Forum splitting poll
 

In light of the discussion going on in this thread , I thought I'd post a poll so that Shrapnel et. al. might get a better feel for general forum sentiment on the topic:

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

I voted other by even more than 3 subBoards .

I think a good reference how it could look is the board from paradoxentertainment for their games .

They have 5-6 subBoards like :
- Bug reporting
- Technical questions
- Mp
- AAR
- Modding board
- FaQ board

Those are the subBoards and the big board is the general board where the game is discussed .
All subBoards have several subBoards too like one for every bigger mod where only that mod is discussed .

It is probably too much work but I think Paradox's board design is optimal .

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Having many subBoards sounds logical, but socially it is a bad thing. It splits up the community too much, IMO. A forum split of any kind should only be considered if the traffic of any forum is being overtaken by one particular subject. Only then is it "cost-effective" so to speak.

BTW, Arryn I'm curious why you listed this as a forum split poll. Werent you going to do a poll on SP/MP to get a feel for what the makeup of the channel was?

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Pickles actually made the poll you're referring to, saving me the trouble.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

I vote for no split at all. The Dom2 community isn't that big. Personally, if the Boards had been split into an MP / non-MP areas, I'd say that I would have taken far longer to start joining MP games.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

I don't think the traffic warrants additional forums.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

{JOKE} Aren't you just a tad biased? After all, it's mainly your most-excellent web server that spurred all the MP threads that now "clutter" this once-tidy Q&A forum ... {/JOKE} [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cheese.gif[/img]

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Lately i have come to think that page one of this forum is clogged with MP-threads. Three reasons to this comes to mind:

(1) The community has grown - sweet.
(2) The strategial nuances and the game mechanics of this great game has been discussed at length, and most of the exciting questions have been answored - that's great (and expected since the game was released a year ago).
(3) Some prominent forum characters have left: Zen, Norfleet, SaberCherry (some time ago), ... - this is sad, and might be related to (2) [don't remind me of ANY other reasons].

MP-threads a great, but ONLY when they are "open". If I look at page one now, I can count (stickies excluded):
17 threads in total.
9 of these are MP related.

of these 9:
2 are open (one is a plea fore a substitute, and not truly "open").
6 are closed (useless to non-participants more or less).
1 Esben's server thread (very important IMO).

I have a suggestion, split the forum in two.
(1) ongoing/closed MP game threads.
(2) all other, including open MP game threads.

People would then rename their thread when it is closed or a sub has been found (a little work), a moderator will now know it is time to move it (some work, don't know how much, but should be little). This will ensure that most of us will still read the main forum mostly, and therefore it shouldn't split up our small'ish community.

The only problem I can see is what to do with Esben's thread. I suggest leaving it in the main forum (it will attract people to MP), and putting a closed sticky with a link to it in the "closed"-MP forum for easy acces.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

2 forums for me :
I prefer not to split the forums too much - the community isn't that large !, but I think all MP games discussion could be put apart from all "game topics" discussions.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

One forum for me; as long as threads have explicit names (mainly for AARs and MP games), it should work out quite well.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Actually I even read MP threads that are closed and that I'm not playing. I find that much useful info can be gleaned therein. Not only strategies and such, but also individual player personalities and how they usually play and so forth.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Two or three, at least the ongoing games/AARs should have their own section, with the game mechanics, faq, and mapmaking/modding discussions in the other (or mapmaking/modding in a separate forum, if warranted). It gets bloody tedious to scan past all the MP threads that clutter the first page, more difficult to find anything.

Edi

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

For me its not so much the traffic, but if people arent using the forums that are already here then Im not sure if splitting would help. I wouldnt mind one just for maps so that my threads didnt disappear so fast, but Im not sure that posting them somewhere else would help all that much if no one goes there and sees them.

For the people who DO feel there should be more forums...
Making a bunch of forums and having them empty is not really a problem. I can do that. Not like it would cause much extra load on the system to have them there. But what about the chicken/egg thing? (I dont post there becuase no one reads that one, I dont read that one because no one Posts there)
Does that mean they would be in favor of a moderator moving the AAR's to the PbEM forum which already exists? and move the OT threads to the Shrapnel.General forum which already exists?

