Disappointing, since not all of us can get away with running Discord while at work. (And at home, I just don't care to do so. I could be gaming!)

The date does not appear to be April 1st.

Therefore, boo. I very much disagree with this decission.

- Andreas

Seems like a big step backward to me.

-- Robert

From the pitch of the vibration you determine that the purpose of the shield is as a shield.

Some of us don't have the time to wade through (or even attempt to keep up with) 1000's of conversations on discord to seek out information. This doesn't feel like a very thought-out decision. Hopefully there will be some reconsideration.

Siierra O'Leigha
Faith Healer
Devout Follower of Imaera

This is an extemely bad idea.

There are those of us who hardly frequent Discord at all. I play in Plat and I also have a very busy day and night. There is no way that I can keep up with all the jabber and information flow in Discord.

The biggest problem is that, if a person is not constantly in touch with the main Discord, then how are they to know when they have missed some information since you can't just pull out of thin air that something was said.

And, despite all the promises and assurance and what not, data and record keeping simply has not kept abreast of game implementation.

Further, a forum is not only a place to opine but it serves as a reference and archive of information which can be reffered back to. Are we now supposed to copy and accumulate our own info haphazardly gathered as we have time from the gigabytes of information that flows through Discord on a daily basis?

I posted elsewhere under the general announcements thread but I'll post here too since more appear to be posting in this location. I'll agree with the rest at the feeling of disappointment and frustration.

Discord is a fine platform for general live chatting, but it's a terrible platform for curating information. Finding, seeking, and paging through it sucks so much. I truly hate the position Discord has taken in the information sphere of the internet. Hate it, I don't even log into Discord most of the time honestly.

I hope Wyrom that this means the Wiki will see improvements to information presented there. The announcement section and general information incompleteness is frustrating currently. I also hugely dislike that I repeatedly get directed to Discord when information is missing on the wiki as anside.

Also, you need to have a serious sit down talk with staff and how they interact on Discord. Repeatedly I have seen players come into a category an ask a question because they ran into a problem and are seeking help, information or whatever. They'll be a name in red or two chatting away and never respond to the player.

I've had it happen to me as well, and when your frustrated because you can't find answers on the forum or wiki and you come into Discord and watch GMs chattering a way but they act like you aren't there you start to get more frustrated. I almost invariably assume I did something to piss off the GM in the past and so they're ignoring me. I know that's probably not the case but it's frustrating and the tendency to blame oneself first isn't common to just me.

Even if the GM doesn't have an answer, a simple point them in the right direction or a "Oh, on that you might want to put in assist, so that someone who does know what to or how to handle that can take a look". Customer service, at a basic level in other words. Because even if the GM isn't intending on coming off as if they're ignoring, they're forgetting how often perception is reality for some frustrated player. That's my opinion, hope its useful.

Several questions occur

1st Are you serious? How is this better communication by shutting down the forum? Do you mean to make it strictly discord now for communication and doing away with twitter while you ate at it?

2nd Town communications.... forums are usually the goto and correct me if I am wrong, but there is no Icemule channel, no Landing channel, etc. So where to see the story lines? Is it now an expectation of town gurus to post in discord now when some of them dont and usually post here (which I prefer)?


3rd Do you have your calendar on the wrong page? This isnt the 1st of April....



__________________________
- Kobold in Disguise Falvicar, Blade of the Night

You swing a silver-edged black veil iron katana at Sevynne!

* Sevynne drops dead at your feet!
* Sevynne just bit the dust!

This seems like a bad idea. Fewer avenues would make for worse communication, not better.

Sweet is the sound of the pouring rain,
And the stream that falls from the hill to plain.
Better than rain or rippling brook,
Is a mug of beer inside this Took.

I hope the higher ups, whoever they are, realize that shutting down the forums puts more control of GS directly into the hands of Discord. This is an extremely simple thing to grasp. Whoever controls the information flow controls that which the information is about. Have they even asked what would happen should Discord go down or even shut down permanently?

Disclaimer: fresh, raw thoughts subject to change later or as things change.



At first I was super excited over this announcement because, even though I am one of the players who reads new forum messages at least once every day, I also kind of hate these wildly outdated forums. I figured that pretty much anything to replace them would be a step up. Trouble is that so far there's no indication there even will be a replacement--unless it's Discord, which won't work.

Now, I love Discord, but there's almost no overlap between what it brings to the table and what forums bring to the table. They're too fundamentally different and there's simply too overwhelming an amount of information on Discord for it to ever be lasting and easily accessible. (All attempts to preserve select posts from it have fallen short: my own attempt to manually save select GM quotes, LostRanger's attempt at automation for saving all GM quotes, Darcena's Daily Discord Digest, the starboard...)

