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knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

I'm shivering right now.

Anyway, I was strolling around the web these early morning hours (Daniel Mc Neely's Twitter account to be specific) when I happened to notice that AG took the cover of a weekly Orange County publication.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4753462784_b4dce9d077.jpg

Woah, surprised me there.

Anyway, the article is about Armor Games and online casual gaming.

Take a look and tell me what you think.

I thought it'd be interesting to share this here. I hope I don't link fail.

  • 48 Replies
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

What. I never thought that day would come.


Well, if it ever overtakes Miniclip, I'll be genuinely surprised. Really, I well.
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

What. I never thought that day would come.


Well, if it ever overtakes Miniclip, I'll be genuinely surprised. Really, I will.

Fixed.
Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

Actually I take that back. AG and Newgrounds occupy very different niches on the internet. Newgrounds is probably more of a giant-but-parochial commune that centers around a core group of animators and developers who seem to have made a home there. It's like a holiday island nation or something, seeing as most of their major figures (of which the AG devs are some) actually operate independently elsewhere.

Also: regarding the site itself, as far as I'm concerned a compromise was already made. After all, there's only 24 hours in a day and back in the start of 2008, AG had not quite yet moved into the handheld market. However:

"Armor Games is a thought leader in the online-games space, and in moving into new mediums and platforms," Mei declares. "I'm impressed with Daniel's fluidity."


I remember spending quite a bit of time explaining why the forum was decreasing in functionality to frustrated users, which was partially addressed by the introduction of certain developers (example: Larry Root, who was instrumental in streamlining the really bad wrinkles out of the homegrown forum code). That's why despite over 500k users (granted only a tenth of so are actually active on the forums), the site crashes relatively infrequently and actually loads in a timely fashion, despite the fact that most of the funky gadgets (like the "so and so is online now&quot are gone. Besides, if that feature was working the list would be so friggin' long that it'd be kinda pointless anyway.

Essentially this article reveals something very important: Dan's the businessman, and as the businessman, you now know why you can't find him on the forum.

This is the last sighting of Dan on the forums in my memory.

It took a little while to get used to the fact that the site forum doesn't exactly take priority but hey, it's holding up surprisingly well these days so credit needs to be given for that.

But yeah. It's times like these that I realise that I've been looking at something special for the last seven years (I found Games of Gondor in 2004). I'm actually proud to be involved in it in some way or another, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing what will happen in the future. The games made by the ArmorGames team are unique, they cater to a unique market and I think Dan's been very smart to cherry-pick his own business path and stay true to his vision thus far.

Good find, rock on.
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

Hey thanks, I was surprised no one really noticed this article.

I really enjoyed the insight it offered. The staff themselves don't really talk about what's going on as much as I'd like to. The article sheds some more light on what working for AG is and what the possible future of AG is.

I've seen some people doubtful of the staff because of them seemingly ignoring the place. Article goes to show that Dan invests his time in the site, despite not really mixing with the fans in the forum. That's why Carlie's the community manager I presume.

This is the last sighting of Dan on the forums in my memory.


I suspect I saw him in a low-profile thread last year.

These days the staff don't come here as often, some say the forum is "dying" and there are fewer regulars but I'm fine to be honest. I'll be here, I'm not leaving to anywhere.
samdawghomie
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samdawghomie
3,550 posts
Peasant

I suspect I saw him in a low-profile thread last year.


Hmm. Why would you suspect that?

These days the staff don't come here as often, some say the forum is "dying" and there are fewer regulars but I'm fine to be honest. I'll be here, I'm not leaving to anywhere.


Yeah, but I am fine, as long as the few regulars stay on here, I'll be fine too.
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

Hmm. Why would you suspect that?


I'm not sure. I'm either correct, somewhat correct, somewhat incorrect or incorrect.

@samdawghomie

Me too. I hope everyone doesn't mass desert this place.
Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

I suspect I saw him in a low-profile thread last year.


I recall he may have posted on a thread regarding Christianity, but I wasn't sure where.

