Official D&D and Magic the Gathering Forums to Be Shut Down

[John Keefer]

Official D&D and Magic the Gathering Forums to Be Shut Down

The advent of social media has prompted Wizards of the Coast to plan a shutdown of the official forums for Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

It was once a pillar of the tabletop community if you played D&D or Magic: The Gathering. Jumping into the official forums for hints, tips, debate or any other topic related to the games was a mainstay of the player experience. Next month, that will be coming to an end.

In a post to the community [http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/wizards-coast-community-forums-be-shut-down-2015-09-16], Wizards of the Coast has announced that it will be closing those forums as of October 29, at 10 a.m. PT.

"Social media has changed significantly over the last ten years, and discussions about games aren't exclusive to company-hosted forums," the post said. "The majority of community conversation takes place on third-party websites (such as Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and many other fantastic community-run websites), and it is up to us to evolve alongside our players."

WotC encourages users to get any info they refer to regularly to save it elsewhere so they don't lose it. "We want to provide enough time for our forum members to move their content, and we recognize that given our forum's vibrant user base and extensive history, this may take time. Any information still on the forums on the cut-off date will be deleted."

Of course, WotC doesn't plan on cutting itself off from the community, but does plan to use its other social media outlets to keep in touch with its fans. So if you aren't following the officials Wizards of the Coast Twitter or Facebook accounts for those games, you may want to connect there so you don't miss anything that has previously shown up in the forums.

In case you need them:

D&D Twitter: @wizards_DnD
Magic: The Gathering Twitter [http://magic.wizards.com/en/community/twitter]: @Wizards_Magic
Wizards of the Coast Twitter: @Wizards_Help
D&D Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/dungeonsanddragons]
Magic: The Gathering Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/MagicTheGathering]
Wizards of the Coast Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/Wizards-of-the-Coast-540208589333239/timeline/]


Source: Wizards of the Coast [http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/wizards-coast-community-forums-be-shut-down-2015-09-16]

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[madwarper]

I have mixed feeling about this... For years, I called the MtG Rules forum my stomping ground. Kind of like playing a game with the other denizens as to who could respond to the questions the fastest.

And, there were awesome community events, such as the Unconventional Convention, where there were contests in a majority of the forums and you could win Custom Avatars, Titles and they'd even mail you signed cards. Plus, there were memorable April 1st events, such as when they replaced all avatars with random MLP (before FIM), and when they replaced all first person pronouns with "Mr. T", all verbs with "pity" and all third person pronouns with "foo".

And then, there was the the whole failed attempt to turn the WotC forums into its own social media site, the craptacular "Gleemax" and all that shit. Even now, the MtG boards are a pale reflection of what they once were. At least I can take comfort in knowing that, for the brief time they have remaining, my name is still memorialized in a Rules Forum sticky.

 

[kitsunefather]

"Discussions of our products are happening on other websites, so go there now."

It seems a strange choice to make, given the relative permanence of discussions in forums, and how being able to check back into a thread from 3 or 4 years ago can answer a question a player new to the system might have, rather than having to start a new discussion. But, this is the same company that shut down all of their gaming stores nationwide because they wouldn't be profitable if they only sold Hasbro products, so... I'm kind of surprised it took this long for this kind of "evolution" honestly.

 

[D3s_ToD3s]

You need to understand that hosting a forum costs circa a grand a day and if they only sell cheap cardboard, you don't have that much to spare. So you have to cut costs.

 

[ShakerSilver]

Personally I prefer traditional forums for actual discussion instead of social media and whatever formatting-hell-system that Reddit uses, so I'm rather disappointed that they're shutting them down. Part of me hopes they'll archive this much like their 3.5 resources, but they probably don't feel it's all that necessary.

 

[Callate]

That's unfortunate. Twitter, Reddit et. al. aren't really a good substitute for an official forum where people whose identities can be confirmed can offer verified information and news.

I suspect this comes down to a cost-cutting measure spun as evolution. As such, I understand it, but that doesn't mean I have to applaud.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Personally I prefer traditional forums for actual discussion instead of social media and whatever formatting-hell-system that Reddit uses, so I'm rather disappointed that they're shutting them down. Part of me hopes they'll archive this much like their 3.5 resources, but they probably don't feel it's all that necessary.

