Post what's on your mind about the Rec Room

[Ellie]

Is it time for it to go?

The problems it was created to solve are no longer around any more. The users that have stayed seem generally less childish (because we're no longer children), and there is a feeling that a lot of discussion happens in PWOYM that, otherwise, would have gone elsewhere.

General Discussion as a board is dead. The quick game related things that might go in game dev discussion go in the thread too, and discussions about video games and life in general. Clearly this is a Bad Thing.

PWOYM was created in 2008 when GamingW was at it's peak - Despain made it to try and replicate their success - and they have subsequently completely skydived off the Internet to the point where they are basically not a site any more. They are dead. Maybe we should take this as a hint.

It doesn't have to be a permanent thing. It doesn't have to be deleted - just closed. Forum Games can stay open, too.

What do you think, and what are your opinions on it? How would the Rec Room closing affect you?

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

I'm not sure how it would effect me. Not at all. D: I'd probably keep checking the site, though. Maybe it could encourage us to make all kinds of different topics?

 

[Ellie]

Instead of having a brief conversation on one thing and then another, we'd have individual threads, that other people can pick up later on and continue the conversation, etc. I think a lot gets lost in Post What's On Your Mind. To begin with we actually banned conversations for this reason, but we majorly lapsed.

 

[Jason]

If you close the rec room, or pwoym, I'll leave forever.

 

[Ellie]

If you leave forever I'll close HBGames >:O

 

[Injury]

The only real reason I frequent the site is for PWOYM, random shit you find and some other minor threads.

OH. And NSFW Butts + BOOBSSss

:jiggly:

I don't have the:

-time
-motivation
-inspiration
-support

I'd want/need to create games. I can see how you'd think the site is slowly dying away as the content base is far from what users who are dedicated to development need.

There are a few people who work hard and continue to get this done. Is this site just an incubator for the dedicated game makers of the future, or lemmings waiting for the plug to be pulled on our once-glorious dreams of game development?

Good questions to ask right about now...

Sorry.

<3HBG

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

I think I still have an attachment here because I met Star at this forum. He doesn't make games anymore, and I want to, but doing so by myself saddens me.

 

[Ellie]

I have no intention to get rid of our non-game-making community! There's far more outside of the Rec Room and PWOYM than just game making. I wouldn't dream of getting rid of even general discussion. Everything that goes on in the Rec Room would still be permissable, it would just be part of the site itself, instead of being limited to one thread as it seems to be currently. The conversations we have in there are lengthy, but not very forum-y. And while we can open threads all over the forums, be it in game dev discussion or Other Entertainment, that PWOYM exists seems to just draw it all into there. Hell, even the remarks such as "PWOYM is killing the site" are posted in PWOYM rather than the suggestions forum.

It's not that it's off-topic from game making, it's just that it's badly lain out and tempts people to stay in the Rec room and nowhere else. If we're gradually becoming less of a game making site then we surely need more active Other-Stuff forums: general discussion, video games, other entertainment, and all the art boards, etc.

(That's not the intention either, we'll always be a game making site, but meh).

 

[Ellie]

Also, we got rid of the symposium a while back with the expectation that the debates in it would still happen within general discussion. They, generally, never did; debating just died out. Would it be worth bringing the forum back?

 

[Injury]

Is it bad that your not in search results such as "rpg maker", "rpg maker community/ies" etc?

From the business end of this, I would say the site isn't effective at delivering what it was made for...

I wish we had something again, it seems so sad

 

[coyotecraft]

I like having PWOYM around. It's not a chat room, you don't expect a reply. You don't have the responsibility of carrying on a conversation.
Oh, it's like writing on the bathroom stalls.

 

[Ellie]

Is it bad that your not in search results such as "rpg maker", "rpg maker community/ies" etc?

From the business end of this, I would say the site isn't effective at delivering what it was made for...

I wish we had something again, it seems so sad

Probably. I don't know how to fix that - except the Big Thing we keep going on about will sort out our SEO properly so hopefully will boost us up the rankings. Possibly.

We used to be top for "RMXP" but we don't seem to be any more.

I like having PWOYM around. It's not a chat room, you don't expect a reply. You don't have the responsibility of carrying on a conversation.
Oh, it's like writing on the bathroom stalls.

It's harmless when that's what it's used for, but it's evolved into the main conversation of the forum. We could have many threads where you can still post without necessarily requiring a response, and the conversation can still go on around. I dunno. I get what you mean, but it's kind of... anti-forum.

 

[Jason]

What is this big thing you keep talking about anyway? And how long do we have to wait to see it?

 

[Ellie]

I don't want to get everyone's hopes up or reveal things that aren't my place to reveal, but in short we do have plans for all of the problems the site has (both technically and socially), it's just taking some time due to various things.

Any thoughts on bringing back the symposium?

 

[Injury]

I don't think we need a symposium as much as we need new members who want to create games. It might make more sense to move towards newer game tools, programming languages and game development from an indie stance...

I don't know about the search ranking. You have meta tags that make sense for this site, but your not getting the ranking because of a lack of traffic I'd suppose.

New blood for a new era!

 

[aphadeon]

To answer the original question - I agree with the points made.
However,
I also wholeheartedly believe that ending PWOYM will likely mean the end of hbgames.

I wish we could have more game making related activity, but since the whole indie craze the format for it has changed - a simple forum like this really can't compete with more tailored sites. I do wish, but that's about the jist of it.

Only my opinion, of course.

 

[Ellie]

Going through game making discussion, there's a lot of contest threads etc. I remember someone a while back asking for a contest board. Do you think making a contest board (and moving the existing ones there) might encourage people to start their own or link to others, further encouraging game making on the site? (Possibility).

 

[Injury]

If you offer real incentives and it encourages growth, I'd say yes. A contest board might be too broad to start, but it might also be a good place to post other contests from multiple sites. If more people are tracking this site is the place to find viable contests, then we might see more people coming here asking advice and posting content.

I look at the content and information provided for game development as the reason this site exists...If we don't have that, I don't think we will see growth.

Maybe there should be a group established to shape the direction and growth of the site's future.

 

[Xilef]

I don't think there's enough people who would partake in contests to fill a contest board.

 

[Injury]

I don't think there's enough people who would partake in contests to fill a contest board.

Very true, but what are you thoughts on a "database" of sorts on contests?

I'm getting very interested in making moves to help this site grow again...I want this place to be around for a while to come!