Broadening Horizons

[Narric]

Greetings Everyone!

We're currently in discussion in the deep dark supply closet of the forum, about the potential of opening up the Forum to more then just Warhammer 40k and Fantasy. That means that all Wargames, RPGs, TCGs and CCGs will have a place on the forum.

What are the thoughts of the members on this?
Do you see this as an opportunity, or a terrible decision?

Whichever corner of the discussion you side with, make sure to let or opinions be known by replying in this thread, or start a new Thread in the Non-GW Gaming Board if you want to start talking about your game of choice.

The Second Sphere Team looks forward to hearing all the responses on this, be they good or bad.

[Mabbz]

Sounds sensible to me. I don't play any of those games, but I might become interested if the forum's new content looks good. You aren't the only one who knows the art of copypasta

[Narric]

At least I did a bit of changing to the wording and the linking, you're still using the same grammer and punctuation from 3 days ago! If you can identify which movied that reply was inspired by, you win a cookie.

[The Man They Call Jayne]

I'm all for it. I have started to move more into RPGs, currently Pathfinder. Also into other board games which have been quite interesting. I know that I and a few others play Yu-Gi-Oh. Personally I use Duelling Network.

[Irisado]

Trying to attract an audience from other non-GW miniature games is a sound idea in theory.  How well it will work in practice, I don't know, because many of these games already have their own established communities and forums.  It's worth a go, but I'd definitely advise just creating new topics on such games for now to test interest, rather than to create new boards.

RPGs, particularly ones based on the GW universe, or those which are similar again seem like a good idea.  Trying to pull in new people could, however, still prove difficult for those where an established community already exists.

I'm really not a fan of card games like Magic or Pokemon.  I think that they are too far removed from the purpose of this forum.  Also, I'd be concerned about the type of member they might draw in.

[silverfuge]

As stated on Fb I will try to post but the mobile pop up has basically made me give up on my phone which is my main means of internet access. Do wonder if this has affected anyone else not using the site?

[Narric]

Got to speaking to an "Old Guard" member, who has had this to say:

Simple - specialisation. It's a dirty word I know, but Tau Online made it's name by being a damn good little forum that was the go to place for advice about 1 race, then it expanded. At the moment the website has no real "Theme".

It's being blown out of the water by other websites that do what 2S does, but better. ie - multiple warhammer 40k armies, warhammer fantasy, specialist games, painting, and other games on top of that.

It's too much and the small group of members that 2S does have that actually plays the multitude of games is spread too thin over the surface of the forum.

It's needs to concentrate and attract the random google people that are searching for a specific type of forum to join. Then build up and outwards from that point.

Add into this mix that you have the likes of the Enclave sat in it like a hornet in a Pint of beer, the numerous members that have their old accounts that don't represent the progress of the forum and the, lets be frank here, dull looks of the forum and it isn't that much of a place to be for new people.

Just ask yourself one question - if it wasn't for nostalgia purposes would you be on that forum? Would you join that forum if it was on a random google search?

If either of these answers are a no then there is something drastically wrong going on.

In truth, I do have to agree with him. We are a dull seemingly lifeless forum.....

[spoiler]

Silk
It's not just that - I can't remember the last time I used 2S as a resource for anything other than reminding myself of the good old times. That really needs to change.

Narric
I was planning on doing something for the Wargame I'm currently doing things for. And I'm trying to figure out some logistics for the Contests.
It would be nice if in the few active threads we did have, that more people posted....

Silk
Which wargame is that? And would that just add MORE stuff into an already multi-coloured forum?

And yeah, it would be nice to have some more active members. That is not a solution though, but the lack of is a sign of a symptom.

Narric
Void 1.1. Its a wargame that in ways is between 40k and LOTR, but uses D10s
It freakin cheap by comparison at only £10 for rulebook and a forcebook, and two of the armies have plastic sprues for their basic troops which are £5 & £8.5 for 10 models.

The annoying part is the Enclave is our most active board. Especially the GED Thread (aka the Spam Thread)

Silk
I know. I've always known. I advocated it's death ages ago. Now, if you're a current member you know where the discussion is - in the Spam thread. Go there for a quick chat, right?