So far the staff response has been that information of more lasting value can go on the wiki. That's almost fair, but looking through the recent changes wiki page is actually more cumbersome (dramatically so) than looking through even these forums. I don't see how people will be made aware of when relevant info goes onto the wiki unless the person updating doubles up by also announcing it in another venue, which defeats the point of simplifying in the first place. Nor do I see how or where we go to offer suggestions or have conversations with staff in any non-transient capacity.


That's my explanation of the problem, but thankfully the solution is simple: you need either forums or something that much more closely resembles them than Discord or the wiki do. (Not these forums--definitely not these forums--but something.)

To be honest, the official forums have been all but useless. It's next to impossible to find anything as they're impossibly cumbersome to navigate. So, good riddance. Either move everything over to discord, or replace the forums with more modern and streamlined ones that are not as convoluted.

Shutting down the forums to provide communication.... if you say so.


Starchitin, the OG

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.

>>[5:00 PM EST] Wyrom: I definitely encourage everyone to discuss the announcement here (or the forums, too soon?), but just be aware this isn't a decision the GameMasters have made. This comes from higher up and it impacts both GS and DR.

Well, the higher ups are confused and need their heads adjusted.

<If your higher ups want to ditch the forums, have them come be honest with us about why, because "to make sure we deliver appropriate communication" is delusional at best. They should seek discussion and feedback on things like this, not just provide a pre-cooked statement for a figurehead to post.>

This. Very much this.

Tell them to grow some stones and come tell us themselves before insulting our intelligence with that drivel. Whoever wrote those words, it's your name attached to them.

Starchitin, the OG

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.

>If your higher ups want to ditch the forums, have them come be honest with us about why, because "to make sure we deliver appropriate communication" is delusional at best. They should seek discussion and feedback on things like this, not just provide a pre-cooked statement for a figurehead to post.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
x10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

~Cylnthia Kythnis Ardenai
~Imaeran Inquisitor
~Rose Guardian, House Sylvanfair

I hate to say it but...all these posts letting the "higher ups" know we think this is a bad idea aren't even falling of deaf ears. Not sure when the last time someone above the level of a GM actually came to the forums to read any posts was. Sad.

Thinking about some of the impacts from this announcement.

1) I think this will have a very negative impact on the community as a whole. Speaking personally, I feel connected with more of the players in this community through the forums than I do through in game play. I have no plans of actively participating in Discord.

2) Simu derives a lot of benefit from these forums from a Customer Service perspective. It is a place for players are able to post problems and issues and a place where not only GMs, but other players are able to provide assistance for game and technology issues. Increasing the difficulty in being able to resolve a frustrating problem will likely drive players (especially newer ones) away from the game.

3) I don't think I am alone in saying this is where I get my information about events, updates, happenings, and general direction of the game. Less communication likely means less connection to the game longer term. Missing out on important events and happenings due to lack of information will likely hasten this.

Just my additional two silvers worth and possibly my last post on these forums.

Cheers, good health, and good fortune to the players and NIRs who I typically do not encounter in game! You will be missed!

-- Robert/PEREGRINEFALCON

From the pitch of the vibration you determine that the purpose of the shield is as a shield.

I was just talking to my wife about this, great post Robert.

Jim/Celtar

This is sorely disappointing news, and I deeply hope the decision is reconsidered unless replacement forums are implemented. I don't post very much, but I read these forums nearly every day and I would lose out on a wealth of information, conversation, and updates. Neither the wiki nor Discord fulfill the same function, making the reasoning of "an effort to make sure we deliver appropriate communication" very flimsy indeed.

Perhaps consider pulling back on NIR obligations to post on these forums instead? That should save on time and costs. But please don't throw baby out with the bath water.

Out of curiosity, I checked both the Simutronics and DragonRealms folders, and haven't seen any mention of this yet. Perhaps it was announced to a different channel. I have a hunch DR will be harder hit by the loss of the official forums.

I understand there are proponents of Discord on staff that support this change. It really doesn't matter whose decision it was, or where the buck stops. We've seen the writing on the wall. I trust their judgment, but please also consider that Discord is just as much a 3rd party tool as AOL Instant Messenger was. Hopefully there is a fallback plan.

I would join others in asking whomever to consider postponing this until a reasonable strategy to replace the forums is found. Or, at least, to ensure that there is still an avenue for posted role-playing (Towns, CHE/MHOs, Character Histories, etc). Archival would be great, too -- we've lost a lot of great ideas to the void already.

The first question a good friend of mine asked me after this announcement was "Is this the first step in shutting down GS?"

I can't say it didn't cross my mind.

Wee Sleepy Gnomette's player

From nearby, you hear Vyrshkana yell, "Why I's still drunkifyinged!"
Zicune yells, "Phenomenal cosmic liquir!"
Zicune yells, "Itty bitty drinker!"