Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Council Room => Topic started by: Green1 on January 27, 2013, 11:45:19 PM

Title: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: Green1 on January 27, 2013, 11:45:19 PM

There has been discussion in the past about what we should do with AARs. Now that we have quite a few, I think they now merit thier own subforum.

AARs are very much like articles and generate traffic to your website. Many AARs get hundreds of unique views from readers and when google indexes AARs, it brings folks to your site.

Problem is, the AARs are spread amongst other topics and hard to find. Doing this for all our AARs will help lurkers and registered users alike fing an AAR to read while stuck with nothing but a smartphone or otherwise.

We should even lump those in with other games other than SMAC/X.

What do yall think?

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: Green1 on January 27, 2013, 11:57:58 PM

If we are to do this, I am also going to approach GrimithR and quill18 about indexing thier video LPs here. I think they will like that.

I love GrimithR's LPs.

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: ete on January 28, 2013, 12:14:29 AM

Seems like a good idea to me, it'd be nice to be able to see them all in one place. And maybe it'd encourage more. Maybe I'll do one showcasing a load of custom factions next time I have a game.

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 28, 2013, 12:18:08 AM

I would be open to this; not a lot of work to create a folder and move 5-10 threads.  Let's see what sisko thinks.

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: Buster's Uncle on January 28, 2013, 02:03:46 AM

A couple of questions for user input:

Where ought an AAR forum go?  The root directory is the obvious answer, but there are limits; eventually you end up with a main as overcrowded as CFC, and we ain't gonna have that.  Worry about that in a few years?

We've got two non-AC AARs in progress in Rec Commons.  Include them anyway?  This IS an AC forum...

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: Green1 on January 28, 2013, 02:16:57 AM

Never hurts to dabble. Many into AC do want to hear about other games.

Community -----> AARs

Alternatively....

AC + SMAX ----. AARs. Child Board, AARs for other games.

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: sisko on January 28, 2013, 10:10:17 AM

the way i see it, we already have too many boards and some of them have a low level of activity..
i say let's move 'Planet tales' in Community and include there additional content like AARs, video LPs, maybe even blogs, if there is some interest (AC2 blogs and links to external relevant blogs, if any.. Pickly's blog comes to my mind), this may bring some life to the fiction section while giving the occasional lurker stuck on a smartphone a broader content offering.

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: ete on January 28, 2013, 11:13:57 AM

hm, what about adding a tag and linking to a search for that tag in the theory of everything forum description, like the Teams forum here: http://pokemon-online.eu/forums/forum.php (http://pokemon-online.eu/forums/forum.php)

That makes it easy to see all the AARs together without any forum bloat.

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: sisko on January 28, 2013, 11:32:43 AM

Quote from: ete on January 28, 2013, 11:13:57 AM

hm, what about adding a tag and linking to a search for that tag in the theory of everything forum description..

we can do that too. there's a new tagging plug-in for SMF that we can use. the old one was a mess..

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: testdummy653 on January 28, 2013, 06:02:29 PM

Quote from: sisko on January 28, 2013, 10:10:17 AM

the way i see it, we already have too many boards and some of them have a low level of activity..
i say let's move 'Planet tales' in Community and include there additional content like AARs, video LPs, maybe even blogs, if there is some interest (AC2 blogs and links to external relevant blogs, if any.. Pickly's blog comes to my mind), this may bring some life to the fiction section while giving the occasional lurker stuck on a smartphone a broader content offering.

When I first joined and was looking for some AAR I searched for them in the Planet Tales section.

Title: Re: [Suggestion] New Forum Category : AARs
Post by: Green1 on January 29, 2013, 09:32:27 PM

Quote from: testdummy653 on January 28, 2013, 06:02:29 PM

Quote from: sisko on January 28, 2013, 10:10:17 AM

the way i see it, we already have too many boards and some of them have a low level of activity..
i say let's move 'Planet tales' in Community and include there additional content like AARs, video LPs, maybe even blogs, if there is some interest (AC2 blogs and links to external relevant blogs, if any.. Pickly's blog comes to my mind), this may bring some life to the fiction section while giving the occasional lurker stuck on a smartphone a broader content offering.

When I first joined and was looking for some AAR I searched for them in the Planet Tales section.

GrimithR and Quill have the better LPs of Alpha Centauri on You Tube. Problem is, many of them are split into 50 different parts and there is no unified playlist for them on top of the fact they are an hour plus long start to finish. Also, like you said, many of these smartphones stutter and have issues loading. They do forums and pictures okay though.

I know of very few AC specific blogs or podcasts, but that is more the age of the game. Most bloggers and podcasters try to diversify to keep readership. Also, the quality of those general gaming and specialized blogs comes into question. I have heard blogs/podcasts that are unlistenable/ureadable because they do not get to the point in ALL game genres. Either that or a lot of stuttering, mouth breathing, and talking about someone's pimple instead of the game which is all the reader or listener cares about.