Creation of an "Other Games" Forum?

[Vanuslux]

If EN World is going to start doing reviews of other games and systems, then perhaps this is another reason why there should be a forum for Other Games. Thus it is in keeping with the idea of Other Reviews, and gives folks a place to talk about those reviews. By my way of thinking, not having a forum for Other Games, while having reviews of Other Games is kinda lopsided. Somebody may come to read the review, and then check the forums, and not see a place (clearly marked) in which to dicuss those reviews or those other games it might make them shy away from joining in on discussions. Having such a forum can help the EN World community grow as a whole.

Give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile. I'm going to go give myself a cookie for predicting this.

 

[Umbran]

Yes, but the signals are mixed signals. To me, they are saying, we will review other games, but they are not important enough to warrant a forum to discuss them in.

Perhaps, but you must start somewhere, Rasyr. And starting a new forum before the traffic to support it exists tends to quell discussion, rather than enhance it. Putting the cart before the horse, and all that.

Allow them to start doing reviews. Then see if that enhances demand for discussion. If it does, then give it a new forum. Everything in it's proper time.

 

[Crothian]

As it is people have now been reuesting the forum for almost 30 hours yet we've not seen a single thread created discussing non d20.......

 

[Nisarg]

Actually, I don't see much real d20 hatred as I see hatred of system zealots over on rpg.net. People who relentlessly bash other systems or other people who say something slightly less than pleasing (to the zealot) about their system, or to sing the praises of their flawless system. I think this is a case of a few bad apples ruining the whole bunch for a lot of people, and most of what vitriol there is usually comes from a very small group. And yes, each system has their haters and zealots, so you end up with a zealot going and bashing another zealots favorite system because they perceived an insult on another thread, and sometimes the hate circle kinda hetrodynes out of control...

No, while RPG.net does have that, it also has some clearly delineated "pet systems" that get both more coverage then others (which is merely a function of the demands of the crowd at rpg.net), and more leeway than others.. primary among these is Exalted, but Nobilis and Unknown Armies get a big plus too.
Contrary to this are the "whipping-boys", the systems where its the unspoken rule on rpg.net that you can get away with attacking way further than someone can if they attack Exalted or Nobilis. Criticize these two and you'll get attacked back and scolded by mods. But attacks on D20, Hero, or especially Palladium are tolerated to a far deeper level of permisiveness.
Part of the reason for this is that the mods dole out discipline based almost exclusively on the volume of complaints they receive. Since Exalted fans are in the majority, they swamp the mods with complaints against someone who is anti-exalted. The result is that there will be swifter discipline against people who criticize certain systems over those who criticize other systems.

Enworld has the advantage that its mods seem to be pretty fair about the moderation and don't seem to rely on the same methods of determining disciplinary need, there doesn't seem to be the same biases.
However, given Enworlds origins, I think it will be pretty inevitable that no matter what you do, D20 will continue to be the default-favoured system. At least this will result in something more demographically realistic than what you see at Rpg.net, given that in the real world D20 is also the default-favoured system of the majority of the planet's role players.

Nisarg

 

[hong]

TBH, I haven't actually seen a lot of active d20 bashing on RPGnet.

 

[diaglo]

TBH, I haven't actually seen a lot of active d20 bashing on RPGnet.

nor i.

 

[Rasyr]

hong - correct, like I said, I perceive it as more little flame wars between individuals and clashes of personality rather than actual system bashing.

Nisarg - I am not even going to get into this discussion with you. If I actually see a post where you have something constructive to say about another system, rather than just another bash fest against rpg.net or other system, then I might change my mind. Until then, no.

Crothian - One HARP thread coming right up.

 

[Piratecat]

Frankly, I think creating a non-d20 games forum would make the place seem a lot less homey. I like being exposed to new things in General; relegating those threads to another forum would make the site less interesting. Worse, few people would read them because the forum would be relatively slow-moving.

 

[Rasyr]

Piratecat - There is also the issue that threads disappear off the front page too quickly in the General forum. Perhaps this might not be so bad, but there is no way to find a thread except going through page after page after page and looking at the thread titles.

Yes, I realize that the search features are turned off for a reason, but by doing so it really makes it hard sometimes to find the thread you are looking for.

And if a thread drops off the front page, it is less likely to be seen by folks. There is such a thing as too busy...

Now perhaps, if the PtB do not wish to make a "Other Games" forum, they should perhaps look closely at the General forum to see if another forum for another topic (such as settings maybe) might be called for.

 

[Henry]

Mind you, it's just my estimation on the issue, but if we were to create a forum specifically for non-d20 game discussion right now, I earnestly believe it might get 10 responses in a week. We've had similar situations for "hot topics" in the past, and release schedules drive people's mindshare.

We had a similar situation in early 2003 with d20 modern. At first, we had (as we do now) a d20 systems forum. Then, in late 2002 d20 Modern was released, and a HUGE buzz was generated - so much so that it seemed every topic on the first page was d20 modern. There was a clamor for a separate forum, and so one was made after a few weeks of deliberation. At that point, the topics immediately began to slack off (around april or may of 2003, I believe). The point at which we folded d20 modern back into d20 systems was when we saw single posts where people were saying " hey! Where are the d20 Modern players?!?!" It was kind of the finishing flag being dropped in the race.

And though it's not the mods'/admins' jobs to generate discussion, I personally (along with several others) WANT to, because we like a lot of people here DO play different systems - not a week goes by that I don't make a reference to Feng Shui, or Battletech, or Shadowrun in context of one fo their rules systems. d20 is not meant to be a static system, recycling only a few designers' rules; if a rule works better for a purpose, pull it in! CoC's sanity rules were done this way, and it is one of those "overly simple but effective" systems that makes for good game rules (kind of like the situation with the hit points system).