Are Forums An Antiquated Format?

GothicKratos

You may have noticed, but I was away from the forums for awhile. I didn't have dedicated access to a computer there for a minute and I've been thinking; are the forums the best way for player's to communicate with one another?

First, let's talk about the different platforms gamers enjoy in today's age;

There's, of course, the forums. Rigid and static. Pretty great for holding information, but I'm not convinced a platform where people are communicating, but don't know who's speaking until their word is in, is actually best by today's standard. A real exchange is pretty hard to have without some confusion. Albeit, it is probably the best platform to have formal debates or to state opinions, because of the ease of display for larger forms.

As a community, we've largely shifted off to LINE as a preferred medium, because it allows us to communicate anywhere and everywhere easily - and honestly, LINE is fun, stickers are fun, sharing photos and videos instantly is fun, etc - and besides the faux anxiety of learning a new piece of software it's pretty much flawless.

That being said, I noticed something being away from the forums so much and being shoe horned into using LINE so much - it's missing something - moreso, I think we're missing something. The more I hung out on LINE, the more and more I realized all we all ever did was talk about a game we don't even play together really. I've been slowly clawing out to other rooms with other interests, and it's really kinda nice. Instead of the same complaints about sniping or boasting about some guy you made rage, we're talking about Doom and Overwatch and trying to figure what games we all wanna get and play together.

That kinda brings me to where I'm about to go; Discord.

Some of you might be familiar with Discord already, it's been gaining a lot of traction in online gaming communities because of it's flexibility, availability, and ease of use. It's a really nice piece of software honestly, but I can admit I was hesitant at first. What the heck do I need yet another chat software (coming from the guy with Teamspeak, Line, Messenger, Skype, and LoL Messenger on my phone prior to this - I was REALLY hesitant).

Personally, the big game changer for me was servers for specialized games. I was trying to get into Killer Instincts, so finding a Discord server specifically for it was huge, but that's not the point. The point was why it was huge; we could actually talk to one another. Being able to sit down, play the game, and have people talk to me while we're playing was a real boon to picking up the game efficiently.

From there, I ended up as a quasi part of that community and we grew some, and from that expanded a lot of the ideas of what we thought our server meant. Was it really just about Killer Instincts? Or was it about bringing people together who have similar interests and expanding on that? It's really both. To me, that's what community is. We're all more than Marvel Puzzle Quest players.

So, down to the nitty gritty; how many people would be willing to check out Discord and try and bring our community to the next level? Wanna organize a party to pubstomp on CoD? Done. Wanna try and find people to climb the ladder in League with? Done. Trying to find out about the latest hotness? Done. All easy and organized with no work from the users.

I haven't setup a server yet, I'm just kind of polling for interest, and this of course, would not be an official endeavor, similar to LINE. Feel free to ask any questions, concerns, etc.

Linkster79

For an official online discussion platform forums are the only way for publishers and/or developers to control information and content. Things like Skype, Line and Team speak are great for actual live communication and in game coordination but they do not allow for control the way statics forums do.

Jack0fAllGames

I'd need to understand the specific benefits that this new thing has over Line, which I wasn't able to gleen from your original post.

eShock

The survey is really misleading, please make it more clear.

Topic: "Are Forums An Antiquated Format?"
Survey header: "guage of interest" (in forums?)
Answers make no sense.

...
I had to read through a giant wall of text in the first post to realize that the survey was ACTUALLY asking about interest/willingness to try out another chat software called Discord.

Vhailorx

GothicKratos wrote:

You may have noticed, but I was away from the forums for awhile. I didn't have dedicated access to a computer there for a minute and I've been thinking; are the forums the best way for player's to communicate with one another?

*Snip*

That kinda brings me to where I'm about to go; Discord.

Damn kids with your new-fangled apps! Back in my day it was all ASCII art and usenet.

This entire thread makes me feel curmudgeonly and old.

