Hey, I choose my rhetoric carefully when I started this.
As I said, I have no problems with the empires. But the agreement/compromise settled on by this community, that of the participating GalCiv posters, was to keep recruiting down to minimum. One bump to complete a story didn't bother me. But I had read repeated mention of "being segretated/cut off". I thought it would be a good time to bring up this hot topic again. If I offended you, my apologies. I just wanted people to air out any of their issues on this, and fell back on bad old habits. Guess I don't qualify for the Diplomats.
By poll, it seems that our larger (posting and lurking) community feels that we should keep very Empire related threads (communication, fiction, etc) seperate from the other forums. Personally, I think the seperation has done the GalCiv community well, as it allows our front door to be very friendly to the new or potential new players (seeking help or info) who come here to ask their questions and check out the game. They see a place that is friendly to them, and one that isn't "incestious" or "cliquey". They can then branch out and check out the modding, strategy, and very large community of empire when they are ready.
That's a real accomplishment, btw... being new player/poster friendly in a community this tight. If a place is very tight, it tends to put off many visitors, as it makes them feel they aren't welcome, that they've stumbled into a very exclusive, private club and are not welcome to stay. I doubt any GalCivver wants to make any new player feel they aren't wanted or welcome. Well, just the trolls need not apply here, right?
I certainly see nothing wrong with the occassional tease (like the mention of the Clone Wars not too long ago, for instance). And I've thought several empire members had been doing a fantastic job of "soft" recruiting for their empire without raising the noise or spam levels.
But I really don't like to hear from any of our experienced players and participants that they feel cut off. Why is that? Do you feel you can only express yourself in Empire forum? Or do you feel that you need to be "In character" and thump on how pathetic those Jedi are and how soon you and your enlightened brothren will show them the error of their ways? No one wants to step on you having fun here. But I don't understand how having a forum dedicated to Empires creates these feelings. I've participated in various game communities throughout my enjoyment of many computer games. Most of the time, those communities end up evolving dedicated channels (forums) for various topics. Whether it's because it's an important topic that has a low number of activity/threads which make them hard to find if not seperated out (Strategy and Modding are examples here last time I looked), or high traffic/participation subject that gets seperated out so people can find everything else (Empire is GC's example). Seperation is about putting like with like, and making it easier on those that are interested in those subjects to enjoy them, not about segregating the community into different class or status members.
I think the decline in participation is a natural process. One which is not due to the seperation of forums, but due to human nature. People bought GC, they had a blast and many participated in the GC community (forums, empires, etc). But RL or their interest led them away after a some time (a few weeks, a few months, whatever). People and their life change, and its just a natural process. This lulling is a natural occurance that you see in most games and their communities. AP should help drive up the number of participants (new and returned). We've already had several people return, due to their anticipation of AP, and due to the Beta being available.
I do not want our long lost or inactive friends who are returning to start a new "recruitment" war. But I also don't want any of our posters feeling that they are cut off from any part of the GalCiv community. So please, feel free to flame me if you like (I've got plenty of high temperture resistant material in my uniform). But while checking out this thread, please check our fellow GalCivvers issues and feelings about the seperation of topics. And don't forget to share your opinions about these matters.
Stardock Forums
Well.... No, we will not post a recruitment message here 