How could the Escapist draw for traffic to the forums?

[PsychicTaco115]

More community events

If we do more stuff together, we'll be forced to tolerate each other

Just like family gatherings

 

[Scarim Coral]

I think it need some new and original comedy shows or some animated show. Sure the Cosplay Closest is fine althought I'm not a fan of the Non Player Counselor. As for the rest of the videos on here at the moment, it doesn't interest me as much other than ZP.

Honest trailer and Man at Arms I can easily watched on Youtube.

I mean remember the time we had Doraleous and Associates, There will be Brawl, A Good Knight Quest and Loading Ready Run etc? (Yes I know they weren't on at the same time period but I mena good quality shows.)

Yes I know this is due to the payment issue the site has got.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Decrease in traffic can be attributed to some combination of:

1. Rise of alternate forms of social media and more targeted sites like Reddit, decline of internet forums in general.
2. Loss of high or higher profile content creators, bloom coming off Yahtzee's rose due to the simple passage of time, failure to fortify site with TNBT.
3. Aging feature-light forums missing some basic functionality.
4. Flexible and open-minded moderation...a positive...gave rise to an overabundance of politicized and shit-flinging conversation...a negative. Community split, turned ugly, and lost a lot of moderate/pleasant posters. Many of those remaining are inured to conflict, enjoy conflict, or are blatant ideologues looking to drive away the last of the heathens.

Suggestions for improvement:

1. Nothing you can do about this, really. Site probably has a certain degree of taint by association with a certain controversy as well, so it'll be an uphill battle.
2. Just keep digging for new content. You need to find another Yahtzee or three. This would probably require expenditure of funds, though, and I have no idea how profitable the site is. If it's profitable at all.
3. Embed basic HTML functionality when editing/replying to posts, it's ridiculous having to self-tag everything. Allow us to explain WHY we're reporting a post, sometimes it's nice to call moderator attention to something without implying someone deserves a warning. And some form of like/upvote for posts would be appreciated, circle-jerk accusations notwithstanding. You can avoid a dislike button for that purpose.
4. We really need to start applying different moderation standards to different forums. You have a gulag forum now. Let's a call a spade a spade, we know what it is and we know what's its for. Use it, and start cracking down on the other forums. Start nailing people on passive aggressive or generalized hostility, myself included, we get a free pass on that for some reason. You're not going to get new people involved in the forums...especially good natured, affable, low-drama people...when they're a fucking cesspool of bitching and axe grinding and incoherent yowling about the latest SJW outrage du jour. Use your gulag. That's what gulags are for.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

With Extra Credits, LRR, and Jim Sterling departing, Miracle of Sound as well, a lot of traffic has stopped because those content creators have a decent chunk of fans. Plus the community has ramped up the toxicity in recent times which is not conducive to keeping people coming back.

Part of the forums that has driven folks away and keeps noobs from staying is the level of snark and toxic posts towards people who might have disagreements with others.

Truth be told its not just the content, its also the users. How is this solved? Well Escapist can try to attract new users and bring back older ones with good video and article content but we constant users also have a responsibility to be civil towards new folks and at least make an effort to lessen the forum toxicity.

The veiled insults, the snark, the things people say that they seem to think is "wit", those are also huge detractors to the forum.

So, yeah... if we want more traffic, we also have to amp up the civility and work really hard to tamp down and stamp out the damn toxicity. Escapist staff have the rest of the responsibility.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Controversy. Controversy...oh and more controversy. Just bring certain three letter and two letter acronyms into the fray like rare-cooked steak thrown into a den of starved lions, and you're sortrd! Also you could do a Jim Sterling and give a game series sequel a positive rating to anger rabid fanboys. I dunno. Just making observations, not websites.

 

[Jeopardy Surface]

I'm new so I don't have a reference for this, I didn't even lurk very long before joining. It doesn't seem dead though. I was away for a couple of weeks, and coming back it's all new threads. I guess this place used to be much more active? I'd guess that a lot of that moment to moment activity has gone to social media, but has total membership actually declined? It just seems pretty alive to me is all.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I'm new so I don't have a reference for this, I didn't even lurk very long before joining. It doesn't seem dead though. I was away for a couple of weeks, and coming back it's all new threads. I guess this place used to be much more active? I'd guess that a lot of that moment to moment activity has gone to social media, but has total membership actually declined? It just seems pretty alive to me is all.

