Org Issues and Improvements

[Monk]

Dear org staff:
Glenn is absolutely right. Keep the AARs as close to the source as possible. What he describes has been true not only for EB and teh Main Hall, but also for the Sword Dojo that was experiencing various revivals over time due to the AARs that were contagious in both getting the interest back to fans of the game and to others to try their hand at an AAR. I'm pretty sure that similar things apply for RTW, M2 and Empire.

The org instituted the TreasAARy in late 2009 if memory serves. Till then there was no specialised AARs forum for quite a while. I know because, among other people, i asked for it back in early 2009.

Once the TreasAARy was set up, an array of popular AARs was moved from the Sword Dojo to the treasAARy, and, nearly on the spot, both died out - the sword dojo and the treasAARy - a check mate move.

The forum designated for AARs was the Throne Room, but you're more or less right. The traditional PBM style had always brought with it campaign stories and a general narrative. One person stops, another begins all in the same thread. It was a lot of fun taking part in those.

By 2009 the Throne Room had moved more toward hotseats and TWRPG style games. Much different in style, and if i recall, there was genuine confusion on where to put normal style AAR. So people were just putting them wherever.

I truly believed if we had a dedicated forum for AAR's that it could serve as a "one spot for everything." Even if you were interested in Shogun 1, you might see an MTW AAR after you finished reading a shogun story, get interested and read that. The traffic the treasaary gets is an indication that things haven't gone as well as we wanted. It really fills me with sadness to see that project less than successful.

Comparing the paradox forums is apples and penciles; org conditions are not even remotely related to what the paradox fanbase and games are. Paradox games have a very specific context and attract a very specific fanbase. The org and its members are far more pluralistic than that in their relationship they have to TW. Its best to play on ALL of org strengths rather than standardise which is a good move when you have a large mass of people interested in the same thing.

Yes i believe that was Zim's original intent, what works for them isn't going to work for us for a variety of reasons. I am unsure of how to proceed to be truthful. Do we scrap the Treasaary? Put it in the Attic? Encourage the posting of AAR's in the relavent game's 'parent' directories? Much more input's needed.

I believe there's a popular thread in the Main Hall: Pics & History of your Empire. I made a similiar thread for the citadel and it got quite the reaction if i recall. Perhaps that 'structure' could be used for Shogun 2 and encouraged elsewhere?

[gollum]

Originally posted by Monk
I truly believed if we had a dedicated forum for AAR's that it could serve as a "one spot for everything." Even if you were interested in Shogun 1, you might see an MTW AAR after you finished reading a shogun story, get interested and read that.

i don't think that this is how it works in reality because most players coalesce around a game they prefer -at least for long periods before they go to explore another for good. Some like MTW but can't stand RTW and the other way around, and this can happen with various installments of TW (even STW and MTW or RTW and M2 etc).
If you keep the AARs in the respective subfora however its success guaranteed. People only need a spark to come back to the game and a good AAR often is that spark - i mean we've seen it so many times in the Main Hall and the Sword Dojo by now. If its running in the main SP forum for the respective TW game then its on the money - like the post your empire thread in the main hall - a small sub community forms and that small sub community can generate lots of content and bring new people in pretty quickly.

The traffic the treasaary gets is an indication that things haven't gone as well as we wanted. It really fills me with sadness to see that project less than successful.

Some people try to write AARs in the treasaary like RTW AARs but they get far less attention than they would get in the Collosseum. All in all the treasaary is a good thing to have and there is no need to blame yourself - setting it up is a plus and nobody says that it will stay unpopular for ever.

I am unsure of how to proceed to be truthful. Do we scrap the Treasaary? Put it in the Attic? Encourage the posting of AAR's in the relavent game's 'parent' directories?

Its simple imo: keep both. Let people decide where they post their AARs, while make it clear that having them in the SP main forums for each games is ok and even desirable (encourage it). Proceed flexibly and see how things develop, and then can put yourenergy where the action is at. As much as i predict that this will be in SP fora, i also akcnowledge the need for a dedicated AAR forum. Keep the treasAARy by all means, but puch forward AARs in SP; they boost participation and community building considerably.

Regards

[caravel]

I would like to second everything posted by gollum and Glenn, AARs in particular really need to stay in their own subforums, i.e. the Main Hall, Sword Dojo, Colosseum, etc. Having them in a separate forum is counter intuitive.

I would also like to see these "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" forums done away with as they make those forums much less visible and are actually to all intents and purposes quite pointless.

[Andres]

Why can't we have both?

AAR's in the SP subforum of the game they're based on AND a copy of the AAR in the TreasAARy? That way, the AAR gets the attention it deserves during the "hot" period of a new game and it will be easily available later on, for people who like reading AAR's but don't want to go through the hassle of looking for them all over the fora (assuming this possible, of course).

[gollum]

Originally posted by Andres
Why can't we have both? AAR's in the SP subforum of the game they're based on AND a copy of the AAR in the TreasAARy?

Nonwithstanding any potential admin issues (server space etc) that i can't know of, that would be ideal imo.

[TinCow]

Nonwithstanding any potential admin issues (server space etc) that i can't know of, that would be ideal imo.

The Org is a macho-sever. We have unlimited storage space and unlimited bandwidth. We laugh at puny servers who have limits. Org knows no limits!

[Populus Romanus]

I think we should rename the tavern. I know that it took me forever to find the off topic forum here. Indeed, it was not until I read in the EB forum that the tavern was the off topic forum that ever found it. New members doubtlessly will have the exact same issue. The tavern should be renamed to something that is more indicative ofnits purpose.

[Kocmoc]

The Steam-feature is really really great, well done guys!
That was highly needed and will make many things a lot easier in the future!

One question, if you can add single player with the "playernumber-ID", how about steamgroups? I saw it at frontpage, that you got the: totalwar.org grp somehow in.
It might be a good idea to create a "clan-page" where you could add different steam-clan-gps.

[edyzmedieval]

Why can't we have both?

AAR's in the SP subforum of the game they're based on AND a copy of the AAR in the TreasAARy? That way, the AAR gets the attention it deserves during the "hot" period of a new game and it will be easily available later on, for people who like reading AAR's but don't want to go through the hassle of looking for them all over the fora (assuming this possible, of course).

I second this idea, I find it useful especially for the new members.