Is this community dying?

[John DiFool the 2nd]

I remember the old SC1 community we had-pretty much

the same faces, but that stayed active for 3-4 years

after the original game was released. Even if it

was nothing other than smacktalk half the time...

Here, not even one year after the release of SC2, and

the traffic has died to almost nothing. You rarely

read AARs anymore, nobody is bouncing around ideas,

the longest recent threads got wildly off-topic. Is

everyone waiting around for the next patch, or the

first "definitive" mod? Where did Kuni go? [Note

he took his quasi-finished Eastern Front scenario

with him] Have we talked all game issues to death

now? Or have we simply moved on to other things.

[Guest Mike]

for me SC2 lacked depth as a wargame - same problems with SC1 - it is too abstract, the balance is wrong, it emphasises the wrong things.

now don't get me wrong - it's a fine game, nd I enjoyed playing it, but I enjoy playing Civ too, and various other combat-related games that I wouldn't class as "real" wargames (a matter of opinion I know).

I now prefer to play Op Art of War WW2 scenarios for my War in Europe fixes.

[Retributar]

I usually only comment, when im interested in the topic, otherwise i have nothing to say.

[SeaMonkey]

JDF2, come on, you've been here a long time. You know much of what is said has been expanded on to the nth degree.

So many times I pop in here and see new members/players reiterating the same ole things, that I hesitate to comment. Let the new guys run with it for awhile, they'll hit on something new eventually.

For me the game is still new, I'm learning the ropes and exploring the balance. Have yet to even touch upon the editor and I figure its much the same for alot of us.

Life has its demands, games are not high priority.

[BioWizard]

Well, I don't have 1000 posts and did not post during the SC1 era. Nevertheless, I think most of the changes we saw from the updates comes from Hubert reading our posts. Also, once a thing is said (like this HQ should have a higher rating then this other one, rockets sucks, I hate diplomacy and others) it is said and conflicting opinions on those subjects leaves us to status quo till a new inovative idea is brought forward. I think, for my part, that i should post only when i have such ideas and that ideas vaguely regarding SC2, altough bringing more posts in the forum, does not help the common user reading this forum trying to learn how to better his playing SC2.

p.s. Total SC1 posts: 55963

p.p.s. Total SC2 posts: 32514 and counting... not bad for less then a year!

[jon_j_rambo]

I'll tell you what happenend! The competitive spirit was taken away from the board. We used to be able to post fun stuff, but not now, the "not fun" crowd rules the house. Example: I bring up a couple new war movies in a latest thread, and some idiot wants to place the thread in eternal banishment. There's more to a game, that makes a Forum. Threads are made up by people, that simple. It's about fun. This little world is just a reflection of society, bunch of skirts. My spirit was quenched long ago. There are too many whiners about the game. It's not historical, it's not like this, it's not like that. I used to be able to "call people out" threads, those were quenched. Face it, to many pricks over posting rules. You take away free speech, you take away the Gospel, you taken away smacktalk, you take away the competitive people...then what do you have? Bunch of old farts crying about the A.I. because they have no online friends.

"That's the way it is" --- Walter Cronkite.

-Legend

[jon_j_rambo]

Also: Yodl has taken his followers to PanzerLiga. The Buntas prefer their own little world, because deep down inside, they love to kick ass. I'm not fooled by their European correctness. These dudes do not like nor understand the tight attitudes. Remember, their grandpas were at Stalingrad, & have respect for true Buntas, not the Bunta wannabee worshippers from the USA.

Too many Icons are currently MIA: Kuni must have gotten a real job. Sir Jersey got tired of the strict adminstration. ZappSweden died after he broke-up with Yodl.

As for myself, I can only get dial-up, not able to play TCP/IP unless I'm off to the relatives house or a coffee shop, LOL I drove down to a neighborhood once, was playing in the street in front of this dude's house, that was funny.

-Legend

[mpacc]

Im still here I dont talk I dont play but I come here cause of the people....and I have too much beer to drink to worry.

[TaoJah]

It's like the second poster said : all is said about the strong points and about the weak points, we're just waiting for updates !

[well-dressed gentleman]

Bring in some trolls. That always livens things up. Call someone a nazi. Insult the U.S.A., U.K. or G.D.R. Bring up another cheating scanadal.

[J P Wagner]

I think the game is more suited for multiplayer where people like jrr, terif & co. excel at, so they keep the board moving along, but those who play basically AI only, are either finished playing around with it, or simply have nothing new to say. As for me, I have more fun fooling around with the editor than actually playing the game.

[hellraiser]

Sadly, JJR's first post in this thread is so true ...

Maybe once 1.05 comes out, we can organize a little tourney?

[jon_j_rambo]

The only thing that can save this Forum now, would be a hot chick to host the AARs. I nominate CNBC's Mario Bartiromo !!! Remember when this hottie used to do "Squawk on the Street" & "Morning Call"?

