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
If there were candidates don't you think they'd be mods already?
No, I don't, because we don't have an active community manager to appoint them... it isn't evident that any of the admins are watching over the community at the moment, which is why I believe nothing is being done about the severely inactive moderators and the lack of new ones.
Read this post by Cenere: Other points, that might be outdated by half a year, but: If there were suitable candidates, they would have been mods by now. The staff does not as such have a say in whether or not more mods are needed (considering their limited to entirely lacking interaction with the community), and will usually mod any candidate brought up by the moderation staff. Mods are paranoid creatures that doesn't like to put others into their misery, but in times like these with two and a half active mod, you can all be pretty sure they are trying their best to come to some kind of agreement on modidates of any kind, because they know people complain for no particular reason, and they actually want to have a bit of summer holiday as well, instead of feeling obligated to sweat through game comments that multiply faster than rats on viagra. And lastly: Expanding the team does nothing. I agree that cutting out the inactive mods might be a good idea, but they tend to pop up every once in a while and do a good job then, giving the rest a well deserved break. In times where we... they had been four or more active mods, people were still complaining about the game comments and lack of information and lack of activity. The first because you are all ungrateful pri... Because you can't actually see the decline, the second because of the staff and the third because that is how the internet goes. Be happy the activity doesn't spike in the summer due to trolls like everywhere else, and instead hope it gets better after the supposed launch of the next AG version, sometime in the year 3001.
I think it's safe to take the word of a former mod on a topic regarding future mods.
but in times like these with two and a half active mod, you can all be pretty sure they are trying their best to come to some kind of agreement on modidates of any kind
Alright, I'm glad that's at least happening! I was under the impression that the situation was being ignored, but as long as someone is working on it I'm content with the situation! =)
Sorry to seem like one of the many users who complains about things for no reason!
I actually think this is a legit idea. The staff has previously shown to act on something, when they get enough complaints about it, for example removing an otherwise amusing game, because some little thinskins got offended because it was vaguely based on Nazi Germany. If they are going to make people mad to make a few easily offended people happy, then bringing up their - shortcoming several times might actually make them reconsider. Whether that is reconsider the forums' existence or reconsider their approach, I don't know, but as things are now, perhaps either will show to be an improvement. That would also free up, what... All the spots on the mod team, because the mods loves the forums, and are probably going to quit if they remove them.
Good way of explaining it. Much better than my way.
If i were him. i wouldn't really care about the forums either... There is such a small user base here that the amount of attention that he would think we need is slim to none. So that is what we get.
If you look at it from his perspective, why should he help us? He probably has better things to do, like the rest of the site that gets all of the traffic.
Actually, the admins have repeatedly said the forums are something they're very proud of, because they helped create a community in which people enjoy. Also, if users come for the games and stay for the forums, then they would be remaining loyal to AG, thus continue playing its games.
Here's the reply I got from Justin,
Ron,
Thank you for taking the time to give me your feedback. I will talk to our guys and see what we come up with. Thanks!
Perhaps I didn't fill in all the required fields. I input his email into the "To" part but left "CC" blank. Did I have to fill that in? If so what should I put there?
The CC is for emailing multiple people who you don't want each other to know who they are, I think. (Basically, nobody except the sender knows who else got the email.) You can just leave that blank
Not quite, because that's BCC, or blind carbon copy. Normal CC shows all the email adresses you enter, while BCC doesn't. Otherwise, yes, it only sends copies.
Perhaps I didn't fill in all the required fields. I input his email into the "To" part but left "CC" blank. Did I have to fill that in? If so what should I put there?
Did you fill the subject field? I gave mine a nice subject that grabbed Justin's attention; "forum collapse."
What is the next option in the event that that the email fails?
We could create a thread on their GetSatisfaction page. It seems like they check and post in threads there more often. If you guys like the idea then type something up, post it on pastebin, then link me to it and I'll create it. Maybe they'll take it more seriously from me since I have some sort of champion[/url [url=https://getsatisfaction.com/people/ghostofmatrix]status there. I don't know, but if the thread is created a lot of you will have to post in it so they'll notice it. I don't think they'll ignore us there.
Alright, well I came up with something that may help bring the forums up a notch while we wait for the admins to take action...
Good luck. Not 100% sure if it'll go far or not.
I sure hope this works... What is the next option in the event that that the email fails?
I'm backing GoM's idea 10 fold. I hate GetSatisfaction, so I welcome him to do it.
I am starting to draft up an email to send in. Any suggestions on which admin to send it to?
Either Dan or Justin. The other admins either choose not to talk to us or are game developers, which wouldn't help much.
We could create a thread on their GetSatisfaction page. It seems like they check and post in threads there more often. If you guys like the idea then type something up, post it on pastebin, then link me to it and I'll create it. Maybe they'll take it more seriously from me since I have some sort of champion[/url [url=https://getsatisfaction.com/people/ghostofmatrix]status there. I don't know, but if the thread is created a lot of you will have to post in it so they'll notice it. I don't think they'll ignore us there.
Go for it. I trust you enough to know you won't make us look like idiots. :P Make sure you link us back to the thread so we can find it.
