Helping restore Apolyton

[Kuciwalker]

Apolyton's next chance for a gaming revival would be a release of a new Civ game, and with that new player bases to target. The playerbase for Civ4 is worn, and Colonization is non-existent in the big picture. There needs to be a new game for a new chance for Apolyton.

QFT. There just hasn't been that much interesting civ news for years.

[Asher]

You guys aren't seeing the big picture. All this site needs is for Dan to make a 30-45 second plea for posters to stay on the site at the beginning of ModCast and PolyCast. His charm and wit will summon posters the world over.

[Dinner]

My thread about this over at CFC got deleted when someone quoted this thread.

[Japher]

Then the one asking why it got deleted was locked, post haste.

[Arrian]

Without reading the thread:

1) Release of Civ5 (or SMAC II, I guess). Result: fresh blood.
2) Site redesign. Information on the games we discuss needs to be really easy to find. The front page needs to have less clutter.
3) Technical fixes/upgrades so the Site can actually handle an increase in traffic.
4) Careful moderation in the on-topic forums so the aforementioned "fresh blood" doesn't get scared off. Careful =! draconian.
5) Someone, whether it's admins or now, needs to get "Apolyton University" going and then the Site needs to put it front & center. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think CFC gets a lot of traffic out of their Game of the Month feature. AU is our version of that, with our flavor.

-Arrian

[Ben Kenobi]

Why do I come? Because of the people and the community. I didn't even play Civ III (did once, hated it). I still play Civ 2, but most of the community has moved on to bigger and better things. Never played CIV.

[Dinner]

Then the one asking why it got deleted was locked, post haste.

Indeed. They really are Nazis.

[Arrian]

You're missing out, Ben, with CIV. It's really, really good.

-Arrian

[Dinner]

Without reading the thread:

1) Release of Civ5 (or SMAC II, I guess). Result: fresh blood.
2) Site redesign. Information on the games we discuss needs to be really easy to find. The front page needs to have less clutter.
3) Technical fixes/upgrades so the Site can actually handle an increase in traffic.
4) Careful moderation in the on-topic forums so the aforementioned "fresh blood" doesn't get scared off. Careful =! draconian.
5) Someone, whether it's admins or now, needs to get "Apolyton University" going and then the Site needs to put it front & center. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think CFC gets a lot of traffic out of their Game of the Month feature. AU is our version of that, with our flavor.

-Arrian

The thread summed up in a nut shell.

The main complaints from the CFC people in the thread I started over there was that the main page wasn't nearly as useful or informative as CFC's main page, that the server was to slow and that technical problems discouraged them from coming here, that there wasn't as much stuff to do here (like diplo games, game leagues, active mod communities, etc), and that the forum lay out was "ugly" or not to their liking. There was a fair amount of positive feed back about the mods being more easy going here compared to CFC though.

That's all some good information which the admins should use.

[rah]

It seems quite a few people are recommending that we become NAZIs here.

Just so we'd know

How many of you would leave if this place went that strict? (or asume you'd be banned most of the time anyway)

[Asher]

It seems quite a few people are recommending that we become NAZIs here.

Just so we'd know

How many of you would leave if this place went that strict? (or asume you'd be banned most of the time anyway)

You know I would.

The civ community already has a Nazi-moderated site. And right now they're in the "lead". So doing a "me-too" helps no one. It's too little too late for those who care about it, and it'll drive off everyone else.

[Bill3000]

Speaking as an Apolytoner turned CFCer, harsh and consistent moderation is the clear reason why CFC's OT is more popular, and why many people join just for the OT. There's still plenty of trolls there, though less per capita because we didn't alienate everyone away like Apolyton did, it's just that they need to be creative and funny in order to not be banned. And in general, show more intelligence.

The community here sucks. It sucked ever since Civ3 was created. It sucked ever since this place became spam, and degenerate unoriginal flaming became tolerated. People stick to communities which they like. That's the reason why Apolyton has such a low retention rate and lost everyone to CFC. The moderator actions in CFC seem harsh because Apolyton has none. And while the mods are quite harsh in CFC anyway, that's precisely why many people stayed, because there could be a friendly atmosphere to chat in. And while I can certainly understand the frustration of people who fear that they can't let out steam in a harsh moderating environment, that's why we have #fiftychat and keep it in private from the forum.

[Arrian]

The way I see it, there should be a distinction between OT (a most wretched hive of scum and villany) and the game-related forums. OT should be fairly lax (the way it is now), whereas the on-topic forums should be run tighter.

$.02

-Arrian

[Bill3000]

The way I see it, there should be a distinction between OT (a most wretched hive of scum and villany) and the game-related forums. OT should be fairly lax (the way it is now), whereas the on-topic forums should be run tighter.

$.02

-Arrian

The CFC OT being strict is precisely the reason why it is so popular, even among the trolls. We're still a wretched hive of scum and villany in the OT, we just have to be smart about it, and reach a higher level of wit.

[Arrian]

I'm talking about Apolyton, not CFC. I get that you prefer CFC. Good for you. The few times I've checked out CFC's OT, I found it amazingly stupid. Good for me.

I was addressing my post to rah, in response to his post about being "nazis."

-Arrian