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Bye bye BoM :(

Discussion in 'Sorcerous Sundries' started by Barmy Army, Nov 11, 2013.

  1. Tarrasque

    Tarrasque Whoever said Paladins had to be charismatic? ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Well even looking at the who's online tells a story. Wasn't that long ago that at this time there would be nearly 15 registered users online - today....2 including myself.
     
  2. Shoshino

    Shoshino Irritant Veteran

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    where's rags? the arguments in the alleys have dried up.
     
  3. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    According to his profile, he hasn't stopped by the BOM in about 5 months.
     
  4. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

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    Well I could start a fight over something but Tal'd probably get annoyed
     
  5. Tarrasque

    Tarrasque Whoever said Paladins had to be charismatic? ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Heck we could start the whole Northerner/Southerner argument :p
     
  6. Master of Nuhn

    Master of Nuhn Wear it like a crown Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    What are you all talking about? This thread does still not exist!
     
  7. Death Rabbit

    Death Rabbit Straight, no chaser Adored Veteran Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    The BoM activity is currently sluggish for the following reasons:

    1) - BG:EE didn't offer much in the way of new content to generate discussion. BG2:EE doesn't look much better.
    2) - Dragon Age II sucked a big one, and Dragon Age 3 is still over a year off.
    3) - Interplay is too stubborn and stupid to sell the rights to BG3 so that a decent publisher could get the damn thing made.
    4) - Project Eternity still won't be out for a while.
    5) - Neverwinter was a snooze, and even if MMOs didn't all suck – and they do - we're not an MMO community.

    All of which are, clearly, Obama's fault.
     
  8. T2Bruno

    T2Bruno The only source of knowledge is experience Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    And Clinton's fault ... after all his VP invented the internet and clearly we're having problems directing people away from porn ... wait ... Clinton ... VP ... internet ... porn ... wow, it's all making sense now.


    Nevermind.
     
    Blades of Vanatar likes this.
  9. Beren

    Beren Lovesick and Lonely Wanderer Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Pretty much this.
     
  10. Marceror

    Marceror Chaos Shall Be Sown In Their Footsteps Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    I agree with everything in this post, but there’s more to it than that. I think BoM has sort of lost its identity, or perhaps its calling over the years.

    I used to think that there wasn’t really a lot more to be said about the Baldur’s Gate series. And yes, the Enhanced Edition didn’t really add a lot of content. Yet, if you go to the Beamdog forums there is a ton of discussion happening related to both the new content and the old.

    It’s a similar situation with Project Eternity. Yeah, the game is still a ways off, but on the Obsidian forums that doesn’t stop people from talking about it non-stop. When it’s released there will be an uptick on BoM as a result I’m sure, but not likely enough to carry the site.
    The bottom line is, there are posters out there who love the games this site represents, but for whatever reason, they are mostly going elsewhere to post.

    Sorcerer's Place still seems to generate a lot of traffic. It’s a great site with a ton of great content. BoM is still a nice community, but it’s mostly comprised of a small core of die-hards and a handful of drifters. It’s sort of like a motel on some desert road in the middle of nowhere. Maybe it used to see a lot of traffic, but a newer more convenient road has since been built and most travelers use that instead. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It sort of just is what it is.

    I don’t claim to understand the cause and effect relationship that results in one site flourishing while another does not. BoM has had a good run, and it could certainly continue on as it is for a long time to come. But are future games going to cause a resurgence? Doesn’t seem likely, but you never know.
     
  11. Beren

    Beren Lovesick and Lonely Wanderer Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I'm not completely sold on that.

    A quick glance over at Beamdog's forums suggest a lot of threads peter out after a few (2 to 6 ballpark) posts, much like ours.

    Plenty of traffic over at official forums like those of Bioware and Obsidian, but my sense (and maybe I'm wrong) is that there's enough gamers out there that fly in looking for a quick answer to an issue they're having, and then fly out just as soon as they've filled their gas tank.

    It gives the appearance of thriving communities, but there's probably more when you scratch the surface.

    I really think it's an overall reflection on the genre itself. The golden age of Sorcerer's Place was when the infinity engine games were still relatively new and still coming out. I remember threads that could go 20 or 30+ pages discussing a single gameplay issue or theme. DA:O and NWN2 lead to some upswing, but never to recapture the bustle that was here during the early days. Those were great games in their own right that I still enjoy playing, but they just didn't elicit the same collective sheer passion that the infinity game engines did.

    When we beat the games to death and then some, the Alleys and Whatnots became the outlet because a lot of us didn't want to leave the community altogether. That's when I gave the appearance of semi-retired. As a law professor, I expend enormous energy on things like law, politics, criminal justice, etc. as my job, and I rarely have any to spare to do it all over again here. I never left, I still review posts as a moderator, but the focus didn't engage my overt participation in the same way the gaming threads did.
     