[ October 02, 2006, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: jon_j_rambo ]

[Yogi]

Originally posted by jon_j_rambo:

The only thing that can save this Forum now, would be a hot chick to host the AARs. I nominate CNBC's Mario Bartiromo !!! Remember when this hottie used to do "Squawk on the Street" & "Morning Call"?

I'm sure some queer bait will object to this suggestion.

No, the lesbians are just fine with it rambo.

But wouldn't CNBC be a little liberal for you?

[jon_j_rambo]

@Yogi --- Hi Coward, looks like your back. StockWatch is about cash, kid. So your bleeding heart hench-vites news maggots can't ruffle the Yankee Primadonna. Stup, it's simple, I don't get my information from the socialist rejectors channel. Don't even mix or lump classy gal like Maria with soddomites. I saw Maria again at a convention recently. All is well. I'm trying to arrange us to play on the same golf team for a medical research fundraiser.

[Yogi]

Originally posted by jon_j_rambo:

I saw Maria again at a convention recently. All is well. I'm trying to arrange us to play on the same golf team for a medical research fundraiser.

Good luck and raise lots of money at the fundraiser. Personally I'd have a hard time concentrating on my golf swing though.

[Baron]

I may be alone on this but I find it hard to find TCP/IP or PBEM people to play. Due to the international community this game has the time zone issue is a real problem. I signed up for Panzer Liga but I've been gaming in several clubs for years and I'm not going to waste my time on 2 training games to be able to compete on the ladder there.

I for one take issue with the "smack talk" crowd. I'm not for censoring their post but that kind of talk is not going to endear them to newer players. You can call me old school or a whiner but I like what Teddy Roosevelt said "walk softly and carry a big stick", let you accomplishments speak for you not your voice. I for one have never met anybody who told me how great they were that I cared about. I'm a beer and pretzel type gamer. I enjoy the playing of a game and the meeting of new players more than I care about winning. That’s probably why I'm one of the worst players on the forum. I don't use "cookie cutter" moves the get a certain result. I like trying new things, many who have played me will attest to my unconventional moves and poor win/loss record.

I also like the editor but finding an opponent who is willing to play your modified game is also a handicap. Everyone has their own opinions and that’s why so many of the discussions here on the forum get so nasty. Not everybody likes it when someone says they are wrong or don't agree with somebody else’s view. It is possible to disagree with a person and not resort to name calling.

So in summery In my opinion I think a rather "hostile" attitude towards newbie’s and the challenge of finding opponents are the biggest factors holding up this game.

[Pfeiffer]

@baron:

if you want to play a pbem-game, please send me your first turn (thdienberg@gmx.de)

[JerseyJohn]

JDF2

Brothers Rambo and SeaMonkey said most of it and JPWagner said the rest. At least from my view.

There's a finite amount I had to say about WWII in Europe and I said most of it at least twice since 02, there isn't much need to keep stating things over and over, especially as this is a very knowledgable history crowd.

I don't thing the moderators are strict so much as the memberships views have become too narrow. It doesn't seem to have the room anymore for people like disorder, kuniworth, Immer Etwas/Desert Dave, General Billote and myself. You can't joke around without someone popping in and saying the thing is off topic or defacing the place blah-blah-blah and the admins ought to put a lock on it.

So mainly I post at two sites of my own and a few others where I feel comfortable. Not only has there never been a lock put up at any of them, but there's also never been anyone saying a thread is off-topic. As we've only got limited time each day for online activities, I spend mine at the places where I get the greatest enjoyment. A few years ago BF/SC had a regular membership who could put up photos of hackneyed UFOs and ask if they were Jets L-6? Things were more amusing and there wasn't all this pseudo technical talk like everyone is constantly at the drawing board.

Anyway, I don't think the community is dead, or even dying. There are new people, or old members who never posted much before, and they're keeping it alive. When Kuni comes back with his flying dragons and DD with his baseball talk and verse, I'll be back more often too. Meanwhile, as JPWagner said, some of us mainly play the AI, if we play at all, so we're not as drawn to the constant game talk as the hardcore wargamers. The great thing about this site is there's room for both extremes.

[jon_j_rambo]

@Sir Jersey --- In agreement. We've all sort of gone our own way. Posting images & jokes was fun, but now.....somebody will accuse you of witchcraft & cry to MadMoon.

[Iron Ranger]

All true above to some degree, but the bottom line seams thier is little PLAYING of SC2 going on. This forum is about this game, if the game is being played alot we will see the site active (minus a huge % of people are over on Piza Lg).

Many say the AI is just too weak for them, too easy. Others dont like the PvP aspect of gaming. Between these two groups you see little in AAR or game tactic development. No development of the game as players; so little in the way of an active forum.

And as JJ said, many of us from SC1 are just burned out of resaying the same thing. No one likes to repeat themselfs. Many good threads have been started and finished, no need to rehash them again.

[Desert Dave]

It doesn't seem to have the room anymore for people like disorder, kuniworth, Immer Etwas/Desert Dave, General Billote and myself. You can't joke around without someone popping in and saying the thing is off topic or defacing the place blah-blah-blah and the admins ought to put a lock on it.

