So the WargamerNZ forum (link on the banner) has been going for three and a half months.
Remember it was set up on the premise of seeing whether NZ could support or even needed a community-run national gaming forum - similar to the multistate, multi system WargamerAu.
Initially there was an influx of members and some initial traffic on the sight. However looking at the traffic dates that was mostly in the first month after launch. Traffic has been pretty spasmodic since then.
Generally this confirms the premise that people are happy with the status quo. FOW players stick to the Battefront forums, Warmahordes to the Thrallblack blog, Historical Players to the NZ Wargaming Yahoo Discussion Group, South Island gamers to the Christchurch forum etc.
This is not a lot different from what I thought at the outset. My own preference is for blogs over forums because, well...it's just my preference. I think the noise to signal ratio is reduced on blogs.
I am happy to keep the site up and running - it involves no admin effort, especially with low traffic. Cost is negligible apart from photo hosting capability fee. However once the initial six months is up I'll probably ditch the photo capability (should there be no great use of it in the interim)as it's silly to pay for something that is not being used.
So just a reminder the site is there and is free to use. As noted at the outset it is a community site and should be driven by community needs. At present it seems to lack a audience which suggests it may be a solution for a non-existent problem. Photo hosting is likely to disappear in a couple of months if there is no significant pickup in its use.
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Content is king. With no content being created, no traffic, and so on. The SI forums had a bit of a winge fest when it was first created, and I think the NZ wargaming community as a whole is still very fractured.
ReplyDeleteThere is still a lot of irrational politics from factions that don't want to mix with each other.
For it to work it will need buy in from a few key people in each community to drive it, but we know this already.
Pete, I think it just reflects the doldrum state WHFB is in at present. No-one knows what is happening, and everyone is tired of speculating. Warhammer was unable to garner any interest at our Annual Open Day at the Kapiti Wargames Club. Everyone is so over it all.
ReplyDeleteI used the forum to advertise fluffycon back in February it worked really well having a focal point to post update and links to. I didn't post any photos do to user error on my part
ReplyDeleteFacebook solves for pretty much everyone who is active in Warmachine across the country which is almost certainly those players who would otherwise be active on a forum in its absence.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this "Facebook" you speak of?
DeleteDunno?
Delete