GameBanshee Forums

I first discovered this site a few years ago and it was maintained by people who cared about what they were doing. It seems that it has become increasingly commercialized, and is rapid declining to the level of Gamespot or the like. I remember the days when there were posts by buck Satan saying he would be out of town for a while and not posting. Now news posts are anonymous and include things such as Gamebanshee Expands! It there anything we can do to save this site from destruction and doom or is it too late?

Originally posted by hwttdz
It seems that it has become increasingly commercialized, and is rapid declining to the level of Gamespot or the like.

Can you elaborate further on that? I seriosuly havn't been reading the mainpage for a long time so I don't have the right to voice my opinion. But can you explain further why you think it's become increasingly commercialized? If it's the quantaty of news-posts, I think that might have to do with the fact that there hasn't been quite as much news in the RPG world after BG2. Or maybe I'm wrong (I must confess I havn't been following for a long time)
I hope you don't mean the pop-ups because that sooner or later happens to every major site, expenses just grow too fast... The subscription is optional and as long as the site remains free I don't think I really have the right to complain

Popups aren't actually a problem, there are not too many. The number of posts has drastically increased, and in my opinion at least the quality of these posts has gone downhill a large number of them being that “today is Wednesday,” the bioware site has received its update. There are more games included which I suppose is alright, even though many of the newer games do not appeal to the audience of the older ones. But in trying to be more inclusive they have lost their focus, it’s ok to include more games if you’re going to do them all justice but for the most part they haven’t been. Some of this is due to the lack of submissions of content by users, which is no fault of gamebanshee but compounds the problem. The forums are less frequented which is one of the reasons that there are less submissions of content. There are less reference threads for newer games. The forums are less discussion oriented and more bookkeeping, and when someone does have a rule question that is unclear it is not answered as often.

I can see that some people might like it more for the changes, and it appears that this is the way all sites must go eventually or die off, but I think the latter might be the nobler death.

Let me take you down the road I have travelled...

GameBanshee has grown from covering a small handful of games (I think I had three or four up at launch) to twenty-one now, with a few behind-the-scenes projects being worked on as well. Without having to detail my daily jobs around the site, it's pretty obvious that they have been compounded several times since the beginning.

Now, although the site has grown immensely, the number of people working on it has not. I still do all administrative work, all news posting, and a vast majority of the content on the site. There are a handful of people that help moderate the forums, Applebrown and Demis have helped out on a few walkthroughs, Aegis has written a few reviews, and Fable recently provided a review for ToEE. Other than that, everything you see is the work of *one* individual. If you look around the internet, you will find other gaming sites that are actually much smaller that are run by a sizeable group of people. I would bet that you'd be hard-pressed to find a single gaming site of this size that is, for the most part, run by a single person.

In the beginning, I covered Baldur's Gate II almost exlusively (and I created the heavens and the earth, but that's beside the point... =) , which allowed me to focus nearly all of my free time on one game. Nowadays, after I get home at around 5:00 PM from my day job, it takes me 2-3 hours just to pull email, do administrative tasks, and post news. By the time I'm done with that, I have very little time to spend on one game, much less all of them. This is why you'll see "BioWare has once again provided their weekly update of..." in the news summaries; it's simply a matter of time management. If my only job was to provide news, I guarantee you that each newsbit would be far more elaborate and descriptive.

I do see your point, though. The site isn't quite as concentrated and thorough as it used to be for certain aspects. That's because I made the decision to grow GameBanshee into a leading RPG website instead of a game-specific fansite that will eventually dwindle and die. Because of that decision, the site continues to climb in traffic, content, and users. Today, it is far more attractive to advertisers than it ever was before, which means it has far more potential for future growth.

So... while GameBanshee may appear to you as "declining", it is only because I've made some difficult decisions over the years in order to keep the site alive. However, you should be happy to learn that I've invested all advertising revenue into the research of human cloning. Soon, if all goes well, we should have several clones of Buck maintaining the site... and taking over the world, of course.

Buck, this is truly a staggering accomplishment for one individual. You should have true pride in this site. If you are in search of help. I might suggest to you that these forums are a source of nearly unlimited manpower. For instance if you need screenshots of each new feat and spell from the new NWN expansion you could ask for someone to put these in a zip folder titled with the name of said feat or spell, then the only work remaining would be to post the new content. This would change your position from the entire staff to an editor? In addition there are likely people who would be happy to do this because it would not be much additional effort from the work they are already investing in the game.

Heh. We all appreciate what you've put together here Buck, and I think thats why there was the concern of GB declining. I can honestly say that since I first found this site in 2000, it's been one of the few that I still visit, and contribute as much as I can and am able to.

Originally posted by Aegis
Heh. We all appreciate what you've put together here Buck, and I think thats why there was the concern of GB declining. I can honestly say that since I first found this site in 2000, it's been one of the few that I still visit, and contribute as much as I can and am able to.

@Aegis - what ever happend to that text I send you about NwN-Sorcerer

Originally posted by Xandax
@Aegis - what ever happend to that text I send you about NwN-Sorcerer

My dog ate it

Actually, I recently was having some interesting issues with my e-mail, and I lost the copy you had sent. Though, I think it was more based towards a forum post, then official, because of the nature of it. Send it again, and I'll be happy to take another look, though.

for what it is worth..

Originally posted by hwttdz
<snip> Some of this is due to the lack of submissions of content by users, which is no fault of gamebanshee but compounds the problem. The forums are less frequented which is one of the reasons that there are less submissions of content. There are less reference threads for newer games. The forums are less discussion oriented and more bookkeeping, and when someone does have a rule question that is unclear it is not answered as often. <snip>

Part of the limited response to existing game forums likely reflects age of the game and availability of detailed walkthroughs. So discussion only arises when opinions are offered or an unusual game twist occurs. Inevitable IMO. The inclusion of a wide range of RPGs though breathes new life to the forums with new releases, follow ups etc. Also fertile ground for advertising obviously. With the advent of online multiplayer RPGS perhaps a concentration of GB'ers could coordinate to synchronize online access to particular servers (ie role play together) as a functional vechile for subsequent forum discussion. I am sure there would be amusing tales to tell.

Regardless, evolution is relentless and change must always occur. I would however caution Buck on the cloning project - there may be decreased longevity of the clones and we would hate to sanction Admin dieoffs or culling....

Pedantry alert!

Beyond that, evolution is random changes over time, so it's a tad misleading to say that GB is devolving...

Originally posted by Aegis
My dog ate it

Actually, I recently was having some interesting issues with my e-mail, and I lost the copy you had sent. Though, I think it was more based towards a forum post, then official, because of the nature of it. Send it again, and I'll be happy to take another look, though.

Jus cuse I cant wraite gud

devolution is impossible because evolution is irreversable. All that is happening to GB is that as more people know about the site, they expect to see more things on it. In my opinion, GB remains the definative site for RPG related information, and the walkthroughs, equipment lists and NPC pages are without equal. Given this site is run primarily by a single (though talented) entity, I consider it a marvel of dedication and the paragon for all other game sites.

Long live the Buck