Opinion: Where’s The Activity, KSI?

Three-thousand-four-hundred-fifty three. That’s 3,453.

What does that number represent? That number represents the amount of people currently in KSI.

Two. Eight. Zero.

What do those numbers represent?

Two teams that signed up for Weekend Warfare yesterday; eight total people among those two teams, and zero is how many Weekend Warfare events went on last night because the turn out was so low.

How can a community with more than 3,000 people only muster eight people for a Search and Destroy tournament?

Maybe it’s because there wasn’t a huge prize offered, right?

Well, even though Weekend Warfare doesn’t offer material things usually, the networking opportunity and the ability to game, which are the two main missions of any community, KSI included, should be enough.

The tournament last night was on Xbox 360, which is the preferred console for KSI gamers still. It was on Advanced Warfare, which is still a favorite game among the community. It was a Search and Destroy tournament, one of the most favored competitive game types on the Call of Duty series.

I think the fault lies within a change of values — a blindness to the involvement that will make any squad, division, or community great. For these things to be great, people have to be excited to play, eager to meet new people, and open to the opportunities and functions KSI puts forth for them.

It’s more than Weekend Warfare though. KSI News is active, yet only 5 people in the community have expressed long-term interest, and they remain with me as writers today. AAP usage is down. Productions involvement is down. The newer History Department is basically invisible to a majority of the community, which is inexcusable.

KSI Clan-Ops leaders, and no, I’m not talking Board of Directors or Senior Directors, need to do a better job conveying the message of KSI: GAMING.

Division leaders and Generals are struggling to pass the message down, and it has not only resulted in the diminishing turnouts at Weekend Warfare events, but even larger events such as Spirit Week and the yearly KSI Award Show.

Beyond diminishing turnout for these events and overall involvement in departments, this is also weakening squad and divisional units because members don’t see and don’t believe in what KSI can give them: a structured gaming-centric environment where they can grow, harness a wide set of skills, and meet like-minded people in a relaxed setting.

Nope. What new members see if a disjointed community that seldom comes together. It sees inactive squads that require them to show up at weekly meetings, where people sit in a party, get talking points shoved in their faces for 10 minutes, and then completely disbands until the next week.

As even a Lieutenant or Captain, you are a squad leader. Lead the squad and show them the finer points of what KSI can offer them.

KSI offers these gaming events every week, it offers departments where they can focus on having fun and growing beyond how well they shoot people and learn to make judgments, grow their leadership by leading tournaments, learn to write better, learn to edit video and record gaming better.

There are great people in each department who are well-versed and knowledgeable and can extend KSI’s lessons beyond the community and make real changes in the members’ lives.

So, my plea is simple. If you are a leader, act like it. Exude confidence and excitement and provide an atmosphere where your members are engaged so they can get the full KSI experience.

No Weekend Warfare event should be canceled because of poor turn out. None. Ever. Not with 3,453 in this community. And with successful turn out and involvement, the number in KSI will only grow.