Longest running totalwar fansite

[Swoosh So]

Maybe about time the org got an exclusive interview for Shogun2?

[Gregoshi]

Something along those lines has crossed my mind.

[Tera]

In the past, CA acknowledged the importance of The Org as the primary medium between the game and its fan base. The Org was the quintessential platform of communication for anyone who wanted to have a role in the community (be it modding, multiplayer, historical discussion, etc). As such ...

- Developers posted here.
- TotalWar.Com (official site) used to mention The Org in newsposts. The Org was always the #1 fansite and they weren't shy to say it.
- It was obvious (from patches, expansions) that the feedback to the developers at the Org was very much appreciated.
- The developers used to choose people from the community to help beta test patches. (not sure if they still do this). I can safely say they were all regular patrons or moderators on these forums.

I'm sure The Org can be that place again, although there is some stiff competition going on. But I really miss the old main page being up to date all the time with regular news, multiplayer news, organizing tournaments, advertising clans and other websites, etc. Can we bring that aspect back?

[tibilicus]

I believe the main site took a big hit once Barocca left. Whilst I appreciate that the moderators here do their utmost to keep everything up to date, the site is really in need of a dedicated site administrator to update the page and perform maintenance amongst other things.

I haven't visited the main page in ages as I come straight to the forum but I feel it really needs work. If more was added to it, I'm sure it would draw more people in. At the minute though it doesn't really seem to have too much purpose, other than being a place holder for the forums.

[Togakure]

I believe the main site took a big hit once Barocca left. ...

I don't think it has to do with any one person. I can think of others besides Barocca who contributed as much or more, who chose to depart primarily because of a lack of respect, tolerance and civility. And really, if there is little or no active audience, what's the point of anyone investing time and energy here when they can get more elsewhere?

Barocca provided content, but his role as an admin is separate--administrators manage content. Is there much high-quality content to be managed here now? I'm not participating in any of the current TW games now so I wouldn't know. A site needs to add significant value in some way in order to attract and keep patrons. What does the Org do to add value? What are we as members doing to add value?

Not nearly as much as we used to. Part of that is we're between games. But that isn't the only reason, and those of us who've been around for a while all know it. It's been a while since a TW game has inspired a high level of participation and commitment here on the level that S1TW, M1TW, and to a degree, RTW did. Perhaps S2TW will change that; maybe not. It's up to CA, and us, and what we do. Talk is good, but it's also cheap. We hold CA to that; we'd do well to hold ourselves to it too.

But anyway, this thread is really about getting CA's attention, to hear what we want from them. My two koku, FWIW.

[Gregoshi]

I agree with Masamune, let's get back on topic. The Watchtower is more the place for discussing improvements/direction of the Org as a whole.

Perhaps we may be able to arrange something similar to what Eradosan did many years ago prior to MTW(?). IIRC, he collected questions from Orgahs to submit to CA and they provided some answers. Or maybe something a little more interactive like a live chat, but I don't know what capabilties our chat feature has. It would have to be moderated so that ten questions don't come at the CA person simultaneously.

[Kagemusha]

I will do my best that this will become a reality.

[pevergreen]

I noticed that since the update, I can't find a section of the TW website I liked. The part where you could be a Total War fansite, and be mentioned on their page. Three ranks, depending on size. You'd be listed, have a bit of parapgraph on your forum and be given official recoginition. That part seems to have dissapeared...

[edyzmedieval]

I will do my best that this will become a reality.

This is why The Org rises above the mire.

[Tera]

Well, the thing is that to attract CA's attention, The Org needs to be proactive. Sitting idle and resting on the "oldest fan site" laurel will bring us nowhere.

Gregoshi has a good idea - someone takes up the responsibility and gathers "community questions". If I remember correctly, Erado first contacted CA and they gave him the official go ahead to do it. That way, it gave credibility to the whole exercise and people flocked to the website to get their questions answered. I'd say Gregoshi or Kagemusha, as moderators of this forum, would both be great to get this thing going. Tosa might even have a couple of e-mail addresses of CA peeps.

Still, I believe the whole website / main page needs a good kick to reclaim some of the old magic. At the very least, in keeping the world updated about Shogun Total War 2 / NTW news. Posting news, hosting trailers, hosting patches and updates and so on and so forth. Would be a good front for the community Q&A exercise too. This how Dan started the whole thing - an integration of up-to-date news page and an awesome forum. I merely continued it, as did all the main page and forum administrators who came after. But now somehow it got lost in the way.

[Monk]

As noted before the Watchtower is more the place for this sort of thing, but the discussion already seems to have taken root here so let's simply tackle it here.

I certainly like the idea of gathering a Q&A as expressed in this thread. I mainly wanted to address the call to inject some life into the main page. I've been assigned as the editor of the front-page, for now that means news updates, community spotlights and content creation. Later (when i can learn the software the board runs on, its kinda confusing) that will also extend to front-page redesign and reorganization. The CMS is here (<-link) and will be updated regularly as news and community events take place.

If you would like to be featured on the front page (with news worthy items such as clan recruitments or new websites, ect) send me a PM with the tag "FRONTPAGE" in the title, along with all relevant information.

[Tomisama]

The problem here is fundamental.

There is no constitution or other statement of purpose here that I know of (please point me to it if I am wrong).

How can you accomplish a goal without a common direction?

If you think that you can be everything to everybody, you will most likely end up being nothing to anybody!

The major questions are:

Why are we here to start with?

What do we hope to accomplish in the short term?

And where are we going in the long run?

Once there you have all of those things in place, you can then begin to organize and operate together towards a common objective.

Otherwise you will continue to wallow in your history, until it drowns you.

[Tomisama]

*once i picked up the pen, i couldnot put it down right away*

Our primary objective always needs to be to independently support Total War developers, distributers, and producers, in every way we can.

Without them, and what they do, we will have no reason to be here!

I said independently to clarify that we are and ORGanization of players, and not a COMmercial concern.

Our values to the manufactures are independent analytical and promotional support.

Analytical in the sense of organized feed back to them, and promotional in the sense of providing a user community that avidly supports what they are trying to do.

We can provide both an external looking glass, and a magnifying glass, for their products.

These are things that they cannot do for them selves.

****

One of the major pitfalls in the community (both inside and outside of the Org) is the immature negativist criticism syndrome.

This is complaining to get attention, which eventually backfires in that no one then pays any attention to you at all.

I believe we are somewhat stuck in this place.

Every time you here a complaint without a proposed solution, we all sink lower on the CA radar.

And worse yet, when someone has a legitimate concern and suggestion, to post a comment that denounces there efforts as useless because no one at CA is going to listen to you anyway, is tantamount to cutting off the limb that you are hanging on to.

Please do not do it!

It is not true, and when you say things like that you discourage anyone that could help us, from even coming here to try.

Thank you for your attention.

*puts away soap box for now*

[Tera]

Hi Tomi,

You are right in saying negative criticism is useless, but some people here proposed at least two very tangible, constructive ideas:
- Getting the mainpage back together.
- The Shogun2 Q&A

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I like to volunteer to help. Being the MP reporter for the GAHzette here and the ES at TWC, I can help gather questions or something.

[Tomisama]

Hi Tomi,

You are right in saying negative criticism is useless, but some people here proposed at least two very tangible, constructive ideas:
- Getting the mainpage back together.
- The Shogun2 Q&A

My posts were background, general observations from watching these forums over the last ten years.

The ideas presented are great steps forward, and all concerned citizens will support them in every way they can.

Salute!