How do you liven up a forum?

[Spooniest]

I'll tell you how. You have a festival. You hold celebrations of things. You publish articles that talk about the thing that the forum is based around, not just front page news posts.

So far I've counted maybe 10 people who I've seen posting here in response to things, and you lot are rather grumpy and in need of a celebration of some sort, I think.

So what's the damage? What's it going to take to drop an entertaining firework or two into the airspace over TFF?

I mean unless you just hate feeling good and having a good time.

[LocoColt04]

That depends upon the composition of the fireworks. Are we talking fancy heart-shapes or good, old-fashioned explosions of color?

[OceanEyes28]

Imma put this in GC. Alpha, if you want it back, holler at me.

As for fireworks, idk, Cesar is a butt. Boom I just started drama.

TFF loves drama.

[Spooniest]

Let's say a Moogle-shaped firework pattern

[Pete]

Cesar and Ally, it's not 2003 anymore. You're well beyond that. It's all about 2012 and drunken hugs, or 2008 and one arm hugs.

[Taco-Calamitous]

To liven a forum up, you have to invent a time machine and transport said forum back like 10 or 15 years to when forums were still the thing for social media. Also, make all your members young again, and/or purge the cynicism from their brains. *shrug*

[loaf]

Let's all talk about what to do and then not do it.

[Spooniest]

To liven a forum up, you have to invent a time machine and transport said forum back like 10 or 15 years to when forums were still the thing for social media. Also, make all your members young again, and/or purge the cynicism from their brains. *shrug*

This is the year 2002 you are talking about.

1. What was on the radio?

Goo Goo Dolls - Here Is Gone [Official Music Video] - YouTube

The Goo Goo Dolls had a fair hit with this. I remember the lead singer of the band I was in trying to learn it in Minnesota near the Canadian border.

2. What was showing in theaters?

Spider-Man by Sam Raimi came out in that year, as did LOTR: The Two Towers (nobody tosses a Dwarf!) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Basilisks are bad news. Also sword that comes in handy later).

3. Given those frames of reference, how did you (personally) feel and what were your circumstances at the time?

As for de-cynicizing people...I can recommend things but I personally don't know exactly how that can be done. My first thought is to question the productivity associated with cynical attitudes over the centuries. Pessimism isn't historically a motivator of good art, for one thing. Nor does it help one do effective work of any other kind. It's an energy suck that produces nothing useful except frustration and worry.

I am a bitterly cynical person at times myself, but I try to remember that my vanity is secondary to what work I leave behind when the worms finally get their cholesterol-filled meal.

Edit: "Music Confounds the Machines" | No Depression

Depressed? Cynical? Try reading this?

[SuperSabin]

Livening up a forum, you say? There is always this method!

[Pete]

Get rid of Facebook, Twitter and all other garbage forms of social media and we'll be good

[Clint]

You're trying to get people to be less cynical and more chipper, yet bring up 2002? Do you even know what 2002 was like? 9/11 just happened, so that's fresh in everybody's mind. Everybody is worried about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. The war in Afghanistan is just getting started.

How can I be happy when you're reminding me of 9/11?

[Taco-Calamitous]

Get rid of Facebook, Twitter and all other garbage forms of social media and we'll be good

More or less what I was saying.

[Spooniest]

You're trying to get people to be less cynical and more chipper, yet bring up 2002? Do you even know what 2002 was like? 9/11 just happened, so that's fresh in everybody's mind. Everybody is worried about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. The war in Afghanistan is just getting started.

How can I be happy when you're reminding me of 9/11?

You're talking to a person whose reaction to this was to go on the road and play the Star Spangled Banner (Jimi Hendrix Style) in rock clubs...so...I didn't get depressed until later?

In addition, did you read this sentence I wrote?

As for de-cynicizing people...I can recommend things but I personally don't know exactly how that can be done.

So yeah, you're kinda right. But I want to think that there is a way to do it, I guess?

[LocoColt04]

Let's all talk about what to do and then not do it.

This is the most often-used and effective method around here. We typically get a couple of weeks' worth of discussion about how to spurn more discussion, and then we revisit the topic 10-14 months later.

[Coff9]

I think the forum is just fine how it is, honestly.

During the last round of discussion on this topic, I said that I like having a smaller forum like this to discuss things. We're able to get to know each other a bit better, and people's opinions have more weight to me, unlike on a website like Reddit, where it's hard for me to tell if someone is being sincere or not.

I was thinking about doing more blog posts, mainly to chronicle my latest Final Fantasy gameplay, like how I was doing before with the DS remake of Final Fantasy 4. I'm thinking about restarting my all Red Mage run on FF1, and if I do, I will do blog posts talking about how it's going.

Also, I might pull an Andromeda and start posting some of my own fiction writing here, and maybe try to start an RP or two; we'll have to see.

[Pete]

Honestly, the answer is so simple. Just post.

[Taco-Calamitous]

Honestly, the answer is so simple. Just post.

I don't want to.

[LocoColt04]

And thus, the cycle begins anew.

[loaf]

I mean a lot of us don't even play FF games anymore let alone SE Games to talk about them enough. Last time I touched FF not counting 11 or 14 was IX back in like April. But not much was there to talk about it.

Clearly this thread has proven that by making a thread and actually posting produces replies in the matter of other people to reply and make conversation.

