ORG, TWC, and the Official Forum - what would the ORG specialize in?

[Andres]

Er... as the thread opener, here are my inputs to make the ORG more popular (while not losing the quality):

1. Game-related contests - I see a video contest for shogun 2 and think it is a fantastic idea. For this very video contest it will be nice to have multiple awards/mentions (best battle, best story, most humerous, etc) to increase the participation (as not everybody is super creative) and exposre of good works (as many people want to see good gameplay videos). I can also think about periodic contests about screenshot and stories (apparently people now call it AARs - I personally hate acronyms so I will stick with stories).

For that you need members who have the talent to participate in contests and have the dedication to put in some hard work. Such members are always a minority on all sites and if you're a site with not many members, such members will be rare. One thing that could be done is advertising our contest on other websites. Some websites won't like that, others won't make a big deal out of it (e.g. TWC has been very nice and cooperative in the past with allowing us to advertise contests and all kinds of stuff, like games in the Throne Room or mafia games in the GR). Perhaps advertising our contests on gamersfora of other strategy games (e.g. Paradox games) could help.

These are things that can be done by every member here (e.g. if you have an account at the Paradox fora or the TWC, you can talk about an .Org contest or mafia game there).

I'm going to be very honest here: staff can't bring the .Org back to its' glory days all by themselves. We need the help of our members for that. All our members. We're a community. Yes, I know there's the feeling of there being a sort of distinction between staff and not staff, but please, you shouldn't look at us as "different". Staff is only here because, well, a community is made out of humans and some form of organisation is needed. But in the end, staff are also .Org members, just like everybody else. Just like all other members who care for this place, staff cares.

We don't have the illusion of holding all the wisdom in the world. Our role is to serve the community. But it's the community as a whole, all members of it, so also the non staff members, that needs to work together.

Suggesting things and posting ideas is a good first step. Working on those ideas is the necessary second step and also the hardest part. It would be good to see all members who have time and ideas to do a bit of work too.

We need to be a community and stick together and collectively work on this place to get somewhere. And if you need "special powers" to get your project up and running, by all means, pm one of us.

2. Some kind of systematic reward for high-quality works

Be it a story, a strategy, a discussion... the "Thank" system is actually a great existing, quantitative system, but unfortunately it is not very frequently used. Maybe we can give members some kind of ranks based on how many thanks they receive. Then the site can reward these appreciated members with mentions and previleges (and cough, responsibilities) possibly with those badges that hang below the avatar.

A good start is to make the Thank icon a little bigger and maybe move it to somewhere more noticable.

Is there a way to display the number of "thanks" in a thread on the forum's thread list? Then it will be equivalent to a recommendation system.

These are good suggestions. I've been playing with a similar idea: create badges for people who did something extra. I've been playing with this idea for GR hosts, like a badge for everybody who has hosted a set number of games. Idem dito for the Throne Room. Perhaps more forms of recognition for modders, writers of AAR's, people who post guides.

I know we have the senior member system, but perhaps that's not enough diversity.

I also realise that some of our members don't like to see distinctions, ranks etc. That's in fact a strong argument against it. But then again, how do you motivate people to do work, for free, on some gaming site? It's nice to get recognition. It's nice to be thanked. It's nice to know people appreciate what you did. And it's only a badge. Something small. A little gesture that can make all the difference in the world.

3. Custom Avatar

Allowing custom avatar up to a certain size is a good start to increase user's loyalty. I don't think it will break the theme as the users are still here to post about the game and related things. They are not here to talk about Mass Effect even though they may look like Commander Shepard. (Endorcement: And this is my favorite post on the ORG.)

That's it for now.

Ah, the avatars. We did a poll on that some time ago and a clear majority was in favour of keeping the current system.

Then again, the idea is to attract new members, so why is it important what current members think. Because the current members are what make the place what it is, of course. Their opinion is valuable and we don't want to alienate the current userbase. In the end, there's no guarantee that allowing custom avatars will bring us even an inch closer to getting more popular.

Please, let the ideas come, it's good to have food for thought. I think I'll bundle some of the ideas from this thread and put up polls about it. Don't hold back on ideas, even if you think they'll be "revolutionary" or a complete different style than the .Org style. In the end, we (and with "we" I mean all of us, all members), need to decide on our direction: keep everything as it is with the risk of this place eventually simply fading away or change some things drastically, which may mean (no guarantees, there never are) more new blood, but also losing a bit of our current identity (you can't have everything).

I'd like to hear input from as many members as possible; new members, senior members, regular members, oldtimers, people who just signed up 5 minutes ago; everybody. Be open. Share your thoughts and no idea is too crazy.