A few suggestions for making GTM more Robotics oriented

[Jamin]

Badnik96 and I had been chatting in Steam for a while about coming up with ways to help to elongate the life span of Gametechmods, the online Robot Combat communities, and specifically the RA2 fanbase for a while.  Honestly, GTM seems to be the main place were most of the US robot combat fans, as well as many from all around the world, flock to, and we think that this place needs to be more popular and oriented around that if it is going to stay a stable and popular community. So here are some (major) ideas we brainstormed to help make this place be more friendlier and "on topic."

1. We need more focus on the Robot Combat fanfic. Some of you might not be too interested in it, but it has always been a cool and popular concept, and unfortunately in the last two years or so it has really begun to die off. We think that, to prevent the inevitable death of it, we need:

>An entire board section dedicated to it
>A board for fanfic tournaments
>And a board for showcasing fanfic robot concepts, renders, etc.

With more board focus on it rather than a subforum in the "games board" (I mean really, why did it even get moved there in the first place?)

2. Less off topic boards. Do we really need a politics, off topic, playground, and chatterbox? I do not see the point in that many boards when we could just compress it all into a single "Chatterbox" and make it public towards all members instead of this usergroup BS. and why do we need a "Games" board AND a Game dev board? Hardly either of those are populated enough as is, we might as well just make them a single board.

3. A "Hobbies" board. Instead of having so many off topic boards (Automotive, etc) Couldn't we just get a single board with numerous different subforums for our interests, such as art, automotive, music, sports, etc?  It would keep things much less "cluttered" as it is.

4. For the real robotics section, it would be nice to see a "Competitions" board to discuss up and coming IRL tournaments, who is going to be there, etc. That could also help stir up more interest in the real life stuff.

Granted, this is purely the opinion of two peasants, so don't take this as any kind of serious idea on how things should be done here.

[ACAMS]

TL;DR

[090901]

>A board for fanfic tournaments

https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/board,79.0.html

[Naryar]

we have already enough fanfiction sh** boards over these forums.

[Resetti's Replicas]

In a last ditch to save this from getting completely shot down, How's about a section for replicas/realistic?  I've introduced several people to this forum with my replicas, and not everyone wants to dive right in to building those ugly-ass bots that win tournaments (no offense).

[Jamin]

>A board for fanfic tournaments

https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/board,79.0.html

I know that we already have a board for it, but I think that it needs more attention. It seems like the people who ran ARC are done with that so someone needs to keep it going I think.

In a last ditch to save this from getting completely shot down, How's about a section for replicas/realistic?  I've introduced several people to this forum with my replicas, and not everyone wants to dive right in to building those ugly-ass bots that win tournaments (no offense).

I totally support this.

[Mr. AS]

i think getting rid of some of the off topic boards (ie the actual board named off topic) and merging those threads with chatterbox would be best

those ugly-ass bots that win tournaments (no offense).

seism 13 wasnt ugly :<

[Noodle]

1. We need more focus on the Robot Combat fanfic. Some of you might not be too interested in it, but it has always been a cool and popular concept, and unfortunately in the last two years or so it has really begun to die off. We think that, to prevent the inevitable death of it, we need:

>An entire board section dedicated to it
>A board for fanfic tournaments
>And a board for showcasing fanfic robot concepts, renders, etc.

With more board focus on it rather than a subforum in the "games board" (I mean really, why did it even get moved there in the first place?)

We don't need fanfics, they're a waste of time.  The last thing a forum with a shortage of contributing members needs is droves of fanfic'ers who are only interested in playing D&D: Battlebots Edition.  I've seen it happen on several forums, including this one (*cough* *cough* story time).

2. Less off topic boards. Do we really need a politics, off topic, playground, and chatterbox? I do not see the point in that many boards when we could just compress it all into a single "Chatterbox" and make it public towards all members instead of this usergroup BS. and why do we need a "Games" board AND a Game dev board? Hardly either of those are populated enough as is, we might as well just make them a single board.

