Do we want people to search first?

[spiny norman]

At this point I think it is fair to say the S & F forums are mature. Most questions that can be asked have been asked, with the exception of questions about new features and topics that are always active, such as which guilds are recruiting, etc.

I see them as pretty much dead. In a community of tens of thousands of players, there are maybe 5-10 posts on an average day. The goal here should not be to simply have nice little closed threads and nice little faqs so that every possible issue has been addressed and no one needs to post any more. The goal should be to have an active community where people feel welcome and included.

So I believe that all the "search first" links should be deleted from the forum. Yes, there should be links that tell people how to search if they are so inclined, but believe it or not there are people here who would rather interact with another person than a search engine, and since the burden of answering their questions is minimal, I think they should have that option.

edited to add: you can select more than 1

[ralff]

this place is super dead and has been for months. business has picked up a bit with the new update but it is still dead. i have modded places online since 1997 going all the way back to egroups. i still currently mod a busy chan site. we do hundreds if not thousands of posts a day in significantly more sections then this forum. i mod with just one admin and have to approve each post before it is seen which eliminates pretty much all spam, trolling and off topic posting. my point is at best this forum sees 10+ posts a day. there is absolutely zero reason why the questions should not be answered. it is a very unfriendly and unhelpful practice i have spoke out against in the past. all it does is make the person replying, the forum, and by proxy the entire shakes and fidget game look bad.

[iTZKooPA]

Many basic topics have the question answered in the FAQ section. I tend to just answer the question and may point out the FAQ section along with the answer. I agree that the way the question can be addressed can make it feel as if the responder is being hostile. To that end, only a poster asking numerous questions in different posts that are easily discovered should be scolded.

[Crazylegs]

TBH it doesn't seem to be a very chatty game. Not here in the forum, or in guild chats that I have been in. On paper, it would seem like an ideal game for chatting while waiting for the quests, but it doesn't seem to happen. Maybe it is because ppl new to the game don't feel comfortable asking questions, but I feel not (I am relatively new). Maybe there isn't that much of an incentive in the game mechanics to feel part of, or loyal to a guild, and all the chat that this would generate?

Also, maybe this type of forum has had it's day, where you have to navigate away from the game to access it? Maybe an integrated chat/forum feature would be the way to go?

Anyway, just my 5 cents worth

[iTZKooPA]

Originally Posted by Crazylegs

Also, maybe this type of forum has had it's day, where you have to navigate away from the game to access it? Maybe an integrated chat/forum feature would be the way to go?

Understand your point here.

Playa has investigated expanding the current in-game chat system. As far as I know, an overhaul of the system remains on the To-Do List.

[Gynx]

Well..it used to be much chattier here a couple years ago.
Plenty of reasons it isnt so much anymore...but I'll only comment on the most obvious, logical and largest reason; because the game came out a few years ago, and there were many more active users in 2010 and 2011...and as the game ages, people lose interest and therefore..less people playing = less posts on the forums as well.

[iTZKooPA]

To go along with Gynx's observation, we see a bump in activity for every new server and content patch. The main fact is what Crazylegs alludes to, there are tens of thousands of players per server, yet a fraction feel any reason to join the conversation on the forum.

[darren00]

tens of thousands but how many are actually active players?

[iTZKooPA]

There are at least thousands of active accounts on average per server.

[polopoloyuuu]

There are a lot of things that playa could do to make the game community more chatty and stronger.

This change would bring them lots of additional revenue as people would be spending more time playing.

All they have to do is upgrade the chat interface.

Add channels, let people go to other guild channels, add the availability of private channels, don't delete chat after 10 lines, let players paste links, etc. etc.

Such an easy change that I have mentioned before last year could be implemented by simply using an IRC type server and having the game interface with that API. They could hire a programmer for a couple weeks to implement.

Usually Germans have better business sense.