Durindana
09-10-2008, 12:32 AM
I know I know, OT uber alles and all that.
BUT there's going to have to be a ton of changes to DF's forums layout once release hits (or maybe even before that if the beta isn't NDA'd), because one forum to rule them all doesn't work when 1) you have multiple servers with entirely insulated populations and 2) some people who play the game don't bother with the forums at all.
Take Shadowbane, for example. Half the fun was on the forums - BUT everyone's fun was typically on the Political forum for their server. I never ventured far out of the Mourning Political Discussion, for example, unless it was to the Bard class forum. The whole game was split up like that, into communities isolated by server. I don't even know if there was a "General Discussion" forum common to everyone, but if there was nobody used it. At least not cool people.
In EVE, by contrast, I'd say most players don't fool with the forums at all.
I really don't know why that's true of EVE, and I'd expect DF to be more like Shadowbane in terms of forums participation, but my point still stands: are OT'ers going to stay true and stay on or spend increasing energy in their server forums? Or in... class forums, or whatever the DF equivalent will be?
On another note, please Aventurine tell me you'll have the class-forum equivalent. In a game with intense char build variables (like Shadowbane), you really can't overstate the value of an experienced community to help prevent nerfbat heartache.
BUT there's going to have to be a ton of changes to DF's forums layout once release hits (or maybe even before that if the beta isn't NDA'd), because one forum to rule them all doesn't work when 1) you have multiple servers with entirely insulated populations and 2) some people who play the game don't bother with the forums at all.
Take Shadowbane, for example. Half the fun was on the forums - BUT everyone's fun was typically on the Political forum for their server. I never ventured far out of the Mourning Political Discussion, for example, unless it was to the Bard class forum. The whole game was split up like that, into communities isolated by server. I don't even know if there was a "General Discussion" forum common to everyone, but if there was nobody used it. At least not cool people.
In EVE, by contrast, I'd say most players don't fool with the forums at all.
I really don't know why that's true of EVE, and I'd expect DF to be more like Shadowbane in terms of forums participation, but my point still stands: are OT'ers going to stay true and stay on or spend increasing energy in their server forums? Or in... class forums, or whatever the DF equivalent will be?
On another note, please Aventurine tell me you'll have the class-forum equivalent. In a game with intense char build variables (like Shadowbane), you really can't overstate the value of an experienced community to help prevent nerfbat heartache.