Considering full forum move to your mykaoswar.com pages

[Damon]

What are your thoughts?

[jimmy6154]

My opinion, I like these forums here. I don't much like the flow of the forums over there. People already have a foot print here. Like some of the guys with over 1500 posts. Seeing that in their name is cool.

or are you saying that these same forums would be just under that url? either way I think this forum separates itself from the social network and to me, I like it that way.

[a chewy rock]

I would prefer these remain the main forums. Not exactly sure what you mean but I would like seing the forum link on mykaoswar.com direct you here. Or it could stay as it is. I check those forums too.

[amz181]

No, the forums are too watered down at ning, also, i liked your original plan of using ning for playerpages.

[Ziegler]

Since I am not a socialist....

I oppose any move toward a socialist regime site.


Seriously though, I dont do social networking sites, so I'd rather they stay here.

[Damon]

Just give our social networking site a try Zieg. Its way cooler when it is for a specific game than for the generalist socialist regimes. Right ? =)

Sure until we have a smoother social site we will continue with these forums. Though we are preparing most of our new releases through the social network just fyi!

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[Taylor]

I believe the forums should be hosted at the game's main website. That way new people who go to the main website see the forums at the main website and feel more connected to the community. Since MyKaosWar.com goes to a social networking site hosted by Ning and there being advertisements on it, it looks a little less professional. The social networking site is a good idea, but the forums being hosted by SRI themselves is much more professional looking.

Being a Community Manager for another game company myself, I know that good forums help sell the game. People like to research the community before spending money to dive in to it. Since we redesigned our forums, more and more people have come to read them and we actually had twice as many beta requests per day since then as well. Definitely good to keep things here. Also, people have an anchor here as stated, and I think they would rather keep their status than lose it for a new one.

[hanstin]

I did rather like em at the main page then at a "off" page, as i hardly visit mykaoswar.com :P

[Avacon]

well for my opinion on them i think this main site is defently a good forum basis to keep for the general populus because of the fact that its more bizzness oriented and the ning seems alot more laid back if ya know what i mean. personally i like the ning, alot easier to manage with but for alot of ppl i know on main forums they would prefer just that the main forums over a social network. the nign is a good place though to really unwind yourself and get to know everyone. where as the main forum lets everyone understand whats really taking place on the game side of thingd. also like you said u want to place more on the ning which is great and all for it, just remember its not just the ning its also the main forums to think about as well the balancing act between the 2 of them isn't easy but can be done.

[Ravik]

I prefer them here. I think I'm used to having forums separate from the actual "information"

The my kaos war is cool as it is and the forums are nice to post opinions but I like it the way it is.

[Thee]

Bad idea, imho.

You are having a fantastic forum over here. You are using vB, have full control over it and consider moving away from it to a service hosted by an external company, something you have limited control over? No matter how reliable a service like Ning may be, you'll face limitations at some point. Add to that that the software over there is nothing compared to vB.

I also have to say that I am somewhat surprised that you are so fond of mykaoswar.com at it's current state, sorry. It kinda does not look and feel that professional to me... I am sorry to say so. I love KW, I love your project. I am following it closely, but I just don't think it "feels right" for an upcoming AAA mmo. I guess the main reasons for ME are the fact that it's hosted by "some company" as a free service (possibly paid for premium features, what do I know... I dont know the service in detail) and that it feels a bit like a "out of the box" thing. I guess I'd feel differently with a more KW related design and stuff like that.

I don't say the idea to heavily rely on a social networking site is wrong. I totally understand the benefits and motivation, but it would have to be done properly. Proper integration into main site and stuff like that.

So, from my point of view: Stay with vB, but if you really want to move the community activtiy to your social network, please try and host it on your own. I am sure there are already some social network scripts (php & mysql based) and a decent php coder should be able to do wonders with that. I am absolutely sure it's worth the additional hassle... Maybe not right away, but the community will grow and change, and so will your needs. You may want to have control over user account data at some point for various reasons and stuff like that... Anway, I am rambling. ;-/

[Avacon]

Bad idea, imho.

