Where are the old forum topics??

[Alexis_Aris]

Let me rant a little, since I never do, and there is NO rant forum anymore.
What gives deleting ENTIRE topics???

The goodbye section was perhaps one of the most visited, atleast I myself visited that quite often. Yes if someone is leaving let it be done with but giving a place to say goodbye to people who you have spent your RL time with, had laughs with ect is quite a goodway to go. Now I can understand if that section was rarely used but my gosh there were new post there constantly, and then just to wipe all of them gone?

That lost a community point in my book.

Now the rants, I never posted in the rants, maybe once. But I sure did read them. And it sure was used often!!! Sure alot of times it went into flame wars but there were some great topics there... that quite a few peoploe could relate with. Again many many many posts there, why would you just delete it???

That lost another community point in my book.

Not to mention a few other topics gone. I fully believe HZ could be better with this new sale/crew but you can not go into a game and modify their community when that is the largest thing holding it together. I can promise you that will only be a lose/lose situation.

Quit touching the forum topics

[Dravatar]

The topics aren't gone, I don't think. They are simply unavailable at this time. We are hoping that the Goodbye forum will return.

[Alexis_Aris]

I hope so

[Daeanor]

It wouldn't shock me if the Goodbyes forum was gone forever. A visitor, not knowing anything about the game, can visit something like that and say, "wow, people are leaving in droves ... so many it requires it's own forum ..." If I were in EI's shoes, I'd take it down too. I'd also take down every general or of-topic forum, and limit it to strictly game discussions. These are the official forums - you can get plenty of that other stuff from fan sites and guild forums.

[Nalrach]

True Daeanor, these are official game forums, and a company may want to protect it's image. But on the other side of the medal, often in those goodbye people are thanking other for the friendship that HZ has always shown. Maybe some players are seeking that. You can also think that, "wow an open mind company that let the users express themself", off course it's kinda useless if you don't have an official voice that come ounce in a while and say we heard about this and that and we for the momment ignore it or place it in the todo list. The rant has it's purpose, let the user vent some frustration and give the chance for the game owner see if something is real wrong or just a day that one player has a bad gaming experiences. Off course all users must know that a owner cannot answer each single thread.

[BKBanzai]

I've never understood the goodbye forums myself. Seems to me that since only a cross section of subscribers visit the boards that the best place to say your thanks, or express your dislikes of the game or the individuals playing it, would be in-game.

I think most people that quit decide to do it over a period of time and are expressing their goodbyes to people over their remaining time before they cancel.

If their intention is to provide feedback to the game owners, the exit survey when an account gets cancelled is adequate for that purpose. I add a proviso to this that I'm not sure that works currently, as the account cancellation feature seems to be malfunctioning.

[Alexis_Aris]

I am not just talking about the goodbye section.. I am talking about the other topics that got deleted.

Its like bubble gum that has lost its flavor..


Don't think i'll be hanging around much longer, These days i've been keeping busy with just regular games like rct3, sims, battlefield ect. Too much dissapointment... sort of like loosing an old friend, though not painful as such

[Aamer Khan]

I too never really understood the goodbye forum.

For me, they were depressing and counter productive to what I do ingame. Besides, most who actually play the game don't read the boards. Ok, that may not be accurate anymore, but I'm betting that the goodbye forum did very little to draw players into to playing and alot towards pushing them away.

Many who post here feel that they should have the freedom to say anything they like good or bad, but is that the purpose of these forums really?

Or rather, is it not to provide a place to constructively chat about the game, learn details and gain understanding of how to play and all the things others have learned before?

Spinning something bad into something good to fool your player base is of course, BAD! But to put your best foot forward is not only smart business, but it gives the player a chance to decide on their own, not based upon some disgruntled players exit message. Constructive comments can help the Developers know better what to do next. Comments designed to get others to stop playing or never try the game is disingenuous at best.

If the boards get slow from natural causes, that tells the devs they need to improve things so that more are interested in discussing the game. If it's because of negativity, then the devs need to do exactly what they have done.

[Jayne]

Well as usual its a few bad apples that spoil the bunch. Not all goodbyes were focused on negative aspects of the game. They were simply goodbyes for those whom wanted to say goodbye and possibly weren't able to say so to certain friends whom weren't in the game at the time they left.

Surely hello's can be just as destructive if they include negatives or ask the question "Should I come back?".

If we have this mature player base we say we have then why not?

Anyway personally I can take it or leave it, it makes no difference to me. Also I don't come to the boards to let others tell me if the game suits my needs, thus those type of negative posts mean nothing to me and I assume mean nothing to most who would come here.

Jayne

[Alexis_Aris]

You are 100% on Jayne

Just want to point out that this lil thing with the forums is not what makes it or breaks it for me..As you can see, I barely even post here Just another part of the bigger picture


Everything seems to always come down to politics nowadays

[Kulamata]

Agreed, and given the policy of pulling and editing posts, deleting the forum seems unnecessary.

I did read it, and it was sometimes depressing, but almost never (until the recent sale) was it a place for parting shots. Mostly just bittersweet comments that the time had come, and that it had been fun while it lasted.

[Blue Hasia]

The topics aren't gone, I don't think. They are simply unavailable at this time. We are hoping that the Goodbye forum will return.

from what I heard they are gone, they got delelted.

[Jayne]

If thats true then that is to bad. Just like anything else, if one goodbye had constructive criticism, then that post alone was worth its weight in gold. And I know there were many goodbyes which did just that, the player simply said goodbye a listed a few reason, some of which would enlighten the ownership of what they could do to improve the game.

Jayne

[snickel]

from what I heard they are gone, they got delelted.

That's certainly a loss. All the more reason to bring that forum back again, and quickly.

Goodbyes serve several functions -- not the least among them is to strengthen the identity of the community.