Why do you still come to the Escapist forums?

[Drathnoxis]

Let's be frank, these forums are not what they once were. I mean look, this is what the forums were like in 2010. There isn't a single post in the front page of gaming discussion older than 30 minutes. Now days, I frequently see posts 2 or 3 days old on the first page! It seems like the only threads that can even make it past a page or 2 are the controversial, borderline flame bait, threads. Lately, I've been trying to make more threads because I'm sick of coming here and seeing the same topics every day, but it just feels so pointless. It's like I'm trying to start a rally on a street that's been closed for months.

I keep asking myself, what am I even still doing here? I just keep coming back due to habit and sentimentality for the past. I've been coming here for almost 6 years now, and I've learned so much and found out about so many great things that I find it very hard to just abandon the site. That and I don't know of any place on the internet that offers the kind of discussion you used to be able to get here.

I'm certainly not coming here for the sense of close community. I don't know if it's just me, but it just seems like there's this abrasive apathy between the members here most of the time. Like, the only reason anybody will actually address someone is to tell them how wrong they are about something. Like, even when people agree it seems like they are only agreeing with the words, and that they've hardly even taken notice of which of the little boxes actually said them. Sure, there is the rare bit of camaraderie, but for a community this size it seems shockingly distant. Honestly, the community felt closer when there were 10 times as many active users. Does anybody else feel the same way, or am I off base with that?

What about you remaining Escapists, why are you here? Are you satisfied with the state of the forums? Are you getting something out of your time spent here? Or are you just here out of some attachment to the past or a lack of alternatives?

 

[Spider RedNight]

Actually, I just came to this thread to say you're wrong and that you DO come to the forums because you love us. -brick'd-

I dunno. I get bored, I guess. Sometimes, I'll read through threads that have tonnes of attention and pointless arguing while I'm eating lunch because it's easy entertainment that I can just turn off whenever I'm done.

People are so easily offended nowadays and these forums aren't really an exception. It's fun to see how wadded up panties can get.

EDIT: Also I give my incredibly important input on "what's ur fave OST" and stuff like that because how I feel is COMPLETELY RELEVANT and everyone MUST KNOW WHAT MY OPINION IS.

I think that's how it works, though. Also people "tend" to be more intelligent on here than the rank cesspool of deviantArt or the special-ed snowflake class of Tumblr.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The reason why I'm still here is simply because I don't know of an alternative forum worth registering. Sure I had signed up to a couple in the past (game specific sites like Phantasy Star Online) but those ones simply bored me and had a bad layout (I want to discuss more than a singular game dammit!) but even then aren't the whole controversial and feminist stuff etc are the norns these days (which other site will also dicuss)?

The glory days were before those stuff happened (ME3 ending, Anita Sarkeesian, Gamer Gate and Zoe Quinn etc) so I can guess finding a site that forbid those discussion are rare?

 

[Drathnoxis]

Actually, I just came to this thread to say you're wrong and that you DO come to the forums because you love us. -brick'd-

Oh, well I didn't mean to imply that I didn't like anybody here, just that the community here doesn't seem very close.

Also I don't know what brick'd means...
Urban dictionary says it's: "The act of striking someone solidly on the back of the head with a Nokia brick mobile device, causing acute pain for the victim while leaving the phone undamaged if not strengthened."

Is this like modern day stoning? Is everyone going to come here and brick'd me with their phones?

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Because at this point this site is too established in my mind to even think of going somewhere else. I've never really read any other gaming outlets (frankly, I hardly even read the Escapist, I just watch Yahtzee and browse the forums here) and have therefore not gotten any temptation to join their forums. Considering how much flak I've seen directed at sites like Kotaku or Polygon, and the fact that I've hardly heard anyone outright bash The Escapist, that's got to count for something. Hell, when the fires of Gamergate swept over the internet, The Escapist seemed to be one of a rare few major outlets that allowed discussion on the controversy in the first place. It's true the forums aren't what they used to be, but IMO it's actually a fairly even tradeoff: No more new Sarkeesian threads everyday, no more insane posters like Zeel or EternalNothingness, no more threads like "MoviBub is a hipocritt!!!!!!". Sure, things are rather quiet these days, but the forum's still active enough to warrant making new threads every now and then, and the responses are usually varied and sensible.

 

[FalloutJack]

To post and to watch stuff, same as everybody else. It's just that I also run a couple RPs here.

 

[Thaluikhain]

There are interesting forum users with views and experiences worth reading about. Of course, teh signal to noise ratio could be better, but this has always been a problem.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Tis my home, love it or leave it.

I haven't left it because I still love it. I just have evolved since grade 12 Redlin, with work and university and romance...

My prolific nature is gone but I'll become the old man of the Escapist yet! All of you from 2005 onwards have got to start withering away! >:3

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Because I still like many of the users here, particularly the ones I have met in person/am connected with on services off of this site. And besides, this place still provides me with distraction when I'm out of the office.

