The 'How are we doing' thread.

[captain x]

Dear Community,

It's been an interesting few years in the life of Buttonmasher, not least the last 12 months and while for a few months we were pretty quiet we think you might agree we've turned it up a notch recently.

Now it's over to you, we want to know what you think, what you enjoy, what you read or listen to.

Do you regularly visit the front page or do you only haunt the forums?

Do you follow on Twitter or Facebook and follow links from there?

Do you have particular gaming interests, do we provide the right content?

Do you listen to the podcast religiously / regularly / occasionally?

Do you have an opinion, because we'd like to hear it, we might not be able to do something about it right away, but hey at least it's a two way street.

Engage.

[accidental]

I'll be honest and say that although I'm a pretty regular forum contributor, I almost never go to the main site.

Don't feel too bad, though, because I don't visit any video game sites anymore. I just listen to gaming podcasts instead because I spend 3 hours a day commuting and it's difficult to read while driving and walking!

I should probably check on the BM podcast to see if it's improved since the last time I listened a couple of years ago :P

You know, if there was a way to better integrate the articles and comments on the main site with the forum, then I'm sure I'd read and interact with the content on the main site. I also don't like the way that the articles are automatically spat out onto the forums—so I don't read them.

[emetic]

I'll also be honest and say the main site looks like a marmite jar, the reviews are lame, I've never managed to listen to more than a few minutes of a podcast and the forum's running on positively antediluvian software. I like the forum people and that's all that a good community needs, so buttonmasher's still my favourite hangout for gaming peep news.

No offense or anything, that's just the way I see it and I don't pretend that I'd be any more professional if I was in control. In fact, far less so. =^-^;

So um... yeah, I only see the front page if I accidentally go there when intending to visit the forums, or on the odd occasion I read a news post on teh forums which interests me (though I won't read the article if it's obvious it's not been proofed and has markup language or layout issues). I don't tend to play new or popular games, nor do I keep common hours with most of the peeps here, so I don't join in any regular gaming nights... I don't follow on twitter or facebook, and.. I didn't know you ever did interviews.
Competitions and giveaways have been interesting and good to me in the past; I'm quite happy with that element

If I had to give an overall "how good is buttonmasher" I'd rate it an 8 out of 10, I think. It would be a 10 purely on the strength of character of the regulars here, but it loses a few points because the forum software is naff. vBulletin, eh.. .cool.

(now that I look, I see some extra stuff I didn't notice already, such as a "today's events" link at the bottom of the page. Weird.)

[Gazza420]

Originally Posted by emetic

I'll also be honest and say the main site looks like a marmite jar, the reviews are lame, I've never managed to listen to more than a few minutes of a podcast and the forum's running on positively antediluvian software. I like the forum people...

Ditto...well, MOST of the forum people ...and reviews are well written, but lame because they're always posted so late after release.

Edit: Also ,although I've poo-poo'd them in the past, I applaud the 'originality' of the competitions held here...

[Wugga]

Originally Posted by emetic

If I had to give an overall "how good is buttonmasher" I'd rate it an 8 out of 10, I think. It would be a 10 purely on the strength of character of the regulars here, but it loses a few points because the forum software is naff. vBulletin, eh.. .cool.

Is your distaste for vBulletin great enough that you wouldn't blink at all the posts lost if we changed to something else? (assuming worst case scenario, data migration impossible)

[FaceAche]

Originally Posted by accidental

I'll be honest and say that although I'm a pretty regular forum contributor, I almost never go to the main site.

Same.

The forums, the community, the fun and laughs we have, the fact that an arsehole like me is tolerated, even welcomed on occasion, that we can have robust debates but get over them and are still able to get on well with each other (well, MOST of the forum people get over them )

For gaming news etc, i generally go to Joystiq, occasionally Kotaku if the new site design doesn't jar too much on that particular day.

I don't ever listen to the podcast - just don't have the time for it really. I don't personally Facebook or Twitter, so don't follow BM via either.

For me, it's hanging out with a bunch of like-minded dudes who are into gaming. And the generosity of the BM forum members never ceases to amaze me - i said "Hey guys, anyone got a transfer cable i can borrow?" and there was one waiting for me in my letterbox when i got home that day. How cool is that?

[accidental]

I agree. If BM was to ever have a massive rethink, I reckon it would be awesome to find a solution to integrating the forum with the main site content. As in, the forum community is where the news is at and where it's discussed. The community is what makes this place unique. In a similar way that Kotaku is (at least used to be) driven by it's editorial perspective on gaming news and the commenters. BM could be focused on the community, and the news and reviews could be integrated into and feed back into—and out of—the community discussion. At the moment it the news/reviews is segregated, when it could be integrated and embraced.

I totally understand that the contributors have a passion for gaming news and reviews, but I think that passion could be channelled into something unique rather than one of the many 'me too' gaming sites around. No offense intended!

/mind dump

[Vivasanti]

I've been here from day dot, I like the people who come here, I've listened to a few podcasts but that's it, I play a lot with guys off this site too, don't read reviews either TBH.

sites still pretty quiet I'd like to organise a few more comps and some inter website battles, thinking about a super street fighter night soon.

[maccesfield]

hi long time reader first time wri.....

I come to both pages twice a day. don't mind the layout as it is the people that I come here for. this is the first forum i have joined and most likely the last as i have yet to find a place similar to BM. don't have time to listen to Pod casts and don't have twitter or face book.

agree with above comments regarding comps.

anyways thats all i have to say about that (have i heard that somewhere before....)

[Newsboy]

Need an editor to proofread the articles/reviews. All too often there are missing words and/or grammatical and spelling mistakes.
Example from today: "At it’s heart, L.A. Noire....."

[emetic]

Originally Posted by Wugga

Is your distaste for vBulletin great enough that you wouldn't blink at all the posts lost if we changed to something else? (assuming worst case scenario, data migration impossible)

It's hard to tell... From a personal perspective I'd definitely be happy, but I don't really know how it would all pan out if there was fresh, new software and we needed to start up all our long-running threads again and lost access to the old ones. Hard to tell.

[accidental]

I wouldn't mind if the thread history was lost. I think we'll be fine. In fact it would be good to clear out the lists of old gamertags/online services accounts and refresh them.

Even if the old forum database was dumped somewhere and was searchable.

It would be great to choose a forum engine that has good mobile support—I think many of us have smartphones now.

[MinoXXide]

Things i enjoy -

The Forum - vBulletin (from my experience) is the best, most well-layed out forum application available
The People - We're all awesome
Game discussions - Threads about upcoming games, current game discussion

Things that could do with more work -
The Podcast - whilst it's okay, rather than do 1 hour podcasts of what not, should seperate it into article-related casts, i don't really want to listen for 60 minutes to listen to 10 minutes worth of Gears of War stuff or whatever
Few more comp's - these might exist already, i might be having a man look
More Buttonmasher gaming comps - setting high scores, achievments, challeges etc, would just add another dimension


Overall - 7/10

[Vivasanti]

Bargin prices is the best thread

[MinoXXide]

Should have a hall of fame thread, fastest laptimes, highest scores etc