Save yourself from the newbies!

[Ultar]

E3 is going to bring a flood of newbies in. We must preserve our small Vanguard community, so I propose EVERYBODY who frequents the official Vanguard off-topic boards to move to the official Sigil boards! http://www.sigilgames.com/forums/

This would keep our smaller uber community safe from the newbies who will inevitably flood the official Vanguard boards! I think it is a great idea! That's why I can up with it. So what you need to do is make a post on the official Vanguards off-topic baords telling eveyrbody to move over to the Sigil boards. You should make htis post ASAP to get people over as soon as possible.

I would make the post myself but Glip gave me da ban hand for being less-than-polite to the newbies. So go over and make this post on the official Vangaurd baords ASAP and we can wake up the Sigil Boards again.

[Havelock]

Too late, Ultar. I just registered over there. The noob zerg has begun. :p

[Genda]

They've been there. Haven't you noticed that the posts have accelerated to a near-WoW level? I can't keep up any more. LOL

[Nath'aal]

Thats kinda why I attached myself to vanguardcrafters.com. Its still small and I feel like a smaller crafting community is more valuable to me than participating in a large horde of people where you can hardly get to know anyone. Plus I really like crafting.

[Ultar]

I mean to stop even MORE newbies who will come from E3. One of ou needs to post this on the VG off-topic forum.

[Orlun]

Yeah, I've pretty much decided the future for Orlun is on these forums and I have slowly started shifting my post over here.

[Ieranii]

Eh, I love new folks, I'm a new folk myself really. I expect though it will get to a point where I can't keep up with posts and then I'll probably just be hanging out at the affiliate sites and some other sites.

Come play on the "last survivor" game at last fanboy Ultar! :)Unless you don't like the off topic games hehe.

[Raya]

I'm of two minds about this. Like Ieranii, I love new people - you never know what jewels might be unearthed, like my two favorite recent noobs, Havelock and Ieranii :D

On the other hand, the new noobs might unsettle the status quo and shake us all up, make us communicate more, make us widen the circle to include them, make us think, make us help them and all sorts of other nasty things. *shudder*

Okay, I just talked myself into it - DOWN WITH NOOBS! :D

(P.S. In case I wasn't as clever as I thought I was, the foregoing was my shot at sarcasm :) )

[Havelock]

More signs of the cataclysm:

The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later

[Orlun]

I remember the last few months of the prerelease SWG forums. I still shudder and have chills thinking of it. Vanguard forums will become the same. Once beta starts the public forums will regress into a truely horrifying place full of whining, imature ranting and chest thumping and endless plea's to be let into beta.

[Ieranii]

You paint an unpleasant picture sir. =/

[Havelock]

I remember the last few months of the prerelease SWG forums. I still shudder and have chills thinking of it. Vanguard forums will become the same. Once beta starts the public forums will regress into a truely horrifying place full of whining, imature ranting and chest thumping and endless plea's to be let into beta.

The pleas come fast and furious already (and sadly, there is already too much whining). But as more info comes out and the forum structure diversifies, I think a lot of the inane conversation will be contained and plenty of goodness will still be able to happen there.

[Orlun]

Oh, there will still be goodness. It's just that it will be smothered in an immense amount of reposts, off topic and grandstanding. Imagine every developer post or thread being run up to a dozen pages in an hour. What will be lost is the sense of small community where your ideas are heard and commented on... and where you can engage others on their ideas (an maybe hear a dev's thoughts) without sorting through pages of off topic comments.

Combine this with a sense that your missing out when a good percentage of those well thought out posters are off in beta and limiting their musings to the private beta forums. PostBeta-preRelease forums are akin to the masses huddling on deck of a sinking ship who finally realize that there are NO more lifeboats as they watch the last ones sail off.

But, I do hope I am wrong. ;)

[Raya]

But, I do hope I am wrong. ;)
Me too! :(

[Nepenthia]

Well since the poor noobs aren't here to defend themselves .... errr did I really say that? Actually, yes!

It is true that things could get crazy and that the official forums will grow exponentially. However, it'd be a pity for the "old guard" to completely retreat in horror.

Part of building a community is setting the tone of the conversation and helping new people feel welcomed. The question in my mind is whether or not a concerted effort to do so on the boards will work. I don't know. What I do know is that among the newbies will be folks who will be very important to building and maintaining a strong community and we don't want to lose them before we even get to know them.

So, even though it's true that there will soon be too much to read in some of the threads (in fact, it's already happening to a certain extent), it'd be really cool if the old-timers stayed visible and present to help maintain the current tone of the forums as best as possible and to help welcome others who are excited about Vanguard.

Hope this doesn't sound too Pollyana-ish ... I am very realistic about what can happen ... but heck it's worth a try to see if the established community can provide a good foundation for the next stage of community.

Nep

[Brinilie]

E3 is going to bring a flood of newbies in. We must preserve our small Vanguard community, so I propose EVERYBODY who frequents the official Vanguard off-topic boards to move to the official Sigil boards! http://www.sigilgames.com/forums/

This would keep our smaller uber community safe from the newbies who will inevitably flood the official Vanguard boards! I think it is a great idea! That's why I can up with it. So what you need to do is make a post on the official Vanguards off-topic baords telling eveyrbody to move over to the Sigil boards. You should make htis post ASAP to get people over as soon as possible.

This is very sad to see. I very recently registered to the Vanguard Forums after just lurking there for a good while. I have played and beta tested several mmorpg's and consider myself far from being a 'n00b'.

I think you will find that a lot of the 'n00bs' are people starting to look a little more closely at this game since it is nearing beta. After the last 3 disappointments I have had with 2nd gen mmorpg's, I am a wee bit apprehensive to get myself all fanboi'd out over the latest game in development.

I would be very suprised to see this community go the way of the WoW 'community', if you can even call it that. You would be doing Brad and Sigil a very large favor to help rectify the misconceptions the newer folks may have with this particular game instead of finding a secret place for your new clubhouse.

Who knows, there might even be an intelligent 'n00b' or two that will grace the forums with their presence. You might even see a great new idea or 3. I hope Sigil hits it big, because I want a new challenge and the opportunity to meet some gamers I haven't had the pleasure of playing with before.

Encouraging fresh ideas and discussion should be embraced, not feared. You make me less inclined to post to 'your' forum. I wish you luck.

Regards.

PS Silky Venom folks: Very nice site. Glad I happened upon it and look forward to your future articles and information.

[Raya]

Thanks for the compliment, Brinillie, and I'm glad you happened along as well. Please don't judge us by this thread. Most of us want to welcome the new people if we can. Heck, two of the brightest stars at Silky Venom are Ieranii and Havelock, both newcomers to Vanguard. We'd be crazy to close any doors to the newcomers.

Right now the OVF (the unofficial term for the official Vanguard forums) is in flux, but I can't honestly say it's the "noobs" who are causing the unrest. I have recently detected a few of the oldtimers getting in there and spouting disinformation--heaven help the newcomers if they judge Vanguard by that.

Anyhow, be welcome here and enjoy what we have to offer.