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Post by jessie on Nov 25, 2015 3:46:01 GMT
I visit here everyday or almost everyday and post whenever I can. It is a bit slower than it used to be.
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Post by ian on Nov 25, 2015 10:20:33 GMT
There was some talk around this recently on another thread and there were a few theories as to why activity has died down.
I think it takes a few enthusiastic and committed people to stir up activity and unfortunately there just aren't many around at the moment. I know my excuse is the 'getting older/busier' thing.
I'm still proud of the fact that there are people who have been around for many years and still visit/post. Also, I imagine the number of annual meets we've been having (since 2008) is unprecedented and says a lot about the great spirit of the community.
I'll look into putting up a couple of quizzes soon if that helps. We should really pick a new game for Game Club as well. Anyone is welcome to do so but I'll have a go if no one's able to.
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Post by evo4123 on Nov 25, 2015 12:33:56 GMT
i totally agree with the comments about kids, ive got two, 7 and 10, who have a number of different clubs etc that they are involved in so most of my free time is spent with the kids (as it should be in my opinion ) me and my wife always both work so when the kids are in bed all we do in crash out on the settee lol. gaming for me now seems to be watching my kids play.... least they like my retro stuff though so its not bad
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Post by kungfukid on Nov 26, 2015 21:17:02 GMT
Totally the various reasons already discussed. I'm still very much interested (hoping for a retron 5 console for Christmas!), it's just that time is so limited at the moment with a 2 year old running around all day, and the past year or two have been by a massive margin the busiest and most demanding I've ever had. Oh, and TrabsButtah - I friggin loved that guy!!
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Post by Stan on Nov 30, 2015 0:04:02 GMT
Don't worry, though, the little one loves watching me play games, it will only be a matter of time before I have her competing on here, and other sites!
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Post by Stan on Nov 30, 2015 0:05:58 GMT
This right here. I really miss having time to play games, though I love my little girl. We play a few times a week, but until she's more able to engage the games, I just don't have the time, but rediscovering old games, playing them through, getting tips, that's really what keeps a forum like this alive. Basically everything has been discovered, except for the rare protos and such. All about the games!
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Post by ShadowAngel on Dec 1, 2015 15:52:03 GMT
I think the key to maintaining the site is the off topic section, talking about what has been keeping us busy away from the games. If work has been keeping you busy- what do you do? if you have been away on holiday- where did you go? bought another system- what is it? and what is it like owning one? I agree with that, topics like "what non-sms games are you playing at the moment" are always interesting, as is general talk but the problem is that most off-topic threads die after 1-2 posts or never get going and i always wonder why that is. The Off-Topic here has a lot of interesting topics about other consoles, about other current events but rarely anybody posts in them and a 0-replies topic doesn't animate people to write because it looks "dead". I think that if we want to recover in the coming years, the most important would be to refocus on the games. We must want to replay. Most of us do not know a lot of games (maybe 30-50). It may be time to force us to rediscover games. My idea would be some sort of long-time (it certainly will take ages) sort of "game of the week" event (not weekly because that wouldn't work with everybody busy) but instead of doing the Game Club routine where one user choses one game, we do it chronologically. How about that? It would show everybody the evolution of the Master System and it's games, how series like Wonder Boy evolved, how games changed from simple stuff like Astro Warrior to Aleste and R-Type. Wouldn't that be interesting to everybody? New people who just discovered the Master System as well as long time veterans who might not have played all games? I know i haven't played all MS games properly.
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Post by flatapex on Dec 1, 2015 22:26:09 GMT
I think the key to maintaining the site is the off topic section, talking about what has been keeping us busy away from the games. If work has been keeping you busy- what do you do? if you have been away on holiday- where did you go? bought another system- what is it? and what is it like owning one? I agree with that, topics like "what non-sms games are you playing at the moment" are always interesting, as is general talk but the problem is that most off-topic threads die after 1-2 posts or never get going and i always wonder why that is. The Off-Topic here has a lot of interesting topics about other consoles, about other current events but rarely anybody posts in them and a 0-replies topic doesn't animate people to write because it looks "dead". exactly, some people don't want to be the first to reply to a topic, same way that no-one wants to put their hand up in a room and ask the first question, but someone has to in order to break the ice for everyone else
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Post by Maxim on Dec 2, 2015 19:17:53 GMT
How about some stats? I can't vouch for this forum, but here's the number of posts per month at SMS Power! from 1999 to now: Here's the topic count: We have quite a different forum style - fewer 50+-page threads, for example, and off topic mostly not allowed. You can sort of see a downward trend in the topic count but the post count is really no lower than it ever was - and in fact I suspect our post quality has gone up. It's more that the number of replies per topic has gone up: Average topic length per month: Scatter chart of all topics, start date vs length: I think reports of the death of Sega 8-bit forums have been greatly exaggerated...
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Post by englishinvader on Dec 3, 2015 2:03:43 GMT
SMS Power is of a very different nature to this forum. It's very technical and has a lot of ongoing development projects while this site is more geared towards end-user pursuits like gaming/collecting.
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Post by Maxim on Dec 3, 2015 12:12:24 GMT
Not so much as some people seem to think. Let's see the stats for this place, then...
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Post by ian on Dec 3, 2015 16:39:46 GMT
Not so much as some people seem to think. Let's see the stats for this place, then... ProBoards don't seem to provide any unfortunately
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Post by flatapex on Dec 3, 2015 22:31:20 GMT
there were some sites that would track this info for larger forums, but their definition for that was 500k+ posts, and those sites don't exist anymore.
Ian is right, proboards doesn't have that function, does smspower use something like phpBB? Only reason I ask is where I admin for elsewhere used to be on there (php) and I am sure we talked about utilising it, I couldn't be bothered as it would have been another job for me
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Post by Batman666 on Dec 4, 2015 6:39:38 GMT
My idea would be some sort of long-time (it certainly will take ages) sort of "game of the week" event (not weekly because that wouldn't work with everybody busy) but instead of doing the Game Club routine where one user choses one game, we do it chronologically. How about that? It would show everybody the evolution of the Master System and it's games, how series like Wonder Boy evolved, how games changed from simple stuff like Astro Warrior to Aleste and R-Type. Wouldn't that be interesting to everybody? New people who just discovered the Master System as well as long time veterans who might not have played all games? I know i haven't played all MS games properly. Going thru the game library chronologically with a game of the month (or something like that) would be a good idea and I think it's kind of fitting as the Master System will be 30 next year.
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Post by flatapex on Dec 4, 2015 9:06:45 GMT
why not have an 'anniversary collection' of 30 games to celebrate 30 years.
No-one has to play everything, the only rule is to play something from the list that you haven't given much attention to, plus we should concentrate on games that are good/important rather than rare or expensive
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