LOL, JJ!

Don't know about them others, hope

They'll stick their wrong-wired wicket IN

Now and again.

And hey!

BTW!

Where in dickens you been?

Out on boardwalk?

Be strolling the day away?

Commenting to some startled!! passer-by:

"That Atlantic Ocean!

She sure was something!

Back in the day... you know?

Tell me

That, anyway, you DO know!"

Yeah,

Hotel SC California

Is a lot like that there

Overlook Hotel

Out in Rocky Mountain Colorado, where

Nicholson vamped & grimaced,

Scowled and howled - here's Johnny!

All over the place!

You gotta pony up some special sort

Of entry fee - uh huh, jeepers,

Last I heard it was... the gold fillings

Robbed right out the mouth

Of ol'... Mojo Mother MaCree!

Anyhow,

As the song goes

[... wouldn't you know, it's by jjr's

VERY favorite-most house band,

The Eagles! ... him being

so truly enamoured of the American

demi-democratic Diaroma and all ]

___________________________________

OK - faithful excerpt, with one small addition,

IE, "SC":

______________

Welcome to the hotel SC California

Such a lovely place

Such a lovely face

They livin’ it up at the hotel california

What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,

The pink champagne on ice

And she said ’we are all just prisoners here, of our own device’

And in the master’s chambers,

They gathered for the feast

The stab it with their steely knives,

But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before

’relax,’ said the night man,

We are programmed to receive.

___________________________________

Well, seems, as though

It's them last two lines that will surely

Hex and vex and totally wreck!

Some folks idea of HOW

To conduct orderly! business

On some game forum or other, ah,

Tsk tsk, too bad,

Let 'em learn the REAL deal,

How it is on the streets,

How to perform - most amazing! feats!

When you ain't own nuthin'

But a crust of bread

And a crow feather in the ball-hat

Backwards on yer head,

And,

Not least,

How old Mother MaCree feels?

Then that pinched wither-mouth is scavenged!

Of all it's... useless gold.

___________________________________

Here we go, last two lines,

Memorize,

Or not, as you please:

____________________

You can checkout any time you like,

But you can NEVER leave.

--- Music & Lyrics by The Eagles

______________________

My kind of hoo-doo hang-out, man! :cool:

**By the by, I've got a RELEVANT question

For ALL SC Cats... to whom?

Does that turqoise-blue T-bird - belong? :confused:

WHO... some Ecce Homo

In ambling innocence... checked in,

WHO - now... wonders,

What's the fate of his much beloved,

Daily polished and oft thought

Fetishly fondly of,

Auto-mobile?

LOLOLOL!

C'mon "nuts & bolts" SC Cats,

Let's have some FUN,

NAME the Dude that holds the skeleton keys!

... 'cuz, he ain't got no pockets

anymore, those were ripped to tatter & shred

by them steely knives?

[TaoJah]

Originally posted by well-dressed gentleman:

Insult the U.S.A.

That's too easy !

The USA is taking so many heat in Europe with their latest to-hell-with-human-rights-we-can-torture-anyone-we-like and their let's-built-a-mexican-wall-to-defend-the-country-that-we-stole-from-the-indians-when-we-were-immigrants (usually montaged on the sound of the famous Mister Gorbatshoph, tear down this wall" speech) that I actually find myself having pity with the U.S.A. and take their side, lol.

No, bashing the USA is too easy now !

And it's even gonne get alot easier after these torturers get the majority of the seats again (even if it's just because of their we-rearranged-all-distrcits-so-that-we-will-keep-the-majority-no-matter-what-happens) because then everyone will say : "hey, the Americans actually re-elect these torturing people".

Again, too easy, too easy.

We need something more to keep these forums alive !

[sabazius]

I for one would like to see a forum specifically for H2H conversation - setting up matches, AARs, trash talk, etc.

I'm a novice player and definitely casual about the whole thing. It would be nice to have an informal place to hook up games with similar players. This main board seems too general for that, and I took one look at Panzerliga and was just like "whatever"... I don't need boring-ass official stats and rules, nor to I wanna play tile-counting mathematicians, just want to have fun a couple hours a week.

If there's a specific place for AARs and such I think we'd see more people writing them up, and a richer (but still casual) H2H community.

[JerseyJohn]

Carl Sandburg makes a rare appearance from the spirit world to say, "That's the best desert verse I've read in quite a while. It's good to see Desert Dave's return."

And I agree with him!

Greetings DD, Great to see you posting.

Been pretty busy with the writing, something I have to thank BFSC for getting me back into after a 15 year lapse. It was all the posting and AARs during 02-03 at the old forum that started me on that track again. Now things are panning out just in time for me to become senile. -- Oh well, can't have everything. :cool:

And how have you been?

Over at SCBunta Ranchero just started a baseball thread. I haven't posted to it yet and hope to see you there.

-- And at TWC, of course.