Something has been itching me..lately..a lot..

[Tuomas]

And yet, at some point everyone grew up and gave up making games themselves

[Andail]

It's funny how this thread keeps appearing, as if anything is different now compared to some time in the past.
People always move on, we'll always lose members and gain new.
I wouldn't even consider most of the members in that initial post oldies (as in EZ-board members), but everything's relative I guess.

[Jimbob]

Some people move on I guess.

I used to be heavily involved with the Click community, then when I started using Blitz, that community, even going to one of the events, and then Tigsource which I still visit, and now here, because I've got the inkling to make some adventures... it's the cycle of life! Embrace change! Appreciate the past but do not dwell on it too much! There is not enough time!

etc... 

[Nikolas]

I'm 50% newbie in comparison to ezboard members! Never been to mittens, Brittens and the rest and I actually am not sure if I would be a nice addition anymore. AGS is always a part of me (considering I work in a couple of games), but either way it appears that the 'times of the forums' seems to be coming to a closure now. Many of the VERY popular forums seem to be doing quite bad (music related), and this just seems to be the todays' sign.

We will need to accept it and move on.

It just makes me wonder: If forums covered a communcation need (as it happened with me and I suspect for most), then what is now on? Twitter and Blogs do not seem to be equally communicative (or rather interactive, or democratic if you will). I'm still finding great value to the communication of the Internet, but...

[auriond]

MSN (or equivalent), Twitter and Facebook are reducing the need for forums, it seems.

[Domino]

MSN (or equivalent), Twitter and Facebook are reducing the need for forums, it seems.

I just signed up for Facebook last week and have found it very addicting in my opinion. I fear I have lost some of my love for these forums...but FB (for me) will wear out soon, and then I will return to posting again.

I still love these Forums, but not as much.

Domino

[Snarky]

In the 90s I used to post to a couple of different Usenet newsgroups. In some ways they were actually superior to internet forums (particularly the hierarchical threading), though the text-only format was a bit of a bummer. Usenet as a communication forum seemed to completely collapse around 2000-2004 (at least the groups I used to belong to did), though it remained popular for file sharing for a while after that. I believe the main reason was that they weren't accessed through the web browser, which made the barrier of entry too high for most new Internet users.

I think Internet forums are pretty far from being in that same position. Twitter and Facebook don't really support the same communication type, and MSN isn't even in the ballpark. I think for the foreseeable future there will be a need for a way to have a public discussion board closely associated with a website, with indefinite persistent storage of messages and conversations organized by topic. Some of the more community-oriented chatter may move to other mediums, but I don't think that means the community will die out.

Unless you think you've turned into a thoroughly unpleasant individual over the last few years, Nikolas, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be a nice addition to Mittens.

[auriond]

To be clear, I don't think the internet forum is going the way of Usenet. However, much of what used to keep internet forums going was this kind of idle chatter that's now gone to the other communication channels. People now find it troublesome to sign in to forums, or at least that's the feedback I got on mine.

[Chicky]

I remember sitting on the forums all day and having loads to read, the critics lounge was a lot more interesting a few years back.

I say we all post a lot more.

[Snarky]

I can start posting a bunch of half-assed art and you can all rip it to pieces. I'll get my revenge by not implementing any of your suggestions.

[IndieBoy]

I've been reading the forums for the past 5 or 6 years (Joined in 2004) and, yeah back then I found a lot more to read. But I think that is all due to AGS being all brand new to me back then. Now, years later, I've grown up with AGS and I'm still excited with everything that goes on in the forums, just my "standards" have risen in what I read and participate in thread-wise.*

I believe this is the case with older members hardly posting, but are still visiting the forums and why newer members seem to be more active.


*I don't mean this in any particular snooty way, just maybe the occurrence of threads about topics that were previously discussed etc

[SSH]

Of course, many of the people here in this discussion aren't actually releasing any games. Including me (1 in 2009 if you count the awards ceremony, 1 in 2008). I'm not even writing modules any more.

