27 réponses à ce sujet

[Pstemarie]

Anyone seen THIS thread?

 

I can't help but wonder if/when it will be decided that this section of the boards will need to be "trimmed" and just what it'll look like after said "trimming." The changes announced in the above thread seem to affect the DA:I section most (their community complained loudest), but that's not what concerns me most about what happened. From reading that thread, it sounds like the changes were announced then - BOOM - the changes occurred. No one had time to react or preserve information. If BioWare is willing to act so quick there, I have little doubt they would act the same way here - should they decide to change things.

 

Maybe its time to port the NWN Community fully over to the New Vault or GOG. Its not like NWN is even supported by BioWare anymore and at the rate they are consolidating forum space, it's only a matter of time before all the separate "legacy game" forums get consolidated into one forum named "Legacy Games" as opposed to the several sub-forums we have now.

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

Based on the way such decisions are handled, if you have any concerns, it would be best to start any preparations sooner rather than later, and have them ready in case the need for them is suddenly accelerated.

[Gruftlord]

Lets be honest: Aside from the general section and the custom content section, there is not much activity left on the nwn forums.
A merge with the nwn2 community (that's what the linked threads talk about: Reduction of subforums and merging of legacy game franchises) and a reduction to ~ 5 subforums will not kill this community. The main question is: Will all the old threads and guides by preserved, and will all the links still work correctl?

[Zwerkules]

To be honest I always thought that the NWN forums have too many sub-forums. Why is there a forum for the OC and each expansion? And the guild forum is hardly used at all.

As long as no posts are lost I wouldn't mind if the sub-forums with less than 500 topics would be joined with other sub-forums.

[werelynx]

How do we go about preserving it? Anything like NWN Omnibus? Or wayback machine?

[Pstemarie]

Lets be honest: Aside from the general section and the custom content section, there is not much activity left on the nwn forums.
A merge with the nwn2 community (that's what the linked threads talk about: Reduction of subforums and merging of legacy game franchises) and a reduction to ~ 5 subforums will not kill this community. The main question is: Will all the old threads and guides by preserved, and will all the links still work correctl?

 

Not worried about it killing the Community, but there is a ton of stuff posted here that would become a real pita if it suddenly vanished.

[Elhanan]

Not worried about it killing the Community, but there is a ton of stuff posted here that would become a real pita if it suddenly vanished.

The OT was re-opened, so info there is still available. And if they did not lock that larger section, am hopeful that this one would remain open, too.

[Grani]

I'm for migrating totally to the NWVault. I'm actually not that active on its forums at the moment, but that's mainly because this forums is more popular.

I don't think we should move to the GOG forums, though. Don't get me wrong, I love GOG, and their forums are a very good way of helping new NWN players along the way, but out activity should not be focused there. If we get the chance to move to the website developed exclusively for the game, and not to a subforum once again, I think we should grab it.

 

This way the forums would be exclusively in the hands of the community, so no worries about BioWare or GOG introducing any potentially destructive changes.

 

The thing is, it could be problematic to make everyone suddenly migrate to NWVault. A pinned thread here on BSN with information on this matter could help, perhaps? This would make the migration more official in a way.

[Shadooow]

I think merging nwn1 and nwn2 into one forum would make sense as long as they keep separate sections ie NWN1 CC and NWN2 CC, all official campaigns can be all summed together into one section too. It wouldnt be so bad really.

 

For me there is still not viable alternative, NWVault forums are just bad.... sorry but vault is after all that time still quite badly designed and forums arent exception.

[MrZork]

There are plenty of issues with the Bioware forums, from the software limitations to the worry that at some point Bioware or its parent will herd the legacy forums onto an ice floe and turn them adrift.

 

And, there are lots of gaming community forums that have done quite well even after the venues provided by the game's developer evaporated. I don't even recall how long ago Irrational Games shut down it's Freedom Force forums (and sort of resurrected them a few years later, though last time I checked they were very quiet), but the main community-supported site, Freedom Reborn, has been around for well over a decade. And, that was for a game that never had the widespread success that NWN has had.

 

But, there is no getting away from the fact that people buying the game from GOG or whatever are likely to look for an "official" forum before they look for one elsewhere. To most new players, for better or worse, that means either the GOG forums or the Bioware forums.