  12. Marceror

    Marceror Chaos Shall Be Sown In Their Footsteps Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    A few things here. The Beamdog forums are relatively new, so you're not going to have any 10+ year veterans hanging around. And sure, you get a lot of folks who pop in for a while, get what they need, and move on. You also have folks who stick around and become more core members.

    But I think what's really important here is that it's a site where you can post a thought or a question and receive a lot of feedback and response very quickly. Or in other words, you can engage in active, thought provoking conversations about the game you are interested in. That's much, much harder to do here.

    Even if that doesn't materialize into a multi-year active membership for the majority, I don't think that matters. The point is, for those moments that you want to discuss the game with others, you can do so with very little delay.

    Here you might wait hours, or days for a response. So... of course most people go and post their comments where they are likely to be discussed. And those forums also have the added benefit of having regular developer participation.

    Does that mean it's a thriving community? I'm not sure. But it does mean it's a good place to post about the game, and I'm not sure a gaming forum needs to be much more than that.


    EDIT -

    From a quick scan of the front page at this moment, I see PLENTY of threads with more than 20 replies, and a good number that have a lot more than that. A good handful have more than 100 replies and one even has 2,600+ replies. So there are plenty of deeper conversations happening. Not all posts require much more than a couple of responses as they might be simple questions that quickly get answered. Sure, some threads largely get overlooked. I'm sure that's true on any forum though.
     
  13. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

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    What's the point? Everyone knows that Northerners are better so we'd automatically win! :lol:
     
  14. Gaear

    Gaear ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful

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    Possible interconnectivity here ...

    I don't doubt the game genre angle plays a role, but I also think the SP membership itself plays a role. This is an aged site. People naturally change, and so do their priorities. You have kids, grow up, etc. The same people who used to post feverishly about this or that lose interest, I suspect, not only because BG is not fresh anymore or because they're not interested in Obamacare, but because they themselves have shifting priorities - the screaming kid in the high chair next to you, the job you are going to instead of going on a nice leisurely internet stroll, the lack of energy to contribute to web discussions because you already do that IRL ...

    People seem to cry a lot about why no one else is doing anything to keep them here, when they should be pointing the finger to some extent at themselves. A 'community,' even a web community, means a group of people who all contribute to the welfare of that group, not a block of random persons waiting to be entertained. :)
     
  15. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I think Tal has pointed out several times in the past a strong reason for the downturn, and that's the rise of "official" game sites run by the developers. Like Marceror discussed, Beamdog and Obsidian forums are where people go to get questions answered for their games because those are the "official" forums. There's no reason for people to go looking elsewhere to even find Sorcerer's Place.
     
    Taluntain likes this.
  16. henkie

    henkie Hammertime Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    I'm sure there's multiple reasons, like the growing older and such of the community, which leads to less time for internet things (due to work, kids, etc.).

    On the other hand a thread for BG:EE on another (dutch) forum I visit regularly isn't that active either, while that's a forum with tens of thousands of people visiting each day, and on which a thread about an announcement of some high profile games like Skyrim, Diablo 3 or Battlefield 3/4 can generate easily a hundred posts in a few hours. So let's say BG:EE doesn't quite generate the amount of interest that BG and BG2 did.

    So yeah, there's that. And of course Aldeth not coming around so much anymore. I miss the endless detailed description of our Total War games' progression :)

    Also, I blame Harry Potter. He spoiled the youths and then Obama happened. It's a conspiracy, I tell you. All out to bring BoM down.
     
  17. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Barmy Army's post about their not being enough activity has beyond one of the most active threads!

    Trivia: which member came up with Barmy Army's name and why? What was his original name?
     
    Master of Nuhn likes this.
  18. coineineagh

    coineineagh I wish for a horde to overrun my enemies Resourceful Adored Veteran

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    Phew, glad to see this isn't like Kitrax's goodbye thread. You had me worried there for a moment, Barmy. Lighten up!

    I only really check the boards that are relevant to me: Icewind Dale 2 because I wrote a guide, Baldur's Gate II coz I'm playing a megamod, and the Alleys for some heated discussion. I must admit it's extremely quiet there now.

    But interesting questions are posed there from time to time. Just be patient.
    Sorcerer's Place didn't corner the gaming discussion "market" as some might have expected, but I saw people declaring this site to be dead back when I first registered in 2008, but it isn't.

    It's a great font of info for lots of D&D type games, and I still get directed here often when i google stuff too. Even the boards have asked and answered almost every question there is to ask on those games. I'm proud to say I sometimes find my old posts answering questions I'd forgotten the answer to. :D

    Daily traffic is just one way to measure this site's relevance, and I don't think it's the most representative one, to be honest. ;)
     
  19. Darion

    Darion Resident Dissident Veteran BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    BoM ergo sum!


    :)
     
  20. Master of Nuhn

    Master of Nuhn Wear it like a crown Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Cool! Are you gonna revive the "BoM Lore Game"-thread? :D

    His former name was Morsmordre. Don't know who came up with his name though. Probably someone who shared his fondness of eh... cricket, right? Or football..? Was it you, Harbs?
     
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