We don't need less, we just need to organize them better.

3. A "Hobbies" board. Instead of having so many off topic boards (Automotive, etc) Couldn't we just get a single board with numerous different subforums for our interests, such as art, automotive, music, sports, etc?  It would keep things much less "cluttered" as it is.

You're complaining about it being cluttered?  Let's say all these topics are combined into one - just try and find the GTA:IV thread when it has to compete with "Rate one, post one", "Hay guys I'm watching football", and all the other combined content from the other boards (and it would only get worse if we somehow ended up with more members).

4. For the real robotics section, it would be nice to see a "Competitions" board to discuss up and coming IRL tournaments, who is going to be there, etc. That could also help stir up more interest in the real life stuff.

The real robotics section in general needs reorganization.



And now I present to you some counter-proposals.  Some of these address things sparkey addressed, some of them address other things:

1> Reorganize the general boards
Currently we have the Chatterbox, Playground, Politics and a separate Off-Topic board.  It's a mess.  Firstly, we have two boards for general, off topic discussion.  Why?  There's nothing all that racy in the chatterbox.  Secondly, the playground is a mess.  Nobody is sure whether its purpose is for forum games or random crap.  Here's what needs to be done:

• Get rid of off-topic.
• Rename the entire section to "General Discussion" or something of that nature.  Junkyard just doesn't sound good.
• Add rules to the playground; turn it into the "Forum Games" section.
• Un-hide everything from the general members.
• Add a new board - "The Crackhouse" (or whatever you think it ought to be named).  This board's only purpose is to have ridiculous, off-topic threads like the ones in the playground right now.  The board's only rules are not to post anything illegal or anything that compromises the well being of the forum in general.
• Make the proposed "Crackhouse" board hidden to users who aren't in a special usergroup (like the entire junkyard is right now).
  

2> Amend foul language rule
This is the internet - we make jokes about 9/11, post pictures of mutilated accident victims, and watch videos where pornstars eat feces.  Bad language colloquial language here.  This isn't Nick Jr's website - this is (or it ought to be) a website for people mature enough to handle the f-bomb.  The only rule there should be regarding foul language is when someone uses it to flame or harass another user.

But if you really care if Billy's mom says he can't visit the website because we say words that make Jesus a sad panda, then do the following:

• Have a word filter (kinda like the one we have now) that censors curse words.  It is on by default, but members can chose to turn it off.
• Make a rule stating that users can't circumvent the censor on purpose (if someone wants to drop the f-bomb, they gotta spell it out as it should be so the filter can censor it)
• Bad language cannot be used to flame or harass another user, as I sated before
• If the last two rules haven't been broken, DON'T WARN SOMEONE FOR USING LANGUAGE (no really, I'm getting sick of this).

*Also, censor racist words and treat them as regular curse words.

3> Reorganize hobby boards.
I don't really need to go into detail with this - they're a mess.  Do this for massive damage:

• Get rid of "Off Topic" (see proposal 1)
• Rename the entire section to "Hobbies"
• Make "Software & Computers" a board.  It would be for general computer discussion.
• Combine all the discussions from "Computer & OS" and "Software" into the new "Sofware & Computers" board.
• Keep the "CAD Showcase" sub-board, but rename it to "Digital Showcase"; it will cover any digital works (sorta like it does now).
• Rename "Games" to "Video Games" in order to make its purpose more clear.
• Move the "Fantasy Robot Battles" board to a sub board under the proposed "Forum Games" section.
• Combine all the discussions under "Game Development" and make it a sub-board of "Video Games"

I may add more later, but I have homework I really need to do.

[Jamin]

We don't need fanfics, they're a waste of time.

"I don't like them, therefore no one else should be allowed to like them." Nobody said that you had to enjoy it, but there is still a lot of members here who do you know, I don't see what's the big deal about dedicating a small part of the forum to it for those who do. Especially because its, for the most part, on topic with the theme of the forum. But I do agree that it should be make a sub forum in the forum games section.

