RuneScape Forum Archive | Simplify the Forums

Sep

2011

Loki

Posts: 65,226 Emerald Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

This isn't the first time this has been raised, but I thought I'd still make a new thread on it. Consolidating the forums to make it simpler/more inviting rather than overwhelming. The main reason people like Reddit is because it's a single page with everything. I personally hate this, but the forums are too complicated *for new people*. I personally think the forums need to be trimmed down. Here is what I think it should look like - opinions? What do you think?

There's currently 49 public subforums that everyone can access - this is way too many.

Not sure whether possible on these forum boards, but Reddit has the option to tag specific posts with a flair (stating whether it's a ninja request, mtx post, game content, etc), with the ability to toggle which you want to see. A similar feature for the forums would be nice.

The important sections to have/maintain:

Community Home

- as it, but also include news discussion, patch notes

General

- as is, for everything.

Off Topic

- as is.

Community Support

- combine the 3 subforums together.

RuneScape 3 Section:

RuneScape Updates & Content

- merge Recent Game Updates, Future Game Updates, Existing Game Content, Game Content Suggestions, Treasure Hunter, Solomon's General Store

RuneScape Guides, Help & Teamwork

- merge RuneScape Guides and Help, Teamwork and Pvp, Minigames and D&Ds

RuneScape 3 Clans

- All clan info in a single subforum, rather than separated into 8 sections, similar to what OSRS has.

RuneScape Marketplace

- Combine all 4 sections together.

OSRS Section:

They have a really good, consolidated section already, so I wouldn't change anything about it, except combining the 3 OSRS marketplace forums together.

• »‡« •
Adam
• »‡« •

Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.

23-Apr-2022 12:03:38 - Last edited on 23-Apr-2022 12:04:09 by Loki

Sep

2008

Iceberg

Posts: 20,587 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

I have to agree that the number of subforums is, imo, too high for how much usage the forums sees. The RuneScape Discord sees a far greater number of posts with even fewer channels.

For info: there are 37 public text channels on the RuneScape Discord - of those 5 are temporary channels and 15 channels can't be spoken in and are for information only (2 of the temporary channels cannot be spoken in). On any given day there can be between 4,000 - 7,000 messages sent publicly on the RuneScape Discord - the forums see less than half of that in posts across the board. I get that Discord and the forums are not one and the same, though one could argue the instant messaging aspect warrants a higher volume of channels compared to the likes of a forum.

I wouldn't perhaps be that harsh in cutting down the number of subforums, though I'd be curious to see how a layout that small would play out.

… .

_|¯¯¯|_

… …

( '

v

' )

.……
I

C

E

B

E

R

G

>--

(

…

:

…

)

--<

23-Apr-2022 17:04:33

Seasons Past

Posts: 555 Steel Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Hey, these sound like great suggestions. I definitely would like to see the forums regain some of their former prominence.

I agree that the main issue is accessibility, and I feel that your suggestions address that. My only concern would be Treasure Hunter and Solomon’s General Store being included with the rest of the RuneScape Updates & Content section. I suspect that a significant number of players, myself included, who would otherwise be interested in that section of the Forums might be turned off by posts about TH and SGS.

My reasoning is that players who are primarily interested in story-, combat-, or skilling-related gameplay, for example, might not be the same audience as those who follow the other, somewhat controversial topics (although there is probably quite a bit of overlap). For this reason, it may be wise to have these categories separated (i.e. posts about Treasure Hunter, Solomon’s General Store, etc. being in their own forum).

You might have already thought of this, but another advantage of consolidation is that it could potentially make moderation a lot easier.

The only other thing I can think of is giving the Forums their own tab on the main page of the RuneScape website again rather than leaving them on a dropdown menu from the Community tab. The aim would be to increase visibility and reduce the number of taps or clicks, which I imagine would encourage more (and especially, new) players to at least check out the Forums. Spirit of Forinthry ~ Runecrafting: Magic Armour ~ F2P Extensions ~ Dragon Slayer improvements ~ New Player Experience

24-Apr-2022 23:28:54