Forums → The Tavern → One Dilly of a Pickle, ain't it?
| 339 | 56788 |
INTRODUCTION
Thread Background
Coming from a long-time lurker born in 2008, I have noticed that Armor Games is facing a recent "slump" of activity. In other terms, Armor Games is becoming inactive. In my quest for answers, I've contacted several Armor Games users, ranging from new users to veterans. Thinking that I gave people something to think about for the day, Ernie15 gave me a bold idea to convert these ideas into a thread where one can give his/her ideas on the matter instead of letting this issue be small-talk. In many's minds, this is an issue that needs to be addressed to immediately. There have been threads like this, but this is the central HUB of what we view of Armor Games today.
Armor Games, I give you The User's View.
Armor Games Background
AG3, a major update to the Armor Games world, has been in development for around 2 years. There are tons of beta testers for the website. Prior to and starting at the development of AG3, Armor Games was once a bustling "city," if you will, of ideas traveling by means of public forum posting to comments to one another, or "small talk." Many of these users have left for reasons we will discuss and are being replaced by users we will later discuss.
Staff Changes
Late 2011, Cormyn, a very popular admin, resigned from his duties and became a regular user. He was somewhat replaced with Justin Royster, aka username jroyster22.
Part 1: Cormyn
Cormyn was undoubtedly known for his ability to be publicly active within the community and was often described as strict. As strict as he was, he kept the trash out and helped shape our modern-day Armor Games. He wrote code for the community, laid down a lot of the rules, appointed moderators alongside the moderation team, and, short and sweet, held Armor Games together. In many people's opinions, he was the administrator's community face of Armor Games. Once Cormyn left, jroyster22, alongside his duties with AG3, became the one to contact if you needed help. Justin Royster had big shoes to fill, and so far, he's done a moderate job. He prefers to contact via email, taking away from that on-site communication charm. In my opinion, Justin Royster has been a little vague with his duties. I and others have complained that Armor Games needs a new head, and if Justin Royster was a little more open, we'd have that strong, great leader. I am not criticizing his work- I understand he's busy. I'm just asking that he showed a little more of his face.
Part 2: Inactivity
Sadly, many of Armor Games' moderators have been caught up with daily life to successfully fulfill their duties on a daily basis. Similarly, admins are busy preparing AG3 for its release and have a lot to do. I understand they have lives as well. Many other new members have complained that it is impossible to get in touch with anyone on the staff team. Cormyn had written moderator-selection software, and many are thinking, if it is still available after Cormyn's resignation, perhaps it could be used to find another addition to the moderator team. Freakenstein has been a fantastic addition, but I feel as though we need more. I'm not going to name names because I respect what our moderators do; I feel as though we need more. Maybe it's time we eliminated the "small staff team" tradition for the time being until we recover. As for admins, we don't need a lot, but just one public face to get contact with would be fantastic.
Migration
I know AG3 is going to be very different. I know forum activity has sunk. I know your friends have left. Because of multiple things, many users, newbies and veterans alike, have moved on to different websites. This is not going to help our inactivity problem. It will only make it worse. I am not only asking you all to stay, but I am asking you to help out. We can't sit around and let our users leave. Part of it is our problem; we can make things interesting again. We can make people want to spend all of their time here. We can show people Armor Games is the best darn website out there!
Generation Transition
Jeol brought this to my attention and it struck me. What if the reason so many people are leaving is because they are older? Now, some people will never change, but others will grow and move on. And, who replaces them?
Part 1: Veterans
It's summer. You've finished school and want to enjoy the outdoors. You've finished school and have to work. You've finished school and want to try something new. Whatever it is, whether you've gotten too old for Armor Games, or have something else taking up your time, you can't visit your favorite website in the world. You know what? That's quite OK. Just remember to drop by once in a while and talk to your old friends. Many users are finding that they are having difficulties connecting with new people if they leave right away. Sadly, this leaves many users bored and craving for a good conversation.
Part 2: New Users
The size of Armor Games' user list is rising exponentially- it's skyrocketing! Most would think this would create more activity, wouldn't it? Frankly, no. Many games require an account for online saving to work, and the new generation replacing the previous one seems to be filled with people who join, stay active for a day, and quit dealing with the forums, leaving a large gap to be filled by no one.
Armor Games v3
As mentioned earlier, AG3 is being developed. By my count, there are currently 5 admins developing it. Unfortunately, users are complaining because there is little or no status updates on what's going on. Not to sound demanding, but more frequent updates could make the waiting all the easier. Also, the new achievement system may scare veterans who are used to and have gained recognition by the current AP system. AG3 will also result in a clean slate for the forums... By deleting all of the material there. Of course, much of the material is repeatable, but many veterans have good memories of posting here.
