TL
R... This is his personal opinion. He doesn't know how to fix things. He suggests things.
This has been a discussion that has cropped up multiple times over the last few months, among the general population, among the guides, and among the staff. This is revealing of some problems in the current state of our operation. Now this is not to cast a negative light on our community or those in charge, for the issues stem from many factors (that I have observed) which are in and out of our control. So to begin, I will look at the general user.
MCME is first and foremost a build server, which means those that like to build will be at home, and have many opportunities to hone their skills and move into a role where they have an abundance of opportunity and engagement. Thus the server give them (those who like to build) a definate edge over the general population. But not everyone is geared, wired, or interested in building. You might be saying, but minecraft is a building game! Which is true, it is, but the beauty of minecraft is that has expanded beyond that. Take for example, PVP servers or survival servers or hunger game servers. It's not quite what one might call an esport, but it is a different avenue for players who prefer different things from building. So apart from themed builds, there isn't much for the average player to do. It is this lack of engaging options that have led to (in what I have observed) a lack of player retention. In my random, spontaneous schedule I have seen that typically the most number of players are on in European time zones, when the American time zones overlap. To the later evening hours, the most players I see are typically 8 and fewer. And I can only correlate this with the lack of things occurring at any given point on the server. This drop of in the number of new and returning players have affected other areas too. The lack of tours is partly correlated to the lack of new players. The more seasoned players of the community have noted the lack of tours, and have made their concerns known. However, tours are not the solution either. Tours are fun! And they are some of the most memorable things players talk about when looking back on their time on the server, but it's not going to cause player to continually return either. And so, we reach the impass which is what players can do on the server. What can they do? Explore? There is only so long you can explore before you've seen everything twice. Tour? Eventually, you've seen every tour four times, sat through six history lessons, and been lectured on server operations. Jobs? For the most part, the serious jobs have been handed off to the select people who have proven their building skill, which I agree with as it have tremendously improved the quality of our builds. Yet, it alienates a large portion of players! We as a server have failed to evolve with the changing tides, and we're seeing the consequences of it. So what can be done about it? What can be done?
As @DSEGSH said both the staff and guides have discussed this topic extensively. One thing the Guides came up with is the scheduled tours. Those Guides who want to hold a tour can schedule it if they wish and announce it to the community, but as I have already said, it will not cause players to stay. We have also discussed the creation of a sort of mini-game plugin which would allow Guides to host short games like hide and seek. I have already, for the few people who have taken part, been using the existing tour plugin to host games of hide and seek with players who choose to join the game. We created a PVP server to host special events, but adding more servers is not going to solve our problem either. As we've seen, our servers have been consolidated and made more efficient as server operation is not cheap (which can been seen first hand in the expense reports q220 records). So adding more servers with different purposes (PVP, Survival, etc) isn't the answer. q220 pays for the server out of pocket, where donations don't surpass the cost of operation. And so, with fewer and fewer players, it is only inevitable that donations will be fewer as well. To conclude, I do not have the answer to this problem, but I can only suggest that we expand the scope of things players can do on the server. The artist, meaning those that build, are a specialized group which gets a lot of attention and opportunity which leaves the rest to fall in a case which separates people. So I can only suggest that we shift the focus somewhat from exclusively building, to housing a more well rounded community in which those who like to build have that avenue, and we have other avenues for players to enjoy without compromising the goal of building Middle Earth.