Since you are new, the place does seem pretty alive to you, but for those of us who have been here for years, the place is a shadow of its former self. Before, you could come to the site the next day and there would be dozens of new threads to comment on. Now, threads stay on the first page for days, sometimes over a week, even though no one is commenting because no one is making new threads. It's very sad to me, because I still like coming here and discussing things.

Honestly, I think that the Escapist has been gutted, and while it's trying to recover, it never fully will. Gamer Gate turned gaming into a civil war, and more things were just piled on top of it to the point where fans destroyed creators, and creators destroyed fans. It's like a barren wasteland after a fierce battle. What can be done to fix this, I don't know, because it seems like any time the Escapist tries something new, it falls flat, or people just get upset and start yelling about how they don't like it.

 

[DoPo]

I was away for a couple of weeks, and coming back it's all new threads. I guess this place used to be much more active?

Yeah - nowadays, you can come back in a day and see the all the same threads as before in GD/OT. On really slow days (usually weekends) it could take hours before somebody posts.

The posting rate/thread turnover used to be quite high, to the point where you could check in the morning, then the evening and most of the threads would be new.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

I think the damage has been done. We've lost a lot of good and varied content creators over the years, so there's not much of a draw for new blood. The rise of Youtube and Reddit I'd imagine also have a part to play in just making this sort of site a tad archaic and outdated, so that isn't helping. The site has also gained a less than favourable reputation, especially in the wake of GamerGate, but even before then if I mentioned the site, people would say how they didn't really like it due to a lot of rampant elitism and passive aggressiveness, although now it's even worse. As a community, we've lost a lot of the more chill people like Daystar who helped to bring a little levity to the proceedings, and now the majority of the old guard who are left are either embittered or only here out of habit. Again, Gamergate seems to have taken its toll, which was pretty easy to see when GID was chucked back into the basement. Thread turnover now takes a few days where it used to take hours (or maybe like a day before GID was established and GG topics just flooded everything else). There are threads that are about a week old at this point still on the sidebar, which was basically unprecedented outside of megathreads.

 

[Barbas]

Sure: be the change you want to see. Apart from Taco with his faux news articles and Frappe with his quizzes, and the efforts of the avatar smiths, not many people around here seem to go out of their way to make the forums a much nicer place to be. Complaining is easy, but when you sink to a level at which unproductive moaning takes up most of your time, you are actively making the environment just that little bit more miserable for those around you. You can pitch articles to the site, you can submit quizzes, you can have all kinds of fun.

This rose-tinted view of the past is going to accomplish little besides holding any possible progress back. Stop comparing what you have now to what you used to have, because it's gone. That ship sailed, you had some fun, people came and went, life goes on. Stop wasting your time and wearing out your hands arguing about the same things you have been for the past several years. We get it, they're important to you. Just don't let them be what defines you, because that makes you a boring and one-dimensional person. Stop being so haughty and insular, emerge from your clique. Plenty of people join this site just to post in that thread about finding old games, and they must stick around at least long enough to see if they got a response, so you could do a lot worse than going and having a friendly chat with some of them.

3. Embed basic HTML functionality when editing/replying to posts, it's ridiculous having to self-tag everything. Allow us to explain WHY we're reporting a post, sometimes it's nice to call moderator attention to something without implying someone deserves a warning. And some form of like/upvote for posts would be appreciated, circle-jerk accusations notwithstanding. You can avoid a dislike button for that purpose.
4. We really need to start applying different moderation standards to different forums. You have a gulag forum now. Let's a call a spade a spade, we know what it is and we know what's its for. Use it, and start cracking down on the other forums. Start nailing people on passive aggressive or generalized hostility, myself included, we get a free pass on that for some reason. You're not going to get new people involved in the forums...especially good natured, affable, low-drama people...when they're a fucking cesspool of bitching and axe grinding and incoherent yowling about the latest SJW outrage du jour. Use your gulag. That's what gulags are for.

I have no idea how far behind the techs are on things like HTML functionality and all that biz. I like the idea of leaving a short explanation for flagging a post, though. It'd make it easier for mods to see bullshitting, which oils the wheels so to speak. I think I'll mention that one to the staff.

