Is there any hope for this site?

[bikingjahuty]

I'm sure we're all aware of how dead VGcollect has been for the last few years with it seemingly getting worse and worse over time. It seems like we're pretty much down to a dozen or so users that regularly post on here. It's not uncommon for me to not see a single new post in an existing thread for a few days. As for new topics, it seems like one pops up every few weeks if even that, and for a while half of them were troll or delusional rambling posts by a certain user.


This genuinely bums me out as VGcollect has probably been my favorite online forum community since I joined this site about a decade ago. Everyone here for the most part has been super cool, laid back, and friendly, which is a rarity in online forums and even Facebook groups. Speaking of Facebook, while I do belong to a few gaming/collecting groups there, it just doesn't do it for me the same way that good old forums like this do. I want to see this site become a vibrant place for gaming discussion again, however it doesn't feel like VGcollect has been that for 5 or 6 years now, and even then it was a fraction of what it was like when I first joined.


Is there anyway to make this forum lively and fun again, or has pretty much everyone moved on, never to return?

[dhaabi]

While the topic name mentions the site, you specifically mean the forum and not the database. From my observations from both before and after becoming a part of staff, site activity for the database remains steady regarding newly-registered accounts, items added to member collections, and new entry pages being created. There is almost always at least one non-staff member putting in substantial effort to improve the database in one way or another, as well.

As for the forum, activity isn't particularly high. At times, it seems to fluctuate for whatever reason, but, even at its highest, there isn't much discussion. Your last topic about site activity had plenty of input, and something mentioned then that's worth mentioning again now is that forum spaces haven't particularly been a popular online meeting grounds in many years. That there are a handful of major online discussion hubs for people to congregate to for a variety of interests all at once, such as Reddit and Facebook, means that there are fewer reasons for people to seek out forums catering to one specific interest. So, when forum members of any site abandon their communities for whatever reason, there isn't a counterbalance of new members to replace them. Something else to consider is that a sizable portion of our forum's most active members have all but denounced modern gaming. When you take that fact into consideration, it certainly explains little discussion going on, since there is only so long that the same small number of people can circle around the same talking points.

More forum discussion would be welcoming, but it seems likely to only happen starting from the members still present. Then, over time, perhaps the community can grow from those interested in the latest forum topics mentioned on main site.

[sworddude]

Is there anyway to make this forum lively and fun again, or has pretty much everyone moved on, never to return?

delete all forms of fast social media and forums would skyrocket again.

[wowgek7]

I'm sure we're all aware of how dead VGcollect has been for the last few years with it seemingly getting worse and worse over time. It seems like we're pretty much down to a dozen or so users that regularly post on here. It's not uncommon for me to not see a single new post in an existing thread for a few days. As for new topics, it seems like one pops up every few weeks if even that, and for a while half of them were troll or delusional rambling posts by a certain user.


This genuinely bums me out as VGcollect has probably been my favorite online forum community since I joined this site about a decade ago. Everyone here for the most part has been super cool, laid back, and friendly, which is a rarity in online forums and even Facebook groups. Speaking of Facebook, while I do belong to a few gaming/collecting groups there, it just doesn't do it for me the same way that good old forums like this do. I want to see this site become a vibrant place for gaming discussion again, however it doesn't feel like VGcollect has been that for 5 or 6 years now, and even then it was a fraction of what it was like when I first joined.


Is there anyway to make this forum lively and fun again, or has pretty much everyone moved on, never to return?

verry doubtfull considering how the staff treats people who  try to start an inigitave or something. honestly unless that changes drasticly i see no hope for it becomming verry active agaian.

[alligo]

Yeah it's a shame that the forum is so dead, I would have preferred it to be more active to talk about games because as you say, the people here are pretty nice.

I regret not having known the site well before...
Unfortunately young people (even adults) are largely abandoning forums for discord and social media.

Personally I don't like discord, I much prefer forums because it's much more practical to interact with others.

[NickAwesome]

I'm guilty of spending more time in facebook game groups and local communities.  I think the problem as some have pointed out is that the forums use old tech and it's hard to go back to them when there are other communication options that give more immediate feedback.  For example- uploading pictures of recent pickups.  In a local facebook group- it takes a minute or two.  But here, I have to upload each picture to imgur, then click the image link and make sure the formatting is correct so it actually displays.  It just takes too long so I stopped. 

I still like participating in the Secret Santa and I really enjoy the database features the site offers so I still hope to be a part of this community for a long time to come.  I just might not be as talkative as other members.   

