Forum revitalisation!

[Lordie]

Reminiscing of the past made me wonder, "What ever did happen to the forums?"

Being involved in arguments and discussions on these very forums (well, actually the old ones, heh) was something you'd want to actually do. Indeed e-penis comparying was evident, however not on the same scale that it currently seems to be.

I feel more emphasis should be placed on the forums to new players, which really means players need to some how make the forums an inviting place. Incentives could be a possibility? Maybe rewarding those who contribute valuable input (No idea how in the world this would occur, just an idea).

Basically, I want to enjoy the forums again, as I'm sure most of you want to. How do we do this? I'm not sure. Ideas?

Round awards used to be tens of pages long. Alliance discussion used to be exciting to read. Now, you can keep up with posts by checking once every few months.

Hmm. Bring in the forum decorators me thinks!

 

[Twigley]

Where were you last round and the begining up to now of this one? O_O

 

[Lordie]

I was here! I just haven't seen the same forum activity as say - 15 rounds ago. *Shrug*

 

[BlackWolf]

Its all rather simple actually.
First you take nice amount of people who turns forums to very unfriendly place, then you add some people who think only politics there are to be in game are the person to person politics. Then you make those people to lead some alliances, you make sure player base is small enought for "majority" not to exist anymore. Then make sure nobody cares to do hard work for stuff anymore, and add some bad planning by Azzer like gpols.

Then you mix it around for few rounds and congrats... you have just made bushtarion forums as it is today.

 

[Lordie]

Well, indeed those are issues that may have contributed to the forum downfall (in my eyes). However, maybe we can look at ways to improve it! Having more of a link between the forums and 'in game' for example, so that it's not a, "Hmm, that's a lot of effort to link to the forums" kind of mentality.

Or, we do a mass culling of those who don't play nice. Heh. (Maybe not option 2!)

Hum.

 

[Azzer]

Just as a side-point, on a lot of forum communities online I've been a part of for many years, I have noticed a lot have been "changing" particularly over the last 12 months, for the worse.... there seems to be a lot more people online who act like the "cool kids" that just flame blast insult and irritate everybody else, and gang together in their little cliques, generally ruining any "general/global" community feel and giving a bit of a bad taste to the place... it's never anything specific, just a "general sliding in the wrong direction".

I think the mentality of a lot of people on the internet is changing, for the worse. Not all the communities I'm in have been affected in this way, but enough that I now consider it a bit of a "global thing".

The best way of dealing with it is, likely, approaching the individual trouble-makers (the ones who's posts always seem negative, "I'm mighter than everyone else", insulty/flamey etc.) and pointing out to them that actually they're being complete tw**s and ruining things, and that they aren't treating the community as a community, but as a playground... get them to integrate better. "Removing" such people is usually the last step, as they tend to have "big gangs of very vocal people" and can end up causing such a huge stink/nuisance that trying to aggressively remove a bunch of them can be a self-destructive process.

 

[Garrett]

I know that from about october until the end of last round, that I turned saltier than ever. It absolutely was righteous anger at azzer and certain behavior of some other players.

I felt/feel (to a much lesser degree) that Azzer was turning this place to ****, and I wanted to stop it and I wanted to do something about it. However, it's not my game. I can't change it.

So now I'm just here to play until i find something else to occupy my time while bored at work.

Personally the last 6 weeks I've just tried to put my game face on and talk for the betterment of the game and also in politics to spur in game action.

I'm still me, but people if paying attention should notice that some people (like twigley and myself) this round have taken a different approach to posts and stuff in general.

As long as we're willing to recognize that some of the oldies can change, i think you'll see the forums swing around again. Everything in life is cyclical.

The newness of the internet has worn off and now everyone is setting into the internet being part of their life instead of an exciting new place to explore.

You'll see the tude on the net swing back around.

 

[Azzer]

The newness of the internet has worn off and now everyone is setting into the internet being part of their life instead of an exciting new place to explore.

Pretty good way of putting it. And I think that definitely has some say. Also a lot of communities are no longer the "exclusive" grounds of relatively like minded individuals who all happen to be in to this "internet/geeky thing", but are now just a bit of a mix of any old people from real life, too... I imagine that has some impact, somewhere behind the scenes!

