Have things changed?

[Vitor Goncalves]

I am somewhat new to this forum but welcome back.

The best way to tell if the forum has changed is to lurk a little bit. The community banded together to beat Zynga in the developer contest so we may be a bit high on that victory but this place seems nice enough even without that.

The bound was weaker then horde and alliance bound. Its just shattered with the MM final Valve vs. Bioware, I just voted and get the hell out of that page.

I am kinda new here too but enjoying so far. I like the forum here, its better then WoW forums our Youtube anyway, much much much better.

 

[Lord Krunk]

hmm. Perhaps it is time I made a full return
/me dons a cowl and throws a sonic screwdriver into his utility belt

looks like there's still plenty to do

And come to Escapism. I saw you for a good, like, minute at Escapism '09 (the first one).

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm more of a casual onlooker myself.

So I don't really have a bead on the cultural decline of this forum.

 

[erto101]

I still say that this is one of the better places all though i haven't been here long. Joined sometime ago but don't remember why (something with my friend being here and unforgotten realms) someday i just thought hey why not? and found it pretty cool

 

[Fire Daemon]

Hmmm. How have things changed?

Off-topic has become more relaxed since Religion and Politics has been set up, there are still the same amount of serious topics and joke topics but now that Off-topic has been split into two each gets more time on the front page. It was a clever idea to split Off-topic into two, helped with the large amount of posting that was going on.

User Groups are a lot more popular now. I can't stand them to be honest, lousy bubble communities.

Forum Games and RP are filled with very similar RPs and games that probably shouldn't be as popular as they are. There are good RPs; I guess (RW IV and the Oblivion RP I signed up for both seem good), but I rarely find anything there interesting anymore.

Gaming Discussion hasn't changed much but why would it?

The News Room is the same and there is still the magazine, so yeah...

Things haven't changed greatly but when they have I feel that they have improved since a year ago. The Escapist celebrities (they know who they are) don't seem to be massive jerks, so that's always nice and there doesn't seem to be that cult following that MaxTheReaper had, thank God. March Mayhem just happened and a lot, I mean 20, 000+ people, signed up to vote for either Valve or Zynga. I can't see many of the Zynga fans staying around but we might just have a lot more Valve fanboys. Judging by the way they act in the Bioware VS Valve thread I don't think that will neccesarily be a bad thing.

EDIT: Going back to that thread... it seems that things have turned quite bitter.

Fucking March Mayhem. It's April. YOU SHOULD END!

 

[Kasawd]

I know they haven't changed in the last couple of months, as I see forums.

To tell you the truth, this forum, no matter it's disposition, is always going to be a step up from the other forums I frequent because most of the others are simply playgrounds for trolls and elitists that allow me to post without donning a name or mask. This site, though, is a mixture of my hobbies: Video games, books, people with similar hobbies and news articles.

Though, really, in the end, it still is just a forum. I'm certain if you could look past the change(as all things must do), I'm sure you could find a new form of entertainment, here.

Besides, the trolls aren't nearly as bad here even if a lot of people don't handle them well. As for repeat threads, I kind of like them. It's like dwelling on an old experience by viewing it in a different manner, for me.

 

[DigitalSushi]

I've seen people become mods who may or may not deserve it, and several of these problems increased. In a term coined by our very own Ultra Joe, I went rogue and "Cyber Vigilante" -d anybody in my way. But it got too much

I take offense to that, I think they do a great job with the tools they have... or should I say the tools they moderate.

Slycne or Virgil (can't remember which) let slip that the forum gets 13,000 unique commenters each month, that's alot of bile to trawl through before you get to the good stuff, its still there its just harder to find.

