Does EN World need a change of focus?

[EricNoah]

EN World does a lot of things: report news, share press releases, house reviews, host message boards for fans, hosts message boards for publishers, gathers fan-created materials, sells advertising, lots of other stuff. Should some of those things disappear? Should new things be added? What should EN World's focus be? What should its mission be?

 

[alsih2o]

I think ENWorld needs somehting harder to get- Realization of what it is for.

This needs to come not from above, but form the base. It is a fan site. Everyhting you listed is either a service for fans or somethign that makes this service possible. I think more folks need to step up and realize the whole service end.

The FREE service end. Ask not what ENWorld can do for you (we already know) ask what you can do for ENWorld. (my apologies to JFK)

 

[WanderingMonster]

I guess I can only answer this by saying what I use it for: Message boards (community), and product reviews.

The news aspect, I think, is a holder-over from the original site. News these days are not "scoops" but links to press-releases and features hosted on publisher sites.

If there must be a refocusing, I think "community support" should be the top part of the mission statement. Does ENWorld have a Mission Statement? Maybe that would help? If we knew what Morrus thought his mission was—what his goals are for the site—maybe we could help out with suggestions.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I think ENWorld needs somehting harder to get- Realization of what it is for.

This needs to come not from above, but form the base. It is a fan site. Everyhting you listed is either a service for fans or somethign that makes this service possible. I think more folks need to step up and realize the whole service end.

The FREE service end. Ask not what ENWorld can do for you (we already know) ask what you can do for ENWorld. (my apologies to JFK)

I think that's got it nailed right there.

 

[Crothian]

It needs to focus on the fans. And the fnas need to be willing to support it. If we have the fans, everything will fall in line.

 

[DaveMage]

What should its mission be?

I think it should become a site dedicated to unofficial 4E rumors...

 

[alsih2o]

It needs to focus on the fans. And the fnas need to be willing to support it. If we have the fans, everything will fall in line.

I tend to disagree, but only in a way.

I think ENWorld is and should be a reflection of its users. Morrus, P-kitty, Eric, Henry, and all the others who "direct" the site will always be a direct reflection of the users.

If the mods seem too harsh we can almost always consider it a reflection of user activity. If there aren't enough reviews we can say the same. Too many publishers, too much non-d20, too much off-topic? All the fans.

Russ has broad controls over the board but has been smart enough to (mainain a tradition of?) allow the user control too. Same with the forum breakdown, users go here and there or don't and it determines what becomes important.

I rarely read the news page or the reviews. I come for creative input (and output), art, teh funney, and comraderie. I get it all in spades. Othersc ome here for the news and reviews almost exclusively. Consequently they probably won't even see and therefore cannot react to a nice query like this.

As the users shift focus the board management is forced to shift focus. At least to some extent. This is why I believe vagueness and generality SHOULD be the rule of the day.

If a mission statement is created or goals are stated publicly there will be pressure to make the site live up to them, instead of living up to how it is used.

This requires active, fluid response from the directors. I think we have seen this over and over again, not always, but darned near always. We had too many off-topic posts and no interest in an off-topic forum. Now there is one, and experiment that thrived. Lots of PDFs and some hard work by a certain prolific madman and we now have a staff reviewer for electronic products. The creature catalog, the art gallery, newshounds. All the same.

When we discusse this years ENnies (At least my end of it) Russ stressed consistency. No changes, keep the physical award the same for recognition. And I agreed. Now I see lots of people calling for a change to the award. And I think it will happen.

A steady eye on the group driven eveolution, which is dependant on polite user contribution and participation, is the correct response. Goals and statements are not. This is more difficult and requires a more constant effort but from what I have seen in my time as a user I have faith.

 

[iwarrior-poet]

I visit EN World everyday, largely for news on d20 and related products. I tend not to use the boards too much, but Morrus' rant made me take a peek. I have a few suggestions for ENWorld:
1. Help shape the d20 present and future by having more editorials closer to or on the front page. (Although future editorials might not want to be as... er...forceful as Morrus' one today.
2. Welcome efforts to bring in news scoops, reading paraphrased press releases with links to publisher sites is helpful, but I could just go to the sites of origin and get the entire version.
3. (and this is more of a question) As a regular user, I feel obliged to help EN World keep moving along financially. Is EN World registered as a non-profit in the U.S.? It would be a lot easier for me to contribute to EN World if I could get a tax break out of it.

 

[francisca]

Well, I came here for news and the messageboards, and found community.

I think the site needs to stay fan oriented as well. I'd like to see it be the central clearing house for all things d20, where publishers and fans can rub elbows, share ideas, and find resources to increase enjoyment of the games we play.

I think the Ennies have become a liability. I think they should be spun off elsewhere, pehaps become the GenCon awards. Perhaps Gama, RPG.net, ENWorld, and a few other sites could hold their own elections and send 1-2 delegates each, who would then provide judging in the same manner that it si now, with the fans voting on a website. (I have not followed the Ennies thread at all, sorry...).

Regardless, the rift caused by the Ennies is not worth it to me. If it means ENWorld coming back to it's roots, I say kiss the Ennies goodbye.

Something else I'd like to see:

You know those Co-Op Dungeons? I'd like see a whole range of community developed accessories like them developed and sold for $2 each or 6/$10, with all of the money going striaght back into supporting the site.

well, there is my 2 cent worth, such as it is.

 

[2WS-Steve]

I use every aspect of this site: check the forums regularly, read reviews when I'm on the fence about a product or hearing good things about a book I hadn't considered before, and check in daily around midnight to see the news postings--news is fun for keeping me informed about what's coming out and other activities around the net.

So I can't think of anything I'd change other than replacing the server with a super-Cray so there'd only be a nanosecond gap between when I click on a link and it comes up...