Well theres the probelm. It aint just a quick chat, not anymore, theres links and discussions to other things that previously would have required an old thread, either in the enclave or possibly in the one of the army boards.

If stuff can't be posted there then it can be stuck elsewhere or be considered spam and deleted. Either way it's good - more movement from people that would have stuck to their favourite thread (thread for fucks sake, not even board!!) to find those discussions AND when people look at the forum they aren't seeing just one htread being updated time and time again, but new threads popping up.

The spam thread nowadays is about posting the little stuff that people don't consider worth creating a new topic for. The forum needs, nay THRIVES, on those little topics. A single topic isn't going to do much, but lots, even when they leave the front page quickly, not only makes the forum look busier to outside people but encourages more activity from other members.

[/spoiler]

[SILK]

Now, now narric, you make me sound so harsh when you put it like that

[The Man They Call Jayne]

Maybe, but not however, wrong.

[Narric]

I can't help but think that if we did get rid of the GED/Spam Thread entirely, that there would be a few members who would leave entirely.

[Mabbz]

I wouldn't be one of them, but I imagine you're right. If we were a bit stricter about keeping discussions out of there, splitting off topics and telling people off for not making new threads for thing, we might not need to get rid of it entirely. That said, I think locking/deleting it and restarting it would be the best way to get members to notice. Just introducing some new (actually not new at all, but whatever) rules would likely get drowned out by all the ongoing conversations. Also, the name General Enclave Discussion Thread kind of implies proper discussion, which should be in separate threads. I vaguely remember the reasons for changing it from the spam thread, and they made sense, but I don't think the current name is doing the forum any favours.

[Narric]

Would have to flag [member=1]Sorck[/member] to do the Deleting, though I could always move it myself to the "Vortex of Doom." Not sure if that would stop people posting unless I long-windedly locked it as well.

[SILK]

The problem with the spam thread is that it was only for stuff like that - not for full blown conversations.

On the current page of the GED you have 2 discussions going on - one for beer and the like and one for A-level results. Those two talks one have constituted new threads on the Enclave boards.

And as I said to Narric - close down the spam thread and let people roam elsewhere. If it's off of this forum then thats no real loss to the forum as a whole, they were not doing anything in regards to contributing to the forum anyway. Harsh I know, but thats what facebook is for, not an online forum for discussing 40k armies. Some may wander about on the forum to find those people that they used to only talk to in the GED thread, find them in a army thread, painting tip bit or a hobby plog.

Lock it and close it down for a week or so (hell, I'll do it if you want) and see what happens.

[Irisado]

I see where you're coming from to a certain extent, but getting tougher on off topic material on other forums where I've been hasn't helped to increase activity elsewhere at all, so I'm not sure that what you're proposing would work.  By all means try it if you wish, but just keep your expectations in check.  It would seem sensible to me not to have just one topic for 'chat about anything though'.  Multiple topics on different off topic subjects seems like a better way to use that board.

Regarding specialisation.  That's dangerous because there are already other specialist Tau forums out there, so how would you ensure that this would be the best place to visit.  Can this place compete with Advanced Tau Tactica as a dedicated Tau forum?  (I don't know the answer, so it's a genuine question).  Opening it up to discussing other 40K armies isn't the issue in my opinion.  The issue is the impact and influence of Facebook et al as I mentioned before.  Many forums are suffering from this problem, not just this one.

[DEF Knight]

I dont have any time or money to actually collect or play any miniatures game, but I try to stay informed- reading codexes, thinking up army lists, mathhammer…etc so I don't often have much to contribute. While I'm really not that active in terms of posting, I actually lurk quite a lot.  What got me to initially come to TauOnline were two things- My roomate was a then mod Dra'Tuisch'Novae, and the Great Winter Story Competition.

I kept coming back and lurking largely because of the articles, army builder app, conversations, competitions... I showed up for a competition and stayed for quality content. It seems to me that slowly over time that's somewhat dwindled. There are still conversations, project logs, RPs and the like, but there's a lot less tightly focused, planned out events, articles, and whatnot.

It always seemed like the core driving all of that was the combination of army builder, award seals, and RP all together in one account. It incentivized people to contribute, and in a big way. I'm not saying we need that exactly, but we need a hook, something to make this place more than just another forum.