Discourse on Games of a Spammy Nature

A clear set of rules regarding the forum games section may need to be established and ammended to the existing forum rules. There was never a clear distinction between forum games and spam, as the line between the two can be very thin.

Second, I think it may be a good idea to make a forum for rp threads and make the Satellite Lounge a category since it is getting a bit too big to stay with it's current forum/sub-forum setup.

So...

General
- Forum Announcements and Rules
- Forum Suggestions

(everything else)

Satellite Lounge
- General Discussion
- Entertainment Media
- Forum-Based Games
- The RP Den
- The S.P.O.T.

Or would it be better just below General?

Anyhow let me know what you all think.

 

That sounds cool, I think that's the best option.

2, it takes a long time to type out the GM posts, and to do that on IRC just makes me want to cry.

Uh for the people who don't actually read AF like it's a religion, the GM is the "gamemaster", and is the one who posts really long information posts.
But you probably already guessed that.

 

I like your layout the way it is.
Go for it

 

You can ban people from IRC channels

 

You can ban people from IRC channels

that was also on my mind, but whatever.
They had a second reason too, no matter how halfassed it may have been it would be more than zero reasons.
But who cares? We'll be getting a shiny new forum!

I suppose now would be a bad time to bring up post count in the satellite lounge...

 

I personally don't go to the forum games thread, so I voted the third option.
But yea I support the idea of having Satellite Lounge it's own category. I'd prefer to have it on the bottom since I am used to having the categories in this order.

 

No.
No.
One thousand times no.
I as many others would strongly appreciate it if you would put it as high up as you were willing, because we're used to having it in this order (satellite lounge viewable on even a smaller screen from the top of the page).

 

Much like the SPOT, I think the Games section was made basically as a place to put threads that didn't deserve to be in other places. Also like the SPOT, I think that a proper outline stating that abject garbage is not allowed will go a long way, seeing as that seems to have worked rather well. I have barely read the AF threads, but these forums aren't really designed to handle that type of thing; time zones might be an issue for some people, but if they're that into it that could always go and find a forum that is (designed to). There is some evidence that the mentality of the Games section is spilling over into other sections, as well as it being an attraction to a type of user that isn't really wanted here, and this is not acceptable if it's going to continue the way it has been.

Also, is there NO way to ignore threads? There should be.

1.) Would it be possible to implement an "Ignore Thread" function for every thread? It would probably solve most of the problems here. It could be next to the "Follow This Topic" button.

People can ignore threads by not-reading them. I don't like dedicated ignore functions because they don't help to actually fix anything.

Second, I think it may be a good idea to make a forum for rp threads and make the Satellite Lounge a category since it is getting a bit too big to stay with it's current forum/sub-forum setup.

No. That would imply that role playing is encouraged to take place, when the general consensus is to get it off the site.

 

Getting roleplaying off the site would cause more harm than good IMO.
I can imagine people quiting and some sort of rebellion forming up, and then in the end someone would try to hack the site and stuff.
Well, that is of course a worst case scenario but it could still happen..
Everyone needs to have a little fun at times.
If they don't have a specific place to do it, they will start doing it elsewhere, which would result in lots of bans and such.

 

I would be in favor of having the satellite section directly below general, rather than at the bottom.

 

People can ignore threads by not-reading them. I don't like dedicated ignore functions because they don't help to actually fix anything.

Yes but people were complaining to the people who said 'Just don't read it' that it just wasn't enough so we thought of this. However I COMPLETELY agree with you.

You can ban people from IRC channel

Yes but I think we've put up a significant argument that IRC just, won't, work. And we need windy, Dunc just doesn't want him making the story hard to follow.

Or would it be better just below General?

Anyhow let me know what you all think.

It should be at the bottom as this IS a CaveStory forum and the Bottom IS the seemingly most unimportant position for a forum of absolutely anything, nothing or everything.
By the way, if you count every level as vote(s) equivelent to the number(eg. option 3 = 3 positive votes) then Forum-Based Games have 54% of the total possible votes.

 

Jinxed, I think somewhere along the line you confused our forum users with rebellious colonials D:
If we got rid of RPing on the forum, people wouldn't stand up and rebel against the queen or whatever, they would stop doing it. People respect the rules more than you'd think.

And andwhy, if you're willing to separate satellite lounge forum, but without RPing at all, that would be even better than your original plan.

 

Getting roleplaying off the site would cause more harm than good IMO.
I can imagine people quiting and some sort of rebellion forming up, and then in the end someone would try to hack the site and stuff.
Well, that is of course a worst case scenario but it could still happen..
Everyone needs to have a little fun at times.
If they don't have a specific place to do it, they will start doing it elsewhere, which would result in lots of bans and such.

I am not intimidated by the thought of people leaving, nor somebody trying to get /b/ to DDOS the site for them

By the way, if you count every level as vote(s) equivelent to the number(eg. option 3 = 3 positive votes) then Forum-Based Games have 54% of the total possible votes.

Don't know how you got to that, but the average vote at the moment is 2.7

There is nothing wrong with them staying in FBG, and at any rate, we should at least try to fix what is already here before we even think about adding new things.

 

Yeah I suppose I don't know the forum's folks that well yet, how they act.
I suppose I always assume the worst of people.

 

Objection; irrelevant.

I don't believe that banning role-playing is the most appropriate solution, but I do think that there should be some way to stop it from leaking into other forums. We could have a rule against role-playing/forum game speech outside of its respective forum. And it having its own forum would stop it from pushing important threads down the list, as well.

