Calling All Empires - Off Topic Forum Needed

Sounds good to me.

I know this is a bit of a vexed topic, because from time to time others have requested the reverse (ie a "game only" forum as they were sick of sorting through empire threads.

I dont think the community is large enough, frankly: with perhaps 100-200 regular contributors, odd topic threads can be accomodated and at least this is one place where everyone comes, rather than people going all over the place to find game topics, off topics etc. I find it adds to the "community" feel, and if the thread title is chosen carefully, people know whether they should bother with it or not. In addition, it might just introduce people to off-topics that they may not have come across before! I vote to have it all here.

Perhaps a thread on the Main Forums could be created that would list when a new off-topic conversation started? I understand the desire to keep everyone here on the same page, but off-topic conversations that become politically or socially abrasive can cause some unnecessary stress on everyone else. Mainly, I'm interested in the new players, who will be joining us when Altarian Prophecy come out, not seeing a heated discussion on ******* (insert topic here). While I am interested in seeing the discussions, I think there are many out there who would rather hear game-related topics or strategy sharing.

Trust me, I don't want people wandering off to other websites, either! But we have some wonderful off-site resources already (MWC Statbot, War of the Worlds, etc) so an off-topic forum wouldn't be that far off, would it?

You mean a thread where someone might post: "Hi - I've started a thread on environmental issues, come on over to ***.com and talk to me"? Sure, it might work...but you'd have to be pretty interested in the topic to chase it! I know what you mean by abrasive threads, and the environmental one was certainly affected by "thread warming" but at the end of the day it is down to the maturity of posters and I think the environment thread turned out all right.

Off topic comments happen all the time, especially eg sport (all those college football followers) but since this isn't 'hot' no one minds. I do remember some heated comments waaay back when there was a blackout in the US and Canada got the blame - definately a hot thread! Do we want to encourage/discourage threads on politics, religion, other key issues? Do we just let it self regulate?

It's an interesting discussion to have; I think you need to consider:

1. What is really "off-topic", such that it needs to be elsewhere? Do the empire (and associated banter) threads stay here, or do they move too? Who decides what is "off topic"?

2. Who polices the board and this policy? I could count the number of times a Stardock employee has needed to moderate the forum on one hand in the past six months. What happens if you break the rule?

3. Does Stardock actually have any funding for rejigging the boards, or is it up to the players to organise their own resources (like idle, etc.)?

To take it a bit further, consider that a service like joeuser already exists - how much use do regular posters to this board make of it? You do the Metaverse Review there, of course, and I know a couple of people blog consistently, but if you come down hard here, would chatters migrate elsewhere, or just fade away?

Even though I vote to have it all here at present, I'm not fixed in that - I could be convinced by a better argument! Just tossing some more thoughts into the pot to consider.

I think the primary benefit of an off-topic forum would be to encourage these off-topic conversations.



I don't see this as a concern. Discussions never get really passionate until a couple of exchanges have been made. By that point anyone reading knows it's an "off-topic" thread, whether it's labeled as such or not.

Something else to consider is what Stardock wants from these boards. Do they want this place to be focused on the game, helping new gamers, strategy, Metaverse, etc? In that case we should consider moving off-topic discussions. If they want this place to be a community, then Stardock would probably appreciate such discussions staying here.

I don't know if there's enough off-topic threads around here to justify a new forum for them, though...

As for the people who are looking for tech support and answers - I think something like a stickied FAQ would fix that problem. A lot of the tech-support threads we've got repeat the same questions - if people can find most of their answers in that FAQ, they won't have to read through all the other threads on this forum, so it won't matter if imperial and off-topic threads stay here.

I've always liked the look of these forums but really hated the layout . . . it's such a shimozel. I can appreciate SD may not have the funds to revamp the way threads are organized . . . it's a pity. :notsure:

I agree with this.
I saw very few off topic threads in here. Maybe 3 or 4 that I remember of, in the last months. And sometimes one can get a little colorfull and heated like the environmental one. Or just a refreshing change, like the one about mars. I don't think that would discourage new people who comme over here with questions about the game. Specially since whenever a question is posted, there usually is someone to reply within the day, which I think is pretty good.