Thing is, while Wizards is trying to act like this is a recent thing, there have been unofficial fan forums for these games since the Internet was a baby. Even before Web forums were invented, there was Usenet. Hell, given that D&D and Magic are specifically things that nerds like, it wouldn't surprise me if there were pretty active bulletin boards for them back in the days of Quantum Link and other proto-Internets.

Generally speaking, it's probably a good idea for something this popular to not bother trying to run an official fan community, and just let the fans organize on their own. By and large the best discussions tend to happen in communities that form organically.

 

[Metadigital]

Welcome to the arid wastelands of Web 2.0's user curated social hubs Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons fans!

 

[Cycloptomese]

Wow! I used to lurk there every day... Back when I was sweet!

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Damn, I hope people have enough time to back up all the guides. There's literally hundreds of character building guides on the forums, and some of them are really good. It would be a massive shame if they got lost. Thankfully I think that a lot of them get backed up on sites like enworld, minmaxboards and giant in the playground.

I had some good memories of those forums though, back in high school. Great place for someone who was obsessed with D&D

 

[WarpedMind]

But there's literal oceans of useful resources currently hosted on those forums, endless guides and discussions.

I hope someone takes the time to go catalog and rehost at least some of it.

Actually, I think I'm gonna swing about Giant in The Playground and see what people there are saying, if no one there has any plans to relocate this material then I might just do it myself.

 

[Gennadios]

They're keeping their twitter/facebook active? That's more than Games Workshop did, so there should be hope.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

But where will I go to post my thoughts on the Lord of the Rings in 2002?!
First blockbuster, now this. Before you know it fax machines and spiked hair will be gone too!!

 

[Grampy_bone]

Sad. I joined those forums back in the early 2000s and they were hugely helpful in learning 3rd Edition. Oh well, they've been pretty crap for a while now anyway.

 

[Agente L]

If they think social media discussion can ever replace a proper forum, they are wrong.

This is a terrible decision to save some dimes.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

You need to understand that hosting a forum costs circa a grand a day and if they only sell cheap cardboard, you don't have that much to spare. So you have to cut costs.

Do you have any sources on that? Most of the data I can find about forum costs is that they run a couple hundred dollars a month for a dedicated host, but those figures are from discussions several years ago. $1000 a day seems impossible. As well, Magic makes more than $250 million for Hasbro a year, which makes the cost of a forum a fraction of a percent.

Spoiler

Unless your whole post was sarcastic and I'm too dumb to notice

Personally I prefer traditional forums for actual discussion instead of social media and whatever formatting-hell-system that Reddit uses, so I'm rather disappointed that they're shutting them down. Part of me hopes they'll archive this much like their 3.5 resources, but they probably don't feel it's all that necessary.

...
Generally speaking, it's probably a good idea for something this popular to not bother trying to run an official fan community, and just let the fans organize on their own. By and large the best discussions tend to happen in communities that form organically.

They have said they won't archive anything on their own: "Any information still on the forums on the cut-off date will be deleted."

Steve: It's not like the beginnings of the internet anymore, when someone from my generation would tell the youngest person in the office to make a website and put one of those dancing babies the kids like so much on it. There are still bad forums out there, true, but a lot of companies have gotten good about managing them and keeping all that valuable eye-time in house, talking on their forums, reading their news briefs, and looking at their products every day. The Escapist is a good example; a lot of people came here for ZP or another single web series, and got worked into the ecosystem. It's even more valuable for WotC or another company that the first results someone sees when they search for Dungeons and Dragons to find out what it's about is their own moderated discussions that give a positive brand impression, not ending up at someplace like /tg/.

 

[babinro]

That's actually a pretty good way to lower expenses and make your game/product appear better.

If you go to Blizzard's Hearthstone forums to get a feel for the game before trying it out you'd be left with the impression that it was a broken failed product and never install the game. Many extremely popular games have toxic forums and it's hard to see where there's a benefit beyond proof that the games community is still active.

 

[Therumancer]

Bah, as a Dinosaur I've been resistant to this social media stuff, I vastly prefer forums. I guess I'll have to evolve (grumble).

 

[Davroth]

On that note, I wonder if they are ever going to fix the problem with Gatherer comments. I wonder.