So I'm doing an analysis of this forum for an assignment

[Ranorak]

1)How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

4) What do you think of the moderation?

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

1)If I recall correctly, I was looking for some user opinions about the purchase of a game, I can't remember which one.
Currently I use the forums for looking up opinions, reading interesting discussions and providing help when asked.

2)Like: The friendly and (depending on the topic) diverse range of opinions on all kinds of subject matter.
Dislike: The huge wave of negativity about so many things. I'm getting an allergic reaction every time I read the words "X SUCKS".

3)The forums change all the times, depending on what the hot-button issue of the internet currently is. As for general tone and such, no, not that much. Trolls have always been around, people come, people go, in the end I feel that the general vibe has been the same.

4) No complains about the mods, Not overly aggressive but not non-existent either.

5)I have never been to a off-line meet-up, at least, not that I was aware of, or with the intent to. And I guess it would be fun to meet up with a few people, but that would almost certainly mean traveling abroad and I could spend my money better.

6)No, I do not.

7)Not that I can think of anything.

 

[Tatsuki]

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

I've been a lurker on the forums for many years but only joined up recently, I lost my job due to the company downsizing and being able to be part of a community with similar interests helps relax.

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

I love that a lot of the content is still niche and you can usually find a good number of people who share your views. On the flipside there are a lot fewer members now making all but the heated topics quite slow and empty, and many topics turn into arguments far too quickly. I guess my main problem is a lot of ignorance and a lack of empathy getting more and more common.

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

All my negatives from 2 have slowly crept in over time, and the feminism topic has skyrocketed it lately.

4) What do you think of the moderation?

The mods are generally quite behind the scenes and efficient so I haven't had dealings directly with them but every ban and warning I have seen has been justified. No complaints whatsoever.

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

No but I would happily meet somebody from the site given that I liked them as a person, but that goes the same for people in person anyway.

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

I am not a fan of social media.

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

We need more content that is truly gaming related and a website equivalent of a membership recruitment drive.

 

[FalloutJack]

{1} I believe it started with Zero Punctuation and replying to Zero Punctuation.

{2} Like is some of the discussion/news I get, the roleplaying I do, and some of the videos. Dislike is the random captcha checks that still think I'm a bot despite all the posts I have, some of the attitudes people take, the abandonment of certain shows for various reasons, the layout that is too white for my eyes sometimes, some of the weird bugs, and some of the moderation. It can seem hit-and-miss at times. Sometimes, it's been legit and sometimes I felt it was overdoing it. (I once had to argue that 'Don't be silly' was not offensive. That one, they relented on.) I'm not saying they're all bad, but there have been bad moments. Putting all the board's Gamergate stuff in the Political/Religious section didn't help. It's really gaming discussion or maybe even needs its own section.

{3} Yeah, and a number of people would agree that losing Extra Credits, Unforgotten Realms, The Jimquisition, and probably others was not a positive one. Heaven help them if they lose Yahtzee. Wednesdays are the busiest days here. Imagine what happens if what gets recorded in Australia STAYS in Australia. That would be problematic. Uhh, already mentioned the layout. If you were asking about the people, I would say - in general - no.

{4} I think that if it IS relaxing and that my critique isn't being heavily-scrutinized and it STAYS that way, then good. By now, it should be clear that I post with decent intentions on my mind and that my much-maligned health bar be allowed to heal. I like it here and I try to keep unworthy comments to myself. Note that that doesn't exclude the use of constructive criticism.

{5} No, and I'm not sure I want to. Okay, MAYBE with some of the members of the Wild Wasteland roleplayers for funsies, but on my terms, which means not PAX. I'm nowhere near California.

{6} None of those. Sometimes, I do stuff on skype for other people's benefit in RPs. That's it.

{7} Nix the random captcha and put several in registration. Keep the ads from interfering in board-use. Move GG stuff to its own forum. Be aware that some flash ads can glitch the board's buttons and textfields.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

4) What do you think of the moderation?

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

1.) Found it thanks to Zero Punctuation being picked up here way back in '08-'09.

2.) The people.

3.) Progressively more...acidic? And cliquish to boot.

4.) They're doing their jobs and I don't envy them it. Used to be a bit 'Orwellian' way back, but they've loosened up. Some calls are questionable. I do miss some recentish ban recipients though.

5.) Nope! And sure? Why not? Drinks all around.