These days the staff don't come here as often, some say the forum is "dying" and there are fewer regulars


A village grows into a city when it gains a focal industry or form of commerce, and the central community spirit becomes engulfed by that. Eventually, a kind of existential facelessness sets in, prompting the old-timers to reminisce about "the good ol' days".

It would make sense if I said that my tasks here have changed over the past couple of years (I've been a moderator for just a little over two years now), but frankly it hasn't. At least, I haven't been treating it any differently, but that could just be me >_>
knight_34
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knight_34
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Farmer

Well, your tasks really haven't changed much. People have come and gone, but the community generally is the same. The surge of newcomers is usual for this time of year.

Things have changed in some places, but the change hasn't been great.

This forum's far from dying. I've seen places much smaller than this.

samdawghomie
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samdawghomie
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Peasant

Well, your tasks really haven't changed much. People have come and gone, but the community generally is the same. The surge of newcomers is usual for this time of year.


Yeah, it's summer break and people have nothing else to do. And also the release of Exit Path granted quite a few newcomers.

Things have changed in some places, but the change hasn't been great.


The only major things that have happend are: a new Moderator (Gantic), and the deletion of the entire Sonny Forum (Or it was intertwined with the flash games section, I don't really know), the users online list deleted. So yes, nothing to extreme like completely making over the entire forum.

This forum's far from dying. I've seen places much smaller than this.


Like the countless millions of Webs websites.
knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

The only major things that have happend are: a new Moderator (Gantic), and the deletion of the entire Sonny Forum (Or it was intertwined with the flash games section, I don't really know), the users online list deleted. So yes, nothing to extreme like completely making over the entire forum.


The death of the Sonny forum didn't affect the forums as much as I thought it would. Talk in the Sonny forum just died, a slow death. Hah, in Kongregate they still have their Sonny forum.

Like the countless millions of Webs websites.


There's actually a place I know of. It's only being held up by a group of around two dozen or so regulars. Everyone else is just a transient.
Strop
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Strop
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Bard

This forum's far from dying. I've seen places much smaller than this.


Actually, as has been noted this is one of the largest websites on the internet. In fact, the 500k users mark is a bit of a magic number, and often denotes a forum's entry into the "big league". Also, I still see talk going on in Sonny, but it no longer even occupies the front page of AG's popular games section, because so many other epic games have been released (the Warfare series, Exit Path, Crush the Castle series).

the users online list deleted. So yes, nothing to extreme like completely making over the entire forum.


That online list was gone ages back, even before the time Carlie created the "forum games" section and reorganised the entire Games section so that there'd be room for Flash game discussion, Videogame discussion and Walkthroughs. I call it the Great Reshuffle because guess who had the task of sorting several hundred pages of threads into their respective categories?
StepOnABaby
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StepOnABaby
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Nomad

They should bring back the online user list.

Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

Personally I don't think it's that important. There's such a thing as IM services, after all.

knight_34
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knight_34
13,817 posts
Farmer

That online list was gone ages back, even before the time Carlie created the "forum games" section and reorganised the entire Games section so that there'd be room for Flash game discussion, Videogame discussion and Walkthroughs. I call it the Great Reshuffle because guess who had the task of sorting several hundred pages of threads into their respective categories?


You sure. I remember it being taken away early 2009, while the Forum Games section dates from 2008.

Yeah, the Great Reshuffle's a good name.

Actually, as has been noted this is one of the largest websites on the internet.


Actually, as has been noted this is one of the largest websites on the internet. In fact, the 500k users mark is a bit of a magic number, and often denotes a forum's entry into the "big league". Also, I still see talk going on in Sonny, but it no longer even occupies the front page of AG's popular games section, because so many other epic games have been released (the Warfare series, Exit Path, Crush the Castle series).


I have to note that compared to the rest of the site, the forums are sparsely inhabited.
Strop
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Strop
10,816 posts
Bard

You sure. I remember it being taken away early 2009, while the Forum Games section dates from 2008.


I'm not sure if I remember this correctly, but it was taken down, briefly put up again and then retaken down due to just how much it affected site performance.

I have to note that compared to the rest of the site, the forums are sparsely inhabited.


The vast majority of a forum's inhabitants are lurkers who never say a peep. Trust me, there's tons more floating around than you think.
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