[Pstemarie]

That's a good point about newcomers looking for an "official" forum rather than one that is community owned, Mr. Zork. However, and this is assuming the worst case scenario, what would a newcomer think if they bought the game on GOG or Impulse then came to the Bioware forums and found nothing but empty space? How many would just amble along their way, never knowing the depth that NWN has thanks to the Community? With such a scenario in mind, that would kind of leave the GOG forums to be the most likely candidate for a migration - should BioWare (or EA) ever terminate these forums here.

 

Perhaps the best defense to such a scenario ever occurring is to push the word of our existence to anyone that will listen. Go to GOG, the Nexus, and whatever other sites are out there, post on their forums that these forums still exist as the "official" conduit for the game and those who still play and mod it. Let them know that we still have a Community that is VERY much ALIVE and GOING!

[Lilura]

I might start using the NWVault forums if these ones kick the bucket because the Gog ones have an insecure, trollish, anti-community vibe to them.

 

neverwintervault.org surprised me with the bizarre layout, though; I find it difficult to navigate. Also, the Hall of Fame link is tiny and shouldn't be relegated to the left sidebar, but rather above the main page as a large banner, for prominence. Anyway, I digress. I'm extremely grateful for NWVault, so thank you to those who organized it!

[Grani]

But, there is no getting away from the fact that people buying the game from GOG or whatever are likely to look for an "official" forum before they look for one elsewhere. To most new players, for better or worse, that means either the GOG forums or the Bioware forums.

 

With such a scenario in mind, that would kind of leave the GOG forums to be the most likely candidate for a migration - should BioWare (or EA) ever terminate these forums here.

 

That's why, I think, a sticky thread on the BSN informing about the community forum would help greatly.

 

 

I might start using the NWVault forums if these ones kick the bucket because the Gog ones have an insecure, trollish, anti-community vibe to them.

 

This! Plus, it would be a migration from one forum in the hands of one company to the other forum in the hand of another company. I realize, as it stands now, GOG is unlikely to perish or make a mess in the forum and subforum section, but I think focusing our community efforts on the forums exclusively developed for the game and exclusively in the hands of the community is a safer bet. It would give us much greater control over the forums. If we want to make a subsection for something specific, we can do this. GOG NWN subforums is currently an unorganized bunch of threads of all sorts. I think this is very bad for a game with community divided into so many types of members: players, builders, scripters, content makers... Regular players might not be interested in the slightest in posted scripting questions and other stuff like this. It would be very inconvenient for such community members to have to browse through many threads that are of no interest to them as players.

 

So, to sum up, my reasons for NOT wanting to migrate to GOG are as follows:

1) trollish community, as Lilura put it (here I'd like to send my regards to Hick0ry )
2) having the forums in the hands of someone else and not the community
3) no subforums, just a bunch of threads hardly related to each other - which is very bad for folk like players who are not interested in scripting, module building and content making

 

Migrating over to GOG forums would be a step backward.

[Pstemarie]

That's why, I think, a sticky thread on the BSN informing about the community forum would help greatly.

 

 

 

This! Plus, it would be a migration from one forum in the hands of one company to the other forum in the hand of another company. I realize, as it stands now, GOG is unlikely to perish or make a mess in the forum and subforum section, but I think focusing our community efforts on the forums exclusively developed for the game and exclusively in the hands of the community is a safer bet. It would give us much greater control over the forums. If we want to make a subsection for something specific, we can do this. GOG NWN subforums is currently an unorganized bunch of threads of all sorts. I think this is very bad for a game with community divided into so many types of members: players, builders, scripters, content makers... Regular players might not be interested in the slightest in posted scripting questions and other stuff like this. It would be very inconvenient for such community members to have to browse through many threads that are of no interest to them as players.

 

So, to sum up, my reasons for NOT wanting to migrate to GOG are as follows:

1) trollish community, as Lilura put it (here I'd like to send my regards to Hick0ry )
2) having the forums in the hands of someone else and not the community
3) no subforums, just a bunch of threads hardly related to each other - which is very bad for folk like players who are not interested in scripting, module building and content making

 

Haven't been on the GOG forums in ages but, having visited them a bit last night and again this morning, I see what you mean by an unfriendly and trollish environment. I'll have to check out the Vault forums more then - I know the setup for Q's forums over there doesn't look too bad.