Pylgrim

Yeah apples and oranges. The forums are for discussion, not conversation. People (usually) think carefully what they are trying to say and follow a thread of thought that can be addressed by other people and it's permanence allows referencing and tracking. Have you actually tried to hold a half serious discussion in Line? You don't have room nor time to make a careful and argument. You speak in sentences, which are interspersed with people posting "lol", "yep", stickers and the such. Usually the point you started making is quickly left behind several screen-scrolls above and by then, someone has jumped in to invite people to a buyers club or post a screenshot of their being sniped, etc. It's impossible.

It sounds to me as though you are the one evolving and changing, not that the forums need to.

Eichen

I always thought it was odd everyone here used Line when we all have to save our game with Facebook. Why not just use Facebook messenger?

ClydeFrog76

Vhailorx wrote:

Damn kids with your new-fangled apps! Back in my day it was all ASCII art and usenet.

This entire thread makes me feel curmudgeonly and old.

rhlowe

A slack domain seems like the next combination of the forums and real-time chat. Line is too limited in room size and Slack channels have no limit that I am aware of.

Pylgrim

Isn't the perfect marriage between discussion and conversation Reddit, anyway?

Crowl

rhlowe wrote:

A slack domain seems like the next combination of the forums and real-time chat. Line is too limited in room size and Slack channels have no limit that I am aware of.

The free versions of slack channels do put a limit on your history, so not a perfect forum replacement.

Malcrof

Ice used to hold live q&a's on Line, it was amazing, but has a room size limit. The forums still work, but maybe some other way as well would be nice.

Ruinate

I've always been a hardcore pc gamer and have used skype pretty much exclusively. In fact, I'm still in a call with 13 other buddies that's remained open for over 8 years. Last week I tried Discord for the first time and I was very impressed. Browser based voice with audio quality that's on par with Skype. It might even filter background noise better. No .exe necessary. WHAT?

I would definitely install the full version on pc and mobile if more people used it.

FierceKiwi

Arguably LINE's room size limits is a good thing. Any room I've been in that approached 200 was either a cacophony of noise or else 90% lurkers who contributed nothing.

Spudgutter

Pylgrim wrote:

Isn't the perfect marriage between discussion and conversation Reddit, anyway?

I also vote for Reddit. There is nothing worse than trying to catch up on a 9 page discussion on the forum when half the posts are two people quoting each other, and basically talking back and forth. That is my biggest pet peeve with the forums.

Pylgrim

Malcrof wrote:

Ice used to hold live q&a's on Line, it was amazing, but has a room size limit. The forums still work, but maybe some other way as well would be nice.

Ah but in truth, the type of channel is the least problem. The lack of Ice or at least an Ice-like person is the biggest problem.

DaveR4470

Vhailorx wrote:

GothicKratos wrote:

You may have noticed, but I was away from the forums for awhile. I didn't have dedicated access to a computer there for a minute and I've been thinking; are the forums the best way for player's to communicate with one another?

*Snip*

That kinda brings me to where I'm about to go; Discord.

Damn kids with your new-fangled apps! Back in my day it was all ASCII art and usenet.

This entire thread makes me feel curmudgeonly and old.

I'll meet you on Compuserve. CB channel 12. Look for 75152,8441.

jffdougan

Jack0fAllGames wrote:

I'd need to understand the specific benefits that this new thing has over Line, which I wasn't able to gleen from your original post.

Not sure about Line (which I haven't used), but Discord has the option for voice chat in addition to text. In addition, a server can be divided into several rooms for different purposes, and you can be doing voice chat in one room on a server and text in another simultaneously.

I participate in a Discord server for Sentinels of the Multiverse, which people use to discuss variant unlocks and coordinate games.

El Satanno

I've had enough of you already on LINE, GK. The last thing I need is more of you.

GothicKratos

You know you wanna hear my sexy burps.

jffdougan

Well, let's do this - I had a few minutes & just set up a Discord server. In nod to the best MPQ podcast there is, it's called Puzzle Warriors.

https://discord.gg/014MgUwumeN8Q0Rnl