It's the start of a new year, 5punk's fifth, and I suggested that a statement be made as to the state of the forum (and by extension the community) at the moment, and what will happen in the future. While it's me that's posting this, it has been discussed by the four admins and I post on their behalf too.
The Past
I'd like to refer to the history of the site so that we might use it to look to the future. 5punk was established as a forum for gamers who had a similar mindset, who didn't want their games played too seriously, and who wanted a friendly atmosphere. Originally members were drawn from the ranks of B3ta.com, and this is where the odd sense of humour and style comes from. However, while B3ta sometimes descended into elitism, sarcasm and unneccessary criticism, Woo Elephant Yeah, 5punk's founder, actively and often strictly discouraged this kind of behaviour here. As already stated, friendliness was one of the key founding principles.
As the site matured (so to speak, not a lot of mature material has been posted), members began to be drawn from in games and by word of mouth. This softened the B3ta roots and diversified the sense of humour, which paralleled with a few ill recieved posts on the B3ta boards from WEY to move 5punk away from being a site for B3ta gamers to a site for friendly, mature, and puerile gamers.
The Present
Today FatherJack is at the helm of the site. 5punk has evolved to encompass more than just gaming, to become a general community under the same principles. The community is well established and there is a strong relationship and identity for many members.
However, 5punk is suffering from a membership issue. Some research has revealed that new membership has dropped dramatically recently, and without new members the site will dwindle away given enough time.
Year - Active Members (i.e Greater than 10 posts) (Members Still Active (i.e logged on in last month))
2008 - 4 (2)
2007 - 36 (11)
2006 - 51 (16)
2005 - 55 (20)
2004 - 37 (12)
Personal observation has suggested that the average daily logons has dropped in the last 18 months or so from 55-60 to 40-45. While not critical, it's obvious that the site is shrinking. Total active membership would appear to be about 57, which isn't a bad figure.
The reasons for a drop in membership have been casually discussed on the boards on a few occasions, and more seriously discussed a few times in the admin forum, but for clarity I'll list the points that have been mentioned in both. I'd like to point out first though that this is a statement of observation, not of blame or accusation.
1. No games that suit our style of play have come out this year.
Specifically multiplayer games in which we can spot like minded people and they can spot us. TEEF is a good example of a game which has brought 5punky-minded randoms out of the woodwork, and we have several regular members because of it. This year there hasn't been a big 5punky staple game that we've played to death.
2. Nobody is playing the 5punky games we do have.
There have been a few resurrections, and a few sparks of new games, but these have been flashes in pans. Nothing this year has caused the mass fields of one gaming icon on xfire like COD4 or TEEF did last year. This may be down to overkill, lack of enthusiasm, or other games taking priority (there have been three popular MMOs played this year where previously there was only one).
3. We're being mean to randoms when we do play 5punky games, so they don't want to join.
It doesn't happen constantly, but for every one person that gets abused, there will be an entire server full of people who think we're cocks. Every 5punker on one of our servers is an extension of the community, and a potential member's perception of the community will be based on that. The same goes for people using a [5punk] tag on other peoples' servers. Similarly, but far worse, is the same thing done by server admins. While a member is, naturally, entitled to play however he likes, an admin has to be above reproach and abuse of admin privileges is extremely counter productive.
4. We're not a clan. Are we?
The fun aspect seems to have been slowly draining from our games to be replaced with serious business. Practices such as kicking randoms without explanation so that 5punkers can all be on the same team, or because they aren't very good, all stinks of clan faggery.
5. Bitching on the forums.
There have been a couple of occasions this year where the forums have been an unfriendly place. This is definately not what we're about. While it's true that there are occassionally people who sign up who simply don't get us, the site's sense of humour generally baffles those people away. There is no regular member of this site who currently 'doesn't fit in', and it should stay that way. Disagreements are fine, they're a part of discussion, but unpleasantness ranging from subtle jibes to full on personal insults have crept in this year. This makes the site look like an unfriendly place, and might potentially stop a new member coming back.
6. Percieved lack of activity.
The scheduler seems to be a bit neglected recently. The weekly games have almost died, people are joining games that nobody plays, people aren't joining games they do play. Potential members will look at that and either see games with nobody playing, or will join a game that looks busy and find nobody playing it. Both are bad advertisements for us.
Forum activity is also down. This is probably as much a symptom as a cause, but a new or lurking member may not think there's a lot going on.
7. Hosting issues
We've all encoutered these periods of slowness or loss of service. I don't expect many people would attempt more than a couple of times to register, and similarly new members would more than likely abandon attempts to access the site after a few failures.
Despite these problems, 5punk remains a bastion of rational people with a good sense of humour, a rare thing on the internet. Don't let the numbered points above tarnish that fact. The site is technically more polished than it has ever been, and our members remain more friendly, articulate and mature than most sites and 90% of randoms in game. And we're funnier.
The Future
Hopefully 5punk will continue in the way we're accustomed. That's not to say we're going to stagnate though. There are a number of technical upgrades in testing, which has been discussed previously in the general forum and will continue to be as plans progress. Rest assured that as things become more solid they will be made public - a running theme throughout most admin discussions is that every member should have a say in potential decisions, and while FatherJack, Stoat, Spoodie and I administer the site, it is run by everybody.
Importantly, we need to address the issues raised above. These are suggestions made in previous discussions that seem to be good courses of action. Of course, further suggestions and opinions are encouraged.
1. Not a lot can be done about the whims of the gaming industry. There will be bad years and good years, and last year has proved that as a community we can survive a drought. Hopefully 2009 will be better.