I just have evolved since grade 12 Redlin, with work and university and romance...

It's really weird seeing us oldies change and grow older over the past seven years. I signed up for this site when I was still in secondary school at the ripe young age of 16. Since then I have gotten a degree. From a university. And I'm now studying to get another degree.

 

[Creator002]

Because I have nothing better to do.

Seriously though, it's because I have nothing better to do.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Where else am I gonna go?!

If I had a bunch of nerd friends who were into the same sort of shit I was I probably wouldn't even be here, but I don't, so I am. This is literally the only place for me to wax poetic about dumb videogames, movies, and anime.

And I've always been rather detached from people anyway, even in the online safe space, so I don't feel the loss of the community spirit as much. The only thing I've noticed is the loss of the more "famous" members here.

 

[Evonisia]

I still recognise plenty of users from back when I started, and I still read these threads often enough to warrant posting sometimes. I still watch the odd show here (Zero Punctuation, GoodBadFlicks) that would bring me back anyway and I'm too curious to not look at the forums.

 

[Zhukov]

Partly out of habit, partly because I don't associate with many geeky folks in real life and partly because there are still a few individuals here who I like and enjoy talking with.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

News, comics, vids, rarely posting unless I've got gripes, the fairly well moderated posts and pretty ok community, I guess. Usual stuff, yeah? I can't think of another place that has this sorta quality. Hadn't looked either, but still, can't think of another plave that's got Escapist quality.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Where else can I attempt to get a laugh out of people in every thread I want to post in? Granted I don't post as much because trying to get a laugh out of someone in the -ism of the day threads is near suicide. I would post my own thread but a thread that sinks with zero replies is a very unique brand of raw despair.

But yeah I once tried to find a decent site to discuss anime on but that was quickly shut down. If anyone knows one that does not have a terrible community, PLEASE tell me. Is the Reddit ok for it? If it's anything like r/Leagueoflegends, i'd have to research my memes before even thinking about contributing.

 

[Dalisclock]

It's one of the few sites I know of that talks about games and not just a single series/game. Also, I do enjoy some of the features(namely Yathzee but some of the other features are worth watching/reading).

The forums just aren't the same anymore, though. It seems like we lost a lot of people last year because of the event that shall not be mentioned.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

It projects a disarming, intellectual calm that services as a useful, appreciated distraction from the darkness of horrifying realities that i must witness consistently. Escapism? No other site has yet to achieve this. The people have much to teach and i am willing to learn or roll about in colourful imaginings. I often glance through comments on other sites with a sinking heart, dismaying at the auto-echoes of predictable thought.
Although, this is far from perfect of course. Anything mentioning "feminism", "censorship", "gender" laadeesquee circular glee etc etc is like throwing a feisty cat into a pit of bloodthirsty hounds. Hey, is this market research in sneaky practice again? Damnit, must stop falling for this!

 

[axlryder]

It's one of the few sites I know of that talks about games and not just a single series/game. Also, I do enjoy some of the features(namely Yathzee but some of the other features are worth watching/reading).

The forums just aren't the same anymore, though. It seems like we lost a lot of people last year because of the event that shall not be mentioned.

what event was that? I actually just kind of stopped showing up a year and a half ago because there was literally nothing but Anita posts everywhere and when I came back it was like returning home after a pilgrimage and seeing my village burned to the ground.

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

Habit mostly. I'm a bit surprised that my profile is 4 years old, and I was lurking for a few years before that. I don't post much, particularly in comparison to others. I just post when I really truly feel like it. I imagine that'll die off fairly soon, though. I am posting more frequently lately.

NIPS

Gamergate. It was pretty divisive and damn-near killed the forums by smothering it with the same content over and over again in large volumes. This was particularly true of the Religion and Politics section who found themselves the dumping ground for everything, which was particularly problematic because the local population was positively dwarfed by the incoming flood. Imagine almost absolutely nothing BUT Anita threads, all the hostility included. A lot of other sites including Reddit and 4chan banned the discussion altogether but it was allowed here, so people across many sites came to our little abode and frankly a lot couldn't fit in and the locals couldn't handle it. Lots of people were banned as a result. Thankfully, a subforum called Game Industry Discussion was created just for it, so it doesn't have to spread elsewhere.

EDIT: I moved the GG chat I honestly didn't intend to create to PMs. Sorry. Shoudn't have posted this.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

I still keep knocking about here because it's as much a habit as a forum I still really enjoy coming to. I've never been a particularly prolific poster here and being a Mod on the forums here slowed down my pace even further but I've always ended up coming back. It certainly feels like the forums have slowed a bit over the last few years and big angry topics like GamerGate drove me away a little bit out of a desire to not get involved in it in the slightest but yeah, still here, still enjoying the forums, still enjoying the site's content.

My prolific nature is gone but I'll become the old man of the Escapist yet! All of you from 2005 onwards have got to start withering away! >:3

Whippersnappers, gerroff ma lawn, etc! *shakes cane*