[Proleric]

How difficult would it be to archive BSN periodically on NWN Omnibus? That's perhaps the easiest way for serious users to find historical content.

 

I reluctantly agree with the notion that as long as there is an "official" site, newcomers will start here.

 

A regular archive would mitigate the risk of sudden closure.

[Zwerkules]

1) trollish community, as Lilura put it (here I'd like to send my regards to Hick0ry )

I was wondering if you'd mention him.

[werelynx]

This! Plus, it would be a migration from one forum in the hands of one company to the other forum in the hand of another company. I realize, as it stands now, GOG is unlikely to perish or make a mess in the forum and subforum section, but I think focusing our community efforts on the forums exclusively developed for the game and exclusively in the hands of the community is a safer bet. It would give us much greater control over the forums. If we want to make a subsection for something specific, we can do this.

 

GOG NWN subforums is currently an unorganized bunch of threads of all sorts. (..)

and yet you might not remember it but NWN1 forums on gog used to be separate from NWN2, which is not the case nowadays. I think such bundling is bound to create more problems

 

 

 

neverwintervault.org surprised me with the bizarre layout, though; I find it difficult to navigate. Also, the Hall of Fame link is tiny and shouldn't be relegated to the left sidebar, but rather above the main page as a large banner, for prominence. Anyway, I digress. I'm extremely grateful for NWVault, so thank you to those who organized it!

SOMEONE would have to do that. With only Rolo and Akinlat knowing Drupal(vault technology/scripting) and helping on and off (lately more off, but RL is more important) it is hard to change it to better. Just saying.

But I'm only a cat, what do I know.

[Grani]

Well, the Vault might not be the ultimate creation, but it's not bad. I'm more than willing to make up with its clumsiness if the only alternative is the GOG forums. Besides, its clumsiness can be worked on and fixed, whereas migrating to GOG would more than likely be permanent.

[werelynx]

As to forum structure on the vault - I can change that if anyone suggest better (and hopefully gains some support from others).

I can't (personally) change those hardcoded drupal stuff.

[Grani]

The greatest issue about migrating is that the community needs to somewhat fully agree on this. It simply won't work if only two thirds are for leaving BSN. That's why maybe we should post a poll with several options: 

-let's stay on BSN

-let's migrate to GOG

-let's migrate to the Vault

-no opinion (just so we know how many people are fine with all sites)

 

Then we'd need to decide on the threshold needed for the migration to be "approved" and give the poll some time, a month maybe?

 

If we manage to get that far, I think the rest would be easy.

[werelynx]

I think it is more on deciding where the emergency exit is and what valuables we should carry in case of fire.

No sense in leaving house that is yet to have caught fire, even if the wiring starts to become faulty.

[Grani]

I think it is more on deciding where the emergency exit is and what valuables we should carry in case of fire.

No sense in leaving house that is yet to have caught fire, even if the wiring starts to become faulty.

 

This is true. Look, however, what BioWare did with the offtopic section. They simply shut it down on whim with no prior announcements. I think the analogy to a house fire might not be accurate. It's rather a sudden explosion we're talking about here that is a threat.

 

Obviously there's no need to move this very second, but I think a poll could be posted already. So that, as you said, we know where the emergency exit is.

[MrZork]

It seems like among the prominent reasons Bioware for shutting down or combining some of those boards was that 1) little of the discussion there was related to Bioware games and 2) so much board activity was causing server issues. It seems like neither of those is really much of a problem for the NWN boards. That doesn't mean Bioware won't pull the plug on them some day, but they aren't as likely to be targets for this current round of housekeeping.
 
(And, before anyone goes there: Nothing I have said is a comment on the validity or wisdom of Bioware's reasons. And, there may be other reasons - there is no way I was going to read a 100 page thread full of spleen venting on this topic.)

 

Anyway, though I hope these forums are around for some time to come, there is nothing wrong with having a backup plan.

[werelynx]

They have pulled plug twice times already, only one time being decent enough to save topics..

[icywind1980]

I'm all for migrating to the vault forum, except sometimes it is a little confusing to navigate. I prefer seeing posts in chronological order, not replies in quote trees under each other. It's really easy to miss something that way- especially since the ''new post'' text is a light orange and it's not always easy to see on a white background. I know I can change the color, but there is a lot of projects missing from the vault that way.