With the updates being steamrolled and the player count being boosted for about 5 hours how long could this last? The items will dwindle once again with another deserted server on the bottom of the leaderboards. Updates like these averaged 60+ players at a time. This along with no option such as ASCA to give a real way for new players to get items into their hands without having to pay real money for these items. Without at least a temporary way to get these items by completing challenges, quests, ect. players will be unable to find a reason to pay for boosters. Zarp has lived long past it's expected due date even seeing fewer than 10 players on average for almost a year only to be brought back after a series of old players were unbanned/decided to come back.
The staffing now is worse than ever in my opinion from a member standpoint and not being a mindless robot only playing to gain staff by activity and being a kiss ass to them shows deeply within the wounds of Zarp. I cannot name more than 5 staff members at this point who really want to better the server rather than sitting in TS, banning a few players, and justifying their actions to members who break rules only to re perm them because they did not learn their lesson. The staff does not hold themselves accountable, not now and they will never when nobody speaks out against it. Maybe if the bans were not so harsh or the updates now are just a reskin from 2016. Maybe it is because of how painfully long a new map is taking.
Looking at someone like Patrick who left Zarp and very understandably to get payed for making some of the best maps Gmod has ever seen. He now works for a Star Wars RP server that is doing extremely well. What would be Zarp now if he was paid? What would zarp be like if the staff cared more about the server rather than a rank? What would Zarp be if it was fair, unique, and just as enjoyable as it was 3+ years ago? Nobody right now is asking these questions and the people who do are put on microscopes and with a minor slip up comes a ban.
The players who came back lost the little hope they had by now and I feel like I am the only non staff members who is not brand new who plays every single day. I could be playing different games with my friends yet I choose to play Zarp over almost any other game right now. People really should be asking the question of what would Zarp look like if poor decisions were never made and how we can fix these issues. The true players know exactly why the server died yet nothing has been done to fix it. When an old player looks at the new update or booster deal they think and for good reason that it is a cash grab and I cannot disagree with that statement.
Players are also leaving not just because of the recycled updates or the same map on both servers with a low possibility of a new one coming out within the next month when we wanted it months ago but they are leaving due to the staff being biased, corrupt, and far too harsh. This is not pleading mercy for jusu he should not be unbanned for a very long time and he himself does not care but look at someone like Na1 or Jaden, they are 2 players who played all the time and loved the server only to leave with a bad taste of the staff team and the state of the server. I could name hundreds of players like this but these are the very recent ones.
Please do not lock this post I am open for discussion.