How could ENWorld be better for RPG professionals?

[pawsplay]

It seemed to me that the open call and industry forums used to have a lot more buzz. Now, I can identify how the end of the third party d20 era and the economic downturn might leave things somewhat depressed. But I definitely miss the old format, and I wonder if that doesn't have something to do with the light traffic. Before, there was a nice continuity between "shop talk" and the various postings. The Marketplace has more the feel of an Ebay listing or a greensheet ad. Rather than simply complain, I thought I would offer some constructive points.

1. Visually, the Marketplace leaves something to be desired. Currently, the Marketplace banner eats up a huge amount of the screen. Information is placed both beside and below the posting, which means the actual description scrolls along the bottom of the screen. The comments section? I just checked to see if there even was a comments section.

2. The categories could use some work. As it is, piles of old gamebooks are just one click away from freelance offers. I'm not sure about the difference between Industry Services and Vacancies and which I would post some freelance work in. Vacancies list "industry services" as something you might post there. Maybe Artwork, Writing & Editing, and Other Services could be categories. I like the idea of seekers and hirers posting in the same category.

3. Somewhere other than the Marketplace, it would be nice to see a spot for "shop talk" of various kinds, design, freelancing, etc.

 

[Umbran]

3. Somewhere other than the Marketplace, it would be nice to see a spot for "shop talk" of various kinds, design, freelancing, etc.

Note that we do have a collection of "Industry Forums" that could be used for shop talk:

Industry Forums - EN World D&D / RPG News

 

[pawsplay]

Yes, there are, but I didn't see a forum that seemed to be a hangout for freelancers, since Open Calls is now closed. I also don't see a place for developers, apart from the E-publishing angle, which certainly can and does cover a lot. Maybe print is dead, but I wonder if that couldn't be Publishing and E-Publishing?

 

[Umbran]

In general, we don't make changes in forums in expectation of a demand. While it sounds like a good idea, so far folks haven't seen to be clamoring for such. Yours is the first such request I can recall.

If we start seeing some folks trying to wedge discussion into those other forums, or into General, and there's enough of them, we'd rename or rearrange some things, but probably not beforehand.

 

[Morrus]

I agree the Marketplace is a little organisationally weak (and could do with some work on presentation); it's a question of time. I do intend to overhaul it at some point!

 

[pawsplay]

Cool.

This is an example of a topic that is currently sort of homeless:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/e-publishing/246177-whats-process-freelancer.html