Jimer_Lins Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) Look guys- I know you've got a lot to deal with. I recognize that. But your forums make it impossible to get any kind of publicity for anything. You have a "Server Events" forum which nobody reads.You have a "Community" forum- which hardly anyone reads.You refuse to create server forums. (Can I just add that I see that as about the most lethally bone-headed stunt I've ever seen?)Your "General Discussion" forum is full to the brim with hateful troll posts and shrill screeching, but moves too fast for anyone to reasonably follow. So, I ask you- when I try to create an event and publicize it, you actually expect me to post to the forum buried five levels deep in your impenetrable hierarchy, which gets less than one post per day? Nobody reads that forum. The bulk of the threads there were moved from other forums because... nobody reads that forum! It's not a lot of fun to work on community events when the people who run the game seem to actively work AGAINST the idea of creating community events or fostering communities within their own servers. This stuff takes time and effort to plan and coordinate. If we're not able to let people know "Hey, there's something cool going on", then why should we bother doing all the work? Here's some of what you need to do: Create server forums. No, I don't care what your reasons are for not having them, you're wrong for not having them. Not having them implies you don't want or support community, which I don't think is true.Flatten the forum list. If you want people to know there's a PVE forum, stop making them browse five pages deep. They're not going to do it.Put more information on the forum listing and make the listing wider. This double-column thing you're doing is a bad idea.Get rid of the massive and largely useless above-the-fold announcements. Put them in an announcements forum and let people get to the list. Making people scroll to the bottom of the page to get to the most frequently-accessed content is just plain bad user experience.Get better support for players who want to engage the community. Throw me a frickin' bone here, guys. We're doing cool stuff, but you're really taking the wind out of our sails with this silliness. Act like you appreciate the community and the people working to foster it, please? Edited January 6, 2012 by Jimer_Lins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ireniicus Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I agree with having server forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qqemokitty Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I too want server forums. In the mean time I am supporting SWTOR Owned Server Forums, and I can suggest others do the same. Flatten the forum list. If you want people to know there's a PVE forum, stop making them browse five pages deep. They're not going to do it. ^ I feel that this is the most important point on the list. The forum sub categories are far too hidden. It is not intuitive, especially to non-regular forum users. I only navigate this so well because I'm a forum troll AND forum moderator with years of experience on the high seas of game forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duulket_Ariakas Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 I'm a forum troll AND forum moderator with years of experience on the high seas of game forums. Ha! Me too.. Anyway, I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayana Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) And while your at it, put in a freakin' search feature!! Or help me find the dern thing... Edited January 6, 2012 by Mayana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimer_Lins Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 And while your at it, put in a freakin' search feature!! Or help me find the dern thing... They had it enabled, then disabled. I still don't know what the heck they're doing there. I don't quite understand how they can make such a great game and fumble the most basic forum design elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qqemokitty Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Ha! Me too.. Anyway, I agree. *fistbump* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qoojo Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Maybe I am too hungry right now, but sucking on toast doesn't sound so bad right now. Are we talking about buttered toast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistyWinter Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 /agree server forums need to happen!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rummyboo Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Look guys- I know you've got a lot to deal with. I recognize that. But your forums make it impossible to get any kind of publicity for anything. You have a "Server Events" forum which nobody reads. You have a "Community" forum- which hardly anyone reads. You refuse to create server forums. (Can I just add that I see that as about the most lethally bone-headed stunt I've ever seen?) Your "General Discussion" forum is full to the brim with hateful troll posts and shrill screeching, but moves too fast for anyone to reasonably follow. So, I ask you- when I try to create an event and publicize it, you actually expect me to post to the forum buried five levels deep in your impenetrable hierarchy, which gets less than one post per day? Nobody reads that forum. The bulk of the threads there were moved from other forums because... nobody reads that forum! It's not a lot of fun to work on community events when the people who run the game seem to actively work AGAINST the idea of creating community events or fostering communities within their own servers. This stuff takes time and effort to plan and coordinate. If we're not able to let people know "Hey, there's something cool going on", then why should we bother doing all the work? Here's some of what you need to do: Create server forums. No, I don't care what your reasons are for not having them, you're wrong for not having them. Not having them implies you don't want or support community, which I don't think is true.Flatten the forum list. If you want people to know there's a PVE forum, stop making them browse five pages deep. They're not going to do it.Put more information on the forum listing and make the listing wider. This double-column thing you're doing is a bad idea.Get rid of the massive and largely useless above-the-fold announcements. Put them in an announcements forum and let people get to the list. Making people scroll to the bottom of the page to get to the most frequently-accessed content is just plain bad user experience.Get better support for players who want to engage the community. Throw me a frickin' bone here, guys. We're doing cool stuff, but you're really taking the wind out of our sails with this silliness. Act like you appreciate the community and the people working to foster it, please? I support this post. To not add server forums will be and is a huge mistake on Bioware's part. It needs to happen if they want their forum section to run smoothly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimer_Lins Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 /agree server forums need to happen!! Server forums are critical, but they are only one piece of the puzzle. The entire forum needs a revamped layout and reorganization of the overly hiierarchical layout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zistar Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I fully support this thread! I read a post somewhere (don't remember which forum) where Bioware actually said they purposely did not create server forums and did not feel they were needed. Whut? Craziest thing I have seen, I totally don't understand why we wouldn't want that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qqemokitty Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 This is the "go to" thread regarding server forums, and includes BioWare responses both on these forums and in external articles with sources cited. I agree again though with the OP, the subforums are too many and too deep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuzoh Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) And while your at it, put in a freakin' search feature!! Or help me find the dern thing... seriously, what kind of a forum doesn't have even a basic search function? Edited January 7, 2012 by kuzoh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimer_Lins Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 This is the "go to" thread regarding server forums, and includes BioWare responses both on these forums and in external articles with sources cited. I agree again though with the OP, the subforums are too many and too deep! I don't think anyone reads the Community forum much, let alone BioWare or at least anyone with the power to make decisions. The mods and CS reps that move threads about don't really make any decisions about how the forums are structurured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dystopic Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Throwing my support behind server forums and your other points. This is extremely important for guild creation and communication with other players. i just don't understand how this could be left out when the entire idea behind PVP only involving your server was to create a community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodd Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I would like to endorse Jimer's message. The fact that he is a guildmate of mine is inconsequential...the message stands... ...better server community. Now. Give the people who want to support a healthy MMO community a voice, and take the audience away from the forum trolls in General Discussion. That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anya_Halberd Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 And while your at it, put in a freakin' search feature!! Or help me find the dern thing... Why not search for it? ...Wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelesWylder Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Maybe Bioware should just get one of those Free forums elsewhere, a lot of them seem much better organized. And they have a working search feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) They had it enabled, then disabled. I still don't know what the heck they're doing there. I don't quite understand how they can make such a great game and fumble the most basic forum design elements. Forum search features are notorious resource hogs in forum applications. So they likely turned them off to avoid watiing room pages which queue you up to view a page when the resources are available. Edited January 7, 2012 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkness_au Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Add a freaking search !!! or at least an option of seeing your own past posts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkimor Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Good post, OP; agreed on all points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EternalFinality Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Everything in the OP's post is spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da_Rk_Side Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Like their game, their forums are a "BASIS" we can expect basic functions that all of us would really want to be added later. Like server forums, *** GO BAK TO WOW NUBS, friggin trolls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob-ombaFett Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) I'm actually having the most fun on these forums out of any I've ever posted on. btw, new sig. OH YEAH Edited January 7, 2012 by Bob-ombaFett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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