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Shutting down forums - Against

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Killashandra
Dec Member 2005

Killashandra

Posts: 1,357 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
JackScape said :


Sorry to burst your bubble bud but the forums are the minority and it's not even close. The metrics are publicly available and precisely what Jagex is basing this decision on. Most of the community is communicating on Reddit, Discord, and Twitter.

This is what's wrong with Jagex. It listens to a minority of people who want to use reddit/X/Discord and ignores a lot of players who don't want to use those media. When you say 'most of the community' you mean the small part of the community that Jagex think are important. It isn't 'most', it's not even a significant minority but you won't believe that because it doesn't fit your world view that everyone is exactly the same as you.

The fact is that the silent majority probably won't use any of those platforms but do come on to the forums when they need help whether that be technical, community, or in-game.

Look how many players complained about removing pvp in the wildy and Jagex put themselves through hoops trying to keep that minority happy. Jagex EVENTUALLY realised that the majority of players didn't want to be jumped and killed in the wildy so they gave us opt outs. This was to the dismay of a minority who wanted to be able to take advantage of other players. It took Jagex a long time to realise because they'd insisted on listening to the loud voices of the pvpers - I assume that they thought 'load' meant 'many' when, in fact, it just meant the whiniest!

In reality, a lot of us use the forums. Sometimes a lot, sometime a little but we all use them. We come here for technical help, we come for penguin hunting, we come to see if anyone else is having problems with a quest or a boss. The loss of the forums will be a loss to the game.

Jagex need to wake up before they lose more players.

13-Jan-2024 20:55:02

JackScape
Dec Member 2023

JackScape

Posts: 1,382 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Killashandra said :
This is what's wrong with Jagex. It listens to a minority of people who want to use reddit/X/Discord and ignores a lot of players who don't want to use those media. When you say 'most of the community' you mean the small part of the community that Jagex think are important.

Allow me to amend for semantics sake; The majority of players who engage with the community outside of the game do so via 3rd party platforms. I'm not trying to claim that a literal majority of all players are actively participating in the community, that would be asinine. Just the same, they're not coming into the RSOF. Not in a majority certainly, and hardly even at all .

Killashandra said :
It isn't 'most', it's not even a significant minority but you won't believe that because it doesn't fit your world view that everyone is exactly the same as you.

This seems like some serious projection.

Killashandra said :
The fact is that the silent majority probably won't use any of those platforms but do come on to the forums when they need help whether that be technical, community, or in-game.

There are 8 users online right now on the RSOF. There are 1.5k users online in the RS3 subreddit 7.3k users online in the OSRS subreddit. The Discord and Twitter engagement both equally eclipse the RSOF. There's genuinely no rational means to argue that the RSOF holds any meaningful relevance in total community engagement. It's a tiny percentage.

Killashandra said :
In reality, a lot of us use the forums. Sometimes a lot, sometime a little but we all use them. We come here for technical help, we come for penguin hunting, we come to see if anyone else is having problems with a quest or a boss.

In reality, a comparative few of us use the forums. Everyone else engages with the community, for those exact same reasons, elsewhere.

13-Jan-2024 21:20:32 - Last edited on 13-Jan-2024 21:38:42 by JackScape

StGerolf
Mar Member 2006

StGerolf

Posts: 358 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Can there be at least some poll? Whenever they think that they grasp the players, they have to come back on there steps.
A lot of us older players will be lost. And when I look how nervous younger people are, I will continue to be older. I am not going to spend time to another forum

13-Jan-2024 22:08:51

A  Cole
Nov Member 2003

A  Cole

Posts: 14,761 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The active user counter on the RSOF has been broken for a long time. That cannot be used as a measure of how many people are actually here.

Jagex started to push players to those other sites many years ago. Jagex are the ones who gave up on the forums, not the community. If Jagex were to give up on external sites and start pushing players back to the RSOF, we would no doubt see more players here than anywhere else.

The way I see it is this. Each of RSOF, X, Discord and Reddit offer different methods of communicating. X is great for short form messages to either get in touch with Jagex, or for Jagex to issue news bulletins. Essentially, Discord is an extension to how we chat in-game. Reddit is a maze of popularity posting and memes, where no real conversation can truly be had. The RSOF offers a place for players to post their thoughts, and those thoughts can exist over time without the fear of them disappearing overnight.

Each has it's pro's and con's. However, it looks to me that whilst you may see quantity off-site, you see the quality here on the RSOF.


~A~

13-Jan-2024 22:18:06

JackScape
Dec Member 2023

JackScape

Posts: 1,382 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
A  Cole said :
The active user counter on the RSOF has been broken for a long time. That cannot be used as a measure of how many people are actually here.