 

[4fromK]

if you really are looking for extremely intelligent discussion on gaming, you could do worse than the insomnia forums (forum.insomnia.ac) although a word of caution" its run by an absolute ZEALOT by the name of Alex Kierkegard, so you better read the forum rules. It is moderated heavier than any other forum I have ever seen; you post one thread or reply that rubs Alex the wrong way, or that breaks one of the rules, or that shows an ignorance in reading the sites content (which as an aside i must admit I have enjoyed quite a bit - the guy is unabashedly hardcore, bemoaning the consolification and casualisation of games, and hating on the "artfag" movement quite a bit. however, hes also somewhat of a genius when it comes to philosophy and the like, and relating high level concepts to gamer culture. the content is almost refreshingly free of bullshit as well - although some may find it almost too much so) you will be banned instantly and most likely ripped to shreds by the community (which is incredibly small, once you factor in how many people are banned.) personally, I think this fanatical level of moderation is benificial to the overall quality of the posts; there is no wasted pixels, as they are simply altered, sometime to the level of cutting down posts; but it is also not a very good method of constructing an easygoing and friendly environment, which is why I still pop in here.

 

[Sketchy]

hmm. Perhaps it is time I made a full return
/me dons a cowl and throws a sonic screwdriver into his utility belt

looks like there's still plenty to do

I REMEMBER YOU! Actually, I only really remember you being the guy with the Stormtrooper girl as your picture.

But yes, I remember the good ol' days. Perhaps I don't post frequently enough to have noticed a change, but I just notice there's a lot of new members, joining more quickly than they were back when I joined. Perhaps more stupid and redundant topics, but overall still one of the best forums around.

EDIT: I also remember doing the whole "welcome" thing for new posters. I think that just doesn't happen anymore, which is disappointing. I got a welcome, and it made me feel warm and fuzzy.

 

[Snotnarok]

I'm not sure how much has changed to quote everyone here, but there are a lot of Halo, Modern Warfare topics created stating that they're overrated and vs threads. I consider this a pretty good forum considering my last experience with one was GameFAQs and that forum can go fuck their narrow minded fanboy selves. I couldn't even ask a question without flamewars starting.

My friend keeps insisting I join him on the Something Awful forums but honestly I just kinda go here when I'm eating or trying to take my mind off painting for two seconds. As appealing as dinosaur threads are...

 

[Sketchy]

EDIT: I also remember doing the whole "welcome" thing for new posters. I think that just doesn't happen anymore, which is disappointing. I got a welcome, and it made me feel warm and fuzzy.

Aw hell naw, that still happens all the time. In fact, TheNamlessGuy has a specially saved version, spoilered, which includes a video!

I try doing it to everyone I can, when I'm around. I didn't get one though, sadly. I shall avenge this miscarriage of justice!

Hmm, I guess I just don't see it. Welcome to the forums Furburt, hope you enjoy posting here. Just don't piss off the mods ...

THAR YOU ARE SONNY! Your very own welcome!

 

[T-Bone24]

Well, I'm here so it can't be all bad. *Wait for applause*

I think the forums have somewhat gotten themselves together now, new folk don't repeat topics as much, people are generally well-mannered.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Oh lord another one of you people.

Just because youre little group of friends used to run free and are no longer here, does not, for fucks sake make this place some type of medical journal/philosophers playground. Things change, it happens. Get used to it, if you dont like it, too bad. Has it changed? No, the same pretention is still around. The only difference now is there are a lot more of us willing to debunk the myth of the escapist forums.

We have a myth?

the old adage of "IT WAS BETTER IN THE OLD DAYS".

Yeah yeah whatever, I remember when this was just fields.

 

[Crossborder]

Well, it's hasn't changed much to be honest. But I haven't found anything better yet. I guess we all have to accept that this site will change.

 

[Arachon]

Oi! Doki! I remember you, even if you probably haven't heard of me. Quite a few changes have been going around here, we've lost many members from the "old days", and well, as the site grew, the community kind of lost that loving feeling... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQtGZKdW0Xc] Er, friendly feeling perhaps.

Anyhow, things are better now than they were a year ago, I may be delusional, but I keep seeing signs that "serious discussion" is on it's way back to the Off-topic board, threads that should be in the Religion & Politics are posted in Off-topic, and are not moved.

Anyhow, a few of us are still here, as you've probably noticed. Hope you'll stay this time around.