Couchpotato
Grumpy Gamer
Only other site that shares gathers/aggregate news like RPGWatch is called N4G. They cover console and PC news though it's not RPG focused, and not that easy to comment.
https://n4g.com/
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RPGWatch - The End is Nigh
- Thread starter Myrthos
- Start date
Only other site that shares gathers/aggregate news like RPGWatch is called N4G. They cover console and PC news though it's not RPG focused, and not that easy to comment.
https://n4g.com/
Kordanor
Wastelander
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2012
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- 4,471
I think the easiest way to have a structure like that with user participation is actually just doing a facebook group.
I am in various facebook groups, one for box collectors, one for dungeonc crawlers, one for adventure games, one for strategy games and so on.
The good thing is that everyone can just make posts with news. It is possible to have admin roles which must approve these posts to show up, but this would basically crowd source the whole "news gathering".
Where this format wouldn't work is having specific forums for games, where people exchange information just for that. depending on the group size having everyone posting everything would get very spammy very quickly. But for news and having some bigger topics with general discussions facebook groups are great.
I am in various facebook groups, one for box collectors, one for dungeonc crawlers, one for adventure games, one for strategy games and so on.
The good thing is that everyone can just make posts with news. It is possible to have admin roles which must approve these posts to show up, but this would basically crowd source the whole "news gathering".
Where this format wouldn't work is having specific forums for games, where people exchange information just for that. depending on the group size having everyone posting everything would get very spammy very quickly. But for news and having some bigger topics with general discussions facebook groups are great.
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Been chatting with LuckDay and shamroxor about it. It has never been busy, mostly me and LuckyDay and Alrik would visit now and then. So it only has the bare bones right now.
Been thinking about how channels could be made to mirror similar forum sections, threads can be made, sticky posts can be made for key content, you can stream your game live in Discord which has possiblities. I am playing GameDec right now (got it this week) and could always stream it for other watchers who might want to see some game play and have someone show them things and answer questions live for them - as Discord is great for live streaming and voice chat. I have often shared my game for 10-15 minutes with friends who wanted to get a quick look at a game, GUI, character process, etc.
So while Discord is not a forum, and never will be, it has its own pros/cons. The hardest thing is the chat is more dynamic while forums are more ... hmm historical in the sense you post and people can respond at leisure and scroll around easily.
Still you can have dedicated Discord channels for price watch, smile of the day, what are you playing, favorite music, specific "big" games people post on a lot, a channel for game guide links, and so on and so on. So it can be very useful and a great tool. Also very easy to link images, videos, files, and has options for automation with bots, voice chat, and more.
Not sure how much current watch members could get into the change of style though. I love it myself but at the same time it is a different medium then a forum. For me the hardest thing is navigation. Discord is a bit of a pain to read through long channels of text and content. Forums, on the other hand, are very easy to navigate and find things. Forums are more static and historical in that sense while Discord tends to be a long flowing conversation
Thinking outloud a lot here. Certainly people are welcome to come visit and share thoughts and ideas. Even if not into discord thoughts on other places for people to visit would be welcome. Will post the link again for folks: https://discord.gg/zAggJCse
SpoonFULL
SasqWatch
This is sad to hear, but at the same time understandable from Myrthos point of view where it is difficult to maintain the same energy and attitude towards something over many years, while caring enough to let it go (in other safe hands hopefully). Thanks to Myrthos and RPGWatch team for maintaining this respectable forum (and refuge) for many of us.
I will dearly miss the rpgwatch members, their posts, opinions, reviews, recommendations, advice and just for being there, and hope that a similar forum can be established to keep in touch with the watch members.
I will dearly miss the rpgwatch members, their posts, opinions, reviews, recommendations, advice and just for being there, and hope that a similar forum can be established to keep in touch with the watch members.
Such sad news. Similar to the feeling I got when I saw the message RPGDot was closing down before I knew there was an alternative site.
Understand the reasoning though, it must be a lot of work.
What about an option where you farm out the maintaince work to other people? i.e. get 1 person to do the backups, 1 person to patch the OS, 1 person to keep the forum software up to date etc? It must be a lot of work for one person but it could be easier to spread the load. That way you could stay on an a "CEO"?
I know there are a lot of skilled developers on the Watch who would be happy to help out in some small capacity.
Understand the reasoning though, it must be a lot of work.
What about an option where you farm out the maintaince work to other people? i.e. get 1 person to do the backups, 1 person to patch the OS, 1 person to keep the forum software up to date etc? It must be a lot of work for one person but it could be easier to spread the load. That way you could stay on an a "CEO"?
I know there are a lot of skilled developers on the Watch who would be happy to help out in some small capacity.
Tough to find words right now. I'm another one who migrated here from RPGDot 15+ years ago. Thank you, Myrthos for keeping it going for as long as you have, and thanks to everyone who's helped along the way.
I really hope some solution can be found to keep it going.
I really hope some solution can be found to keep it going.
I had no idea a RPG watch Discord existed. I'll have to check that out!
danutz_plusplus
SasqWatch
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2007
- Messages
- 4,596
Sad news indeed. Even though I've reduced my visits to rpgwatch by quite a bit due to life priorities, I always enjoy browsing and seeing people interact. And I especially like using the currently playing/watching/listening threads to get good recommendations.
