Driving Activity in Forum Games

I'm leading forum games now. Hi.

Activity has been dwindling across PO, and there's nothing that can really be done about that. But what can we, as people who actively enjoy playing the games here, do to ensure that activity doesn't drop beyond where it is now? What can we do to actually increase the amount of traffic this forum receives?

Some things we definitely should be doing:

• HOST GAMES. This is the biggest issue. The second that there are no games running in this forum, we lose. It's almost happened a couple of times since June, and the participation rate has obviously fallen since then. Sebas and I can't host everything; we need people to step up host games, whether they're NOC, OC, or non-mafia.
  This is really all it takes. I've done this with multiple games, and the only commitment you need to make at that point is sending out role PMs and doing votecounts and flips. It's that easy.
  
• More non-mafia games. Things like Sheep, BUOD, elimination games, Rice's Pokemon Battlegrounds, etc. are quick and bring in people since they don't require too much commitment. Then there are things like RPGs that are time consuming, but may appeal to a wider array of players than mafia. These games are generally pretty successful and have served as a gateway to playing more (ie mafia) within the forum.
  
• Advertise. Although the population isn't what it once was, there still are mafia players on the server that could be interested in playing mafia or games here on the forums. There are also plenty of people on the forums who don't really check this forum out, so getting the word out about a possible game you're hosting is invaluable. This leads me to my next point -
  
• Beginner games. We haven't had one in ages, in OC or NOC. These are the best way to get new people involved in mafia, and even if one or two people out of a playerlist of 17 stick around, that's better than zero.
• Use #Jalmont Mafia as a server-side hub. If you host a game, make sure to use JalMaf as the go-to channel for discussion when on the server. We already do this, but running stuff like RTM and general game discussion out of it would help.

Some other ideas I've kicked around:

• Games that aren't win-oriented and more open-ended. Stuff like "3 Word Story" or "Guess the [Topic]" or Hurt and Heal (which we've done) are immensely popular on other forums. For a long time we've derided these sorts of games (I'm not a fan myself), but with activity at an all time low it would be a good way to generate games. But is the trade off worth it?no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
  
• A leaderboard, or some sort of tournament/scoring system. Would be some incentive to playing a lot, and maybe we could get a badge or something for playing and winning in large scale games.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'd rather not have this forum die, thanks.

 

hi

in terms of games being hosted, a cohost or "backup" host could be appointed in case the original host becomes lazy or dies, and the hosts should probably try and actively promote players to be active. i guess i could host or cohost stuff if necessary myself!

non-mafia games are def good as long as they aren't dum, i really dont like the games like hurt/heal and what not, could be useful if some of us try to think of some good games other than repeating sheep and other such games constantly.

advertising may help, but an issue is server mafia has grown more inactive as well, along with this some sort of tutoring system or simple guide (or helpful links) to help newer players succeed

i dont think a leaderboard is a good idea, kinda a similar issue with mafia there could be favoritism involved or collusion among players to prevent some certain players from enjoying forum games as much as they could, i liked forum game awards that was p nice

overall the loss of activity in forum games is associated with the loss of activity on po as a whole, which kinda makes the situation tougher, but advertising stuff and hosting beginner games and tutoring could draw in some new players and help increase the activity of the subforum in the short run

 

hi i might host again when i have more time. i really enjoyed hosting NOMINATION MAFIA. also i encourage anyone who has time but doesn't want to make a setup to just grab an open setup from mafiascum and host; its simple its fun and its better than nothing.

bring back forum games awards that was cool even tho i dont think i won anything :[

also i noticed that most people dont even join jalmont mafia now, which is kinda sad cuz it was just around a year ago where even tho it would be idle most of the time, i could still talk there regularly and have a good time. hopefully we can restore jalmont mafia to its former glory.

meowmix update sheep

bye

 

i'll save everyone a lot of time by saying don't bother hosting an OC game since not enough people want to play to make it worthwhile

 

Let me host! :D

 

Submit a game assface!

this is defeatist and very much unlike you. oc games can work, they just need to be smaller and modeled differently since we have a different crowd than when we started playing here. they also would have to be marketed in certain places on server.

 

I can always be a dick in Tohjo and Mafia and bother people to actually look at this subforum. Don't worry i wont break any server rules in order to make them come here.

 

yeah don't do that in tohjo

 

I have done. :(

 

i literally tried to host a default mafia and no one signed up because people only really want to play NOC

i am just saying it probably isn't worth the effort to try and get people to play OC since getting people to NOC is much easier

 

allow non-win oriented games that lasts near indefinitely like corrupt a wish or the like.

 

Well I guess because Default is too Basic...
People like different games...
Remember SI of Windblown...
It was OC with 25 players...

So I guess such games must be played more oftenly than these basic Vanilla and Default...

 

my game wasn't basic "vanilla" or "default" although i bet people would probably be more willing to play those than w/e i created

i think a lot of people prolly joined because it was a "theme" they knew and because it was relatively simple - i don't think people are looking for complex games which is why NOC is pretty successful

 

That would definitely increase activity :0

 

Well, in order to increase the number of hosts, there must be a change...

Well according to my experience (which I still fell at the moment)...
I find it too courageless to "apply" for hosting any tournament/forum game...
New players feel too much nervous (as we fear that we may make mistakes)...

So the best solution for this is to make a new forum community where experienced players will give encourage + support new players to start hosting tournaments and forum games...
Experienced players must also give new players a chance to co-host with them...
This will drastically increase the courage the new players (like me at the moment)...




Next is in order to increase forum activity, we must inctrease the frequency of Pokemon Mafia games and Pokemon Non-Mafia Games...
Pokemon Non-Mafia games is only hosted by IceKirby at the moment that also at long intervals...
Pokemon Mafia games (OC games) such as "Rotom", "Flock" is not started till now I seem...
Now don't ask me how will Pokemon Forum games increase activity...
The only reason is 95% of players who join Pokemon Online is a Pokemon Fan...

However this will technically not "increase" the Forum activity but will "only boost temporarily" the forum activity for a little time...

EDIT - michu if you are thinking about Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Mafia, stop it as that was an exception as the first post was really long and I really didn't understood what you had written and there was nothing attractive in the post...





Last suggestion is bit strange...

Just like official tournaments are promoted in Pokemon Online every few hours, Forum mafia games must also be promoted every few hours...
However that's too difficult as there maybe many Forum signups starting at a moment, so its practically not possible...
Still a suggestion...
Maybe some other guy can use this to give more better suggestion...

 

don't worry i did stop thinking about hosting that game

it's interesting you say the op was "confusing" as all of it was meant to make the game less daunting but i suppose i can see people could be overloaded with too much information - although if you didn't understand what i had written you could've asked ...

sorry i don't know what an "attractive" post is but i guess you won't have to worry about that from me since i'm not going to be hosting

 

HI WE NEED GAMES AGAIN POST MORE THANKS

 

i could host a game simple game like the sheep game meow ran a while back (this) because anyone with half a brain can do that, i wouldn't mind hosting, and i'm sure plenty of people would like to partake (probably will post in game proposal forum (if that's still a thing) tomorrow or whenever i'm not lazy and remember)

i also intend to host the annual march madness group come time for that and maybe something for nfl playoffs, but that's restrictive to MURICAns

also a decent way to drive activity, as that's the purpose of this thread, could be to alert/tag active participants in past forum games, but just an idea

 

yeah i agree with finch

edit: go america #1

 

MEOWMIX UPDATE BUOD

 

OK

 

Hi maybe stop johning

 

oc games are good as long as they arent super complicated and have set rules
*cough*joeypalsbigbrother*cough*

 

ban johning