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
As everyone is aware, the forums have just been recovered from the disablement of posting. Apparently there was a bug in the HTML code that was made yesterday.
We are all aware that contacting the admins on the issue was nearly impossible. This is a prime example of what we have to look out for and what we need to fix.
We need a community manager. If one were had, the situation could have been resolved hours before. We need contact with the admins.
An issue I haven't been discussing much here is the fact that we aren't getting what we need. Very people lacked reason to use the new HTML update, and everyone could potentially benefit from an edit button. Again, we need admin/public communication so they are aware of what we want.
Well, support@armorgames.com seems to work pretty well. Thaboss got a response from him within a day, and after that, there where within-the-hour responses. So. Pretty OK. But thaboss agrees.
You're absolutely right salvidian. At first i wasn't really convinced that we needed a community manager. and that they probably wouldn't do anything and would be generally pointless. but after this frustrating occurrence, its clear that communication with the admins is key. When there is a problem like that we need to know what's going on.
Have to agree with you again Salvidian. The forums need a community manager to assist in resolution of problems. Without a manager, the community kind of falls apart when a problem hits.
I'm not going to lie. Things look bleak. Nevertheless, I've written a little guide on what YOU can do to help.
Participate! The AMW forum's competitions recently lost the merit prize, due to the lack of competent (no offense) judges and lack of participation. Believe me, no one will care if you try to make a submission and fail miserably. Gantic has also made quite a few threads in the AMW forum. Seriously, go try them out. They're not receiving the attention they deserve. Make your own AMW thread to show off some of your skills! We all have skills that contribute to some type of creative talent. Why not show them off?
Aside from the AMW forum, the rest of AG could use some serious activity. Don't simply stare at a thread; post in it! People want to hear your ideas and want you to help them out with whatever they're doing! I know we all have ideas for our own threads once in a while. We all conjure up these thoughts for possible threads. Just post them and make your idea reality! Who knows? Maybe it could be a thread that lasts until page 50! That'd be incredible, wouldn't it? Off course, normal rules apply.
The WEPR forum will often feel scary and threatening to new users, but don't be afraid. The users there are simply trying to get their point across. That is the whole point of the forum! Some people will be hammerheads and will try to barrel their ideas into your head, but that'll happen everywhere in life. It's natural.
Activity is the only more activity can be created!
READ THE BOLDED THREADS WITH REDDISH-ORANGE PUSHPINS AND ALSO THE HELP PAGE! Seriously, most new people's ideas for new threads have already been created; more often than not recently. The only way to prevent yourself from becoming banned is by following the rules! The stickies will also help you out with any problems you may encounter and can help you out with some cool new stuff you didn't think was possible. Stickies give you wings.
Wait a minute... Those aren't stickies he's reading... That's Red Bull he's drinking! Someone call the freakin' picture guy and tell him he fails at making captions! Oh, and I don't think Yoshi can read either!
Enjoy Yourself! The whole point of the forums is to have fun. If you aren't having fun, you're doing something wrong. If someone else is causing you not to have fun and are breaking the rules (e.g. flaming), then report to one of our fine moderators! They're here to help! However, some mods aren't necessarily active because of their busy lives, so be sure to report to a mod you have seen recently.
The AMW forum's competitions recently lost the merit prize, due to the lack of competent (no offense) judges and lack of participation. Believe me, no one will care if you try to make a submission and fail miserably. Gantic has also made quite a few threads in the AMW forum. Seriously, go try them out. They're not receiving the attention they deserve. Make your own AMW thread to show off some of your skills! We all have skills that contribute to some type of creative talent. Why not show them off?
I've been thinking about submitting an entry for a competition but... I'm not too good at writing and it doesn't really please me... so yeah, maybe.
Maybe a draw thread as well, but I don't really feel like it because then it would make me feel obliged to draw and I only really do it as a pastime that often takes a back seat from other priorities.
[/end laziness]
Don't worry about thread ideas, I actually have some good ones I've been thinking about.
I've been here a long time and I've seen the activity go wayyy down, especially the Forum Games section. It seems it was just yesterday when people posted nearly every 2 minutes. I believe that Armor Games v3 will make some people come, but not much. I think that people just grew up and left, including the well respected people here.
Aye, inactivity has claimed us like the Black Plague did Europe. I have had friends leave, mainly due to other websites or even games. As such, even I, your loyal, powerful, indefatigable Forger has been away for reasons I myself do not understand.
But come, friends! Let us not forget that at least half or our brethren (and sisterhood) are people who have accounts simply for the gaming benefits. Well, the girls probably have it so they actually can share stuff, but many boys will have done this. As consolation, let me tell you this;
The WEPR forum will often feel scary and threatening to new users, but don't be afraid. The users there are simply trying to get their point across. That is the whole point of the forum! Some people will be hammerheads and will try to barrel their ideas into your head, but that'll happen everywhere in life. It's natural.
I personally found the WEPR less intimidating than the AMW. The AMW seems a bit more intimidating with all the large writings and only well-known people get noticed and get even criticised upon.
Don't simply stare at a thread; post in it!
I have been posting actually, and it's frustrating how inactive everyone is. I'm trying but there's next to no one who posts back.
The forums are becoming stressful with all the empty.
I have been posting actually, and it's frustrating how inactive everyone is. I'm trying but there's next to no one who posts back.
I always try to find a good thread to post in, but there never are any. I really don't get all of these 'insert superhero here' vs 'insert different superhero here' threads either. Threads like these rarely get my attention, and if I post in them it's usually one-and-done. I'm not going to post in a boring thread just to post.
The forums are becoming stressful with all the empty.
--Forums-- built on an unorthodox foundation that is ridiculously inefficient. Optimizations in early 2009 rid of features (fun fact: the red dot on your profile was actually an online status) to combat lag. I wasn't present when the staff rid of 'last posted' and forum freshness was taken down, but it isn't an improvement. Right now, we have a car stripped for parts to have speed, ergo it lacks any comfort-ability and features. Who wants to hang out in a car's frame? Instead of stripping parts, get a new car; stripping is digging yourself into a hole.
--Staff-- well on handling flash games section, since that's what I'm guessing is their major source of revenue. We really should've seen their response time to meta tags on flash games versus their profiles. We are all on a boat with the captain and navigator hulled away on a island in the bar business. The boat keeps crashing into sharp rocks; the crew yell at the 1st mates to fix this. When the 1st mates send messenger pigeons and the crew drop bottled messages, there's no response. Throughout many years, more and more holes are patched. Their bar business is booming however. This time the captain and navigator respond, "We'll get you a new boat soon!" to quell any mutiny and set up a response handler to let the crew know they're special. Why would the captain & navigator waste their money on something they already know persists through rough times?
Putting analogous references to Carlie and Cormyn would just complicate and confuse this.
--As A Whole-- When a story rids of characters and structure, the story becomes boring.
