UPDATE: PM Wyrom updates everyone in a response to the Play Net Forums closing down. Look for his post on the Forum. He candidly gives some background for the decision, and noted that Discord was not replacing the forum and that they are still working out all the details of future avenues of communication. He’ll update us when he has information to share. https://bit.ly/33uTwUf
SIMU-WYROM
Shutting Down The Forums
on 01/13/2022 04:26 PM
from http://forums.play.net/forums/GemStone%20IV/Help%20for%20Players/Official%20Website,%20Wiki,%20and%20Forums/view/209
Hey everyone, I knew when I posted this it would be an unpopular announcement. It’s one of those tasks I’m not thrilled with having to do. But to put it all bluntly, our website needs a lot of work. We have hired on a web developer to tackle a lot of these tasks. After meeting about everything, it was decided that the forums are just too poorly implemented to work with. The traffic on the forums has been at an all time low. Participation from both players and staff can be stagnant in many areas. Posts expire, permanently. They lack so many modern features that would make them better, but the way they were created, it would be a monumental task to complete. Reskinning them is not an option. There are also issues outside just what I’m explaining that I can’t get into.
I’d also like to clear up the misunderstanding that Discord is replacing the forums. This isn’t the case. Discord serves a purpose for real time chatter, but would not be a replacement to the forums. Our current plan is to make sure pertinent information goes on the wiki. With the forum traffic low and the information spread in various areas, we feel we aren’t being as effective as we could be with communication. We’re a smaller game, it doesn’t make sense to have things on the wiki, forums, front page of play.net, Discord, in-game, and on social media. I think we do a good job currently with utilizing everything, but I also don’t think it’s a very good use of time to fragment everything everywhere.
I completely understand that the loss of the forums will remove the ability for threaded discussions. We are still trying to solve this issue, as staff is also losing this resource. As a player, the forums were a very big part of my experience with the game. I was one of those people that would have paid a smaller subscription fee just for access to the forums while I took a break. I am equally as upset about it as many of you. But as the Product Manager overseeing GemStone IV, I understand that the forums are an issue in their current state and we don’t have a lot of options. All I know is, we need to get moving on improving the website experience.
We’re still working out all of the details of future avenues of communication and as soon as I have information to share with you all on that, I will.
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