If this is true (very well could be with how archaic the forums are, I was simply unaware), another reliable method of tracking activity is by examining post frequency and volume... Which, upon cursory look, still seem incredibly scarce compared to the 3rd party platforms.

A  Cole said :
Jagex started to push players to those other sites many years ago. Jagex are the ones who gave up on the forums, not the community. If Jagex were to give up on external sites and start pushing players back to the RSOF, we would no doubt see more players here than anywhere else.

Pretty coincidental that virtually all traditional online forums saw massive decline around the same time as the RSOF. The fact of the matter is that social media platforms like Reddit offered a more engaging user experience than the old phpBB-style forums of the 2000's, and so people naturally migrated. You're not getting users back onto the RSOF any more than you're getting them back onto MySpace, short of some revolutionary improvement upon the traditional forum experience.

A  Cole said :
The way I see it is this. [...] Each has it's pro's and con's. However, it looks to me that whilst you may see quantity off-site, you see the quality here on the RSOF.

I don't disagree that each platform has its strengths and weaknesses, or that the RSOF has a certain value to a subset of the community. But at the end of the day, the forums require an amount of upkeep and server expenses that Jagex directly pays for - Expenses that will only compound the older the forums get. Stability and security are ever growing concerns. If the forum usage isn't high enough to justify those expenses, it only makes sense to retire them from a business perspective.

13-Jan-2024 22:47:28 - Last edited on 14-Jan-2024 04:33:29 by JackScape

A  Cole
Nov Member 2003

A  Cole

Posts: 14,761 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
JackScape said :
another reliable method of tracking activity is by examining post frequency and volume... Which, upon cursory look, still seem incredibly scarce compared to the 3rd party platforms. I am having a discussion on another thread regarding this.

Both of us are looking at Discord right now, and we are both seeing that the engagement from an apparent 17k+ online people is nigh on zero. There are a few posts an hour on some of the more active sub sections, but other sections are seeing zero activity. This is almost identical at best, if not worse, than what we see here on RSOF.

Unless I am missing something, the RSOF sees more activity than Discord.

Also, regarding the counter in Discord, it looks to be counting all players who have Discord open who may or may not have the RuneScape Discord open. This could mean there are players who have long quit RS and are on Discord for other games being counted, even though they will never have any input to the conversations on RS Discord.

I admit, as I have elsewhere on these forums, that the forum form has seen a drop in popularity over the past decade, and adapting to the future seems a reasonable step to take. The problem is, the RSOF still serves a function that I don't think these newer forms currently do.

And when all this is said and done, how long will it be before X/Discord/Reddit go the way of MySpace?

I don't doubt we have to move on. After all, the decision has been made. I'm just not convinced the evidence Jagex are using tells the real story.


~A~

13-Jan-2024 23:09:36

john-punkguy
Apr Member 2005

john-punkguy

Posts: 1,606 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
why not just scale back, instead of eliminating all forums?

I agree that other platforms aren't always the best option.

fare thee well other players, you will not see me on Reddit lol.

good fight
This is The Modern Rome Burning. Stand up. Fight back.

13-Jan-2024 23:39:39

Crone924
Sep Member 2006

Crone924

Posts: 300 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
"There are 8 users online right now on the RSOF"

mm hmm.

You don't HAVE to log in to just read, and a lot of people DO that.

Plenty don't log in to engage, because the forums have been left to the devices of a (very) few obnoxious people who, like yourself, seem to think that the way they play, what they like, etc are the only ways to do that and anyone else is S-O-L, and deservedly so. Shouldn't be, in a game that sells itself on charting your own path, play as you wish.

The outcry from the clan people is loud, and rightly so: lots of people use the forums regularly from that player base.

I'm going to miss the D&D threads, where I followed some activities (didn't post, but followed every week) because some great people posted them every week and maintained them. Best community activity in game, IMO--I will miss the hell out of it.

Can't count the number of times I've searched in quest help, or other sections, because I've gotten stuck on something.

I agree with Killashandra re the vocal bubble-griefers who seem to see themselves as the only part of the community that matters. (and in fairness, who can blame them if Jagex caters to them?)

There are lots of people here who will be affected, and they pay their fee just like all the griefers do.

13-Jan-2024 23:50:45

Evel
Jan Member 2006

Evel

Posts: 3,128 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
' 'You don't HAVE to log in to just read, and a lot of people DO that. "" {quote)

total agree , if you look at ages of players posting most have been using forums for years.

We read first and don't have the desire to log in and comment on everything we see.

maybe adding a " like button" would show how many still use the forums.

the D & D section is very helpful.
*Chrstmas Eve*
:)
~Evel~

14-Jan-2024 03:09:35

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