In my opinion, the huge empire threads that are often the most active, and thus the first ones in the list, are more of a problem, since there is no way to know what is being discussed in it. Of course I understand their purpose, I'm thinking about the new comers.

As for off toppic, sometimes it is a refreshing change from the other discussions. Specially when I post from work (like now): a chance to relax is always welcome. And as I said before, there aren't that many of them.

If there was an off topic forum, I'm afraid that like vincible said, if there is such a forum, it will only encourage off topic discussions, that for now, sometimes go on in serious threads, when the opportunity arises.

I'd prefer to see a Metaverse Forum created, where all Empire threads and Metaverse related topics should be posted, leaving the general forum free for everything else. Then we could lay off the "Bump Wars" of trying to keep all our empire threads on the front page, and thus moving everything else too quickly to the back pages. There are too many empire threads cluttering the main forum.

- Sirian


EDIT: Oh One More Thing (TM): If a Metaverse Forum were created, the main threads of top empires and highly active empires should be stickied. That would permanently end Bump Wars and reduce junk posts. Since the X-pack will not be in stores, there isn't likely to be the large influx of newbies often seen with most expansion packs bringing in new customers, but the cleaner the Stardock forums, the better chance of hooking anyone who does stop in for a peek.

[Message Edited]

Very interesting posts, everyone! Thank you all for your comments.

I thought about the forums last night while playing the game (yes, my mind actually wandered while I was crushing the Yor)! The more I thought about it, the clearer things became.

I have to agree that the forums are more than a discussion area about the game. This is a community and as such, things other than the game are discussed. If we move off-topic items somewhere else, what else do we move? After much consideration, I've decided that the off-topic forum isn't such a great idea.

I do think, however, that we all need to be a little more aware of the passion we express in discussing certain topics. Like Wombie said, I don't think we should be discouraging talk on politics/religion/beer. We just need to be careful that those conversations remain civil.

POLITICS... RELIGION... BEER...

Which one is best?

Coming soon to a forum near you.

I think we could achieve a synthesis of these ideas with some rejigging of the catagories we use here. Basically, what if we had the following tabs:

1. GC strategies and game playing discussion forum
2. GC mods and development forum
3. GC Empire forum
4. GC user tech support forum
5. Off topic forum

It would still mean someone relocating errant threads (ie some kind of policeman) but would keep us all in on the same page/website. I'd also support Sirian's idea of 'stickying' the main empire threads.

I'd agree, that would be the ideal solution. The question is whether Stardock actually wants to do it.

Sirian's right about the poorly disguised bumps that dominate some empire threads. They detract from the quality of the thread and the empire.

man, if tweaking the forum is really an option, I would like two things

a) separate out bug reporting from the forums so there is a more or less formal bug reporting system (with assigned numbers and issue tracking), and a bug discussion forum

real threading so we can tell who is responding to whom, not the serial posting as it exists.

The European Alliance would gladly create an off-topic forum in its existing communication architecture. Just let me know what you all decide. I check the European board anyway so it doesn't really matter for me.

G-Force

I agree it gets messy and a separate forum sounds nice.

But a large part of people that help answer questions are in empires and if thay are in another forum it would probably put a heavier load on STARDOCK.

I may be in left field on this one but I'm guessing the reason some people become Veteran, like yourself is because you help people in the forums, And most are in empires.

If thay were in a separate forum thay would probly rearly come to this one anymore.

I have been know to be wrong at times, its just my thoughts.

The Diplomats cordially invite any and all to our Audience Chamber where you will be welcome to carry on any off-topic conversations. We only request that you conduct yourselves in a genteel manner.

Just step over to http://www.chatarea.com/TheSenateHalls