Amended Forums!

[Gentu]

Hi, everyone!

We have been discussing some ideas on how to get the forums more active, and we wanted to open up with you guys about these ideas for input and suggestions. Do keep in mind that the forums are very low priority among game projects, so anything decided on may not be completed in the near future.

Forum Events
This one is actually really easy and might be able to start really soon. We can host several different events on the forums, like raffles, competitions, and Staff Q&A’s pretty easily. Raffles would be hosted through a raffle thread, where you can post, and we use something along the lines of a random number generator to determine who wins. We could limit entry to these raffles based on post count and activity so that people come to the forums and must contribute to receive prizes. Prizes could range anywhere from gralats, event coins, or even exclusive items that we could have made.

Updated Era-Go Building and Advertisement
Right now, the Era-Go building is bare, and it’s shared with the Newspaper Team and Upload House. We could update it with little show off items that players can get based on their post count or days active on the forums, or small achievements such as consecutive days logged in. This combined with other advertising in game through billboards, announcements about the events, etc., will also push for more players to join the forums as well as show the incentives they could be rewarded with after being an active member.

In Game Forums
This would mostly be for advertisement purposes. Something being read only maybe, and only showing sticky threads or the top five trending or recently posted on threads. Something just to show the player base what we have to offer and what we’re all about.

More Player Feedback Threads
We have noticed that a lot of threads by staff members asking for player feedback (such as the Plasma Corp thread) have been the most discussed threads, so we can work on being more open about some upcoming projects, with more sneak peeks and things of that nature. Of course, this can’t go overboard, or it’ll lead to things like the whole Countryside debacle.

Small Update Log
A lot of smaller updates, such as holiday shops, events closing, and gun balances don’t get posted in the news. We could make a closed thread that only staff members can respond to so we can keep players up to date.

A New Forum Layout
Right now, the forums are cluttered with subforums and sections, and it’s a mess to get to where you need to go. We could combine different subforums and cut down on sections and things like that. What would you like to see regarding this? There are bound to be a load of different opinions on the perfect forum layout, so we would be open to suggestions. Redesigning the forums to make it easier to navigate will be beneficial for new members. However, the changes will be limited to what vBulletin4.2.5 allows us to do.

More Staff Activity and More Open Discussion
Let’s face it - right now, not many staff members use the forums. The forums should be a way for staff members and the player base to easily connect and communicate. We can do our best to try and convince staff members to join and frequently visit the forums to promote more connection between staff and players. We can also try and promote more open discussion. We know that in the past, ideas got shut down quickly, threads locked, etc., and it’s led to some people leaving the forums. We don’t want this to happen, so we’ve tried to let everyone say what they have to say. We want to allow you to have more discussion about some side topics in threads, as long as it’s still related to the main topic of a thread.

Amending the Forum Rules
Following the change in moderation, it might be a good idea to revise the forum rules. Providing feedback for us to look over and take into consideration when we make these rules would be needed. Please let us know what kind of rules you would like to have and we can discuss it amongst staff members to decide whether or not to actually change the rules.

In-Game Verified Icons
What if we add a little in-game incentive for people to use the forums? Say staff members or moderators notice someone helping a lot of people on the forums and being an upstanding member of the community. We could grant them a little icon for their in-game profile, showing that even though they aren’t a staff member, they still do their best to help people with problems in-game. If, however, they start acting up and abusing it, they could lose their icon. I know it’s just a little useless icon that caters to the people trying to get hired (like the people saying, “PM me for help!” all around start), but it does give a little more incentive for people to join the forums and showcase their maturity and communication skills (important for PR work, hint hint).

Other Things, Like Cops vs. Gangsters
What other things do you think could help reinvigorate the forums? Would something like the whole cops vs. gangsters thing help at all? Any suggestions on improvement? Let us know!

We’re also thinking of making the forum-exclusive items cop vs. gangster themed. We could revitalize the forum factions by making players choose which side they’re on and only allowing them to get items for the side that they choose. Let us know what you think!

Again - keep in mind that the forums are low priority when it comes to staff projects, so once we decide on what to do, it could take quite a while to get implemented, especially with the things that involve the forums and in-game things (excluding prizes for raffles and competitions, they can be added to player accounts fairly easily).