Gleemax = Enworld

[Jupp]

Gleemax - When your floor needs more than just soap - Gleemax !

Really, who did come up with that kind of name :\

I am all for new gaming message boards, but the person that did come up with that name should be forced to eat the paper he wrote the name on....

 

[Umbran]

What if WotC, in a move similar to the CSG patent, attempts to patent the "online gaming community" format?

Certainly, any online gaming community that has existed for years before the date of the patent grant has nothing to worry about.

Now, if the patent hinged upon functionality we don't currently offer, that's a different issue. We could be restricted from adding new features that are covered by the patent.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Hypothetical what-if scenario.

What if WotC, in a move similar to the CSG patent, attempts to patent the "online gaming community" format?

"This is just WotCs way of protecting our IP, and quite frankly, ensuring we hit our desired demographic! We're working with gamers, because that's what we like to do. Don't think for a minute the fact that we've patented the Online Gaming Community(TM) that our Brand Managers would ever think of sending, say, Cease and Desist orders to Dragonsfoot, EnWorld, RPG.net or everyone who hosts usenet newsgroups that have the rec.games.frp and associated subgroups pass through them. No sir. Not for a minute would we do that. And I mean, really, when you look at it, didn't we really create the optimum formula for creating Online Gaming Communities?"

-Frank Dewey, WotC legal consultants of Dewey, Cheatham and Howe.

 

[Mike_Lescault]

I think you underestimate the cohesion of this community. EN World has a lot of history and comraderie, which is something some new-fangled doohickey can't just up and replace.

I'd agree. Community (with a capital C) like the one that exists on EN World, isn't easily replaced. Each online community has their own flavor and traditions that tend to continue as long as a site is around. I suspect that the forum aspect of Gleemax will be similar to what the Wizard's forums are like now. However, I do expect people from other forums will take advantage of some of the other things they like from Gleemax, like personal pages, blogs, and some other helpful stuff.

 

[BlackMoria]

Stupid Name. Strike One against it.

I checked the site and it is stands right now, it is about as organized as a somebody learning XML would set up. Lack of coherent content. And what is with the alien brain theme? It is too adolescent to attract serious gamers (as it stands for right now). Strike Two.

Nothing screams community or members to me. First impressions being lasting ones, I think some people will give it a pass. And me more than likely, though I am trying hard to not be judgemental. Strike Three.

ENWorld will not be threatened by Gleemax. I expect they will get the same demographic audience that aleady frequents the WOTC message boards right now. And that is not a selling point as I find the signal to noise ratio on the WOTC message boards not to my liking.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Hi Mike...

Perhaps you can answer the burning question of the hour...what's with the name "Gleemax"?

 

[Slife]

All I can say is it anagrams to "Exam Gel"

 

[Mercule]

Here is a long interview with Wizards of the Coast Vice President of Digital Games Randy Buehler on ICv2 about Gleemax.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/10687.html

Wow, that article implies that they think it'll actually gain traction with a name like Gleemax and that's the permanent name.

Bummer. There's probably some potential to the idea but the name, the look, and the theme (attitude) are all pretty bad. Who knows. The name may grow on me, but if they keep the appearance and the insulting Gleemax persona, there ain't a chance.

 

[WhatGravitas]

I use ENWorld, RPG.net and BGG. If there is a sudden fourth choice of any quality - I'll use it too. But it won't be to the exclusion of the other three sites I already have used for some time.

Yeah, it's not like accessing one site kills the other site. Checking into a board takes what? Five minutes? If you're idly browsing for half an hour, you can probably get the gist of the most interesting threads on five or six messageboards.

And for the name: Umh... I think "Gleemax" is a joke that run waaaay out of hand!

 

[GreatLemur]

Heh. Stupid name, and yet another doomed attempt to 'get down' with what the kids R doing these days. They'd be far better off working within the confines of MySpace than trying to create another on-line hangout.

The name is definitely setting new benchmarks for retarded marketing decisions.

But I do think there's actually use for creating "like MySpace but more specific" communities. My wife's a cartoonist, and uses (along with every other promotional avenue imaginable) both MySpace, and a comics-specific MySpace knockoff called ComicSpace. The latter has proven to be better by several orders of magnitude.

Of course, one major potential problem with Gleemax is that it might not be gaming-specific so much as WotC-specific, which will kind of suck. The other thing I'd worry about is that the community will probably end up looking like the wizards.com forums.