It would be nice if the community could migrate somewhere together, or if the reigns could be taken over. But I also understand if that doesn't pan out. In case nothing materializes, it's been great interacting with everyone. And thank you to the people this possible, especially Myrthos and Arhu.
It would be nice if the community could migrate somewhere together, or if the reigns could be taken over. But I also understand if that doesn't pan out. In case nothing materializes, it's been great interacting with everyone. And thank you to the people this possible, especially Myrthos and Arhu.
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Thanks for all your time and effort over the years, Myrthos! I've been coming here since "forever" and have almost always enjoyed reading the news and the discussions.
Life moves on, and so do people. I wish you the very best and that you can spend more time on enjoyable, meaningful things.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Life moves on, and so do people. I wish you the very best and that you can spend more time on enjoyable, meaningful things.
So long, and thanks for all the fish!
DungeonHack
DOS Addict
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2013
- Messages
- 88
It's a shame. I always loved this site and the Dot. At least the news, anyway. Outside of Bluesnews, it was the best true game news site I ever found. I was a frequent poster/visitor on RPGDot in the leadup to Gothic 2's release. I remember writing a review for G2 on a gaming site at the time and everyone on the RPGDot forums raved about my 10/10 review of it (Still my favorite CRPG of all time by far) and when I finally posted that it was me who wrote it, no one believed me since I was universally hated by the forum. Yeah, soured me to the community and I never took part in it, which I regret as I now hit 50 years old.
That being said, bad memories aside, I really loved this site for its news and would hit this place once every morning along with RPGamer and Bluesnews. Was the only place that covered real CRPGs or even knew what they were.
I suppose the hobby is changing though. I find myself playing older and older games, shying away from the newer stuff because I keep getting "burnt" by it. Started with Ultima Exodus in 1986 and I just went back to Ultima 3 last month and was playing it 36 years later.
Thanks for the updates RPGWatch. I respected this site a great deal, truth be told. You just don't find plain HTML news sites that don't bombard you with ads or flashy layouts anymore. You were the best.
That being said, bad memories aside, I really loved this site for its news and would hit this place once every morning along with RPGamer and Bluesnews. Was the only place that covered real CRPGs or even knew what they were.
I suppose the hobby is changing though. I find myself playing older and older games, shying away from the newer stuff because I keep getting "burnt" by it. Started with Ultima Exodus in 1986 and I just went back to Ultima 3 last month and was playing it 36 years later.
Thanks for the updates RPGWatch. I respected this site a great deal, truth be told. You just don't find plain HTML news sites that don't bombard you with ads or flashy layouts anymore. You were the best.
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2013
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- 88
The RPGWatch Steam Group and the RPGWatch Steam Curator will remain.
The Steam Group has a real-time chat-room and everyone can start a topic in a small discussion forum. So at least every Watcher can find each other again.
I will add games to the curator as long as I'm playing RPGs.
***
If a web-tech-specialist can take over Myrthos' owner/admin part of RPGWatch I would continue as a news-editor if needed.
Lolozaur
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Well, shit...
It would be great to be continued by someone else or another forum, i dont use facebook, discord, reddit or other stuff, nothing is better than a good old forum
It would be great to be continued by someone else or another forum, i dont use facebook, discord, reddit or other stuff, nothing is better than a good old forum
Oh, that's a bummer. 
Thanks Myrthos and everyone who also contributed.
I also hope that the community can somehow prevail. To put another option on the table we could create a subreddit. Again it's not the same as a forum, but quite close. The structure is a lot besser for discussions than any other social media I know of (besides a forum).
@Myrthos; , would you be less picky to find someone who could take over the domain?
I suggest someone like @HiddenX; who could just set up a portal site with links to various RPGWatch "channels".
Thanks Myrthos and everyone who also contributed.
I also hope that the community can somehow prevail. To put another option on the table we could create a subreddit. Again it's not the same as a forum, but quite close. The structure is a lot besser for discussions than any other social media I know of (besides a forum).
@Myrthos; , would you be less picky to find someone who could take over the domain?
I suggest someone like @HiddenX; who could just set up a portal site with links to various RPGWatch "channels".
Not the Saturday morning news I was expecting...
First of all, thank you Myrthos and RPG Team for all you did to maintain the site all these years. Although, it saddens me immensely to think of a time I can no longer visit RPGW a few times a day, I can understand your decision. I have been in similar situations myself where you keep going for the sake of others until there comes a point where it becomes a chore. I am sure you didn't make this decision lightly, but it was the right thing to do.
I don't know the first thing of running a website, but if somebody is willing to take over the torch and needs funds, the least I can do is to chip in with a few bucks.
Thanks again for everything and I hope we can save the community somehow or find a new place to sit around the camp fire to share news of our travels!
First of all, thank you Myrthos and RPG Team for all you did to maintain the site all these years. Although, it saddens me immensely to think of a time I can no longer visit RPGW a few times a day, I can understand your decision. I have been in similar situations myself where you keep going for the sake of others until there comes a point where it becomes a chore. I am sure you didn't make this decision lightly, but it was the right thing to do.
