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cheetah7071
Oct 20, 2010

honk honk
College Slice

Atelier gifs will come with all of my mod-related threads

Hello! The State of Games thread used to be a subforum tradition, back in the day, and we're reviving it here and now! This is a general, QCS-style thread for talking about the Games subforum. Please feel free to voice any suggestions or concerns you have, even if they don't fit into the topics we lay out. It won't be moderated as heavily as a true QCS thread, but please try to stay on-topic. Here's some suggested topics:

  • We currently have one long-standing mod (VideoGames), one relatively newer one (Relax or DIE), and two brand-new mods (Cheetah7071 and ShallNoiseUpon). While any large complaints you have should probably go to QCS or be PMed to an admin, this is a good place to voice small complaints about any of us.
  • Are there any threads you believe are being underserved by the current crop of mods and IKs? Games is a forum where people can't really read and understand most threads. So persistent issues which don't rise to the level of reports can completely pass us by if they happen in threads for games we don't play.
  • Are there any behaviors which you think should be against the rules, but currently aren't?
  • Do you have any fun ideas for Games forum activities which require buttons to accomplish? Or ideas for threads which sound fun but like an awful lot of effort to write up and maintain? Post them here!
  • Feel free to bring anything up about the mobile or retro games subforums as well, it has the same mods.
  • The MMO subforum is temporarily under our watch as well after its previous mod resigned. Concerns about that subforum can be raised here in the meantime. In the future, we will make a thread in MMO HMO to discuss its future (does it need to remain separate from Games, etc), so hold any opinions on that for now.
  • Games has a very megathread-heavy posting culture, with 6 full pages of active threads. Do you find this makes it hard to find threads you're interested in? Does this kind of culture prevent you from post non-mega threads?

I know some drama's happening on the site right now, but please don't bring up broader issues than Games (and the subforums with the same moderators) in this thread.

cheetah7071 fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Oct 20, 2020

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Amp
Sep 10, 2010

:11tea::bubblewoop::agesilaus::megaman::yoshi::squawk::supaburn::iit::spooky::axe::honked::shroom::smugdog::sg::pkmnwhy::parrot::screamy::tubular::corsair::sanix::yeeclaw::hayter::flip::redflag:
I know one thing I want to try and figure out and encourage is more community-based events, especially of older multiplayer games that might be hard to otherwise play in general. I'm not sure how to do that but would love some ideas.

SniperWoreConverse
Mar 20, 2010



Gun Saliva
I only come to games if I already know about a game and wanna see what people are saying about it, instead of looking around games to see if some cool new poo poo is coming out. I do that maybe one time a year.

When I quit the game I quit the thread usually.

Welp that's my feedback. Got to go delete and reinstall morrowind mods.

ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


Games is unnavigable but it's easy to get links from the more general threads. It's not really clear how you'd fix that or even if it's really desirable.

Orv
May 4, 2011
I think Games continues to tick along fine as it always has and doesn't really need any changes or spice/events, I guess.

Dog Fat Man Chaser
Jan 13, 2009

maybe being miserable
is not unpredictable
maybe that's
the problem
with me

Orv posted:

I think Games continues to tick along fine as it always has and doesn't really need any changes or spice/events, I guess.

I agree, I enjoy the forum the way it is. In particular I actually really like that it’s mega thread oriented: I enjoy have a single space for discussion of a game rather than a bunch of different topics, which I think could just lead to repetitive topics and difficulty finding what you’re looking for.

RBA Starblade
Apr 28, 2008

Going Home.

Games Idiot Court Jester

Orv posted:

I think Games continues to tick along fine as it always has and doesn't really need any changes or spice/events, I guess.

Pretty much!

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Orv posted:

I think Games continues to tick along fine as it always has and doesn't really need any changes or spice/events, I guess.

Same, leave us alone to game in peace.

Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge
May 8, 2006

"My brain is amazing! It's full of wrinkles, and... Uh... Wait... What am I trying to say?"
never

cheetah7071
Oct 20, 2010

honk honk
College Slice
I hope you all at least enjoyed my atelier gif

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

cheetah7071 posted:

I hope you all at least enjoyed my atelier gif

I did! Sophie was and is my favorite atelier and I'm so happy to see it :3:

Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge
May 8, 2006

"My brain is amazing! It's full of wrinkles, and... Uh... Wait... What am I trying to say?"

cheetah7071 posted:

I hope you all at least enjoyed my atelier gif


MMF Freeway
Sep 15, 2010

Later!
I like the megathreads but of course most people still posting here probably do since it's been this way forever. It certainly discourages people from making one-off thread topics though, which I'd enjoy seeing more of. I'm not sure how you encourage that short of like a GBS-for-games subforum which is a terrible idea do not do this. More subforums are definitely not the answer but if you look at the retro forum for example I kind of wish Games looked more like that just with ya know more people posting.