We try to discourage the creeping PA in conversation, but have to take posting history into account and sometimes it just isn't quite enough to push a post over the edge. Either moderation or staff appeals have gotten more forgiving, because that stuff doesn't seem to get (and remain) hit as much. Upvoting was discussed, but Reddit already has that and a large concern was that it'd exacerbate existing egoism instead of being used for its intended purpose.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Start a series hosted by Yaya Han/Jessica Nigri dressed as sexy whatevers.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Honestly, I think that the Escapist has been gutted, and while it's trying to recover, it never fully will. Gamer Gate turned gaming into a civil war, and more things were just piled on top of it to the point where fans destroyed creators, and creators destroyed fans. It's like a barren wasteland after a fierce battle. What can be done to fix this, I don't know, because it seems like any time the Escapist tries something new, it falls flat, or people just get upset and start yelling about how they don't like it.

You've absolutely hit the nail on the head with this whole statement, but the bold one is something I didn't personally want to say but its really true.

I've always been a diplomat, trying to keep the peace between people. Especially in gaming circles because I want this hobby to be at least respected. It somewhat hurts me to see people who I feel drag the overall perception of gaming down with negative attitudes, ego and just that absolutely repellent snark.

I've always wanted gaming to be inclusive, always believed that whether you're casual or hardcore, there's a place for you in games and we should have at least a modicum of respect for our fellow game enthusiasts.

And yes there's controversies, and yes we all have the right to state opinions on such matters. When the opinions go too far, when they go overboard and create controversy that encompasses things that more than likely do not have anything but the least tangential attachment to what truly is a localized issue... it drags the whole hobby down, it harms us as game enthusiasts, our image in the public eye.

When it comes to most things in life I do not really care for public perception, but as a lifelong game enthusiast for nearly 3 decades, having been told by many that my time has been wasted, judged harshly for "not growing up," I want to push that perception out and at least get it more accepted somehow.

Anyway... I don't expect every person who visits this site regularly to be less toxic, to be civil. I want it to happen, yes but I truly don't expect it to go that way. It truly is unfortunate that people are so negative, so truly uncivilized and harshly repellent. I just want us to be positive examples. Escapist isn't the entire gaming community, and changing perceptions here may never resonate. But I've been here a while and I really wish there was a better atmosphere, like it was when I first joined. There was still harshness and negativity but it was not as prominent and I'm severely disappointed how much this forum has degenerated.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I have no idea how far behind the techs are on things like HTML functionality and all that biz. I like the idea of leaving a short explanation for flagging a post, though. It'd make it easier for mods to see bullshitting, which oils the wheels so to speak. I think I'll mention that one to the staff.

It'd be much appreciated. I can think of dozens of instances where I've wanted to flag something for attention but NOT get someone warned. And often times threads are evolving creatures, and posts can be extremely hostile/nasty in the context of that thread but not when viewed in isolation. Would cut down on moderator work, allow more context/communication. Would just be good. On the hockey forums I frequent providing context for a report is REQUIRED.

Upvoting was discussed, but Reddit already has that and a large concern was that it'd exacerbate existing egoism instead of being used for its intended purpose.

This is a huge part of the reason why people USE forums, though...as an ego boost. We want to share our opinions and feel like we're being heard. The entire reason why I ever settled here in the first place was the forum would alert me when someone replied to one of my posts. It was a feature other forums did not have at the time. A simple "like" on a post can be positive feedback. It leaves someone feeling like the effort they spent typing it out wasn't wasted. I'm not sure I would suggest Reddit's system of up/down voting and hiding disliked posts, particularly not with the climate the way it is here, but only upvotes? Seems a harmless system. No one likes to feel like they're shouting into a void, and the less populous the forums become the more that becomes a potential problem.

As it stands, these forums seemed quite ahead of their time when I joined, and are now feeling rather dated. They could just use an overhaul.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Well we could make some sort of a buddy system where you make sure your buddy posts on the forums or try make a topic a week or something. Part of the problem is probably visibility since the forums take up so little space on the front page which is kind of fair enough and the fact that sometimes opinions of places put people off going there.

As far as Gamer Gate goes no I don't think that has impacted the forums negatively. I don't see any difference between Gamer Gate and any previous topics that lit the place on fire like CoD MW2 Pc port, ME 3 ending, etc aside from the fact it has gone on longer.

