Forum arcades: Harmless Fun or Conversation Killers

[Beverly]

With all the distractions of Facebook and online social media, it might seem like a good idea to add an arcade to a forum. After all, these games give users a chance to have fun while being in a stress free place to socialize with friends.

By adding fun games to your forum, you will have a chance to gain new users who might enjoy the Facebook game style entertainment.

On the flip side, arcade games, take the focus off conversation and sharing of knowledge and put it on intangible and fleeting moments of personal joy that are not shared with other users. And, what are forums if not for sharing? So what is your view of the forum arcade? Is this another distraction from content creation? Or, is it a good way to draw in a bored, younger crowd who will come for the games and stay for the great conversations?

 

[Migi]

I personally think that arcades do not bring such a great impact to a community, from what I have seen so far. Be it positive or negative. Perhaps it does provide a fun part of the forum/website to be able to play games, but then again there are tons of games out there much more interesting to play. And I have never seen a situation in which an arcade kills conversations at the forum, as long as the ideas are still generated there.