Hi all,
In the most recent episode of
Stoked, Chris and Jeremy made a few comments about how fragmented and divided the STO community seems to be, from competing podcasts to the various specialized sites. They suggested that Cryptic could do much to bring the community back together by having an official community portal of sorts.
I really like this idea. There could be a single page on the main STO site that automatically supplies the entire community with rss updates from all of the various STO fan sites out there, allowing for a central hub of resources and media. Incorporating fleets might be tricky, but something that better centralizes the STO community would be neat, especially if it gave browsers a portal to all of the various niches of the community.
Do you like this idea? In your opinion, how should Cryptic go about selecting the sites, resources, wikis, podcasts, etc.? How can they facilitate the continued growth of a vibrant gaming community?
Please share your ideas.
Comments
No. Never. The community must never be united. These forums are one of the most reliable places on the entire interwebz for laugh-out-loud comedy from some of the most innane postings and nerd-rage rants ever. If everyone suddenly feels all communal, that'll dry up. That cannot be allowed to happen!
But, ya know...hey, its a good idea and all. OK, fine. I like the idea. Just remember we will all blame you when all of the epic C-STORE IS EVIL! and WHY DO DEVS HATE KLINKS?! threads are gone and everyone is pleasant to each other.
No apple for you. (good idea thou)
The various wiki's, podcasts and fan sites (except fleet sites) should be given their own links page, if not on the Main Page.
I worry though that the inclusion of fleets could be divisive, whereas the inclusion of all other sites would be a no-brainer.
No, no - I mean applications on the site that work properly (like if the Captain's Database were working) but ones for foundry missions or fleets. Small, bio-style pages.
Perhaps linked to that in game search feature.... Though I am sure most fleets would like to add extra stuff like external logo's rather than those in game.
A rating system where people vote on their fav would be just a nuisance and become a hot bed of problems. I like the idea of a community portal where fan sites are listed however, but without any type of rating system (perhaps just alphabetically), but it'd be something that'd have to be strictly monitored for the occasional person posting links to TRIBBLE sites and what have you (and we all know it'd happen hehe).
Though Darren poses good points. More apps for fleets etc tied into the website would just rock (and I believe stormy did make that comment awhile back he'd like to see it too).
There are so many different ways it could be done, but I also like your suggestions. They would need to avoid favoritism while still providing the community with a needed central hub of resources and fan sites. So long as it's comprehensive and fair, I think most players would welcome it.
You should check out the site I built for our fleet: http://starfleetops.org/crew/user/Starwalker/
Who would pay the lawyers? who will pay the fines and who will pay the royalties and who will receive them? who will decide on policy and what violates it and what the penalties are and who enforces it over the entire world as we know it.
If you can answer these questions with out any ambiguity or loopholes then perhaps that may be possible, but you better be a lawyer working pro-bono for about 5 years to sort it all out and then win the lottery to pay everyone else's lawyer for taking the time to shoot your ideas down in flames.
Don't get me wrong... it would be nice to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony... but you'd have an easier time just buying them a Coke and watching them smile.
It can't really be that complicated, can it? There are a limited number of sto fan sites, each with a niche of their own. The community portal would simply bring them all together for the playerbase.
Premier Sites are usually larger community/journalism sites such as ZAM. In order to become a Premier Site you have to agree to a set of terms laid out by SE. If your site has forums, then you have to abide by certain moderation guidelines they lay out. Premier Sites also have some access to interviews with community reps. Premier Sites are often featured in the game launcher and sometimes press releases made by SE. Sometimes these sites even have contests sponsored by SE. However, SE can also make your site take down articles and such at the risk of losing your Premium status. It's happened before when they stepped in and made one of the sites take down info that was posted too early.
Featured Sites are basically sites like LS (fleet) pages and other lesser community pages. They are just listed on the portal and do not have the privileges of Premier Sites.
FFXI Community Portal
FFXI Home
FFXIV Community Portal
FFXIV Home
They also have this nice little disclaimer at the bottom of the page:
You can check around those sites to see how they do it if you like. The FFXIV page has more community features like personal player sites, player blogs, LS (fleet) pages/forums, character stats and such. As nice as it is, I really don't think Cryptic needs to make it quite that extensive.
Anyway, with talk about a community portal I thought I'd post a working example of how it could be done. I don't mean to say that they should do it exactly like this, but merely to provide an example. That said, I do like the idea of a community portal. I only just recently found the STO wiki, but only after someone mentioned it in zone chat in game. It would be nice to have that listed somewhere here.
You mean like stogeek.com?
Beside that you will always have seperate groups that form, simple science, try putting x number of people in a room, if the number is 3 or lower most chance they form 1 group, above 4 the large the number the more likely they form sperate groups, generaly maxing each group at 6-8 people (depending on table size).
Yo Kirk it can be done. It's just a matter of willpower. We could make it happen, if there was concerted effort.
Yeah, I should clarify. Keep marketing 8 miles from this idea, lol.