Re-Opening the Debate: Should the CPA become a General Gaming Site?

[Spiderman]

I think about 2 years ago, a discussion was held whether the CPA should change to a general gaming site with Magic as juct part of its focus. At the time, we had a couple members who wanted to branch out into other gaming areas and write front page articles, but the current guidelines prohibit that. Also, from what I remember, the state of users and posting was about the same now - not a lot of active users and not a lot of Magic posts. However, it was decided by majority vote to keep it all Magic with promises by users to start writing Magic front page articles and post more.

Honestly, I haven't seen that happen on a sustained and consistent basis when I am here about 8 hours a day and most of those users who wanted to keep this site all Magic have left, either the game or site. So the question comes up to the new folks who have come on board these past two years: should the CPA stay focused on Magic or can it branch out to all areas of gaming?

 

[Rando]

Here's my feelings on the subject:

If the forums and the front page were opened up to games other then Magic, more people would be attracted to the site, because of the greater diversity.

The more people that visit the site, the more people that stay and contribute, at first to the forums, and as people with talent are recruited, to the front page articles.

More article writers would be a blessing to every body, both the readers and the writers, since there would no longer be a rush to update to keep the front page from getting stagnate too fast. More article writers also means an imporvement in article quality, since the editors could afford to turn down the not-so-great contributions.

Also, more games = more search engine hits.

Ofcourse, a downside may be an increase in traffic/bandwidth that Ed may not be willing to pay for.

I think a very important thing to ask is what Ed's feelings on the subject are. Does he only continue to support this site out of loyalty and sentamentality? If the CPA were to fundamentaly change, which is what would happen with such a drastic switch in format, would he still care, since it would no longer be the CPA site he helped to found?

jp

 

[Reverend Love]

More people = More buttwads

I for one post here due to the low battwad count.

 

[Nightstalkers]

Quite frankly, I don't give a hoot about it.

As long as you keep a little M:TG in the site, I'm happy... well, as long as you don't try adding a section for craptacular games, I'll stay outta yer hair.

 

[mythosx]

Although Rando is my senior here, I have never seen him post anywhere here. I for one am for keeping it the same way. This is in accordance to the good reverend's butt wad theory. I do agree that more people need to post and write articles. I myself am trying to come up with good topics to write about and not just Apprentice transcripts.

 

[Oversoul]

I do not think I would mind the change, although I'm curious as to what sort of games you had in mind...

More importantly, if such a change is to occur, I (and I think others as well, but I can only speak for myself) would like to see Magic given the priority. I frequent this site because it is a Magic site. I remember when I frequented a different board which included sections for several games (well, I don't remember it being that many, but it was more than two or three). The Magic board was sometimes flooded with posts by people from the Yu-Gi-Oh section ranting about how Magic sucks or some other such things. It wasn't a huge problem for me, but I would still rather that kind of stuff not happen here, not that I am saying it is bound to happen or even likely...

On one hand I can see what RL is saying and although it probably wouldn't be a huge issue (how much more attention would it really draw to the site? I doubt it would be anything astronomical) it is an issue nonetheless...

Conversely, I am inclined to say, "the more the merrier." There is a chance, perhaps even a likelihood (depending on how this endeavor is executed) that the additional attention to the site would have positive effects on the site as a whole, including the Magic section...

So, in summation, I am currently neutral on this. I can't really tell which argument is more persuasive.

 

[Notepad]

I'm all for the changes.

The butt wad theory works no matter what method is used to increase traffic, and not just if the site goes to other games. Arguing on the basis of the butt wad theory means you're against increase in traffic and articles altogether.

We need more articles and traffic, I'd say, and opening the content would be a step towards doing that. However, it isn't going to usher in a huge vault of new writers and members. We'll see a slow trickle, and possibly even no changes at all.

Trust me, though, that there is a need for gaming content other than what other sites are providing. Right now, the only Vs. system coverage worth reading is at the AGN site, and being a sister site to Brainburst, it isn't much for casual writing. So, if we hosted casual Vs. writing here, we'd have a start towards attracting more people, though now a flood, because a majority of Vs. players are interested in breaking into the new Pro Tour circuit in that game, before solid champions are determined. They all want netdecks, on how to smash everything in sight with the Marvel Brotherhood.

I for one would like to write casual Vs. articles. I've got some X-Men and Spider Friends deck ideas that would be a blast. Or hell, since I'm just getting started, maybe my starting Spider Friends-Gotham Knights deck would be a nice place to help others get started.

I agree that these new games shouldn't crush out Magic content. Maybe new games should go under whole new headers, like if its a rant or weekly or deck for Vs., you put it under the Vs. tab, and not the Decks tab or the Rants tab. Though, the unused fiction tab can absorb it all (though I hate to see the fanfic that would come in if LotR were supported, because we all know Trek and Rings fanfic is usually derranged gay fantasy stuff--I had a coworker who wrote such crap, so I've seen the horrors first hand).

 

[Spiderman]

Hmm. Maybe I should have put in a poll

Okay, here are some more thoughts/answers. First Rando was a very active member about 2 years ago and stated the reasons for his absence in a thread in the General forum (I think "Check Me Out"?)

Second, I agree that Ed should be consulted and hopefully he's reading this - if he doesn't reply by the end of the week I'll send him a private note.