I don't know the first thing of running a website, but if somebody is willing to take over the torch and needs funds, the least I can do is to chip in with a few bucks.
Thanks again for everything and I hope we can save the community somehow or find a new place to sit around the camp fire to share news of our travels!
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2006
- Messages
- 455
What sad, horrible news to get up to!
I was just checking my mails when it mentioned that Joost Mans has cancelled my monthly payments to the Watch. My stomach just about fell to the floor and I rushed here firmly expecting to get a 404.
Now I am really thankful to Myrthos and the Team for their work and investment over all those years, and I am sympathetic to the stated reasons for this move. Really. Truly. But…
But RPGWatch is my only home on the web.
Even so, I've kept to the sidelines, mostly. But there is no other place I've ever felt like part of a community, and I fear there will not be, either.
Sure, a site like the Watch may be outdated, it's community slow and non-integrated and its layout badly adapted to small, vertical screens. It has quite frankly failed to move with the times, apparently unable to attract and maintain any notable influencers and monetise us in any exciting way.
Thank you for that. This is the web as I had it grow up around me, that first evolutionary step on land from the oceans of chaos that was Usenet. This is the web how I need it.
I'm not much of a mover, and I resent much of what the internet has become. There are good reasons for this, even though I can think of a fellow Watcher that will ridicule me for it. Go ahead.
Once the Watch closes, I am going to be homeless.
I was just checking my mails when it mentioned that Joost Mans has cancelled my monthly payments to the Watch. My stomach just about fell to the floor and I rushed here firmly expecting to get a 404.
Now I am really thankful to Myrthos and the Team for their work and investment over all those years, and I am sympathetic to the stated reasons for this move. Really. Truly. But…
But RPGWatch is my only home on the web.
Even so, I've kept to the sidelines, mostly. But there is no other place I've ever felt like part of a community, and I fear there will not be, either.
Sure, a site like the Watch may be outdated, it's community slow and non-integrated and its layout badly adapted to small, vertical screens. It has quite frankly failed to move with the times, apparently unable to attract and maintain any notable influencers and monetise us in any exciting way.
Thank you for that. This is the web as I had it grow up around me, that first evolutionary step on land from the oceans of chaos that was Usenet. This is the web how I need it.
I'm not much of a mover, and I resent much of what the internet has become. There are good reasons for this, even though I can think of a fellow Watcher that will ridicule me for it. Go ahead.
Once the Watch closes, I am going to be homeless.
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- Joined
- Oct 18, 2006
- Messages
- 455
There are a few - but all slightly different in their own way - in order of my recommendation:
- https://www.worldofplayers.de/ - probably the most avid PB community out there but with news and discussions on lots of other games/topics - so would be very useful for some of our member - main issue is they're mostly German - but they've been hyper helpful in English to me whenever I asked and I'm sure too others too. I would assume they'd be fine with a couple hundred migrants.
- https://sorcerers.net/ - More of a focus on D&D but lots of news and discussions on other RPGs
- https://www.rpgfan.com/ - News Site - no forum
- https://rpgamer.com/ - News Site - no forum
Wow this is unfortunate. RPGWatch has such a good newsfeed for PC RPGs, it's the first game site I check each day. The Codex is the other good option, but theirs covers a much more select set of games (except when Saint Proverbius gets loose for a bit :lol and I feel like if I was only getting my news from their front page, I'd be missing out on some things. But more importantly, it seems like a shame to throw away the community that's been built here over the last 15+ years, even if it is on the small side - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, by the way.
@Myrthos; have you considered just starting fresh and keeping it simple? I'm assuming a large part of the problem is that things have become complicated, bloated, dated, and in need of updates/upgrades/conversions. You could take the latest forum software, start a brand new forum with a new database, no worries about carrying over users or posts. With the size of the userbase here, only a few forums are actually needed: Site Discussion, News Discussion, RPG Discussion, Other Gaming Discussion, Off-Topic, Politics. The news posters could keep doing their thing, and the same people could stay together instead of being scattered to the wind. Sure, losing all the posts would suck, but the same thing would happen if the site shut down totally. Or if you're not interested in doing that, maybe someone else could be allowed to do it under the rpgwatch.com domain?
and I feel like if I was only getting my news from their front page, I'd be missing out on some things. But more importantly, it seems like a shame to throw away the community that's been built here over the last 15+ years, even if it is on the small side - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, by the way.@Myrthos; have you considered just starting fresh and keeping it simple? I'm assuming a large part of the problem is that things have become complicated, bloated, dated, and in need of updates/upgrades/conversions. You could take the latest forum software, start a brand new forum with a new database, no worries about carrying over users or posts. With the size of the userbase here, only a few forums are actually needed: Site Discussion, News Discussion, RPG Discussion, Other Gaming Discussion, Off-Topic, Politics. The news posters could keep doing their thing, and the same people could stay together instead of being scattered to the wind. Sure, losing all the posts would suck, but the same thing would happen if the site shut down totally. Or if you're not interested in doing that, maybe someone else could be allowed to do it under the rpgwatch.com domain?
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