SUGGESTIONS for G4L from G4Lers

**itzbryan** · 10-08-2017, 04:30 PM

I'm fond of this forum. I think we should hold a public brainstorm session to come up with ways to increase engagement here. I know there have been issues with the administration of the site moving on in life and neglecting the forum, I'd like to know the current state of that and how any suggestions we come up with could be implemented.

Suggestion #1: Live stream sub-forum. Implement a notification system for the forum to show off the number of live streamers affiliated with the forum and promo them. An example can be seen here: https://cncnet.org/ (top right corner assuming someone is live). Perhaps list all streamers with more than 50 posts, but leave it up to mods to "feature" streamers based on their activity in the forum. E.g. true active members are "featured." This also presents a money generating opportunity for the forum for paid "featured" content.

Suggestion #2: Badges: It's dope that we can see when people joined the forum. But nothing else to tell us about these people. Would be cool to have badges to acknowledge people's "achievements" such as a "Trusted" badge, "Donor" badge, or icons of the games we play.

Suggestion #3: perhaps a live chat? Not a great suggestion.

Suggestion #4: Search Engine Optimization and social media. We need to better advertise/market the forum. E.G. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Google search (when I type in 'gaming forum' on Google, G4L should show up).

Suggestion #5: New games. I know, I know. I remember years ago when the forum changed to G4L, this was the goal: to add a new game title to the forum to bring in new players; I don't know how successful it was, but we can do it again.

Suggestion #6: New banners/designs. What about a mashup of various gaming icons for a new banner for Gamers4Life? Here's the idea I'm talking about.

Example:

Example:

Suggestion #7: Obtain the domain G4L.com as an alternate path to get to the site for ease of access.

Suggestion #8: New subforum under "General" called "Introductions OR Introduce Yourself" for new members.

I know a lot of you guys still come around here for the same reasons I do. We can make this forum thrive with some $$$ and attention. I'd be willing to help.

**ChiliChips** · 10-09-2017, 09:28 AM

Nothings gonna happen, though.

1: Easily done but needs Devile, the only one with actual fileaccess, to handle. He only pops up every few month to promise changes and disappear a couple days later.
2: Same as above.
3: Same as above + has been denied many times.
4: The only way g4l will be able to compete seowise with any other gaming sites is by longtails. Considering that this forum is still only for knight online, kinda pointless. Gamers4Life is the best proof for the halfassed implementation of the Administation. I remember Devile and cama talking about how much of an improvement it would be if the forum turns into a general gaming forum. What happened? Devile bought a new domain, renamed the forum, added a couple categories and thats it. 10 mins of work.
5: G4L already has a general gaming section nobody participates in. Nobody will participate in any destined section which was one of the reasons they have been removed in the first place. Another reason was that it split the forum into too many sections, making the forum look less active.
6: Only administrators can swap images and/or modify the template. There's no active one.

Not trying to be a negative nancy here but that's just how it is. A forum with no form of administration has no way to improve. Back when the core was active, as in cama, schrotti, lutz etc. was the time the forum could have turned into something better. After everyone slowly moved on, Devile shoulda done the same and give the forum into hands that care.

**DoomBringer** · 10-09-2017, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by ChiliChips

Nothings gonna happen, though.

1: Easily done but needs Devile, the only one with actual fileaccess, to handle. He only pops up every few month to promise changes and disappear a couple days later.
2: Same as above.
3: Same as above + has been denied many times.
4: The only way g4l will be able to compete seowise with any other gaming sites is by longtails. Considering that this forum is still only for knight online, kinda pointless. Gamers4Life is the best proof for the halfassed implementation of the Administation. I remember Devile and cama talking about how much of an improvement it would be if the forum turns into a general gaming forum. What happened? Devile bought a new domain, renamed the forum, added a couple categories and thats it. 10 mins of work.
5: G4L already has a general gaming section nobody participates in. Nobody will participate in any destined section which was one of the reasons they have been removed in the first place. Another reason was that it split the forum into too many sections, making the forum look less active.
6: Only administrators can swap images and/or modify the template. There's no active one.

Not trying to be a negative nancy here but that's just how it is. A forum with no form of administration has no way to improve. Back when the core was active, as in cama, schrotti, lutz etc. was the time the forum could have turned into something better. After everyone slowly moved on, Devile shoulda done the same and give the forum into hands that care.