6.) Liked 'em on Facebook just to show a bit of support and to see the occasional article without jumping on the site.

7.) Eh...it's a forum? Not much more that they can do, really. It's a community-driven thing after all.

 

[Zhukov]

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

I was brought here by Zero Punctuation (You're going to get that answer a lot.) I used to frequent another forum on which someone mentioned Yahtzee and his show. I came looking and found my way here. Since my last gaming forum had been a generally enjoyable experience I gave this one a go and decided I liked it enough to stick around.

I use these forum for, well, discussing games. Few of the people I know in real life are not into gaming, so it's fun to have a place to chat about it. I also hang around on off-topic since, hey, might as well since I'm already here. I've dipped my toe in the user groups but they never really stuck.

I enjoy forums because, despite its faults, the format allows for a measured and considered pace of discussion that isn't always possible in the comparatively fast paced cut and thrust of face-to-face conversation. Especially for someone who is more articulate in writing than in speech.

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

Like:
- The people, or rather, some of them. I've been around long enough to recognize quite a few people and I've come to rather like some of them, at least to the extent that you can do so online. But don't tell them I said that.
- The moderation practices. Will elaborate below.
- The content of the site.

Dislike:
- The people, or rather, some of them. I suppose in any sufficiently large gathering of people you are going to have the troublemakers and the personality clashes. Gaming seems to attract more than its fair share of maladjusted and embittered people, I'm guessing because of its a (often) solitary and sedentary activity.
- The nigh-constant gender wars. I actually find discussion of social issues to be interesting, but it tends to make people angry and angry people are never fun to be around or speak to.

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

Hard to say. My first reaction is to say yes, they've gotten worse and more hostile over time. However, I've been here long enough to notice that pretty much every long term member ends up saying that eventually. It's like an accelerated version of the older generation complaining about "the kids of today".

So, on reflection I'd say the forums have remained fairly constant, although the topics that are in vogue definitely change with time.

4) What do you think of the moderation?

I heartily approve.

(And no, I'm not just saying that because the mods read these forums. If I wanted to take this opportunity to complain about them I would have answered this via PM.)

The moderators do their job well and diligently and whenever I've been in direct contact with them they've been polite, friendly and approachable. Those occasions when I've found myself on the sharp end of moderation were mostly well deserved and I was given the option to appeal on those occasions that I felt were not.

In my opinion it is largely because of the moderation policy that this forum is largely free of the meaningless noise and hateful bile you see in unmoderated environments like, say, Youtube comments or 4Chan. We bicker and squabble to be sure, but I'll take that over the alternative any day.

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

I have not. If given the chance I would certainly consider it, largely depending on who else was going to be there.

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

No.

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

Nothing really comes to mind.

I guess some more presence on the forums from the staff would be cool. In times past some of the staff, many of them since departed, would pop by every now and again to slum it with us plebs and I always liked to see it. It let us get to know them just a little and that in turn made me more interested in their content.

 

[Ishal]

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

Zero Punctuation is what caught my attention, but that was mainly just to the site. Other content such as 'Doraleus and Associates' and 'There Will be Brawl' were pretty funny as well. I mainly decided to join the forum and start posting when I discovered that forums could be enjoyable when you contribute to them, depending on the topic.

Mostly I just use them for browsing topics that I find interesting, but lately it's been more entertaining than interesting.

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

I like that the users are mostly friendly, and one in particular gave me a large amount of help putting together my first gaming rig. I appreciate users like that. I like the site itself and the forums. I've seen way worse, but I've also seen better.

The things I dislike seem to growing, though. The moderation isn't bad, but it creates some irritating problems. People won't insult others otherwise they'll get a warning. So instead of people saying what they really want in certain instances, they dance around it and be snarky or passive aggressive instead. Something I rather dislike, a lot. Also certain threads tend to attract certain posters that jump in all the time and don't even contribute to the thread. All they do is argue with people and "call them out." I know, crazy thing to happen on the internet right? Still, get's cringeworthy after a while and you start recognizing these names and avatars. Then it's to the ignore list.

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

Yes, I think it's impossible to say otherwise. Content creators come and go, same with users. Some leave on their own, more get banned. The landscape changes. I find myself using the ignore feature more than I ever have before. But that could be just me getting pissy as I grow old on these forums. GamerGate split the forum down the middle, and I'm actually happy it did. It's been a hoot to watch, regardless of what I believe or don't believe about the situation. It is true this site handled it better than others, that goes for the content creators and the users. However, that's not the same as saying they did a good job. They didn't.