I need a creative urge to compel me to do something. Or maybe just more free time.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

How many Princess Marians do you think you've got in you, anyway? 

[Timo.]

How many Princess Marians do you think you've got in you, anyway? 

I'm going to guess none anymore.

Ha, I'm definitely one of the newer ones here. 31 posts (T.T) and this makes the count 32.
Well, like life and everything that involves people, there are different generations in these processes.
People age and they move on to do things they believe are greater in life. That might explain why oldies go missing after awhile. I was writing to Greg from Herculean Effort Productions (THE APPRENTICE 1 and 2, OH HOW I LOVE IT! ) and he was talking about having a proper career. A career rarely stems from making indie games. This also explains why Greg and his partner might never move on to make The Apprentice 3; they do not want time wasted on making the game while they could devote the time to earning money and feeding their family. They move out of indie gaming and consequently move out of the forums.

Well, for me, AGS is a whole new world of discovery. I have got many other things I want to learn from this forum and so I'm not losing interest in it yet. Well, what the future holds, I obviously don't know. Maybe people do lose interest over here over time. In my opinion, it's all about a generation shift. They move on and a new generation of indie gamers move into the forums. Cycles, I think.

[Haddas]

I like to think of ags as a suppository of knowledge.

[poc301]

I like to think of ags as a suppository of knowledge.

Hahaha, suppository.

-Bill

[Baron]

AGSers... always with the nostalgia.  In four to six years these will be the good old days!

I agree, and my own life experience is evidence, that as members progress to the next life-stage  (career + family) they have less time for their hobbies.  I applaud the likes of SSH and Vince Twelve (etc.) for still actively participating in the adventure game scene on top of their real world obligations, even if it's not as frequent or as free as in the past.

I doubt that the old-timers have forgotten about adventure gaming, however.  For me, I find, it's in the blood.  Once an AGSer, always and AGSer.  Just look at all the lost souls who periodically turn up in "Remember Me?" threads.  Other obligations or passions might detain them from posting, but I bet every so often those old-timers still get a game idea.  They'll be back.

As for the forums not being as interesting as they used to be.... it's because all the really exciting dirt gets dished on the somewhat secret and incredibly exclusive old-timer-only boards.  Tell me I'm wrong!

[Jim Reed]

Heed the wise, new things are interesting while they're new. So the old times were more interesting, because they had more things for you to discover.

[Timosity]

I'd say most of the people that played all the old adventure games, and had an interest in creating their own, have eventually ended up here, It has even got to the point where it is probably kids of people who played the old adventure games have become members and wanted to make a game.

It will die out eventually, and probably have waves of new popularity before then.

As far as forums go, as others have said, they are less popular cause of Facebook etc

I'm not sure if these things are a passing thing, or the developing process of the way of the future. I guess they are all experimental, and it just depends on the trend of the time.

Myspace was the popular thing before facebook, then sometime in 2007 everyone jumped on the FB bandwagon.

FB keeps changing to try and stay popular, and everyone bitches when it changes, but people get used to it, then it changes again, and people want it back to the way they didn't want it before, I find it quite funny. But it is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family that you normal wouldn't keep in touch with.

I got google wave, but that just seems pointless as far as i can se, it has a lot of work to do if it wants to be ahead of FB.

I find Myspace is still the best music site out there, any band no matter how small, has got a page, and some tunes up. Often if I'm going to see a band, I can even look up the support bands and hear a few songs. So it still has a place out there.

I've been on these forums as long and longer than some of those people mentioned, and I hadn't posted for ages until recently either. I fly under the radar in most places, but that is just who i am, and have succeeded here too.

[Arboris]

Been here since 2003, and I haven't released one full game in all that time Quite sad actually. And even if I have a moment of inspiration, I'm usually more interested in using AGS in ways it wasn't meant for.  (Currently busy on a Golden Axe clone for whenever the mood strikes me for example)

Also: I haven't seen Helm in a very long time.