As for people being caustic or whatever that is something that can mitigated quite a lot depending on how you frame the OP of a thread. If the thread is frame for positive discussion it will happen if it is framed to be a shit flinging flamebait fest that is what it will be. Far too often the tone of threads seems decided by the OP.

I know this is something somewhat more relevant for a user group but in my opinion we need to see more threads along the lines of shit like "Escapees who is best girl in Huniepop?", "What is your favourite elite specialisation in GW2's new expansion? 'Cause I'm berserk over them", "Hey people come look at my massive collection of power armour from FO4, how big is yours?", "Come show us your favourite custom character in Mount your Friends! I'll show you mine if you show me yours ", "How the fuck do I even into that for Crusader Kings 2?"

Fuck it at this point I'd go back to good old gems of "DOES ANYONE ELSE HATE HALO?", "WRPGS>=JRPGS", "I have no strong feelings for this popular game why do you?"

Heck we could even do the X,Y,Z threads again! The last object you shouted at in Skyrim are now your socks. What are you wearing?

 

[Padwolf]

Sure: be the change you want to see. Apart from Taco with his faux news articles and Frappe with his quizzes, and the efforts of the avatar smiths, not many people around here seem to go out of their way to make the forums a much nicer place to be. Complaining is easy, but when you sink to a level at which unproductive moaning takes up most of your time, you are actively making the environment just that little bit more miserable for those around you. You can pitch articles to the site, you can submit quizzes, you can have all kinds of fun.

This rose-tinted view of the past is going to accomplish little besides holding any possible progress back. Stop comparing what you have now to what you used to have, because it's gone. That ship sailed, you had some fun, people came and went, life goes on. Stop wasting your time and wearing out your hands arguing about the same things you have been for the past several years. We get it, they're important to you. Just don't let them be what defines you, because that makes you a boring and one-dimensional person. Stop being so haughty and insular, emerge from your clique. Plenty of people join this site just to post in that thread about finding old games, and they must stick around at least long enough to see if they got a response, so you could do a lot worse than going and having a friendly chat with some of them.

This. Just allllll this! There's a whole lot of complaining and not a whole lot of doing. This site handles a lot of things. There is a lot you can do with it, a lot you can do to have fun with it. Why can't we start threads like "Wasn't this a great article today?" "Wasn't this a great video?" or "Them mods over yonder are pretty damn fine, gurl." We need more positiveness around here.

 

[Fallow]

This is a huge part of the reason why people USE forums, though...as an ego boost. We want to share our opinions and feel like we're being heard. The entire reason why I ever settled here in the first place was the forum would alert me when someone replied to one of my posts. It was a feature other forums did not have at the time. A simple "like" on a post can be positive feedback. It leaves someone feeling like the effort they spent typing it out wasn't wasted. I'm not sure I would suggest Reddit's system of up/down voting and hiding disliked posts, particularly not with the climate the way it is here, but only upvotes? Seems a harmless system. No one likes to feel like they're shouting into a void, and the less populous the forums become the more that becomes a potential problem.

But it's also a big problem. Reddit has already shown how easy communities can go insular by upvoting. It hyperstimulates virtue signalling, and I don't think we need more SJW behaviour around here.

 

[Fallow]

Maybe organizing some game tournaments?

I think playing together would get rid of some of the resentment that some users here hold for each other.

That sounds like a really good idea. Something jump in jump, yes? A running FPS server of some kind would be great. Or any game on Steam where you can pick the group that plays so we could have an Escapist group that only plays against one another all the time.

EDIT: If there's a way to do that stuff with WH40K Space Marine that would be absolutely perfect.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

But it's also a big problem. Reddit has already shown how easy communities can go insular by upvoting. It hyperstimulates virtue signalling, and I don't think we need more SJW behaviour around here.

The last thing we'd want around here is a bunch of insular, dogmatic micro-communities long on ideology and short on civility. That would be TERRIBLE.

 

[Fox12]

Bring back some talent.

Yes, the site has improved, especially with Erin Dies Alone and Judging by the Cover. But a webcomic probably won't bring in hordes of viewers, even if it helps keep them. The site is a farcry from when it had Extra Credits and Jimquisition. Hell, even Moviebob was okay before he lost his fucking mind.

Otherwise, just try to make this place more positive and creative. It's a lot more negative then when I joined, and I feel like part of that was the GG fallout. But we can do our part to make things a little more lively.