Welcome back!
You all know me. I have very high expectations for myself and the projects I take on. I exceeded what I set out to achieve this past year - beyond my wildest imagination. As a result, this has put me in a much stronger position to provide XPOFF with the tender loving care it deserves.
I have a thriving career in esports: as a consultant and in working on a revolutionary esports tech startup that has piqued the interest of investors. This means that XPOFF as a vessel for the community’s growth and my long term goal of fostering thriving esports communities will intersect.
Once
@Ripduck approached me, asking if I would be willing to buy back the site, I immediately started thinking about all the cool things I could do now - things that I couldn't before: sponsorships, rapid and effective website upgrades, regular tournaments with prize pools, growth enhancement initiatives, press coverage, giveaways and more.
Congrats on everything you've accomplished. Over the years it's sounded like you worked really hard for it, and following your dreams like this is always a tough risk to take. Honestly really happy for you that it paid off.
Having seen your wild imagination in action, I find it hard to believe that any achievement could surpass it. It always seemed like your best and worst quality. I'd never want to ask you to give it up, but I hope you can reign it in a bit when it comes to this site and community. It makes you who you are - and that's great - but it also led you to make some questionable decisions as the owner of TI/xpoff.
It felt like the site was constantly pulled in different directions on your whims. When one thing didn't work out, it'd lead to a complete 180 in the other direction. From a complete ban and blacklist of private servers, to going all in on an official one, to the aftermath of that official server, whatever it was. Moderation policies were rewritten with overreactions. Dreams concerning the Twink Cup making it big, the XPOff league, and the other big esports thing that I'm forgetting the name of. Giving the keys to some questionable people because you were enamored with their and your grand plans. I think the entire mod staff was removed at some point, when it was filled with some of the most reasonable people that have ever been a part of this site.
That being said, you deserve the benefit of the doubt. You always had good intentions, and always cared about the community. A lot of your decisions seemed to come about because this site was your (attempted) main source of income. Now that you have a thriving esports career, hopefully you can keep your expectations a bit more in check. At the end of the day, twinking is a niche playstyle in a 15 year old game. It's fun, there's definitely potential for growth and we've all stuck around for a reason, but it can only go so far.
This place won't go anywhere without the people here right now. Coming in with a purge in the name of mainstream support from Blizzard and other organizations won't do anything but alienate the existing community. Maybe things are different this time, and your connections will help big plans actually come to fruition. Unfortunately, nothing from your past leadership of the site gives us has any reason to believe that'll happen.
Start small and keep reasonable expectations, especially since you're essentially working four jobs right now. Money and mainstream support doesn't magically create functioning esports scenes, growth needs to happen organically. Won't happen without the current and past community, and it'll be a tough sell getting them on your side if you don't try to earn their trust first.