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Well most games with a vibrant community similar to this one manage to get by with well subdivided forums... and hoenstly if you like reading AARs for example having them all clustered in one fairly uncluttered forum is a really nice thing. Ditto if you are looking for maps/mods... having to search through 1000 threads to find them is no fun.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Well to be honest I've read alot of them too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I've not learned alot about tactics from them, but you are right about player personalities. There are definetly some persons I've discovered I wouldn't wanna play against (i.e. spend months in "company" with), but that's only a few. There are lots of (mature) people who manage to play competitively AND retaining a friendly attitude. Myself and my real-life buddies (see "Battle of the Danes") have talked about entering the MP-scene, but ALL (or at least the majority) og the games announced in here are played on HUGE maps, which in my oppinion leads to boring games, with boring strategies (see the various threads on "clams", "soul contracts", "wish", "mad castling" etc).

[damn I'm in a rambling moode http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif ]

Perhaps I should just start a public MP-game on a smaller map - anyone interested ? (send me a PM if you enjoyed our semi-ARR and would like to participate in a game that'll be played in a similar atmosphere).

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

While I voted against splitting up the forums, I'm not all that strongly opposed to having a single MP game forum. I do think most people would use it as well. I'd bet that most of the posters on this board only play Dom2, and as such, we don't use the other forums that currently exist because we're really here to talk to other Dom2 players, not to other Shrapnel players (which is not to say Shrapnel is not a great company http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif).

If you create another forum or two under Illwinter, with a reasonable topic breakdown (such as MP Game forum or MP Game/AAR Forum), I think most players will use that forum appropriately. Inevitably, some will not, then it's up to the Moderators to enforce that as they see fit (personally I like it when Moderators enforce forum topics by moving threads, but I don't see it as critical). I don't think the chicken/egg thing will be too severe, if the new forum is under the Illwinter hat, and especially if we were to kick off the new forum by moving existing MP Game threads.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Yes me.

I am all for little intense maps

Pickles

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Depending on the planned pace (after around turn 20 or 30, 48QH gives more flexibility in finding the half hour to hour a turn can take), I'd be interested. The smaller maps are definately a nice change of pace, and also avoid the micromanagement hassles of large maps in the late games.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

For sure I'd be up for a small map game! My disdain for the effects of large map/long games is well registered http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

With a few exceptions, the AARs are not PbEM/MP games, so that would be an inappropriate action, IMHO.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

That issue would go away once you as the admin moved ALL of the MP threads into an MP forum. Granted, that's a lot of work for you, but once done the new forum would be far from empty (having dozens of threads). After an initial period where you'd have extra work moving MP Posts from people who're too stubborn/lazy to post in the new thread, and ditto for people posting Q&A in the MP forum rather than in the original forum, I think people would get the idea of where to post.

I guess the real issue is how much extra work you're willing to cheerfully take on?

(BTW, the ratio of MP to non-MP threads appears to be rising. I blame Cohen and Thufir. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif)

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

I think that someone managing one thread as an index to each of those subjects would help. And there is a search feature which is easier to use in one forum than in many. But thats just my opinion.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Gandalf: One thing about the PBEM forum which already exists - it isn't a Dominions 2 forum, but a Shrapnel Games forum - or at least that's how I recall Richard describing it when he instituted it. I think if we had a Domionions 2 Multiplayer Games forum in addition to this one, people would use it. Looking for a game to play in? Go to the multiplayer forum. Looking to polish up your game before taking the MP plunge? Use this forum, where discussion on strategy won't be buried in new game annoncements, and ongoing game problems/propaganda.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

So... I'm curious about the poll at the top of this thread. I just added up all the percentages and it only comes out to ~60, not 100. What gives?

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

It does add to 100 (well, 98%, but it is because of the roundings I guess). It looks like you have added the number of voters though, which is displayed to the left of the percentages.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Add up the numbers just before the % signs. You'll find they add up to 98%.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

As I remember it was created due to conversations here, and announced here. Im not even sure if it was announced in other forums. And everything has its pros and cons. Having the communitys wall themselves off from the rest of shrapnel isnt really in shrapnels best interests.

Re: Forum splitting poll
 

Wow, my eyes must be going. I thought there was a decimal point b/w the two numbers! Makes total sense now: Number of Votes followed by Percentage of Total.