2. This is being addressed in two parts, both of which have been mentioned in other threads. Firstly, the forum moderators will undergo a reshuffle. This will give existing mods with less time a chance to step back and enjoy the ride a little, and it will also give enthusiastic members a chance to take more of an active role on the site. Secondly, moderators will be expected to try to encourage enthusiasm for their area and games by posting about them, scheduling games when needed, and providing guidance in-game.
3. The raising of this point will hopefully go some way to discouraging unfriendliness. I think few of us would want to sacrifice the site for a few cheap laughs in-game. In any event the responsibilities of the forum mods will be extended to their games.
4. See point 3. Remember, our games are for fun and ability at the game is not important. If you absolutely must win at all costs, you're probably not going to enjoy a 5punky game.
5. This is mainly down to stress I think, and hopefully everyone will have a better year. However, as site moderators myself and Spoodie will be taking a more active role in maintaining a friendly atmosphere. While previously arguments have been left to run when they got heated, those discussions without any direction other than to criticise each other have proved to not resolve anything.
6. Again, the mod reshuffle should go some way to address this point. Forum mods should be thinking of ways to prompt discussions about their games and thereby generate interest. The appointment of the unofficially dubbed 'minister of fun' should do the same job for the general forum, keeping interest in the site in general. Members are invited to try to reflect their activities on the scheduler for the benefit of those wishing to join in who may not know us as well.
7. There are actions in progress to try to resolve site access issues in the form of a server move within Dreamhosts. There is currently no resolution time for this. Further contingency plans, ranging from database tweaks to an all out move of hosting provider have been discussed and considered.
Aside from these points, there are some major technical changes in the pipeline. Sporadic testing continues on PHPBB3 (we're 5punkers too remember, so the cat herding principle still applies), and this will be accompanied by probably the largest overhaul the site has yet seen. A forum rejig will compliment the mod shuffling, and visual changes are in the design stage. Again, discussions on these are being shadowed in the general forum in order to allow 5punkers to give their input.
In finishing, I'd like to express our best wishes for the coming year, and our gratitude for the previous. It's the members who make 5punk what it is, whether there be 7 or 70 of us, and long may we continue to enjoy bumming and horsing.
The 5tate of 5punk
Moderator: Forum Moderators
The 5tate of 5punk
Last edited by Dog Pants on January 5th, 2009, 20:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Dr. kitteny berk
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Roman Totale
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Nicely put.
That reminds me, I should fire up XFire again one day and see if it's stopped killing my machine (and also since I no longer need be ashamed about playing WoW
)
Edit: dare I say it, but the lack of any serious 5punk grouping in any MMO's may have something to do with fewer new members as well. Cavorting in Pink Latex, Elf Bashing and even Spreadsheets in Space all drew in numerous new 5punkers as we recruited in game. Magical Fairy Land doesn't really cut it as it's been around too long for new groups to form that easily.
That reminds me, I should fire up XFire again one day and see if it's stopped killing my machine (and also since I no longer need be ashamed about playing WoW
)Edit: dare I say it, but the lack of any serious 5punk grouping in any MMO's may have something to do with fewer new members as well. Cavorting in Pink Latex, Elf Bashing and even Spreadsheets in Space all drew in numerous new 5punkers as we recruited in game. Magical Fairy Land doesn't really cut it as it's been around too long for new groups to form that easily.
Last edited by friznit on January 5th, 2009, 20:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Dr. kitteny berk
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TheJockGit
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Well said Pantsu... some very valid points made there. I for one would like to think i have made some good friends through 5punk, and if the site failed (which i seriously doubt) I would still like to think we would keep in touch.
I love the community that has been built up over the years, and I am so very glad we have the people behind it, like yourself, that work so hard to make it the place it is... cheers again, and a big thanks to the rest of you bummers.
I love the community that has been built up over the years, and I am so very glad we have the people behind it, like yourself, that work so hard to make it the place it is... cheers again, and a big thanks to the rest of you bummers.
)Possibly - it's certainly true that Eve brought more than it's fair share of 5punkers. People in Warcraft tend to mostly stick with their guild or move between raid guilds I think, and we'd be more suited to those levelling. The lower the better in fact, but you just don't tend to interact with low level people that much.friznit wrote:Edit: dare I say it, but the lack of any serious 5punk grouping in any MMO's may have something to do with fewer new members as well. Cavorting in Pink Latex, Elf Bashing and even Spreadsheets in Space all drew in numerous new 5punkers as we recruited in game. Magical Fairy Land doesn't really cut it as it's been around too long for new groups to form that easily.
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FatherJack
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I really enjoy helping people out in WoW, both our own members having trouble with tricky mobs and randoms you just bump into. While the game certainly has more than its fair share of idiots, it usually costs you nothing to be nice, and often pays you back in kind. Most of us feel the same, so don't be afraid to ask for a hand - it's collosal fun going back to the areas you've done before and punishing all those baddies that hurt you the first time.Dog Pants wrote:Possibly - it's certainly true that Eve brought more than it's fair share of 5punkers. People in Warcraft tend to mostly stick with their guild or move between raid guilds I think, and we'd be more suited to those levelling. The lower the better in fact, but you just don't tend to interact with low level people that much.
Also XFire - it would be good if we could all keep it running to give ourselves a better idea of what games we're all playing. If you have technical issues, there's enough of us here that we've probably seen the same things and can help out, plus you can turn the messaging off when you're in specific games if it bombs you out or you don't want to be disturbed.
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