What's with all these new boards?

[Shagnak]

We're not surrendering anything.
It's a matter of focus. Having the discussions about design in one focussed forum makes them easier to find, yes?

We've talked about an RPG Design forum for a long time. It had little to do with the perceived content of the General RPG Discussion board back then, and it doesn't now. I know DU likes to make teh funny, but his exagerration about WH40K porn (etc) has never been part of the reason why we wanted one.

Edit:
Oh and "all these new boards" - we really only have one more. Which is still several less than we had when the Tycoon ones were live.

The reason why the Space Sims one existed and the Adventure one exists now is that staff members felt (at their respective times) that they were worthy underdog game genres. Space Sims became Sims when we folded TycoonCodex fora into it.
Would people prefer the focus of the Sim board we had to a General Gaming one?

 

[Lumpy]

Well, your system works pretty well on the Iron Tower studios which I check from time to time [some great RPG theory discussions there], but I doubt if it would work here on the Codex.

What system? Do bad threads get deleted on the ITSF?

Throw out all idiotic threads, retire the "best thread evar" thread already, and delete every new thread that fails to meet whatever IQ standards you'll decide on.

I suppose your best chance for that would be asking Saint. DU refused to do that, or allow you to do that, back during the (not-so) civil war.
And by the way, you do remember that you basically invented the Best Thread Ever, right?

 

[Vault Dweller]

That's a little harsh, though. ... In fact, I only reliably read newsposts/threads, Synaesthesia and SoW posts, and Let's Play threads. Most of the rest is crap...

That's what I said.

Maybe you disagree, but at the very least I enjoy the Let's Play threads in the General RPG forums.

They are entertaining, but they are hardly something that could be associated with intelligent discussions.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Well, your system works pretty well on the Iron Tower studios which I check from time to time [some great RPG theory discussions there], but I doubt if it would work here on the Codex.

What system? Do bad threads get deleted on the ITSF?

Yes. Dumb threads and spam posts are deleted, but we'll probably take a few more steps in that direction.

And by the way, you do remember that you basically invented the Best Thread Ever, right?

Yes. And now it's time to kill it.

We're not surrendering anything.
It's a matter of focus. Having the discussions about design in one focussed forum makes them easier to find, yes?

We've talked about an RPG Design forum for a long time. It had little to do with the perceived content of the General RPG Discussion board back then, and it doesn't now. I know DU likes to make teh funny, but his exagerration about WH40K porn (etc) has never been part of the reason why we wanted one.

Well, tell me then, is the General RPG forum an interesting place to browse? Yes or No will do.

 

[Shagnak]

Well, remove a lot Andhaira's threads and there is still plenty of gold amongst the dross, VD.
In fact, I've noticed more discussion about truly oldschool RPGs recently than I have in a while.

And as already stated it was considered a good idea to have a Design board even during the "glory days". It should have been done back when AoD was just starting out. Make RPGCodex have some sort of focus on indie RPG design, etc, remember?

 

[Jason]

General RPG is certainly more interesting now than it was during the Oblivion-bashing period.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Well, remove a lot Andhaira's threads ...

Please do.

And as already stated it was considered a good idea to have a Design board even during the "glory days". It should have been done back when AoD was just starting out. Make RPGCodex have some sort of focus on indie RPG design, etc, remember?

Of course, but back in those days we didn't need a different forum for interesting design discussions.

General RPG is certainly more interesting now than it was during the Oblivion-bashing period.

I humbly disagree.

 

[Jasede]

I would be so much happier if RPG Discussion and Design were still one forum - but a good forum. And even during the Obliviion bashing those threads that weren't Oblivion bashing were good. I remember.

 

[Shagnak]

I'm sorry but that period was fucking dire.

Of course, but back in those days we didn't need a different forum for interesting design discussions.

It still would have been a good idea...focus. Yadda yadda.
:sigh:
Circles.

 

[Jason]

I humbly disagree.

Wow. Seriously? I'm not being sarcastic, it just seems like anyone would recognize that the Oblivion-bashing period was the low point. The time when the morons started pouring in, trying to prove themselves to the Codex by any dumbshit means necessary. If you see dumbfuckery as the source of the Codex problems, it's hard for me to imagine that you wouldn't notice that as the starting point, ground zero.

 

[Jasede]

Maybe it's nostalgia on my part. There were a lot of terrible posters in that time. They were ridiculed and driven away.

Most of them. Those that stayed are as terrible as ever, and now, the newer posters, who are terrible, are not longer flamed as it was used to be custom.

Disclaimer: I am not saying I am a good poster. Maybe I am even part of the problem. But in my limited perception - flawed because I am thinking about myself - I know my RPG-things, and I know them well, and many posters these days seem to know very little about it.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Most Oblivion bashing threads were intelligent design discussions where Oblivion's design flaws were analyzed, explained, and debated. Of course, we should have killed all the attempts to score cool points by starting "OBLIVION SUCKS AND I HAET IT TOO!" threads, but that's another story.

 

[Jason]

Guess you (and Jasede) remember it differently than I do. Time has a way of doing that. Of course, I found a lot of your Oblivion newsposts at the time to be tiresome so that might partially account for our differences of opinion on General RPG.

 

[Lumpy]

By the way, has anyone seen OccupatedVoid and Darkflame lately? It seems they left as soon as Oblivion stopped being funny.

 

[Gnidrologist]

I think there's lot of splitting hairs going on here. In my opinion, ''decline of codex'' has more to do with the overall drought in the general crpg market. I mean, remember the 2002-2004. It when there weren't shit loads of ''next-gen'' action rpgs popping out every few month, Black Isle -> Troika were still kinda kicking, Bioware was expected to come up with some firmly grounded crpgs, if not to codexian taste. There were quite a few large scale projects, that seemed promising. At least THEN (Lionheart, NWN) Despite it's blandness, Morrowind wasn't yet the sign of things to come, it all started with Oblibian's hype machine around 2005. Etc etc.

