Why do you, and don’t you, post on the forums?

[Anonymous]

There has been a rather notable drop in posting lately, and I’m curious as to the source. As such, I pose these questions:

What brings you to these forms?

What would be required for more public discourse?

What do you, the player, wish to see more of?

Would you, the player, prefer other methods of communication?

In terms of the last one, PCI is available on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ParadigmConceptsInc/?fref=ts) and on Twitter (@ParadigmConcept).

Addendum: Why do you believe others do not want to post on the forums/Facebook/Twitter/etc?

[Anonymous]

What brings you to these forms?
I have been playing Arcanis since 2002 or so, and while I’ve played other systems and campaigns, I’ve spent far more time on Onara than anywhere else. I love the setting, and the fact that Arcanis is generally a ‘World of Greys’ instead of being rigidly separated into good and evil.

Where we live there isn’t much of a gaming community, so this is how I get my nerd on. I enjoy coming here and reading the insightful discussions into the world. The people on the forum are generally quite nice to each other, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of the people on the forum, either in person or over G+.

What would be required for more public discourse?
The two things you need are an engaged player base, and something for them to talk about. I know this has been mentioned in the past, but we need more modules and more print products released.

I would love to see a return of the IKs, or something similar.

What do you, the player, wish to see more of?
I think that the communication from PCI to the player base could improve significantly. I would love to see a thread on the forums where–once or twice a month–someone from PCI would post ‘Hey folks, here’s what we’re working on at the moment’. I don’t believe anyone thinks that there is nothing going on behind the scenes, but when you have long periods of radio silence it can seem that way.

The other thing I would love is ‘Story Time with Uncle Henry’. Just an occasional short story giving some insight into what is going on in Onara. We just recently learned how massive the place is (with the new map), so there should be lots going on that wouldn’t necessarily be captured in a module.

Would you, the player, prefer other methods of communication?
I don’t really use social media, though obviously many others do. I would just prefer better communication on the forums.

Hopefully the 5e campaign will draw more players into the lore of Arcanis, and bolster our numbers here.

[Anonymous]

I generally check the forums multiple times a day. I look for things that are interesting. This could be a new story or interactive thread in the Crossroads Tavern section, someone looking for help with something, play opportunities – convention or online, new theories or discussions, etc.

I think there’s an opportunity for more advanced spells and maneuvers or other player contributions. I wouldn’t mind seeing a thread for mini recommendations. Some are easy (Milandisian Knights) some are a lot more challenging (Coryani Legionnaires).

I’m curious if people would be interested in a ARG 2.0 version and if so, what things would be kept and what things need to be changed?

What places are available for soft points? Of those, what are people interested in seeing more of?

What mods are people’s favorites and more importantly why? Not looking to bash mods, looking for the best and what help them stand out.

We seem to be often be short on GMs, what would people consider fair both for eating a mod and for running it again for other folks to enjoy playing?

At what point(s) do people feel out of sync with contributing at a table (basically level gap)?

Posting time is limited with busy kids schedules.

Those are my quick thoughts though.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

[Anonymous]

Like others, I come to get my nerd on, and I check the board multiple times a day.

The primary thing I like to see, is anything that teaches me about the world. There are so many nooks and crannies to Arcanis to explore, and so many teasers released in the past (when I wasn’t involved) that I love it when a discussion about the world comes along. I would love small vignettes about the world from Henry, question/answer sessions, or anything else that would help us learn about the world. I know he loves to share information primarily through modules, and then secondarily through books, and I can’t blame him, but I want as much as I can get, and right now the information release rate is pretty slow. The summaries of legions and discussions about who they are dedicated to, val families, Valinor, etc. are all what I really love.

Only slightly secondary to this are some of the world discussions done by others (Tukufu and Musings come to mind) since they often tie together so much I want to know about, but then sometimes I don’t know about accuracy because they aren’t (necessarily) campaign staff.

Third, I come to find or arrange play opportunities, either online or planning for open slots/extra play at convention.

Fourth, I come for new ideas. Builds, combinations, advanced spells, etc.

Fifth and finally, I come for rules questions. These are the things that interest me the least (except where the rules intersect understanding the universe) but about which I seem the most prolific (since I don’t have much to contribute to knowledge about the universe).

[Anonymous]

Like the others I come here to get my geek on. Normally I come when I have a PC idea, or just before playing or running a game. I’ve seen the this drop in submissions before, and it seams to come at the same time each year. Perhaps this can be confirmed looking at the metadata.

Anyhow I think, most of us take a breather this time of year because we are between cons and there is no new material out to play, and frankly, most everyone is caught up with the current mods by now.

So… If you release it or post it, we will come.

[Anonymous]

Addendum question (bumped here): Why do you believe others do not want to post on the forums/Facebook/Twitter/etc?

[Anonymous]

I have found that the online community for Arcanis is much more engaged than other campaigns I’ve been involved in. I think that for the size of our player base, we do have a lot of people posting. I suspect that the Arcanis players who are not active here either are unaware of thr forums, or are more casual players who don’t feel the need to check the forums obsessively (like yours truly).

