2 Years of Having our Own Forum

[Barkeep49]

We're rapidly approaching the two year anniversary of having our own part of the Forum. Overall, I think this has been a fantastic thing for our game and has brought the WW community together much closer than when we were sharing space over in OT. The ability to post threads for whatever we've wanted has more than made up for loss in visibility.

It is also approaching about two years of my being the WW Forum Mod. Unlike Ben who owns the board I have no claim to the position except that I was voted into it two years ago. While we have many of the same players as we had two years ago, we also have a substantial group of new players. The vote didn't come with any sort of term limit, but it seems like two years is a good amount of time to start to reassess and evaluate.

And not just my being mod, but our forum in general.

I've given my opinion in the first paragraph (and thus tainted the other results, no doubt), but
What do you think is good about our forum at the moment?
What don't you like?
Are there ideas about things we should be doing that we're not?

And what would you like to see happen with the forum moderation? This is a genuine question, with no ulterior motive, so please answer honestly.

[Lathum]

I want people to honor their commitment to play in the games they sign up for.

[claphamsa]

I love it here... I occasionally leave.. but only when im really really bored. 99% of people in FOFC have no idea who I am! I like that

[Barkeep49]

I'm glad I posted this before tonight's festivities. That said my original post stands. I think now is a good time for some introspection.

[hoopsguy]

Like about forum - good mix of older/newer players over last year. I think this is a strong long-term positive.

Dislike about forum - issues getting games going over the last month. I hope that this is a short-term negative.

Like about the community - it more or less represents my "inner circle" at FOFC. The vast majority of people I talk with here either play WW now, or have played it in the past.

I like the large/small game concept, particularly when we have both going concurrently. However, I also see the long signing list for the large/complex game and worry about the ability of first-time moderators to execute on these.

I would love to see more investment - and I'm willing to put some time into it - in a "werewolf primer", both for playing and moderating.

I would love to see more investment in the history of the community. The "Golden Wolves" kind of died on the vine, and I don't believe there has been much (any?) work on the Wiki.

All in all, I think the procuct is better now than it was at the start of BK's term. I also think he is a very good choice to "run" our community. He is patient, fair, even-tempered, and inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt.

However, we also should not necessarily "wait" for BK to "build" the community. We each are responsible for doing that with our actions as players and moderators - every time we choose to participate, or not, in a game here. Every time we join in some other kind of event, like the WW Fantasy Football draft. Heck, even the times we support each other across the other forums at FOFC/OS.

I'm pretty interested in hearing what others think about this as well. I know that I feel some sense of ownership for the community around here, and I would imagine that is common for the folks who have been showing up here every week for the last two years.

[Chief Rum]

Good thoughts, hoops, and good thread, BK.

As I mentioned to hoops at the fantasy draft, I am currently on a WW sabbatical, but I will be returning at some point in the not too distant future. I feel bad, actually, that my timing happens to coincide with so many others seemingly taking a step back, given the game difficulties. It was something I decided I wanted to do after my last game, to take some time and refocus some energies.

Despite the lack of presence over this vacation period, I am personally as invested and interested in the FOFC WW community as ever, and I am looking forward to returning. I would certainly welcome any discussion on where we want to take things going forward.

I like the complex games we have had, because I think pushing the envelope with game concepts can really create some intriguing gameplay. That said, given the way things have been of late, it might be a good idea to re-focus on the simple for a while, and come back stronger after a three or four games like that.

[jeheinz72]

Well, I'm a bit of a newbie, but I'd definitely add that it's nice to have a whole separate area for WW. I think it makes things easier and gives us a little space for elbow room and such.

As far as improvements, I"d echo hoops regarding history aspect. I've almost started work on a historical spreadsheet of sorts (who lives to the end, who wins as a villager, etc.) multiple times only to find something else. It's something I'd love to have time for and hopefully will sooner rather than later.

I'm also really hoping that the lull in signups as of late is a short-term thing. I think it is though. People will eventually find the time again.

I'd also agree with CR on the idea of going simple for a few games. My game will likely be relatively simple in terms of that. No real out-of-the-box stuff

[Abe Sargent]

I think the forum is solid, and BK is good as a Mod.

[claphamsa]

I think BK is an awful mod! you should all vote for me (as mod!)

:P

[PackerFanatic]

I think it adds a deeper sense of community (outside of the FOFC community) to have our own place down here. The games themselves are just awesome. I never knew that a simple game like Werewolf could be made so complex yet so easy and fun at the same time. There are certainly some bright minds around here to come up with this stuff and to be able to run it and manage it and allow the rest of us to have so much fun with it. I would love to see some historical analysis of games and such, but I understand that would take a lot of time to develop.

I think Barkeep (and others) do a great job of keeping things moving and although we might get slow at times, we still pick right back up.

[SnDvls]

ditto what other's have said.

wish I had more time to play, but with work and two new babies they just isn't the case right now. I still pop in from time to time and get the itch to play, but I know I can't put in the time required and that just isn't fair to the other players or the mod.

[st.cronin]

I agree almost completely with hoops post. I am also a huge fanboy of Barkeep as moderator.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by SnDvls

ditto what other's have said.

wish I had more time to play, but with work and two new babies they just isn't the case right now. I still pop in from time to time and get the itch to play, but I know I can't put in the time required and that just isn't fair to the other players or the mod.

Ditto me (minus the two babies part).

I hope to get back in at some point.

[EagleFan]

Definitely no able to be considered a regular here as of yet but I'll throw in my .02.


Likes - Easier to find the threads and games which are WW related in this forum than if it were in the OT forum; the community seems to be strong and growing (at least based on the number of players I have seen classified as new players)

Dislikes - The confusion over the last month or so, I was in India for much of it so I didn't sign up for anything knowing that but when I was coming back I saw the recent game had ended and there were only a couple of threads asking for opinions on game ideas and who would be interested in playing game like that but no actual signups and this seemed to last for a while (hopefuly just a temporary thing); some of the games are just too time intensive, I like the games but the mid-day deadlines kill me as I am not always in a position to be able to check in while at work, yet alone the multiple deadline games (not saying that we shouldn't do these games but giving the reasons why I stay out of games that I think may take too much time to be able to participate in)

BK - I think you are doing a very good job at moderating