Amp
Sep 10, 2010

:11tea::bubblewoop::agesilaus::megaman::yoshi::squawk::supaburn::iit::spooky::axe::honked::shroom::smugdog::sg::pkmnwhy::parrot::screamy::tubular::corsair::sanix::yeeclaw::hayter::flip::redflag:

MMF Freeway posted:

I like the megathreads but of course most people still posting here probably do since it's been this way forever. It certainly discourages people from making one-off thread topics though, which I'd enjoy seeing more of. I'm not sure how you encourage that short of like a GBS-for-games subforum which is a terrible idea do not do this. More subforums are definitely not the answer but if you look at the retro forum for example I kind of wish Games looked more like that just with ya know more people posting.

Yeah I'm not sure what the answer to this either but it's definitely something we're all well aware of. I'd love more people to :justpost: threads about things here or there, but the issue is that Games feels like a very bookmarks-focused user base. I'm wondering if there isn't some sort of site feature that could be developed to focus on smaller stuff like that and get people out of their bookmarks more.

cheetah7071
Oct 20, 2010

honk honk
College Slice
For what it's worth, even if we made a subforum of Games where megathreads are banned (while leaving Games proper alone, of course), it wouldn't become "GBS for games" because the posting rules would be the same as they are here, just with smaller topics and the assumption that most threads will die off after a few pages and that's okay.

Not saying that that's where we're going but just that the rules and posting style wouldn't have to change.

Amp
Sep 10, 2010

:11tea::bubblewoop::agesilaus::megaman::yoshi::squawk::supaburn::iit::spooky::axe::honked::shroom::smugdog::sg::pkmnwhy::parrot::screamy::tubular::corsair::sanix::yeeclaw::hayter::flip::redflag:
I know this is a thing elsewhere on the forums and maybe a question for anyone that feels strongly about it coming in after this post: is there any thought or interest in rebooting megathreads? I've heard complaints (again in other forums primarily) that hundreds of pages long threads feel overwhelming for new people coming in.

oddium
Feb 21, 2006

end of the 4.5 tatami age

change the name of the forum back, cheers

Metis of the Chat Thread
Aug 1, 2014


I think megathreads work better in games than in some other subs because there is a single uniting topic which is usually the specific game or platform in question. It does get a bit nebulous when you have the steam thread kinda being the PC game thread, but I don't post there so I don't care about that. I think rebooting a megathread makes sense if there's a new game in a series or some big change in the status quo for a platform. Apart from that I think they're fine, as a lot of the oldest threads in the sub are still active and trucking along fine, like the RPG thread which turned ten on October 2 and no one noticed! Happy birthday, RPG thread.

oddium
Feb 21, 2006

end of the 4.5 tatami age

the state of games?? hmmm i gotta say "Egypt" becuase it's in "da nile" :D

oddium
Feb 21, 2006

end of the 4.5 tatami age

that was just a little jest don't take it seriously

Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge
May 8, 2006

"My brain is amazing! It's full of wrinkles, and... Uh... Wait... What am I trying to say?"

oddium posted:

change the name of the forum back, cheers

it will go back following dia de los muertos

Metis of the Chat Thread
Aug 1, 2014


Additional feedback: give me my bingo cop username! :argh:

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


I have one request. If you could do a pinned thread that indexes into all the individual games (not Let's Plays, but the main thread) that would be lovely, because search doesn't work all that well. I know I'm volunteering you to do a lot of extra work.

Amp
Sep 10, 2010

:11tea::bubblewoop::agesilaus::megaman::yoshi::squawk::supaburn::iit::spooky::axe::honked::shroom::smugdog::sg::pkmnwhy::parrot::screamy::tubular::corsair::sanix::yeeclaw::hayter::flip::redflag:

Arsenic Lupin posted:

I have one request. If you could do a pinned thread that indexes into all the individual games (not Let's Plays, but the main thread) that would be lovely, because search doesn't work all that well. I know I'm volunteering you to do a lot of extra work.

This is a thing I thought about as a poster and then immediately forgot about when I got buttons. I’ll try and took a look and see if this is feasible and how we’d go about doing it. So yes, definitely will get looked at.

Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge
May 8, 2006

"My brain is amazing! It's full of wrinkles, and... Uh... Wait... What am I trying to say?"

ShallNoiseUpon posted:

This is a thing I thought about as a poster and then immediately forgot about when I got buttons. I’ll try and took a look and see if this is feasible and how we’d go about doing it. So yes, definitely will get looked at.

thanks for putting that thread together SNU!!!!