[Anonymous]

I am also concerned that there are some who are intimidated by the forums. Mostly those of us that post regularly are in the obsessive category. I’ve heard second hand that folks that are not obsessive don’t post at all, because they don’t feel is a community that lends itself to partial participation.

If there was some kind of digest that would summarize the forums for the week I am sure there would be more participation. I just don’t know how to make that happen techcically.

[Anonymous]

Others have covered most of the questions quite well.

I just wanted to say that I like web forums (or mailing lists but those are becoming rare). I *HATE* Facebook and Twitter for “forum” activity – I think they serve their purpose but it is definitely not for involved discussions and the like.

[Anonymous]

I’m a Witch Hunter guy, but I do peek in on the Arcanis forums from time to time when I see a thread pop up that intrigues me. I check the forums daily, usually 2-3 times a day, though that’s probably borderline obsessive given the amount of traffic. I usually check the “view new posts” link to get an idea of what’s going on in the whole of the forums.

What brings you to these forms?

To connect with, share ideas, and be inspired by (and maybe even inspire) other players and GMs.

What would be required for more public discourse?

No idea. More players? More GMs? More reason for people to contribute outside of the bounds of the living campaigns? I think the recently toe-dipping into the 5e market is going to accomplish some of that on the Arcanis side.

What do you, the player, wish to see more of?

Well, I’m more of a GM than a player (not that I would turn down an opportunity to play), but I’d certainly like to see tools for creating richer, more vibrant characters and new ideas for interfacing with the setting. I love seeing people take a piece of history and twist and warp it into something grounded in the WH setting. As a GM, I really want to see more people talk about their experiences running the game. I want to read about cool tricks and tools to use at the table. Eric is pretty good about dropping in once or twice a week to tackle weird rules and errata questions.

Would you, the player, prefer other methods of communication?

I’m pretty old school. The forum medium works well for me. I can’t really imagine sharing ideas (other than links) over twitter. Facebook and Google+ are alright, but they have an even worse memory hole problem than forums. Blogs remedy the memory hole problem, but don’t foster the same back and forth you can get on the forums. In the end, it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

Why do you believe others do not want to post on the forums/Facebook/Twitter/etc?

Most of your audience are going to be casual players and aren’t going to post on any medium you offer up. Maybe a Like or +1, but that’s about it. As for the rest, well, I have some suspicions but that’s about it.

Anyhow I think, most of us take a breather this time of year because we are between cons and there is no new material out to play, and frankly, most everyone is caught up with the current mods by now.

See, I guess that’s the difference between running my own home game and not really being involved in the living campaign. I’m constantly working on my game. I’m never caught up. Even if there’s no new material I’m creating my own. But I know I’m in the minority and this is probably spot on reasoning behind some of the ebbs and flow of the forums.

I am also concerned that there are some who are intimidated by the forums. Mostly those of us that post regularly are in the obsessive category. I’ve heard second hand that folks that are not obsessive don’t post at all, because they don’t feel is a community that lends itself to partial participation.

Yeah, that’s actually one of the reasons I cut back posting around here. I began to wonder if I was coming off as some loud mouthed know-it-all. That’s not who I am or who I want to be, and the last thing I want to do is drive people off. It’s probably just my perception — certainly no one has suggested anything like that to me — but I decided to dial things back because of that.

Tom

[Anonymous]

As our group has pretty much stopped playing I hang around for the occasional snippets of lore that get put out: I enjoy hearing the musings of others and I really like when Henry gives us something back ground wise. I also like hearing how modules have gone but not in a in character style story way. I don’t mind hearing about different combos but I don’t come for the rules. I think that most players who aren’t posting aren’t bothered about the nuances of the rules either and haggling over interpretations but enjoy actually playing. I’m not sure what would get them more involved.

[Anonymous]

Addendum question (bumped here): Why do you believe others do not want to post on the forums/Facebook/Twitter/etc?

I don’t like social media in general because I distrust it’s security/privacy features and more importantly I cannot access it at work but can access the forum.

[frootsnax]

I echo a lot of the other things said…

I am not on Facebook. I don’t like their privacy policy. I do Linked in and Twitter…but I don’t really do much with either. I wouldn’t follow PCI very closely through Twitter.

Mostly I come here to share thoughts and ideas about the imaginary world and the campaign. How much I post (generally … a lot) depends on having things to say about same. I might check these boards twice a day on average…but sometimes I go a couple of days between visiting.

[Anonymous]

Players who are active in the campaign are forced to check the forums because so many rules updates & clarifications are posted only here and never put in the official campaign documentation. This is likely off-putting to new players. (I’d certainly be turned off from trying a new campaign if players kept citing rules that one needed to be on the forums to know about.)

Also, if I didn’t read the forums, I wouldn’t know what Arcanis games are happening at Origins 2016. The word “Arcanis” isn’t in any of those game descriptions, and thus without reading the forums it’s very hard to find them. A search for “ARG” (IIRC) will find them but not “ARPG”, and there’s no reasonable way to find the 5e Arcanis games at Origins without already knowing in advance what the session names/descriptions are.

[Anonymous]

There should be a spike of activity when the new FAQ/Errata and Campaign docs are released.

Any new material also generates activity.

I don’t use social media, as the activity rate is so high, everything vanishes in days before you can read it.

[Author]

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