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
I'm going to write the OP and might have GoM post the thread. I think you can trust me. :P
I kind of like to plan stuff out... What happens if we don't get satisfaction fro Get Satisfaction? What will our next step be?
I'm really open to any new ideas and I'm shocked at how much users have been dedicated to trying to help out. GoM's thread and Skele's thread are both doing fairly well. If you have anything to add to the thread I can try and see if it'll work. Meanwhile, feel free to think of something. I'm not sure.
I decided to be productive and sent an email to Justin regarding the community. I know there's a small chance of something actually getting done, but it can't hurt to try.
I had a chuckle. I hate to be cynical (and behind quite a few pages) but that's going to accomplish next to nothing. It would be nice if Justin had a presence on these forums, but none of the active forum goers are big-time flash game players, so there is no real need for him to pay too much heed towards us. Good on you for trying, but if you or any of the others who emailed staff thought you were going to cause some change you're clearly delusional.
Also: Cormyn was useless, GetSatisfaction is rubbish and you guys are all a lost cause. <3
Yes, you are. I recommend going back a few pages and reading. We are in contact with the staff. Joey Betz talked to Dan about it, and I'm sure he values Joey's opinion a lot more than ours.
Also: Cormyn was useless, GetSatisfaction is rubbish and you guys are all a lost cause. <3
Cormyn actually showed his face to the public. He informed us of what was happening with AG3 and was always there. The mods had a much easier time contacting him to ask for perma-bans, and he wrote code to select who was a possible candidate for promotion. He also wrote a lot of the rules, as well as enforced them to a high degree. He was not useless in any way.
GS is looked at and used by the now-unseen admins. This is our most current idea for contacting the staff because they actually do use it.
I believe that the thread on GetSatisfaction might actually work pretty well. I haven't really seen the site that much, so I don't know much about it, but it seems like the admins check it reasonably at least.
Share your ideas for more attention!
I don't think I would really have much to add. In this thread I basically shared my opinion on some topics, not really bringing any new ones into play.
The kind of humorous, cynical posting from Pazx is what I miss from the old AG, the sort of thing the other vets in the thread were talking about Salvidian. No need to be so uptight.
The kind of humorous, cynical posting from Pazx is what I miss from the old AG, the sort of thing the other vets in the thread were talking about Salvidian. No need to be so uptight.
It's natural for me. :P
Nice initiative guys, this is way more result than I could have ever imagined this thread creating. I'm never leaving you guys
Thanks!
I don't think I would really have much to add. In this thread I basically shared my opinion on some topics, not really bringing any new ones into play.
Like GoM added, please at least star the thread so it gets attention.
Demoting moderators without any warning doesn't sound like it will create anything other than a few angry ex-moderators. If they receive notifications in advance that they'll be discharged in 30 days or whatever if they don't make themselves more active in that amount of time, it will at least give them another chance to prove themselves competent and worthy of the title.
This is all probably a given but I don't want it to be overlooked during such a seemingly hasty time.
So let me get this straight....so far the plans are to get a Community Manager if possible, demod some mods, and get new mods?
That, and add a pop-up window to advertisement the forums after registration, add a link to the forums within registration, and make the link to the forums renamed to "forums" and possibly turn it into a banner.
Demoting moderators without any warning doesn't sound like it will create anything other than a few angry ex-moderators. If they receive notifications in advance that they'll be discharged in 30 days or whatever if they don't make themselves more active in that amount of time, it will at least give them another chance to prove themselves competent and worthy of the title.
Anyways, to add to the problems we currently have, I have seen many shock sites and they're seriously annoying. I really think HTML was a terrible idea and with the abuse of it, it might drive people away. I know I'm being very cautious now.