 

You know what guys, in my humble opinion, roleplaying is not responsible for degrading the forums. It's not the stupidest forum-based game here, sad to say. Yes, it does seem pretty silly, but we've had worse threads created in General Discussion and had them moved to Forum Games. This is a clear indicator that it's not just roleplaying that's leaking out of its proper forum, but games in general. This is, after all, discourse on games of a spammy nature, not just on MagicSold's RP thread (which he runs from a Blackberry!).
Maybe we should get rid of forum-based games altogether. I know it sounds drastic. After all, where else would 14-year-olds spam our forum with nonsense? Can't go without that, now can we? But just consider the effect it would have on the forums.

 

I think that without a forum for forum games, people would just make forum games in more important forums, like the rest of the satellite lounge. I don't think that removing the forum-based games thread will eliminate forum games, in fact it would probably create more spam threads in other forums.

 

I can imagine people quiting and some sort of rebellion forming up, and then in the end someone would try to hack the site and stuff.

Actually, I feel that this would cause more of a division than a rebellion. not that the forums aren't divided into separate social groups already. Rather, a more severe, distinguishable division.
they will try to get friend in high places to hack our site with their 3 computer
Back on the serious side...

Maybe we should get rid of forum-based games altogether. I know it sounds drastic. After all, where else would 14-year-olds spam our forum with nonsense? Can't go without that, now can we?

Sounds lovely and I agree with that. As (somewhat) said before, a new member would not be able to discover the forum games and spam the hell out of it.

I think that without a forum for forum games, people would just make forum games in more important forums, like the rest of the satellite lounge. I don't think that removing the forum-based games thread will eliminate forum games, in fact it would probably create more spam threads in other forums.

How would they create a game when there's no forum-based game forum? It's against the rules to create threads that do not go into their proper subforum, so it kind of creates a little paradox.

Also, I shouldn't really ignore posts on a very important thread like this.
@Dunk
1) Number 5 was voted as a joke, but you still don't seem to find the point. This is a 1-5 scale of opinion of the Forum Games, with 1 being I absolutely hate these forum games and I want them to die in a pit of fire, and 5 being that I love them and I want to have babies with them or something like that.
2) Bans on IRC exist for a reason. Use them.
3) You can easily pause the game by silencing the IRC channel, then take some time to write your content for what just happened on a Word document or a txt file. Afterwards, you can just post one paragraph/line at a time, assuming that it doesn't break the character limit.

 

It may encourage RP threads, but lets be honest, they are being encouraged enough. Every RP thread made encourages another person to make another thread because they see a bunch of RP threads and decide that they want to throw their own ideas out on the table. At least with a separate forum it can be more easily controlled.

And even if we leave the RP threads in the forum games forum and make the Satellite Lounge a category at least it won't clog up the recent post entry for the Lounge.

Or maybe I could call the RP forum the "Pits of Hell" forum or the "Adventurer's Armpit" forum to dissuade new users.

While most users seem to not like RP threads that much, that is not the case of all users. As an administrator I have to be impartial and I must compromise between opposing interests in order to achieve the best results for these forums. That part of my job I take very seriously seeing as all major changes to the forums I make are based on these principles. If I had to rule out RP threads then I would need to rule out all forum games as spam (let's be honest, all forum games are spammy in nature in one way or another), or else people would think it unfair and ask why one guy could have his spammy game thread and not their RP thread, just because they are known for being spamming and not because the thread in question is, making them guilty before the act, and thus I either make unfair rulings (keep forum games and remove rp threads), or I will alienate half the forums (remove forum games entirely), neither is a good idea in my book.

 

It may encourage RP threads, but lets be honest, they are being encouraged enough.

No they aren't? A few users doing a thing a couple of times doesn't suddenly make it an important part of the community.

Every RP thread made encourages another person to make another thread because they see a bunch of RP threads and decide that they want to throw their own ideas out on the table. At least with a separate forum it can be more easily controlled.

As far as I can see there's been no real thought or dedication put into any of them; they exist to be made up as they go along and then be dumped when the players get bored. None of them have even gotten close to reaching some type of conclusion, and yet the threads still manage to reach huge sizes. If the participants do actually care about taking them seriously, they would be better off doing it somewhere designed to support them properly. If they don't, why should they themselves be taken seriously?

And even if we leave the RP threads in the forum games forum and make the Satellite Lounge a category at least it won't clog up the recent post entry for the Lounge.

I'm okay with this

While most users seem to not like RP threads that much, that is not the case of all users. As an administrator I have to be impartial and I must compromise between opposing interests in order to achieve the best results for these forums. That part of my job I take very seriously seeing as all major changes to the forums I make are based on these principles.

Well, as an administrator, I feel it's my duty to make sure I can understand and quantify things before making decisions regarding them. Doing things just for the sake of appeasing people only ever serves to make everyone less happy.

If I had to rule out RP threads then I would need to rule out all forum games as spam (let's be honest, all forum games are spammy in nature in one way or another), or else people would think it unfair and ask why one guy could have his spammy game thread and not their RP thread, just because they are known for being spamming and not because the thread in question is, making them guilty before the act, and thus I either make unfair rulings (keep forum games and remove rp threads), or I will alienate half the forums (remove forum games entirely), neither is a good idea in my book.

Let the RP threads stay in FBG then? I wasn't meaning to imply that I think they absolutely have to go, just that the general sentiment regarding them is negative rather than positive, for entirely reasonable reasons. Shouldn't we discuss some proper thread conduct guidelines first regardless?