[bikingjahuty]

I'm guilty of spending more time in facebook game groups and local communities.  I think the problem as some have pointed out is that the forums use old tech and it's hard to go back to them when there are other communication options that give more immediate feedback.  For example- uploading pictures of recent pickups.  In a local facebook group- it takes a minute or two.  But here, I have to upload each picture to imgur, then click the image link and make sure the formatting is correct so it actually displays.  It just takes too long so I stopped. 

I still like participating in the Secret Santa and I really enjoy the database features the site offers so I still hope to be a part of this community for a long time to come.  I just might not be as talkative as other members.

For me it's the 52 games challenge that keeps me active in the forums mostly. I actually use Pricecharting to track my collection now since it gives it a monetary value which I need for insurance purposes. The other thing I'm guilty of is not really being that much of a collector anymore despite still technically being one. If I'm being completely honest with myself, the 52 games challenge and the occasional engaging thread is what still keeps me here. I've played around with the idea of just tracking the games I beat in a google doc, but I also enjoy seeing what other people are playing and hearing their thoughts on a particular game. I've also tried other sites (backloggery, How Long to Beat, and a few that focus more on the game playing side of things) and one thing or another has turned me off about their site, forums, community, or a combo of these things. I feel like this is the best I'm probably going to find since forums are more or less a thing of the past. I just wish others found the forums as worthwhile as I do. And yes, I use Facebook groups too, but those have their own drawbacks that I find way more annoying than the ones associated with most forums.

[bizzgeburt]

I'd actually love to show more activity in this forum, but honestly spoken: Most topics discussed here other than internals simply don't interest me enough for me to reply to or I simply lack anything noteable to say about it    I'd be able to post/reply way more often if there were more retro gaming topics 

by the way: Is there any thread in here where I can submit reviews and such?

yours still reading (mostly) silently,

Bizz

[dhaabi]

by the way: Is there any thread in here where I can submit reviews and such?

Most people post their thoughts to the annual 52 Games Challenge topic, whether they intend to actually try to complete that goal or not. There is also this general games review topic for anyone to use.

[mouseware18]

Sorry, wrong

[bizzgeburt]

Most people post their thoughts to the annual 52 Games Challenge topic, whether they intend to actually try to complete that goal or not. There is also this general games review topic for anyone to use.

Thanks! I guess I'll work out something about my personal gaming projects, such as finishing every Final Fantasy game in my collection.

Returning to the subject of this thread - is there any activity of this community on social media that's capable of recruiting some more members for the site? Maybe some fresh blood can save this herd from going extinct  ?
I personally consider this site one of the go-to ones when it comes to easy ways of keeping track of your game collection, I'd actually recommend it for that. Especially the opportunity to add information myself to help this database being accurate is a huge plus imo. ...

My assumption is that there're definitely some potential new users for VGC somewhere out there, but they need to know that this site exists ...

[nathan776]

Personally I feel that a lot of older forums lose members and activity over time. I think this is partially down to users that have already registered slowly losing interest as time moves on (different priorities etc) and the feeling that there are more alternatives to forums that many people prefer to communicate socially on. A lot of newer communities use discord or a combination of both discord and forums to maintain engagement. While I understand that some feel that discord can drive people away from forums, I feel the benefits outweigh that.

In terms of the database, it definitely still gets used. I'm unsure how many people come back and continue to use it however after they have initially setup their collection. I'd like to see some more quality of life features to have the database feel more functional for some categories. For example I'd like for both Variants and Editions of an item to fall under one name and to be selectable from there. I like being able to submit variants when I get free time but for the average users - it must be confusing if you want to browse a category.

[tripredacus]

Issues with Discord are that they are closed to the public, so they can't be archived except by the admins. There is a lot of lost information that gets put into a discord then then disappears when that channel disappears, or is not known to exist due to how difficult it is to read past information. I personally only use discord if I need to talk to certain people for a specific reason, but there is no use to try to use the discussion portions. It has the same issue as TFW2005 did a decade ago, too much content is posted that if you aren't there constantly, if you miss a day you're doomed.

[zenimus]

I lurk around the forums, but there isn't usually much going on. The site is my go-to collection database though.

I think YouTube has stolen the thunder of forums in general, since each video functions as its own thread with comments.

It could also be because a lot of us already know everything related to retro games.

[retromangia]

I use the database on nearly a daily basis, the site is wonderful for its main purpose.