[HurricaneAndrew]

We don't need fanfics, they're a waste of time.

"I don't like them, therefore no one else should be allowed to like them." Nobody said that you had to enjoy it, but there is still a lot of members here who do you know, I don't see what's the big deal about dedicating a small part of the forum to it for those who do. Especially because its, for the most part, on topic with the theme of the forum. But I do agree that it should be make a sub forum in the forum games section.

Because the forum was almost taken over by RP fags once already. We saved it and now you propose we give them another chance to take over. That's like telling Al Queda "We know you flew planes into our World Trade Towers, but we're gonna rebuild them without changing any of the security issues that led to it. Feel free to do it again."

[Jamin]

We don't need fanfics, they're a waste of time.

"I don't like them, therefore no one else should be allowed to like them." Nobody said that you had to enjoy it, but there is still a lot of members here who do you know, I don't see what's the big deal about dedicating a small part of the forum to it for those who do. Especially because its, for the most part, on topic with the theme of the forum. But I do agree that it should be make a sub forum in the forum games section.

Because the forum was almost taken over by RP fags once already. We saved it and now you propose we give them another chance to take over. That's like telling Al Queda "We know you flew planes into our World Trade Towers, but we're gonna rebuild them without changing any of the security issues that led to it. Feel free to do it again."

I don't get what is so wrong about having Robot Combat fanfic though. As far as my history knowledge goes, it has always been partnered with RA2, even since the early days, mostly because of communities like ARC and RFSHQ and what not, I don't see why we should just cut it off. It's not the same as "Hurr durr dragonz and casuls" fantasy garbage, its based around what we all came here for and I think it belongs for those who want it. There are all kinds of other forums for story time esque bs, but the CFL stuff is starting to fall apart and someone needs to keep it alive for those who love it.

 Also, unless my memory is skewed GTM has always had the fanfic robot combat board since it launched as well

[cephalopod]

If Noodle's suggestions were put into place, I'd be a happy Craaig.

[Naryar]

Yeah I agree with most of noodle's suggestions as well.

[Jonzu95]

I just noticed that the chatterbox was moved, and some other sections were moved. This looks much better now, Great Job.

[Conraaa]

Where the did my thread on steak go

Looks much better now

[cephalopod]

I like the changes, however may I still request a 'Forum Games' section (not Fantasy Battles or whatever it is) for stuff like https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,10040.0.html, https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,10821.0.html, https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,9244.225.html and also https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,9962.0.html (although it also fits where it is).

Thanks for the effort, 'CAMS (:

[Noodle]

My suggestions weren't ignored?!?

[Resetti's Replicas]

We don't need fanfics, they're a waste of time.

"I don't like them, therefore no one else should be allowed to like them." Nobody said that you had to enjoy it, but there is still a lot of members here who do you know, I don't see what's the big deal about dedicating a small part of the forum to it for those who do. Especially because its, for the most part, on topic with the theme of the forum. But I do agree that it should be make a sub forum in the forum games section.

Because the forum was almost taken over by RP fags once already. We saved it and now you propose we give them another chance to take over. That's like telling Al Queda "We know you flew planes into our World Trade Towers, but we're gonna rebuild them without changing any of the security issues that led to it. Feel free to do it again."

That's a bit melodramatic isn't it?  It was one thread in the playground where it belonged, not really my definition of a hostile takeover.  In my view the people who create a million threads at once are doing more damage because it actually makes the other threads impossible to find.

[ACAMS]

My suggestions weren't ignored?!?

Some were .... foul language is STILL not allowed!

Filtered words are still foul!

[HurricaneAndrew]

My suggestions weren't ignored?!?

Some were .... foul language is STILL not allowed!

Filtered words are still foul!

Well, son of a bitch...