Merge of "game discussion" and "first play"?

[Atticus]

I think the merging is a good idea because sometimes, when playing a new game, I'll have something to say about it but not enough to start a First Play thread ... so if there isn't one already I'll go back to the game thread in 'News' to comment.

[Zen Monkey]

If the folders are merged, which looking at the poll results seems likely, can we implement a quick and easy way of determining whether the game in question has been released?

[Neon Ignition]

We're hardcore gaming legends, how would we not know?

[Zen Monkey]

Well... I suspect I'm halfway towards becoming a casual and, equally surprising (to me), I'm quite comfortable with that likelihood. There was a time I loved almost everything about gaming: the news regarding all the developments and discussing the games that were coming, the culture surrounding it, reminiscing over early experiences on older systems; I wanted to play as many good games as possible. I don't feel that anymore. In fact it's only the meat and bones of gaming that I enjoy now now - that's to say the actual experience of playing when the controller is in my hands.

[Digfox]

Re: Release dates - just have a clear set of naming guidelines such as 'Game Name - Date - witty tagline' which the mods then amend as the games progresses from being announced, to more details closer to release.

As mentioned I think this change would increase the mod workload slightly.

[Neon Ignition]

Thinking about it, I think any set up that requires mods to go into every games thread and update the status of the title is destined to fail. It makes it more unwieldy than it currently is as it creates an unnecessary work burden on them which is effectively just housekeeping especially when the majority of games these days never receive a First Play thread as it is so are never defined clearly as having been released or whether there's been any recent play experience discussion.

I think the only practical way is that any game that is announced is simply thread titled by just the games name and stays that way. There are niggles associated to it but no more than any other approach. I think the trouble is, at face value, for most of the concerns about merging the subforums, the current set up doesn't answer them either.

First Play discussion becoming lost for example, as the sub-forums show, there isn't the level of traffic that would shunt a thread off page that fast. Even at busy places like Era it doesn't present itself as much of an issue either.

[sadat]

Also -- First Play discussions don't always get used when the game is First Play'd. I'm a bit slower on the latest and greatest games, and pick things up further down the line these days. I often check out the First Play thread when the game is new to me -- which might be months or years down the line from when it was an active thread. It's like playing it back when the game was new and having a thread with other people discovering it for the first time. Combining the two loses a lot for the lurkers of the forum -- don't do it!!

[Neon Ignition]

Does the poll mean Merge won?

[wakka]

Charles said in his OP he’d take the final decision, he just wanted to gauge feelings on the matter.

[Paulos G]

via Imgflip Meme Generator

[briareos_kerensky]

So it will take years while mods squabble over how to rename or merge threads with similar titles.

[charlesr]

I like the separate forum. However, It seems that a small amount of extra effort to police gaming discussion would be beneficial.

Can people report posts that should be First Play so that they can be moved into the right place, if we don't spot them?

[cutmymilk]

I was just thinking about this forum and how we all love it but it is largely dead. It does mean that I can pop in every few days and catch up in next to no time but I'm sure we all want the glory days back!

Reading all the midlife crisis posts has made me realise all of us that have stuck around are in our 30s, 40s and beyond. We like to read measured, well considered but still out-of-touch posts about DLC and GaaS etc. as well as posts about aches and pains and kids!

There are probably lots of good people out there who would love this forum. Bordersdown was a good rebrand but, apart from a few hangers-on, most of us are PAL gaming scum now, buying our games in Tesco or from Amazon. So, I propose another rebrand based on what we have actually become... OLDER GAMERS! Obviously that isn't what the forum name should be, but something reflecting that. What do you think?

[Atticus]

I think once you spell out 'older gamers' you break the spell. Bordersdown the brand already reflects something different to the old ntsc-uk days, it already stands for a generation who have the import/glory days in common.

[wakka]

I was just thinking about this forum and how we all love it but it is largely dead. It does mean that I can pop in every few days and catch up in next to no time but I'm sure we all want the glory days back!

Reading all the midlife crisis posts has made me realise all of us that have stuck around are in our 30s, 40s and beyond. We like to read measured, well considered but still out-of-touch posts about DLC and GaaS etc. as well as posts about aches and pains and kids!

There are probably lots of good people out there who would love this forum. Bordersdown was a good rebrand but, apart from a few hangers-on, most of us are PAL gaming scum now, buying our games in Tesco or from Amazon. So, I propose another rebrand based on what we have actually become... OLDER GAMERS! Obviously that isn't what the forum name should be, but something reflecting that. What do you think?

The forum is a bit slower than it was, but it's far from dead. In fact, I'm a bit sick of people telling me it is.

We have a tight knit community on here of people who know each other well, and that's valuable. There are countless truly dead forums littered across the net, with just a post or two per week, or nothing for weeks on end.

Anyone remember Greenhillzone? The forum which dare not spaketh its name, where members ousted from Bordersdown during a massive purge by a previous admin called Camps ended up. THAT place is dead.

That aside, I agree new blood would be a good thing. I honestly don't think a rebrand would have a lot of impact on the number of members who would join however, and actually would probably have a negative impact on traffic in the short term, as Google would need to adjust its search results and people might be confused by the name change.

We could probably do with a reorganisation to focus things in one place so that activity on the forum is easier to find. Everything is a bit too spread out at the moment. I think it would definitely be worthwhile looking at how GAF and Era organise themselves, and considering how the most successful elements could be incorporated into BD.