Living in a Post-Forum Age

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Valtarre
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Living in a Post-Forum Age

Post by Valtarre » Thu Feb 01, 2018 6:37 pm

Sort of an abstract forum topic to be sure. I'm not really sure where to put this, an admin can move it to wherever they feel appropriate.

So, this forum has been up and kicking since 2006. That's awesome, and it's a testament to the consistency and loyalty that this community has enjoyed for over a decade. When the forum was made, forums were the main medium used by gamers to communicate outside of the game. Social media was in its infancy, Steam was still complete garbage, message boards were basically the only viable option.

That's really not the case anymore, and it's been increasingly clear over the years that gaming has moved into a post-forum age.

I'd like to stress that this is certainly not an issue unique to Gaming Madness, UT, or anywhere specifically. It's just a trend. Gamers, especially FPS players, have started to trend to smaller groups of good friends and begun to move away from unique community servers. This has been expedited by game companies that have begun to design games such as Overwatch with a focus on matchmaking and official servers with a universal standard of play. This isn't a problem that the UT server struggles with for the most part because of the aforementioned loyalty; some of us have been here for 11 years. I'm quite literally twice as old as I was the first time I stepped foot into joeyz' RPG Invasion Server.

That doesn't mean we can't adapt anyway.

What I propose is an additional layer of communication for the community, specifically a Discord server. https://discordapp.com/ I know that most of the community are older gentlemen who are perfectly happy with following the same routines they always have for many years and see no need to integrate something like Discord into their gaming lives. However, I'd like to highlight some pros and cons that are specific to the players of Monster Madness Invasion.

Pros:
  • Getting people together for a session of gaming is so much easier with Discord. All you have to do is write some pings (Example: @SlayerDrango I'm hopping on for a few rounds, are you in? OR @here anyone around for a few waves?)
  • Grabbing the attention of admins when the server is struggling is much more convenient. (Example: @BaronVonRotterdam PUs have stopped dropping, could you restart the server?)
  • Quick engagement with all players in the Gaming Madness community. Being able to arrange the channels into similar groups like exist on the forum can separate our concerns while at the same time leaving there plenty of room for the entire community to talk with each other. Again, a hard sell for the guys who just want to play the damn game and not have to be fully engaged all the time, but you can very easily dip in and out of the server (or mute channels you don't care about!) whenever you like.
  • You can download the stand-alone program, but I feel like the older crowd has less incentive to integrate yet another piece of software into their taskbar. That's fine though, because it works just as easily and with all the same features in the browser version! It's just another tab on a window you probably already have open.
  • The voice channel capability is a viable alternative to the terrible in-game audio codec UT2004 uses. While not a necessity by any means, it's certainly there for better coordination if you want it. This isn't a main selling point.
  • With forums, there's a higher focus on writing essays at each other. Discord facilitates more organic conversation. While forums are still fine for coordinating large chunks of information (such as polls and info dumps like in the Patch 180 subforum, and this thread), it serves a different role. In this proposed system, the forums would serve a much more referential and archival role while community affairs would be relegated to Discord.
  • If we ever want to attract new players, especially younger ones, this is how you do it. We have to seem approachable and accessible, and people are becoming less and less likely to get involved in a community that seems uninviting and stuck in their ways. Discord is a solid platform for expansion if that ever becomes a priority again.
Cons:
  • What I said above about certain groups of people being resistant to change (not necessarily a bad thing) would definitely slow the effectiveness of this system and at worst divide our community. Those who couldn't give a rat's ass about $niper's newfangled BS might feel left out if this idea takes off, but I'm really not sure. I'm leaving it as a con regardless.
  • Having to go through the initiative of creating the server and customizing it to fit the needs of the community, as well as advertising it. I'd certainly be willing to help with this transition.
  • There is the low likelihood of a development of old school "AOL chatroom drama" (lol), but I seriously doubt that will ever be an issue. I think we've all grown past that BS, but the memories we all have of that kind of phenomenon might sour people's idea of Discord.
  • Probably a bunch of other things that aren't coming to mind right now.
I wouldn't be taking the time to make a thread like this if I didn't honestly think it was a positive idea for the community, so please don't dismiss it right away. It's sad to see so many empty subforums and areas of the forum that haven't seen any attention in years (except for the recent spammers trying to sell their bicycle seats or whatever) and with Discord we could really clean it all up and make a more dynamic platform for us all to communicate on. Please let me know what you think, or just yell at me :tongue: To further the point, you can reach me on Discord by adding Brisko#7650 as a friend!
Previously known as L337$niper, the super spammer.

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Valtarre
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Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:48 am
Location: New York

Re: Living in a Post-Forum Age

Post by Valtarre » Fri Feb 02, 2018 5:47 pm

Mobster has made a server for us and it can be found here: https://www.gamingmadness.org/discord/

Come on in, we could use the company!
Previously known as L337$niper, the super spammer.

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