I haven't seen him make any promises in a long time, he only appears when forums are under attack nowadays

**regiss** · 10-09-2017, 11:25 AM

**DoomBringer** · 10-09-2017, 12:41 PM

Oh shit
OP made post a month ago
FORGIVE ME kallopp-sama and razor-dono

**Darken** · 10-09-2017, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by DoomBringer

Oh shit
OP made post a month ago
FORGIVE ME kallopp-sama and razor-dono

You mean one day ago.
Even if it was month ago, there is nothing wrong replying to it. No need to apology to anyone about it.

**itzbryan** · 10-09-2017, 06:55 PM

Well that's as I figured, but the reality is someone is still paying for the site here so maybe we should come up with some great ideas and have the mods present this to whomever to re-engage them or again stir the thought of allowing someone more willing to move forward with the forum! The good news is this forum isn't starting from scratch. There are quite a number of people here who will be here as our base for any upgrades and newcomers we get. Definitely needs a face lift to be more engaging. The forum is dead because the game is dead. Time to revamp.

**itzbryan** · 10-09-2017, 07:03 PM

I can't tell you how many games exist that don't have true unofficial forums. There are definitely opportunities.

**razor** · 10-09-2017, 09:45 PM

Forums are in general an obsolete platform. Getting a new audience here, interested in current mainstream titles, is just not going to happen at this point.

Integration with bigger and more popular platforms like reddit, twitch, steam and such would be fine but that would not necessarily bring new people, instead I see it as an attempt to cement us as a community... unfortunately this community is far from being a united bunch of people. I personally have nothing to do with most individuals here though that's just me.

You mentioned older games, I don't know if that would work but at least seems more viable than trying to appeal to the ever-hopping meme-loving mainstream audience who simply cannot play a game more than 1 month. They're like the polar opposite compared to us lol.

Even if a major shakeup did happen, I doubt most people would follow, unless the forum closes with a huge notice that says "hey guys go here instead". We know how that ended too. Devile doesn't want to let this die and it's an understandable feeling yet it's as if we're stuck on a limbo. Preserving what you created is alright but if no further interest is shown aside from occasionally making sure that nobody takes your community elsewhere, then it becomes harder to justify such zealousness.

Having said all of this, I still wouldn't like this weird mismatch of a community to simply die. I think it's cool that after all these years, people from a lot of countries such as denmark, peru, israel, saudi arabia, australia, us, canada, sweden, germany, finland, uk, greece, etc. still keep in touch, mostly centered around one game in particular.

**Marcelo** · 10-09-2017, 10:45 PM

The forum is dead because the game is dead. Thats it.

**Kallop** · 10-10-2017, 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by Darken

You mean one day ago.
Even if it was month ago, there is nothing wrong replying to it. No need to apology to anyone about it.

Actually fooled me as well. The date is written in non-European format, so it's a little confusing. Either way, the forums were made originally for people to have a safe haven away from the official forums. To speak freely without being restricted by K2. It was a friendly place at first and there is some history of it if you read the archives about their rules and some of the conversations of the original staff members.

Eventually the forums turned more into a marketplace than anything else, which of course invited the babashoppers to stay here and that's when the user count was peaking with all the strong English clans buying and selling their items here. But as time passed and the game got older and the official server turned out to be a rotten carcass more than anything due to cheaters, the PSKO community emerged and the forums were given another life for the time being.

Now, as much as it may sadden you, the PSKO community is a dying one as well. There are less and less good servers launching, due to the lack of users, and even those people who stuck around after quitting official are gone for the most part. People still come by every now and then to reminisce and maybe play for a month or two, but even I haven't played more than a couple weeks in 2017. And that's quite a change considering I was running one of the most active English private server clans for years.

**SkyHunter** · 10-10-2017, 10:08 AM

tbh the only way to get an alive community or what's left of it would be to open a discord server and let people join, however I doubt that would end well

**itzbryan** · 10-10-2017, 10:15 AM

If I knew how to make a poll I would see how many people here actually play KO. I'm betting there are a lot more than you think who DON'T play anymore on this forum. I agree and promote the notion that the primary reason this forum is dead is because the game is dead. There are surefire ways to grow this forum. Hundreds of millions of gamers out there -- not a chance anyone can convince me there is "no way to grow the GAMERS4LIFE forum." Just takes someone with the knowledge of web design, social media, and fucks to give.