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
Do you mean that favorites threads should be allowed again?
Sorry about the misinterpretation, but I meant that the favorite threads were low-quality.
That issue has been discussed within the thread and should be fixed within the next few weeks.
Do you mean from what Daleks posted?
I contacted joey and showed him this thread. Joey said that he will mention to Dan about the want/need for a community manager.
If that means I am doing nothing about it then tell me what I can do.
Also I have a backup plan if Dan does not do anything.
I'm sure that is a good idea but from what I've seen of the staff I'm a little skeptical on it actually being completely "fixed" in the next few weeks. I don't really see a fail-safe plan coming into place here.
I never said that it would be fixed in a few weeks from what I did. What do you think they will do take some guy off the street and make him the manager of the community. That would be dumb. This will take a while. First they will talk about it. Then if they think it is a good idea they will have to find someone. It will take a long time, not just a few weeks.
What do you think they will do take some guy off the street and make him the manager of the community. That would be dumb. This will take a while. First they will talk about it. Then if they think it is a good idea they will have to find someone. It will take a long time, not just a few weeks.
With the speed of the staff at the moment I'd say to expect at least a 3 month-long wait for even news on the subject.
Yes, but the problem is that those new users who arrive tend to leave out of the lack of devotion for the community.
I kind of went a little deeper into that in the latter part of my post.
But really, how are we going to get the staff to become more active?
That appears to be the one problem everyone agrees on. If we can find a solution to this problem, we may solve the forum inactivity.
Maybe we, or I, need to start actually posting in the newcomers forums sometimes, I don't know...
If we make the newcomers feel welcome, and give the impression that we want them to remain active, it could possibly bring more activity to the forums.
Maybe we could start some kind of petition or something to present to the Admin?
That appears to be the one problem everyone agrees on. If we can find a solution to this problem, we may solve the forum inactivity.
So far though, this thread is basically a collection of complaining with no real action being done. (Daleks aside)
Maybe we could start some kind of petition or something to present to the Admin?
It doesn't seem like they would pay it any heed.
This is a tragedy, truly. This slump in the forums really doesn't bring hope to me. Even though I'm relatively new, (Joined in September) there has been a huge difference in activity, negatively. In that short time span many people have left an the community has a void where posting belongs. What's worse is that we have to sell our soul for the admins to notice us and even then it's a single sentence reply. It doesn't seem that there is anything we can do either.
It would be nice if we actually see the the creator actually take interest in the site he is working so hard on.
The social interactions are just as important as the technical interactions.
Dan controls the admins, basically. As owner of the site, he has the power to hire and fire admins.
So far though, this thread is basically a collection of complaining with no real action being done. (Daleks aside)
Honestly, all we can really do is wait for Dan to respond. Unless you have any better ideas.
Yeah, I think the general response is "It's crunch time at AG with AG3 on the way, so we can't really help you right now." They do tend to sound really nice and forgiving when they say it, but... Not really helpful...
The use of AG3 as an excuse to ignore the forums really heats my teapot. Or at least that's the nice way of saying it.
I have some thread ideas in mind, I just have to get around to typing them out.
I have looked at some of your comments (Argh, I'm a comment stalker!) and have seen a few clues at what you might be directing to as the problem. However, the faster you get those ideas out there the better. If there's more heat in a concentrated area, it will make a better bullet than one that's far spread out. Besides, when (Or if) Dan ever looks at this thread, the logical thing to do would to looking around in the forums to see if there are more complaints on the subject.
ag3 is going to ruin ag and ag3 will be suckish no fourms no marquee reset ranking seriesly im new and having fun but only because well... i read sporemaniacs destroy the planet games and when i was old enough i made an acount
@warriorcats: Do not make misinformed statements like that. I will quote and respond to your post as follows:
ag3 is going to ruin ag
AG3 will not ruin AG, only change it. See below quote responses for why it won't ruin AG.
no fourms
There will be forums in AG3, though I'm not sure if the forums will be migrated or wiped. If the forums are wiped, a new one will start fresh.
no marquee
HTML might be enabled for AG3.
reset ranking
AP will be different in AG3, so it doesn't make sense to keep the current AP. In AG3, AP will be in AG3.
im new and having fun but only because well...
See below quote response.
i read sporemaniacs destroy the planet games and when i was old enough i made an acount
You don't enjoy anything else on AG? Anyway, you should not be so obsessed with a game that is inactive anyway. I also see that you made a new thread, but you still have work to do on how to make a thread. By that, I mean that you should not have a spammy OP (hint, hint).
Anyway, you made an opinion that I disagree with and based it on poor information.
I've been wondering this for a while, but what would be the downsides to expanding the moderation team? I understand that the standards for the position are very high and that they don't want to add anyone they don't trust 110%, but with the forums like this, is it really worth holding off?
