Idea

[Prince Cobra]

You mean leaving total war as a base for this forum. In other words going from a game forum to a history forum with some affiliations with certain war games.

I can't say I support rejecting a large part of the current community (judging by the activity in the monastery a very large part) to embrace 1 small theme where we're not even known for over the internet.

We're in a downward spiral as it is, putting all our hopes on the quality of TW:S2 bringing a big number of new members. Totally changing our base/theme practically equals starting a new website with all the insecurities and risks that go with that.

We could be a game forum with emphasis on games on certain historical epoch (or a small number of good games from a certain gaming genre say strategic historical games), which is a bit different from a historical forum. I think off-topic themes could still be everything present, past and future. But the games, the core of the forum would be different, IMHO. And there we always have the Arena to give us diversity.

I don't think rapid change would be productive. It'll be rather a slow process of departing from Totalwar in case TWS 2 turns out to be a failure (which is something I do not really want). That's my opinion of course but I do not think it's good to put everything in one basket.

Here is an idea for a harmless experiement. For example, we could collect votes which game (not TW) is most popular amongst the members of the Org. at this moment and to create a sub forum for it. I think adding more than one game could be dangerous because we may lose focus. That is my idea more or less.

[Tuuvi]

I like the idea and I think it would help make this place more interesting and maybe bring in more members but I worry about the name. If the .org were to take this path, would the name of the site have to be changed, and would this be harmful to the site?

EDIT: Maybe the .org could expand its focus to include other games, but keep an emphasis on TW games?

[pevergreen]

We need to expand to other games, but pinholing ourselves on a certain era is not the way to bring more people in.

[Beskar]

I think we could do something else for now, and that is to shrink the Total war sections.

Strangely, 90% of the forum covers Total War, but Gameroom, Frontroom and Backroom have the highest amount of posts and are very sidelined.

Might be an idea to condense the titles into one category, then have the first link go straight to that game, then that link has sub-sections for multiplayer, modding, etc, amongst others.

So basically, the forum would look more like this (or make it for each game seperate):


You then restructure the forum and even get rid or merge some of the more useless sections. For example, I think the entrance hall should be next to the Frontroom, it is on the otherside of the forum, so people who actively post on the forum don't even go near it as it on the other side.

Get rid of the 'Console' section as it is not Total war and it is Deadwood. Just clutters up the forum.

Merge Apothecary with Hardware and Software, making a new section, perhaps with a subforum named "Help!".

Merge Throneroom, Chapter House and Gameroom into a bigger Gameroom complex with Subforums for specific types.

Merge all the guides under one heading. No need to clutter up the main view of the forum with all different sections, or have the Guides as subforums in each of the particular areas.

Make a new Category Which will have the Entrance Hall, Frontroom, Backroom, Gameroom, Watchtower and Monastery, Meadhall and Arena in.


Another suggestion since other people want to cover other games is to expand the Arena into a category, then have it cover various genres, with perhaps subforums for really popular games. Or something that needs more planning.

[pevergreen]

Yes and no.

I agree with the premise of moving the TW under one section, then being able to drill down further. I dont agree with the mockup of having the MTW and M2TW (stw and s2tw as well) under the same link.

Mega gameroom: no

Guides: yes

new category for bunch: i dont think so, not really

apothocary and H&SW, yeah.

[Beskar]

I agree with the premise of moving the TW under one section, then being able to drill down further. I dont agree with the mockup of having the MTW and M2TW (stw and s2tw as well) under the same link.

Can easily keep that separate. I mainly did it because they were not the most active sections.

Mega gameroom: no

Why do you dislike this idea? Having the forum style games in the Gameroom, perhaps in a subforum would keep the player base concentrated. It is silly in a way having different gameroom-style things spread across the forum, as it requires members to check multiple sections opposed to just one, which limits the amount of players participating.

new category for bunch: i dont think so, not really

That was a suggestion for people wanting different games covered on the forum. (the new 'arena' part)

However, I think rearranging a few of the forums such as entrance hall, and making Frontroom, Gameroom and Backroom more dominant would be a good step forward. Many people just have "Tavern" as their link address as they don't even have an interest in the other sections of the forum, and those three sections are the most active on the forum. It is silly in a way they are so sidelined, especially as new members want to see the activity to join in. Activity breeds activity.

[pevergreen]

Why do you dislike this idea? Having the forum style games in the Gameroom, perhaps in a subforum would keep the player base concentrated. It is silly in a way having different gameroom-style things spread across the forum, as it requires members to check multiple sections opposed to just one, which limits the amount of players participating.

I played in KOTR and LOTR, both very briefly. How many other gameroom players have? Most mafia players do not play TW, so that rules out basically everything in the throne room.

The IH games I have no interest in and never will. They are different types of things.

That was a suggestion for people wanting different games covered on the forum. (the new 'arena' part)

However, I think rearranging a few of the forums such as entrance hall, and making Frontroom, Gameroom and Backroom more dominant would be a good step forward. Many people just have "Tavern" as their link address as they don't even have an interest in the other sections of the forum, and those three sections are the most active on the forum. It is silly in a way they are so sidelined, especially as new members want to see the activity to join in. Activity breeds activity.

I meant the second part of your post. Some rearranging, yes, the example you gave, no.