. Without that, the game is pretty much pointless. I gave this server many many tries after, but just left frustrated every night after a couple hours. You can only take so many repeated instances of starting at a 4 minute death timer watching your hard earned money drain after getting run over again on purpose.
What exacerbated the issue is the admin's indifference. They didn't care. They didn't bother answering reports. How many players would have been saved and continued playing it the admin's put in the tiniest bit of effort to enforce their own rules? I used to kidnap the mayor and hold him ransom, having negotiations with police for ransom money and then carefully planned my getaway strategy. It was intense, and fun! It was exciting! I literally used to get nervous, my hands would shake and sweat as I held the gun to the mayors head, negotiating with the police as my accomplices held the hostages downstairs. But that could never happen in the later stages of Monolith, the police no longer cared about FearRp and the Admin's wouldn't enforce it. The police would just gun you all down. If the hostages died or the mayor died, they didn't care, and if you made an admin report you'd wait 2 hours and if they did even hear you out they wouldn't issue any punishment. Look, that was a unique experience I've never gotten in any other game, and it only held together because of ROLEPLAY. The cops were cops who wanted to keep the hostages alive at all cost, they followed the rules of FearRP and it was FUN.
So what can you gather from this? RULES MUST BE ENFORCED AND RESPECTED.
Back in original Monolith if you broke the rules YOU WERE PUNISHED. It was FAIR. People LISTENED or they were BANNED. You knew what to expect when you saw a police officer, and you knew you could walk through the streets and play the game without being killed randomly! And if you were, you were revived and your money restored! There was order, and in such a context, the game was able to truly take place.
Death Timer
The 4 minutes and harsh punishment you had to pay for each death was rough, but combine that with constant/random RDM, was a perfect recipe to a ruined server. I have no idea what the death timer is at now, but in comparison to previous times, it should be greatly reduced and the money cost of death reduced as well.
What to do now? The current state of Monolith?
Is it over for this server? Is it permanently dead?
Perhaps. Or Perhaps not.
If they wanted to come back, it's possible. The framework is all their. Unpopular changes must be rolled back, and the core legacy experience should be revived. It was simple. That's all we really needed.
A smaller map is DESPERATELY needed. Why not go back to Rockford? Only a few players could still make Rockford a fun time. Slowly rebuild the player base, get rid of this ridiculous christmas update, and take the server seriously once more. Monolith is, or was, and incredible Garry's Mod server that I truly believe deserves another chance. The players are ready to return, but are the devs ready to receive us? That's up to them.
I predicted the downfall of Monolith in My old forum post about 2-3 years ago. For those of us who don't remember, Monolith was a BEAST. It was THE Garry's Mod DarkRP server, completely uncontested. It was packed, full servers on the weekend, you couldn't even get in. Then, a couple years ago, the warning signs were there. Like the age-old tale of Noah, I shouted warnings across the forums begging for change, but much like the ignorant fools of that day who ignored those warnings, you all ignored these warnings and met a similar fate drowning in the waves of indifference and irrelevance. Pathetic.
What happened?
There was NO competition to Monolith back then. All the other DarkRp servers were more or less the same, but this one, it stood alone, truly earning it's name as a monolith of Garry's Mod creativity, truly the peak of social rp gaming. How many memories do we collectively share of this once incredible server? How many weekends have we spent mining away, crafting guns, robbing banks, gambling, partcipating in epic car chases and inevitably enduring grueling admin sits as we reckon with the consequences of our actions? How could something so great die in this manner, to the point where not even a single player chooses to give this server a chance? Historians may try to account for the fateful day that Monolith died, but few will know the truth. Like most once-great servers, it didn't just shut down one day, it slowly withered away like terrible restaurant who no longer knew what it's customers wanted, but just blindly continued its flawed recipes, selling one less plate each day until it found its chairs empty.
Here's where they went wrong:
Admin's no longer took their own server seriously
What happens when your reports stop getting answered? What happens when players can RDM or Mass RDM without a ban? What happens when police can just murder anyone for no reason, and you still have to wait a 4 minute death timer and lose exorbitant amounts of your hard-earned money?
Multiple things, but as it turns out, each led to catastrophic results.
When you are constantly dying due to unfair means, you can no longer save up money. No point saving up for a car or a gun, you won't make it that far. Most of the game becomes pointless.
When Police or Secret service are just killing everyone, it takes out the immersion, it's not fun anymore. Have you ever tried playing an imaginary game of Lego's as a kid with some friends and that weird kid your parents invited over joins and he just knocks everything over and pulls the heads off of all the characters? Yeah, this server devolved into that pretty much. Roleplay is GONE. Without that, the game is pretty much pointless. I gave this server many many tries after, but just left frustrated every night after a couple hours. You can only take so many repeated instances of starting at a 4 minute death timer watching your hard earned money drain after getting run over again on purpose.
What exacerbated the issue is the admin's indifference. They didn't care. They didn't bother answering reports. How many players would have been saved and continued playing it the admin's put in the tiniest bit of effort to enforce their own rules? I used to kidnap the mayor and hold him ransom, having negotiations with police for ransom money and then carefully planned my getaway strategy. It was intense, and fun! It was exciting! I literally used to get nervous, my hands would shake and sweat as I held the gun to the mayors head, negotiating with the police as my accomplices held the hostages downstairs. But that could never happen in the later stages of Monolith, the police no longer cared about FearRp and the Admin's wouldn't enforce it. The police would just gun you all down. If the hostages died or the mayor died, they didn't care, and if you made an admin report you'd wait 2 hours and if they did even hear you out they wouldn't issue any punishment. Look, that was a unique experience I've never gotten in any other game, and it only held together because of ROLEPLAY. The cops were cops who wanted to keep the hostages alive at all cost, they followed the rules of FearRP and it was FUN.
So what can you gather from this? RULES MUST BE ENFORCED AND RESPECTED.
Back in original Monolith if you broke the rules YOU WERE PUNISHED. It was FAIR. People LISTENED or they were BANNED. You knew what to expect when you saw a police officer, and you knew you could walk through the streets and play the game without being killed randomly! And if you were, you were revived and your money restored! There was order, and in such a context, the game was able to truly take place.
Death Timer
The 4 minutes and harsh punishment you had to pay for each death was rough, but combine that with constant/random RDM, was a perfect recipe to a ruined server. I have no idea what the death timer is at now, but in comparison to previous times, it should be greatly reduced and the money cost of death reduced as well.
What to do now? The current state of Monolith?
Is it over for this server? Is it permanently dead?
Perhaps. Or Perhaps not.
If they wanted to come back, it's possible. The framework is all their. Unpopular changes must be rolled back, and the core legacy experience should be revived. It was simple. That's all we really needed.
A smaller map is DESPERATELY needed. Why not go back to Rockford? Only a few players could still make Rockford a fun time. Slowly rebuild the player base, get rid of this ridiculous christmas update, and take the server seriously once more. Monolith is, or was, and incredible Garry's Mod server that I truly believe deserves another chance. The players are ready to return, but are the devs ready to receive us? That's up to them.