It's only logical, that comunity devoted to the market that has been degrading, is kinda degrading along with it. All the ''lulz'' launched, when it was starting to seem clear, that true crpgs are becoming more of a novelty that is destined to crawl under ''niche market'' freeing the space for ''next-gen-shinygrafix-chocolatemilk'' rpgs.

Now, what we have left? All possible rpg design issues have been discussed to death already in the ''good ol' times'' imo (when i was still lurking). Combat systems, settings, character developemnet etc. It's been flipped up side down and sideways long ago and most of the new threads are only recycling of the good forgotten old.

There are so little substantial crpg news, that it's only natural for lulz and other non related threads to swarm the boards. Heck, even Oblivion mocking was more fun, than trying to find something to talk about in this almost idle state of crpg market as of now.

 

[thesheeep]

I also think that the way threads are handled here should be a little more strict.
Those usual Andhaira threads seem to be pretty harmful for everyone involved... and for the general reputation.

But making an extra forum for RPG Design threads is very positive, indeed.
VD is right that it is not needed. But just because something is not needed, it doesn't mean that adding it anyway is something bad.
It is just so that one has a place to talk about design (not tied to a game) and one to talk about a game (or more). It simply is more clear this way and IMHO encourages people to discuss about RPG design a bit more.

And the General Gaming forum also seems good to me as.. well.. this is a community, and you want to discuss things with a community. Different things. Limiting the topics a whole community can and wants to discuss (yeah, we're a gaming community and we want discuss games, doh!) doesn't seem a good idea to me.

Sure, we could have one OT forum to put all things not belonging to RPGs, but wtf, this would be a messy place. Order > Chaos.

 

[Jasede]

I honestly groan half the time I see a new RPG Design thread because my thought is always something like "We already discussed this. And much better than they're discussing it in this thread.". I do not enjoy posting in RPG design threads because I am not competent in posting in them, but they were a better read a long while ago. But enough good old times whining.

Lumpy, Darkflame and OccupatedVoid still post. Darkflame's last post has been a while, but he posted; OV is more regular in his posting and if you keep your eyes open you will see him post every once in a while.

I just wish Twinfalls were a regular again. Her posts were the best; I really miss them.

 

[Joe Krow]

I think the new design forum is an excellent idea. I tried the one over at Iron Tower but it was far too sedate. Here at least we have a good balance of fools and zealots to make for some interesting arguments.

As far as hazing the new guys goes, I'm all for it. Any first post should be challenged as blatant bandwagonism or inane gibberish. It's bound to be one or the other. In my first post I made the mistake of saying that Morrowind was OK so there may be some hope for Fallout 3... nine pages later people were still laying in.

What we need is some kind of "keepers of the faith" crack security team to lay waste to the Andhairas of the world. If they can defend their point, fine. These days no one even asks them to.

 

[Andhaira]

Well, remove a lot Andhaira's threads and there is still plenty of gold amongst the dross, VD.

Oh please. Most of my threads are thought provoking and are inductive of a good discussion. Sure they can get a bit controversial but hey, its not my fault some people are set-in-their-ways trolls.

Anyhow, I support the new board, and look forward to posting in it. Heck, some of my old classics still grace the front page.

 

[Jasede]

You should change, be driven away, or banned. You know full well what you have been doing lately.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Guess you (and Jasede) remember it differently than I do. Time has a way of doing that.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5326
http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9704
http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10669

 

[Fez]

What I don't like about the current attitudes and trends is the mini-me 4chan that the forums seem to be turning into at times. It was better off without too much of that. If you want 4chan then you're better off going there to the source than here to experience a pale imitation of it. In trying to copy some other site it feels like the place will lose some of its own character.

 

[Kingston]

I do believe The Best Thread Ever should be retired. It was good when people posted gems, but nowadays all I see is the same old shit you see at any forum on any day. And there are only so many "Oblivion is the best crpg ever FACT" threads you can read before the fun runs out.

I still would like General Gaming to be fused in General Discussion. Most of the GG threads can get pretty retarded anyways, I mean if you are gonna make a thread about Halo, where does it go, General Gaming or General Discussion? General Gaming shows up on the front page, right? I can understand splitting RPG boards into many splendid different forms since this is the _RPG_Codex, but splitting gaming into different boards is a bit pointless. I can sorta get Strategy Gaming and Adventure Gaming because both genres have superb games and the first one is affiliated with Tacticular Cancer (best name ever), but general gaming will end up having a lot of retarded threads.

 

[Shagnak]

...I mean if you are gonna make a thread about Halo, where does it go, General Gaming or General Discussion? General Gaming shows up on the front page, right?

Hmmm...that is a good point. Taking it off the front page isn't difficult, though.

 

[cardtrick]

While we're on the subject of things that suck about the Codex . . .

The fact that the Chris Avellone thread got Retardoed without a sticky or a mention in Project Monkey is a goddamn tragedy. I think that post is the single best example of one poster making an entirely worthless thread into a work of art, and that it should be studied by all future Codexers.

EDIT:

Disclaimer: I am not saying I am a good poster. Maybe I am even part of the problem.

Boy I'm glad you said that because I was just about to remind everyone of this little ditty.

That little ditty posted (properly) in General Discussion? Not to mention that the existence of a furry artist named "Van Buren" is both disturbing and amusing, and I'm glad that I know it.

EDIT: For the record, I posted this after DU's post that I quoted . . . he did some kind of fancy delete and repost magic to pretend he wasn't editing his post. Or something. It's all a mystery to me.