4) What do you think of the moderation?

It's alright. I can follow the rules well enough. I've got a clean record. Though, as stated above, it's not perfect and can have some undesirable consequences. Maybe I just like getting muddy and dirty, but I'm not bothered by unmoderated places like 4chan. In fact, I rather like it depending on the circumstance. Good discussion can happen there just as much as here. And it's even easier to follow the conversation once it get's going.

But overall, I'd say the mods are doing a good job.

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

No, and maybe I would. Maybe. Depends on how well I get to know them, and if we hit it off. I like my online activities to stay online, and my offline activities to remain offline.

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

To connect? No.

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

I can't think of anything. "Community" comes about naturally. The Escapist community will find ways to enhance itself and better itself if it wants to.

 

[tilmoph]

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

4) What do you think of the moderation?

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

1. I had been watching the zero punctuation show for a while, which is how I learned about the site. I joined the forums specifically during the early XBox 1 mess. The way the platform was being designed at the time was so bad, I just kind of felt like adding my voice the *****-a-thon. I mostly just observe threads, since half the time want I want to say has been covered, countered, defending, and adding my own voice seems pointless, but I have had some rather fun arguments on here now and again, when I'm in a chatty mood.

2. I like the diversity of opinions. I don't agree with a lot of the opinions, but I like that the site doesn't really seem to be too overbearing towards any one perceptive on anything. I really don't think anyone has ever been banned just for having an opinion the moderators consider verboten. There's very little chance that any given discussion will turn into a pure echo chamber circle jerk, since every possible interpretation of anything is fairly well represented. And that is definitely a plus in my book. There's nothing I really dislike about the forums.

3. Not really, no. I guess they got a bit more lax on the whole low-content thing, and there isn't anymore "first!" posts on the ZP threads, but nothing really massive.

4. Fair. I might not agree with every banning I see (and yes, I'm one of those gawker types that always clicks on the "banned for this post" links), but like I noted in 2, the rules in general are applied fairly and equally.

5. Nope

6. I don't use social media. I did have my steam account linked on here, but the link went wonky and directed to the wrong person, so I dropped it.

7. Can't really think of anything.

 

[babinro]

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

To share my opinions on what was likely a popular game being discussed at the time. I then went to add my opinions on other forum topics gaming or general as well as content produced video's like MovieBoB/Jimquisition/Podcasts, etc

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?
Like: Ease of use and access. I don't feel like I'm running through too many hoops. I like that this place feels more or less troll free relative to other gaming sites.

Dislike: Ads. There are sometimes video ads that play on every page that cannot be pause (they'll just reload) and completely bog down the flow of using the forums. I have no issue with simple banner ads as long as they significantly slow down load times. Some of the ads here are atrocious. Thankfully there are workarounds but the fact that they exist is the problem.

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?
A little but mostly from the website changing over time. The community remains largely unchanged in terms of tone so far as I can tell. There are naturally more ads than I remember in the past as this site has seemingly grown in popularity. Nothing that I'd call a surprising or drastic change though.

4) What do you think of the moderation?
Amazing. As mentioned above this place actually feels relatively troll free. I feel like I could actually have a discussion with someone here if I wanted to. I don't share this feeling with any other gaming website or forum I've frequented in the past.

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?
No. I don't know anyone here personally enough to have any sense of attachment with them so no.

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?
No. The forums and a rare case of personal PM's within the site have always been more than enough for me.

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?
Realistically? No.
If they could remove all ads for free forever and do everything possible to minimize page loading times than great. But this is the real world and they are a business and not a charity.

 

[AgedGrunt]

Spoiler

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?
Friend introduced me to the Unskippable series, and discovered Zero Punctuation myself. Didn't go to the forums until I left others. Found some interesting topics. Still come around to have an ear to the ground on some things, sometimes replying.

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?
It's relatively better than other forums. For example, posting guidelines are somewhat lax and the community is to a certain extent diverse, so there are different perspectives. While it's still dogged by common forum archetypes and often unbearable topics, probably the worst bits include the community's vocal minority covering religion and the something of a diseased base it's become in the GamerGate e-war. Really, forget the ban hammers, it's time to break out the nukes. Along with the Anita Sarkeesian saga, it's just pollution.