 

[Garrett]

I imagine that has some impact, somewhere behind the scenes!

I blame the nintendo wii for making gaming and wireless 'netting fun and accessible to all age groups

 

[Enrico]

I blame the fall of the Soviet Union

 

[f0xx]

Just as a side-point, on a lot of forum communities online I've been a part of for many years, I have noticed a lot have been "changing" particularly over the last 12 months, for the worse.... there seems to be a lot more people online who act like the "cool kids" that just flame blast insult and irritate everybody else, and gang together in their little cliques, generally ruining any "general/global" community feel and giving a bit of a bad taste to the place... it's never anything specific, just a "general sliding in the wrong direction".

I think the mentality of a lot of people on the internet is changing, for the worse. Not all the communities I'm in have been affected in this way, but enough that I now consider it a bit of a "global thing".

The best way of dealing with it is, likely, approaching the individual trouble-makers (the ones who's posts always seem negative, "I'm mighter than everyone else", insulty/flamey etc.) and pointing out to them that actually they're being complete tw**s and ruining things, and that they aren't treating the community as a community, but as a playground... get them to integrate better. "Removing" such people is usually the last step, as they tend to have "big gangs of very vocal people" and can end up causing such a huge stink/nuisance that trying to aggressively remove a bunch of them can be a self-destructive process.

Are you trying to tell me that VETS act bad? Are you joking me? Have you seen the absolute **** some of the newbs post?

The problem is that some of the older player will react agressively only to people who are quite arrogant themself. I personally will NEVER flame someone who has REAL arguments, rather than ego boosting *****.

Not only that, but there is another problem. You, Azzer, seem to be ignoring a lot of suggestions which some of the older players are making. I have said it before and I will say it again. Your biggest mistake is not taking in mind the suggestions of your more experienced players. Myself and alot of others (Martin, Polo, DarkSider) have made numerous suggestions to improve the game in different ways. From what I've seen most of them have been ignored.

I don't know, it's been 5 years now since I've played this game and I know that I am stuck with it forever, so what I am trying to do with any suggestion I make is improve it, for all of us, so that we all can have more fun. I personally get quite insulted when my suggestions or those of other vets get ignored and forgotten.

I try to purchase credits, I can't. I try to improve the game, I get ignored. It's really frustrating sometimes.

 

[Weeble]

Actually, many of the more feasible suggestions presented on the forums are implemented within a number of weeks. Azzer is not a machine. He doesn't spend 24 hours a day coding, and as such, cannot code every single feature within a week of seeing it posted on the forum. Sometimes there's a lot more to it than thought (for example, getting an extra seller involved for credits - it costs Azzer a certain amount of money every time someone makes a purchase as a commission fee. If there's only one person asking for this extra service, it's just not feasible)

I've made plenty of suggestions in the past that were implemented both quickly, and within 6 months! So have many others. Some suggestions introduced in to Age 5 had been made at least a year (possibly more) before hand.

 

[Maxi]

On the note of Azzer not implementing good suggestions; just check the portal new/updates page, especially Age 4 and Age 5, and almost every single change has been suggested or discussed about on the forums.

Had a small discussion about changes and such with Azzer on IRC not so long ago, here's a small part of that:

[21:47] <Azzer> Bush wise, what priorities do you think there are to have in place for next round?
01[21:48] <Maxi-> hmm
01[21:48] <Maxi-> To be honest, I'm not sure about all those 'big/huge' changes/overhauls
01[21:49] <Maxi-> I've seen some nice suggestions but what I think
01[21:49] <Maxi-> is that the playerbase is used too much to suggesting and it getting implemented
01[21:49] <Maxi-> every couple of rounds you/we've changed quite big things
01[21:49] <Maxi-> the game has evolved a lot, but it didn't really have time to grow/get more players, or see how certain changes affect the game over a couple rounds, etc
01[21:49] <Maxi-> and what works for a 2K playerbase, might not for 5K or 10k
01[21:50] <Maxi-> quite hard to explain but what I mean is that some time without 'big/age' changes would do the game good, coupled with a campaign to get more players in
01[21:50] <Maxi-> so Imo, top priority, get more players
01[21:50] <Maxi-> which means, implement the tutorial first
01[21:50] <Maxi-> and foremost
01[21:51] <Maxi-> make it more accessible, but keep in mind to have new/fun stuff the 'oldbies'
[21:55] <Azzer> Yeah tutorial and me working on these social bookmarking/networking and referal improvements
[21:55] <Azzer> Nice to actually hear someone agree with my own thoughts about not needing huge changes every round
[21:56] <Azzer> But when I don't do it, some people go "Oh look that's proof he's lazy/doesn't care/is a cock"

About the forums, a lot of interesting and sensible people seem to be lurking around or only reading topics, instead of contributing to them. To you lurkers around- Hear Lordie's plea!