[Pete]

I can't answer for loaf, but I hardly play final fantasy anymore. They've outdated themselves in so many ways compared to the rest of the industry. I love customization and the idea of actions and consequences, as opposed to the rigid style of following a subpar plot (10-13). I'm hoping 15 can be a saving grace.

I'm literally playing Fallout 4 as I'm typing this on my phone, and am alternating with Life is Strange and The Wolf Among Us.

[loaf]

I play a range of MMOs to MOBA to FPS to Dead by Daylight

I'll play FF9 once a year just to go back to the game I love so much.

[Spooniest]

What I'd like to know is, which solo is better, the keyboard solo or Richie Blackmore's guitar solo?

Deep Purple - Machine Head (Full Album 1997 Remastered Edition) - YouTube - YouTube

[Rocky]

I play videogames sometimes i swear, its just that sometimes i get in the mood to play and grind it out for long periods, then i drop it cold. much like posting i guess. im not good at being a consistant contributor anymore =/

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

as you can seeeeee, I put in 50+ hrs over the course of 7 days on an rpg, only to put it away for a month, due to life, thats the way of being an adult goes. for me at least lol. but yeah atlus makes some great addicting crack, its like they sprinkle it on their games idk

But as far as vidya is concerned, late to the party i know but i just realized the 3ds is a rpg machine so im probably going to get dq7 next and spend another 120 hrs just playing the main story on that game too since its one of the longest games to exist.

Xenogears im playing through the first time as well, cant believe ive never played it before until now! its aged pretty well for the most part, except the 20+ min multiple text mash scenes that i cant escape from is my only complaint....

i dont think its just me, but i feel like mainstream gaming quality has gone down. games that i actually enjoy and adore are coming out few and far between nowadays for whatever reason. unlike pete, i disliked fallout 4. new vegas was was more enjoyable for me to play through. the last really good popular game that came out that i enjoyed was maybe....witcher 3? and that was well over a year ago. 2k16 has been kinda shit in this year games. maybe its been better but i cant think of anything ive really enjoyed so far.

but besides that, career, additional responsibilities, new projects, etc have been taking precedence in my life. simply put, my job has taken over my life, and its gotten to the point that even my superiors can see that and theyre scheduling me some time off so i dont have to work every single weekend anymore. which is nice, gives me opportunities to tear around town! I also am busy training my goldendoodle to maul only cute girls while we go for walks, instead of just everyone ^_^. oh and yeah im getting a 2nd goldendoodle in about 2 weeks and havent told my parents or anyone else yet, im sure they will still freak out even though im a full blown adult with a job and a house etc. because thats how parents are hehe. if any of you CLOWNS that ive known for ages have snapchat and want pictures let me know and i will send them away

other than that, life is good. my uh, 'situation' was resolved happily so that's good!

edit: why cant i "like" peoples posts anymore, is this some secret way to get me to post more?? i swear that liking posts was my main form of community interaction for the past few years now

[LocoColt04]

The "like" function was disabled in a recent vBulletin update but IT MIGHT BE COMING BACK

[Coff9]

As far as games go, I'm a bit obsessed. I love video games, ever since I was a kid.

Video games let us experience things that we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I'd give some examples, but they would contain spoilers.

I've played through Final Fantasy 4 more times than I can remember, and I'm still not bored of it.

There is an element of life-affirmation in games that I don't experience in any other medium of entertainment. Video games make me want to live and to live well.

I think that there are more good games out now than ever before, but they are, paradoxically, harder to find; the indie scene is booming and there are all kinds of good games, whether they have good gameplay or a good story or both. The Museum of Broken Memories is one that I still think about even though it's been a few years since I've played it.

The video game market has become quite saturated since 2010 or so, with the rise of digital distribution. So there are more games to wade through, but more good ones overall. Naturally, I think this is a good thing.

It could be the case that our members are growing older and are becoming bored with video games as a whole. This isn't a bad thing; change is good.

But for myself, I've been gaming since I was 3 years old, and I don't think I'll ever stop. There's still so much I haven't seen. Still so many worlds I have not yet been to.

And honestly, video games are all that I have; the only family I have is my brother, the only friend that I have is one person who I don't get to see very often. I'm sickly on a regular basis and have little energy, and I'm prone to irrational anxiety. Video games are how I pass the time and keep my sanity. Without them, I'd lose it.

---

The Like button is coming back? I hope so! I was a tad disappointed to see it go.

[Unknown Entity]

Drama. We need drama. Or the awards thing. People come out of the wood work for a "best male/female of 2016" banner in their sig.

On a serious note. I think gaming groups aren't a bad thing. Set a night for gaming once every other week or such. Used to play WKC with Sheena, Andro and Dragon Heart. Was a blast. Didn't realise the grind is gotten myself into, but I had fun. At the moment, I'm on an Overwatch or Destiny thing. There's the big one, Final Fantasy XIV that might take off a bit more. Then The Elder Scrolls online... And Gears of War, CoD and Battlefield coming out soon.

Let's face it. Maybe we're just old.

[loaf]

Drama?

Lets bring back some familiar names, the good, the bad, the lol.

[Pete]

Someone mentioned awards! Chez will be here soon.

[Clint]

9/11 brought the American people together. Perhaps this forum needs its own 9/11.

[LocoColt04]

Well, I could permanently ban 2996 people.