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?
Generally no. Quite a few names disappear over time as they finally have enough, or the moderators came to that conclusion for them. Sure some of the topics don't quite have the same noise they once did.

4) What do you think of the moderation?
Invisible, other than a ninja calling card that someone was moderated. Basically how it should be!

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?
Haaaa - No.

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?
Forums seem communication enough. I don't see the appeal unless someone needs a bigger soap box or feels compelled to stay connected and patched in 24/7. I don't even do that for close friends.

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?
See #2. Don't think it really can do much else than be janitor. Has to come from the users. Key words: good community.

Textgoeshere.

 

[Inglorious891]

Hey everyone. This is a little out of the blue, but I'm doing a Masters in journalism and one of my modules is Social Media and Community Engagement. For an assignment over the holidays we have to write an analysis of two communities online, one journalistic and one non-journalistic.

I've chosen The Escapist forums as my journalistic community, and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to talk about their experiences as a forums user? New, old, regular, irregular, anything is great.

Here are the questions I'm planning to ask everyone, so no-one is taken by surprise. You don't have to answer them in this thread - send me a Private Message if you're more comfortable with that.

Thanks, everyone!

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

4) What do you think of the moderation?

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

1) Back when X-Play was still on the air, they started having previews of ZP episodes every tuesday for a couple of weeks. I fucking loved them and started watching the full episodes every wednesday and going on the Escapist regularly.

2) I like some of the discussions that take place here and the videos are nice. I don't like some of the discussions that take place here (Anita, GamerGate, etc.) because they're so fucking overdone and unecessary and yet still get 10 pages of replies in days. Completely fucking nuts.

3) They've gotten more political over the years, but the same can be said about a lot of gaming, so it comes with the territory I guess.

4) I'unno, they're good I guess? I haven't seen anything alarming in all my years, so I don't really have any complaints.

5) Nope. I'd be open to the idea though.

6) Nope.

7) I can't really think of anything immedient that they could do, and right now I'm too sleepy to think, so I have no ideas on how the Escapist could do so.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

1) How did you come to start posting on the Escapist forums? What do you normally use them for?

2) What do you like and dislike about the forums?

3) Do you think the forums have changed at all since you joined?

4) What do you think of the moderation?

5) Have you ever been to an offline meet-up linked with the Escapist, or met fellow users offline? Would you if you got the chance?

6) Do you use any other platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc.) to connect with the Escapist community?

7) Do you think The Escapist should do anything more to give its users a good community experience?

1. I don't really even remember. My earliest posts don't really give any hint of what I really came to the site for, though I imagine it was likely something involving Zero Punctuation. Just sort of knowing the site existed for a while, creating an account, and not regularly posting until a few months later. But I apparently decided this forum community was fine for me, since I'm still here. At this point, most of my site usage goes towards the forums. A lot of content I used to watch or read is gone.

2. I like...the people? Which is sort of odd considering the fact that I don't regularly talk with any forum members. For some reason I have a decent memory for remembering a lot of user names/specific profile pictures. As far as disliking...it's difficult for me to think of certain things I absolutely dislike. There are certain rules that I think are rather pointless. Which brings us to... (SEE NUMBER 4 BECAUSE I TYPED IT OUT THINKING IT WAS 3)

3. Absolutely so. I've seen plenty of memorable users get banned, controversies go by, etc. etc. In recent times, this is especially noticeable in the Religion and Politics forum, which has all but...well, pretty much transformed into a "GamerGate and Friends" forum. I was saddened to see a lot of users I respect leave the site following that debacle. Even as a rather passive supporter of that movement. Which is why I wanted a completely separate forum when a topic came up in Off-Topic asking about where it should be.

4. the moderation. For the most part, I think the moderation is absolutely fine, but certain rules on the forum really sort of irk me. Like the one service which is involved with ad revenue. Or rather causing the lack thereof. I can understand not wanting people to advocate the service when The Escapist needs it to survive. But some have gotten warnings at times for...what I can't really call advocation. Just mentioning it by name. Or the vague "don't be a jerk" rule which still sometimes allows for some extreme passive-aggressiveness.

5. Nope and absolutely. I think it'd be wonderful to meet some Escapist folks.

6. I do have all of my other social media accounts linked to my profile, but I don't tend to use them for any Escapist functions.

7. I'm not really sure what they could do. Mods stick around quite a lot and are generally quite transparent. For the most part, I tend to have positive experiences with the forums. But that's just my personal experience.