 

[BlackWolf]

Are you trying to tell me that VETS act bad? Are you joking me? Have you seen the absolute **** some of the newbs post?

The problem is that some of the older player will react agressively only to people who are quite arrogant themself. I personally will NEVER flame someone who has REAL arguments, rather than ego boosting *****.

Not only that, but there is another problem. You, Azzer, seem to be ignoring a lot of suggestions which some of the older players are making. I have said it before and I will say it again. Your biggest mistake is not taking in mind the suggestions of your more experienced players. Myself and alot of others (Martin, Polo, DarkSider) have made numerous suggestions to improve the game in different ways. From what I've seen most of them have been ignored.

I don't know, it's been 5 years now since I've played this game and I know that I am stuck with it forever, so what I am trying to do with any suggestion I make is improve it, for all of us, so that we all can have more fun. I personally get quite insulted when my suggestions or those of other vets get ignored and forgotten.

I try to purchase credits, I can't. I try to improve the game, I get ignored. It's really frustrating sometimes.

I cant stop laughing... whatta heck is wrong with me.

 

[f0xx]

I cant stop laughing... whatta heck is wrong with me.

You looked at the mirror, didn't you?

 

[aGit]

revitalize the forums to their former glory some 20rounds ago? sure, just get eveyrone who used to play back then back into the game. if you had not noticed the game has half or a third of the players we had on r9. that is directly compareable to the forum activity here.

ps. yes i pulled the numbers out of my ass, however they were educated estimates. azzer prolly has the exact numbers somewhere hidden away.

 

[Garrett]

Sometimes the small things are all that matters, but I believe HQ overhaul has to be next and it has to be big or there may be irreversible damage.

I know I know, keep posting suggestions. The tech tree tho is slightly difficult as far as getting it right for the new units I want.


edit: also the forums are actually much more active over the past 6 months than they have been at all by at least 20 active members or more on at any single time during euro day/evening.

 

[Twigley]

edit: also the forums are actually much more active over the past 6 months than they have been at all by at least 20 active members or more on at any single time during euro day/evening.

I noticed that alot.

 

[Garrett]

i had this as an edit but opened another window and never posted... soo i'll post it and probably try to keep it my last post on this topic. But in short I think the forums are coming back and it's up to you the player to make sure it keeps rolling.

the politics and gripes sections are abuzz and alive. some of the posts and arguments remind me of the days of old. these gripes and politics (if kept to mostly ingame personas and actions) really keep the forums up and interesting. helps people on the outside post new suggestions, ask questions so they better understand stuff... and anyone and EVERYONE should be using bush discussions for discussing the game other than the politics (i mean if you want to have a discussion(s) on how politics are implemented/used is one thing, but the actual happenings between alliances should be kept in the politics sub forum)

So if you are new or old, post something for discussion. If it's a gripe or ingame politics use those sections. But Don't come to gripes expecting to clean that section up as a concerned player. It's not the proper place. You want happy discussions, keep it in discussions.


So basically this forum is waiting for a golden set of users to use it correctly. Discussions for discussion debate.
Help and support for... dur.
Suggestions for doubledur...
Gripes for peeing fire.
Politics for peeing fire on multiple alliances.
Recruitment for durrrrrrrrrrrrdededededoublelydedumpadur.
General discussion for topics not bush.
computer and games yeah!
spam for low cost filler.

[edit] to HG: you will always have more lurkers than active participants. however, just the fact they are lurking means they could post at anytime. they are just waiting to feel inspired.

 

[harriergirl]

I think that happened when Azzer actually posted a forums link in the overview, alot of people signed up then and we are still getting a new person every day or so....

Alot of people read, although not as many seem to contribute.