Conclusion
We've lost the face of the admins, Cormyn, and would like to have another public face again. Many moderators are busy with their lives and some more help would be fantastic. A lot of people have given up on Armor Games and have outright quit. Old faces are being replaced with people who aren't as devoted the site. AG3 is coming with big changes, but has gone very quiet recently.
~Salvidian
Those who contributed to this information in some way, shape, or form
-jeol
-Ernie15
-daleks
-Skeleton_Pilot
-Cenere
-GhostOfMatrix
-MrDayCee
-johnmerz
- 339 Replies
There appears to be a new forum glitch. I just tried to access forum games and got a 404 error.
There is always something... This stuff just never ends.
Bumping to give this message:
ALERT: The admins may have begun an AP lock.
Until they say they have, it's not true.
Correct, but the AP updated very slowly, and some users have claimed an AP lock that has not been confirmed.
My AP is gaining regularly, so I don't think this "AP lock" is true.
ALERT: The admins may have begun an AP lock.
So, let me get it right... When it happens at all other times (which it does, look through the S&S for all those 'My AP isn't rising!!' threads), it's a glitch, but when the admins stop the Beta, suddenly it becomes the admins?
Weird. So, what's next? "Oh no, when I press 'last post', it goes to an empty page! It's the admins transferring the forums!!"
"the last post time doesn't update! I bet it's the admins locking down the site!"
"oh no, I am out of toilet paper! The admins must be transferring the site!!"...
The admins do a lot of stupid stuff in the name of AGv3, but I sure do doubt they would "lock down" the AP without warning. They might not be very aware of their userbase, but they are not complete morons. I hope. They closed the Beta with a third party notification, they will most likely not stop the AP intake before they transfer the site, which they most likely will announce on GetSat as well.
ALERT: The admins may have begun an AP lock.
Considering that a new glitch appears every week on AG, is it really a surprise that the AP count has stopped updating? I doubt if the Admin even cares about the AP count of users. I'm just calling it a new glitch. It'll disappear as quick as it appeared.
They closed the Beta with a third party notification,
It says at the top of the beta page that the beta site is closing, it has said that for as long as it was on GetSat, (I think, first checked after Patrick first announced the update.)
It says at the top of the beta page that the beta site is closing, it has said that for as long as it was on GetSat
But there was no explanation on AG. It was all on GetSat besides the "Oh, btw, we are closing Beta " thing. You had to go to, at this point, a third site, not the second for the Beta, nor the first which is here, to know what was going on. So, a whole different, third party site to tell us what they could easily have made a post about in, I don't know... The AGv3 section? Alternately in the S&S section? The places where the majority of their userbase would notice it, and where it's easy to make a comment about it?
So, really, does it change what I said? They are not going to do something that big without announcing it, unless they have been dropped repeatedly on their head as a child.
In my humble and angry opinion.
So, really, does it change what I said? They are not going to do something that big without announcing it, unless they have been dropped repeatedly on their head as a child.
In my humble and angry opinion.
Are you claiming that the admins will not shut down the Beta? They haven't done so yet.
Are you claiming that the admins will not shut down the Beta? They haven't done so yet.
What?
1. You can no longer access the Beta, as they did announce on GetSat.
2. They are not going to "shut down the Beta", because the Beta is what AG will be when they launch, as I think we both know.
I am saying that they are not so stupid that they would do something huge and not announce it first. As I think it says right in the quote of my post you made.
You know, the "They are not going to do something that big without announcing it[...]" part in the top line? I am sure you couldn't have missed it both while reading and copying it for the quote.
If they were actually locking down the AP currently, they would have had the decency to announce it, at least on a third party site, because otherwise their emails would burn up in complaints, as it happens every time something happens that interferes with the majority of the users' interaction with the site.
More so, if they have any brains, which I actually do believe they have, they would not lock down AP before the weekend, if it's in preparation for the site transfer.
Or, to sum up, so you don't have to read it all:
No, I am not claiming anything. I am not you.
One idea to possibly revive AG's Forums in the future:
AG is and always has been a game site. It will be primarily a game site for the many millions of people; hence tap on that to draw them in. Get people/gamers/Forum Fanatics/ Devs if possible to write in depth game guides. Link them to the Forums where the guides are via the game descriptions. Or put in a guide section on the front page that links to the Forums. That'll bring traffic here, and hopefully they'll creep out of just the game/guides sections once they know about it.
Not sure if it's been proposed before. This thread is a mess with no head left.
Get people/gamers/Forum Fanatics/ Devs if possible to write in depth game guides.
People are more inclined to watch walkthroughs than to read them, and it just happens to be that most challenging games have video walkthroughs available on YouTube.
This thread is a mess with no head left.
Always happens with these threads. We complain for a while, gather ideas, try to get the staff to notice, they don't, then we move on.
People are more inclined to watch walkthroughs than to read them, and it just happens to be that most challenging games have video walkthroughs available on YouTube.
Then embed the videos in the Forums and link them here. Or just attach a guide and still attract the minority.
Thread is locked!