You are having a fantastic forum over here. You are using vB, have full control over it and consider moving away from it to a service hosted by an external company, something you have limited control over? No matter how reliable a service like Ning may be, you'll face limitations at some point. Add to that that the software over there is nothing compared to vB.

Ya thats kinda what my opinion as well keep this as the main so that the people coming onto the site can see that you have a forums that players can communicate the game side of things. The ning so people can communicate and get to relax and sitback on. At least to me the ning is alot easier to manage because of the laid back setting it has but as Thee said its an external program with some limits on what u can do.

[Moloch]

'Official' forums give the Devs a place to interact with the community about the game. A Social site (arguably) is more diluted, a place to interact with the community about stuff, including the game.

Personally, I'd recommend keeping them separate. The social site is an addition, not core business.

[Avacon]

was trying to say but can't type for nothing correctly so i have to fully explain lol. thank you Moloch for simplizing it. (http://www.kaoswar.com/forums/member.php?u=19)

[Damon]

Yes thanks everyone. We are going to keep it seperate.

[Rauko]

Think thats a good choice :)

I was going to suggest that you keep this one as the "catch-all" until release or maybe beta.

Then you can export this entire forum to another location or perhaps sub-domain and let it shift into the "social" forum.

Then create a more official forum like Moloch was saying, for Dev and technical things like announcements and bug reports/alerts.

I personally can't stand forum formats like those over at mykaoswar. Tiered forums such as this I think are the easiest for most people to read and navigate.

[Damon]

Really wish I could integrate it somehow with these forums. We will see what we can do.

[amz181]

Ah... Thats the problem you had, thats a bummer.

I doubt you'll be able to do that though, theres not really an open source social site as of yet :p

The only way to get what you want is to do it yourself, which would take ages.

But it is a priority in my mind (my opinion as a user) the use of both ning and the official forums, is extremely unpolished, and therefore, an inefficient structure, which needs to be dealt with. You dont know how frustrating i find it, to find that members on mykaoswar have no idea that anything exists beyond Ning. And thats me, i'd be seriously miffed if i was a dev, and would have probably terminated Ning long ago. However, i can see you guys are adamant about it, which i understand, it is a brilliant idea, i can see that once you get the blogs and videos going it will be a very fun area of the community. But as i said, it is much too unpolished and choppy, and the fact of oblivious mykaoswar user is a serious problem.

I can see a way to intergrate Ning properly, but maybe you guys can, after all, you are meant to be genius's.

But make sure, that you will not leave the structure as it is, you need to do something.

Ok, enough of the speech :p but please take my view into account guys :D

[jimmy6154]

Really wish I could integrate it somehow with these forums. We will see what we can do.


well not to point out the obvious but it seems that every post here is wanting to keep the two separated.

[Damon]

I meant get our social network to display this forum.

[jimmy6154]

ahh right.. gotcha.:rolleyes:

[Thee]

I doubt you'll be able to do that though, theres not really an open source social site as of yet :p


Oh, there are scripts... Open Source ones, ones to buy... Make your own social network and while you are at it, host your own flickr and youtube clone to go along with. The scripts are out there. ;-)

Dolphin (http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/doldemo/) is just one of them.

[amz181]

I meant get our social network to display this forum.

That would work, but instead of having a direct link from the site, make the user go through to a different page. So off of the home page, instead of forum there would be community. Once clicked there could be several options, like forum, blogs, player community etc. That way ppl would be more aware of the site and forums.

And also have the social site to have a many links leading to the official forums and website.

Dolphin> No way... Wow...

[Avacon]

That would work, but instead of having a direct link from the site, make the user go through to a different page. So off of the home page, instead of forum there would be community. Once clicked there could be several options, like forum, blogs, player community etc. That way ppl would be more aware of the site and forums.

And also have the social site to have a many links leading to the official forums and website.
that could actully work also throw in some banners for posting for the main website and not just the social network that way we can get the main some more activity and also keep more coming in for the social network already have quite abit of folk asking about this game around where i am atm so soon to be more from the state in middle of ocean. also from my connections back on mainland that are helping spread the word about this so more will come. the more we put the word out the more will know and the more will join