Third, since this is kinda new, I'm not sure how this will develop, but I'm envisioning for the original breakdown to be the general gaming categories like card games, wargames (or tabletop), board games, RPG, something along those lines. Then there can be initial subforums within those such as in card games, you have Magic and other, or in wargames you have Warhammer and other, and as interest warrants you can open new subforums.

Not sure about keeping Magic the focus. On one hand I agree since that started this whole thing, but on the other in the interests of fairness it would seem odd to have 3 or 4 subforums dedicated to Magic while the rets only have one (or two). I guess we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

 

[Oversoul]

Your arguments are impressive...

However, what do you have in mind...

I suppose a good start would be asking which games you wanted to expand to? I'm not familiar with "Vs." at all (is it a newer game?) but that one's been mentioned...

But does anyone have a comprehensive list, or rather, the beginnings of one? I'm wondering what sort of player base we have for some of these games that we'd be including. In order to attract the desired traffic to the site, it would be ideal to already have a community of those who play the games here. Well, obviously we already have that for Magic, but we need to establish what else we have, among tons of other things, in order to make this work...

 

[Spiderman]

Well, like I said, probably just keep it general game categories for now and as the need and demand arises, create individual subforums for particular games...

I agree about gauging demand with the current users, but I also think that there are other like Rando who would come back and take a more active role if they see that the change has been made. Sort of a "Change It and They Will Come" sort of thing

 

[Killer Joe]

Do you mean like:

"Trading Card Games" Forum
These could include but not limited to: MTG, YuGiOh, Marvel Vs., Star Wars, etc...

"Board Games" Forum
These could include but not limited to: Settlers of Cattan, Risk, LotR Board Game, Chess/Checkers, etc...

"Miniature Figures Games" Forum
These could include but not limited to: WARMACHINE, War Hammer, Hero Clix, Mage Knight, etc...

"Commercial games" Forum
These could include but not limited to: Poker, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Bolderdash, etc...

With more options for folks to post here, the better.

As for Butt-Wads, well, with the "GOOD" comes the "BAD". Besides, Spidey will just re-direct any FLAME thread or reply off into cyber space or our Battle Forum.

I vote "YES" to General Gaming site.

 

[Rando]

Another thought is that the name of the site could easily stay the same, with it's meaning ever-so-slightly shifting to mean a group of people that play all sorts of games but don't take any of them too seriously or value one more then the others.


EDIT: I think the two biggest games, that being D&D and Magic, should have thier won fourms, with seperate CCG and RPG forums on the side. ...maybe.

 

[Spiderman]

KJ: Yeah, something like that.

Rando and all: I mean, these are just initial ideas on how to start out (how can I keep emphasizing that? ) If there's an initial demand for individual games within the categories, they can certainly start out with their own forums. Obviously Magic for one

 

[Rando]

I know; just tossing out ideas.

 

[Doombringer]

On the main page you could have each of the sections Kj was talking about under their own headings for new articles and then another flame heading under all of them where peope could shout at each other about which game is better, so that those kinds of articles aren't posted in the other, more intelligently based sections.

I would like to see CPA become a general gaming site, but I think Magic, being the original topic, should be given priority over the other sections.

Also, make a section for Halo(and other first person shooters)! Then people could talk about cool glitches they found or a new strategy for a certain level.

 

[TomB]

Sorry. But to reiterate what I said in there, my original thought was just to open up our articles submissions guidelines to include all sorts of games, and to modify the front page accordingly. My thought at the time was to leave the forums alone - or, at the most, try splitting General Gaming into forums like what KJ listed out, with a D&D/RPG forum added too.

Then, if needs be, we could condense/combine some of the Magic forums later, but that would be more of a housekeeping function than anything else. I still believe we should keep Magic as the site's main focus though, at least for now. But I also believe the site needs to reflect the needs/wants/desires of it's constituency, not the other way around.

We have a great community of people here, with a wonderful diversity of thought. That diversity is our strength, I believe, and we should be willing to embrace it. If that means we evolve into more of a general gaming site then so be it, I say.

But it should be by the will of our people...

 

[Mr_Pestilence]

How would this site benefit from posts about general gaming?

Does general gaming need another website?

 

[Killer Joe]

But if some of our folks are wanting to open it up then as TomB said, "But it should be by the will of our people... "

 

[Oversoul]

Assuming that we do make the change, it's going to mean work for someone to carry it out, and it might not influence traffic much...

If it's an acceptable risk for those who are going to be working to effect changes, then at this point I'm for it...

 

[mythosx]

Some one mentioned D & D up ahead of me. This is a bit off topic and would go under the new rant section for RPG's if the site were to change as to which I am opposed. Wizards should give me back my money for every lousy 3.0 book they sold me. If fact they shoudl give everyone thier money back. When a retailer sells software. They give you patches for free to fix bugs. When D & D has bugs, they sell you the patch for alot more. Whats the deal with that? Some one needs a kick to the Jimmy up in Seattle. Did they even do play testing before release?

Back to the topic at hand, I have carefully digested what everyone has offered and I will concede that it might be in the best interest of everyone here to afford this change. But I might make a suggestion. Before undertaking a huge over haul, why not first give it a 3 month test run to see if anything happens. By expanding and inviting articles on other games and expanding the other games forums (which we hardly use), you can test the waters with minimal work. I primarily come here for the magic. It's great tasting and less filling here. If it were expanded I am afraid that the few writers we do have will no longer post the quality of articles that I have come to enjoy and appriciate.