Amp
Sep 10, 2010

:11tea::bubblewoop::agesilaus::megaman::yoshi::squawk::supaburn::iit::spooky::axe::honked::shroom::smugdog::sg::pkmnwhy::parrot::screamy::tubular::corsair::sanix::yeeclaw::hayter::flip::redflag:

Relax Or DIE posted:

thanks for putting that thread together SNU!!!!

Gonna make Jeff give me a csv with thread titles and urls and do excel magic to make it very easy.


There’s no way that’s actually possible, thanks Radium.

Aceofblue
Feb 26, 2009



I don't post much in Games, so people probably wouldn't ever recognize my name or posting history or whatnot so I feel I have less of a voice here, but I read threads here every day and half of my bookmarks are for the games I'm currently playing, have played, or want to play.

I honestly like the way things are with regard to game-specific megathreads. I think that sometimes some of the OPs could use a little more updating (depending on the game and its needs, obviously!), and/or maybe games that see a lot of updates or have a very long span between significant updates should be closed and restarted more frequently so that new players or returning players don't have to dig through pages and pages of unrelevant content if they want to grow up their own base of knowledge before asking current questions. The threads with hundreds of pages can be really intimidating, especially if they are from multiple patches/updates/releases.

I don't think we need any like, structured forums games or activities. A comedy 6er thread every once in a while can be fun but most things I've seen to ~ liven things up ~ just tend to come across as hammy or as trying too hard.

I like the rules thread. It is funny. :) I definitely greatly appreciate the blanket statement of:

quote:

"Also Please report people being bigots of all kinds (racism, transphobia, homophobia, sexism) because we do not want them here. We can never have too many reports."

While there can be uh.. strong opinions.. presented in Games, I don't feel that a lot of things that are tolerated elsewhere on the forums are tolerated here. That being said I would really, really like to see phrases like "gone full [r-slur]" be nipped in the bud. A quick search of just the games forum shows that some (unquoted) instances of that particular word are given probations but others not (and I understand that a lot of that is due to people reporting it and that the mods can't be everywhere at once), as recently as 10/19/2020. But we can definitely do better.

Aceofblue fucked around with this message at 06:57 on Oct 20, 2020

cheetah7071
Oct 20, 2010

honk honk
College Slice

Aceofblue posted:

I don't post much in Games, so people probably wouldn't ever recognize my name or posting history or whatnot so I feel I have less of a voice here, but I read threads here every day and half of my bookmarks are for the games I'm currently playing, have played, or want to play.

I honestly like the way things are with regard to game-specific megathreads. I think that sometimes some of the OPs could use a little more updating (depending on the game and its needs, obviously!), and/or maybe games that see a lot of updates or have a very long span between significant updates should be closed and restarted more frequently so that new players or returning players don't have to dig through pages and pages of unrelevant content if they want to grow up their own base of knowledge before asking current questions. The threads with hundreds of pages can be really intimidating, especially if they are from multiple patches/updates/releases.

I don't think we need any like, structured forums games or activities. A comedy 6er thread every once in a while can be fun but most things I've seen to ~ liven things up ~ just tend to come across as hammy or as trying too hard.

I like the rules thread. It is funny. :) I definitely greatly appreciate the blanket statement of:


While there can be uh.. strong opinions.. presented in Games, I don't feel that a lot of things that are tolerated elsewhere on the forums are tolerated here. That being said I would really, really like to see phrases like "gone full [r-slur]" be nipped in the bud. A quick search of just the games forum shows that some (unquoted) instances of that particular word are given probations but others not (and I understand that a lot of that is due to people reporting it and that the mods can't be everywhere at once), as recently as 10/19/2020. But we can definitely do better.

Can you please report those posts I will absolutely probate them, but I can't do it if I don't see them!

Aceofblue
Feb 26, 2009



cheetah7071 posted:

Can you please report those posts I will absolutely probate them, but I can't do it if I don't see them!

Of course! I hm, don't want to be that person going in to other threads that I don't involve myself in and being like "tsk tsk what is going on here" but I'll go through and report the things I saw tonight while writing my post.

Red Alert 2 Yuris Revenge
May 8, 2006

"My brain is amazing! It's full of wrinkles, and... Uh... Wait... What am I trying to say?"
Yes, please report things you see if you feel you need to - we won't run out of reports! Games is a no-tolerance zone for slurs but we rely on y'all.

cheetah7071
Oct 20, 2010

honk honk
College Slice

Aceofblue posted:

Of course! I hm, don't want to be that person going in to other threads that I don't involve myself in and being like "tsk tsk what is going on here" but I'll go through and report the things I saw tonight while writing my post.

