Why are so few people at the stories forum?

[Mr. President]

It makes me sad that people would apparently rather have epic spam debates in the Off-Topic forum than read amateur Civ3 or AC fiction.

[DarkCloud]

I don't think people even read the debates in the OT. I never read them except when I was responding to them- and even then I didn't always read everything

--
Oh, Dan said he has taken care of it
I'd check for myself- but the server's so slow


Thanks Dan!

[SKILORD]

What if we had our own civgroup? would people covet an extra icon enough to look over here? It would ensure advertisment....

[DarkCloud]

Markos is currently in the army... thus a civgroup will be hard to form. It had finally inched its way to the top of his agenda... then he was forced into mandatory service

A civgroup might be given eventaully, but not right now

[vovan]

Originally posted by SKILORD
What if we had our own civgroup? would people covet an extra icon enough to look over here? It would ensure advertisment....

Never going to happen, SKI. I've been asking for it since January, and DC - February. So far, Markos always either ignored me altogether or said that there were technical difficulties creating any civgroup at all (which is not true, of course, for since then a few civgroups have been created). I hope you are right about the top of the agenda, though DC.

[DarkCloud]

Um... there were some difficulties- but Gramphos got them worked out. Then Markos joined the army

[Metaliturtle]

well, seeing as I've been here as long as most or longer, I feel I should put in my 2 fifths of a nickel.

Reasons the average browser (assuming they find this place) doesn't reply to stories.

1. These stories have improved dramatically, some like CBRaund have always been well written and thought out, but most of the writers (myself DEFINITELY included) are constantly improving technique on here, which, sooner or later, results in long, elaborate stories that are more like small novels, even SKILORD, who I consider one of my best friends, has stories that are good, but they are LOOONNG, by the time you finish reading them you are either too tired to reply, or you took so long that you have to get offline to deal with the real world.

2. The length is one thing, another possibility is that the people reading the story are new to the forum, and new to writing, if they are looking for advice, there is reason to believe that they won't actively give it out. Grammar and Spelling is just a small piece of this, but a new writer is not going to want to give advice about characterization or plot development without experiencing the writing process firsthand.

3. Most newcomers probably have experienced game-related forums before, and are afraid of being called a "n00b" by "1337 d00dz" that declare the newcomer "pWn3d" so rather than make an ass of themselves, they just troll.

4. I actively troll these stories, but I don't usually reply unless someone has asked me to, and I would be just as comfortable asking them. If I REALLY don't like something about a story I'll point it out, but if it's overall good, I don't want to nitpick it to death either.

5. sometimes AOL is extra evil and forces me to click something 20 times before it reacts, and amazingly, that many windows pop up soon after, and poof, jacked up viewcounts!

[Samuel Johnson]

The question isn't so much why are there so few people here but why are there so many? Why isn't there a similar story forum for, say, Rise of Nations? What is it about CIVIII that has inspired an amateur community of story tellers? Answer that any you will answer your original question. Perhaps this forum needs to migrate onto another site that accesses a wider community of story tellers. On the other hand, from adversity comes art.

Myself, I'm going to go back and read some more stories!

[Jeremy 2.0]

There is a link to the Story Forum page on the main page. Was that always there?

I would love to get more traffic and stories and feedback going here. With all of the outages I found myself going to another civ site that seemed to have a pretty healthy story forum. And speaking of that forum, is it at all common to post stories to both sites? Is there some reason not to?

[SKILORD]

here's no problem with posting it on both sites. I used to play games with Legacy where I would write different versions of each chapter (1 from each pov) and post them on CFC and here seperately.

[trickey]

This used to be one of the only forums I visited, back in the Crazed Greek Wandering days and such (good times ).

I'm not really sure why I stopped posting here, I think it might just be because some of the authors I was farmiliar with stopped writting for a little while. Well, they didn't stop writting, it's just they all seemed to take a break at the same time. And if the story wasn't written by someone I knew, I usually wouldn't read it (stupid, I know).

Then when the Nes' left this forum, I left too.

It's kinda funny how much time I spent at this forum, yet I didn't write a single story (I think I had one failed attemp to, though). Tells you something about the people here.

[steamthunk]

And if the story wasn't written by someone I knew, I usually wouldn't read it (stupid, I know).

This confirms a feeling I've had about this forum actually. Well actually most forums, but I usually lose interest in other forums (for all kinds of topics) after a month or two so I haven't been able to observe over time at other places. In my unproven opinion I think it's harder for new people to break into the established group and get views and comments. My hats off to Chrisius who seems to be the true egalatrian amongst us and comments on everything!

[johncmcleod]

Yes, Chrisius has made a comment on all of my stories. I feel terrible for starting this thread and then not comment on anyone else's stories for a while. The reason is I'm currently working on a story but I have become very frusturated with it and I just don't want to think about stories right now. If I finish it I will come here and read everyone's stories, I promise.

[Kaos XIII]

Re: Why are so few people at the stories forum?

Originally posted by johncmcleod
"Wow. People writing stories about a computer game, that's very nerdy."

That’s funny!!! I should of read this thread earlier.


Anyway, I’m one of the ones who reads and doesn’t comment much.

The reason is, I’m no writer, so how can I possibly give out criticism. In fact, I wouldn’t know how to give constructive criticism.

I only reply to interesting parts in a story, and it’s all positive.

[DarkCloud]

There is a link to the Story Forum page on the main page. Was that always there?

DanQ added it after the stories forum people requested it. You can thank him for the link

And speaking of that forum, is it at all common to post stories to both sites?

lots of people post at both civfanatics and here- but apolyton's the only forum wiht a stories competition
(at least last time I checked )


-

"Wow. People writing stories about a computer game, that's very nerdy."

If you want greater exposure you might try this site

http://www.fanfiction.net

(I think that's the link)