I might let the ones that are too old slide but anything recent is fair game

And just moving forward, since this was happening enough you wanted to bring it up here, if you see it, report it. A lack of mod activity isn't necessarily an endorsement, oftentimes it's just because we didn't see it. Games is huge--between the main forum and the three subforums we manage, there's around ten pages of active threads. And most of those are unreadable to anybody who doesn't play the game in question. So there's a huge proportion of posts that we won't see unless they're brought to our attention. That's the impetus behind the bullet point asking if there's any threads that are being underserved--most threads get no mod eyes unless a report happens, just because there's too drat many threads.

Aceofblue
Feb 26, 2009



cheetah7071 posted:

I might let the ones that are too old slide but anything recent is fair game

And just moving forward, since this was happening enough you wanted to bring it up here, if you see it, report it. A lack of mod activity isn't necessarily an endorsement, oftentimes it's just because we didn't see it. Games is huge--between the main forum and the three subforums we manage, there's around ten pages of active threads. And most of those are unreadable to anybody who doesn't play the game in question. So there's a huge proportion of posts that we won't see unless they're brought to our attention. That's the impetus behind the bullet point asking if there's any threads that are being underserved--most threads get no mod eyes unless a report happens, just because there's too drat many threads.

Yeah sorry, I realized after I went a bit down that I was looking at things that were too old to really deal with (I was looking to make sure that I wasn't making it up in my head, not at the actual dates, sorry!). And yes, I totally understand the scope of this forum and how the mods can't be everywhere at once. I just would like to see everyone recognize that that's still a slur that shouldn't be accepted, ya know (despite what goes on elsewhere).

Aceofblue fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Oct 20, 2020

Attack on Princess
Dec 15, 2008

To yolo rolls! The cause and solution to all problems!
Megathreads good. Games good.

You've done an okay job. Once games is back, and we aren't reminded about the saltiest game on earth on a daily basis, you might even be looking at a promotion. How do you feel about a corner office between lets plays and retro games?

John F Bennett
Jan 30, 2013

I always wear my wedding ring. It's my trademark.

I have no idea where the Games forum even is because there doesn't seem to be a forum with the name 'Games'.

That's why I never venture away from my bookmarks because it's the wild west out there and I don't understand things.

Lumpy
Apr 26, 2002

La! La! La! Laaaa!



College Slice

Orv posted:

I think Games continues to tick along fine as it always has and doesn't really need any changes or spice/events, I guess.

This. And I would like to mention that Video "videogames" Games is the best mod ever.

Rexicon1
Oct 9, 2007

A Shameful Path Led You Here
Games will always be megathread heavy and frankly until they do some updates on the system to allow better searching there’s not much to do. I just check the chat thread and the two or three mega threads I like and then disappear into the woods.

Hammer Bro.
Jul 7, 2007

THUNDERDOME LOSER

I think the one thing that sometimes gives me some difficulty is it's hard to tell if an OP is out-of-date.

Some games are very old but stable so all the info in the first post is fine even if it hasn't been updated in years, but other games might've changed substantially since the initial write-up was made and sometimes when I'm looking a game up via a thread I can't be confident that the summaries are accurate.

I'm reluctant to suggest technical approaches as I hear the back-end's a butt but if there were a button that readers of a thread could click which incremented some visible thread-out-of-date number, a number which perhaps was automatically reset if the first post were edited, that might give people an idea as to the validity of a megathread's summary without having to dig through it.

Or lead to stupid flame wars but it wouldn't be the Internet without those.

Rexicon1
Oct 9, 2007

A Shameful Path Led You Here
Honestly give us more absurd flame wars that scale out of control and we gotta call the US Marshals

Shinjobi
Jul 10, 2008


Gravy Boat 2k
This is more a general question to no one in particular: I remember goon rushes into garbage MMOs and other cheap/free online games used to be a thing 100 years ago. Is something like that even really feasible or worthwhile nowadays?

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Rexicon1
Oct 9, 2007

A Shameful Path Led You Here

Shinjobi posted:

This is more a general question to no one in particular: I remember goon rushes into garbage MMOs and other cheap/free online games used to be a thing 100 years ago. Is something like that even really feasible or worthwhile nowadays?

Eh, there aren’t enough to get anything good out of it probably. Plus the age of the goon rush is probably over.

e: I found it. It was MMO Roulette run by Khad. This one was one of my favorites.

https://www.somethingawful.com/mmo-roulette/ubo/1/

Rexicon1 fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Oct 20, 2020

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