Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance
I really like the initial look of the forum, it's bold and interesting, the colours compliment each other perfectly. I really like the logo too, the only bit about it I don't like is the word "forum". The outer glow makes it look bad, it spoils the overall thing, I'd like to see that word stand out, more bold rather than smeared in? Also I see a faint band running right across the middle of the banner, could that be removed? The icons are great but the forum descriptions (The white on the orange) look a little distorted and are a bit difficult to read. You could try a darker grey or black with a white drop shadow maybe, see how it looks? I've certainly had my attention kept on your site, I want to read more!.
(Score: 17/20)
Site Layout
Again I like it, you've kept the main object of the forum about the game, some sites tend to merge into more of a general chat forum and forget what they are there for really. It's good to see the general chat kept to the bare minimum. I like how you have the scrolling banner with links up top out of the way to keep the navigation buttons to a minimum, it's not obtrusive and doesn't particularly draw your eyes away from the boards. I think I would like to see a description added to the site announcements section just to even it all out, even though it's self explanatory. I'm not sure whether you would benefit from having sub forums for your general chat area or not? I can't really pick fault with anything other than that.
(Scored 19/20)
Statistics and Activity
This section is a little tougher to call because your forum has been open for a good while now, you have almost 600 members but only 2,883 posts. I say "only" because for the length of time and the number of members it has the potential to be lots higher. The problem lies with the fact that the game is only now being released worldwide. You have quite a few members who haven't posted yet, in fact 25 pages worth of them? This means that only a very small proportion of you have actually made all those posts. I would recommend contacting all those missing members now that the game is out and seeing if they can make your forum go through the roof, they must surely have something to discuss by now. It was nice to that you did actually have 5 members logged in which suggests that your dedicated members are doing you proud. Mmmm I'm torn on how effective you actually have been so far?
(Scored 15/20)
Staff Moderation
I only see the two admins on the staff list? I think you could afford 1 moderator to join you, especially since the game has now been released. All the threads seem to be in the right places so the forum has been kept neat and tidy, the staff reply with proper sentences, use real language and seem professional enough? There's not really much more I can say, you could have a Game expert on staff who really knows his/her stuff and can help the members out when they are stuck?
(Scored 16/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism
I don't see any major problems with spelling, grammar and punctuation, I would like to see your forum descriptions have a little more sparkle as they are relatively short in places. I would also like to see your admins using capital letters and full stops when posting (again I'm having to knit pick), this shows that little bit more professionalism but over all you do really well. The site does show heaps of professionalism.
(Scored 18/20)
Total Score - 85/100
Final Remarks
I really think you can make this forum work for yourselves if you push that little bit harder to get those inactive members along. I love the over all feel of the place and wish you much success with it. I'm not sure how much shelf life your forum will have with it being such a one strand genre but if the game turns out to be as good as it's hype you'll do fine. Make those few minor changes and it hopefully will be perfect.
Strong Points
Very nicely set up, a good number of members, a very popular genre.
Things to Improve
Tweak those graphics, get those absent members active and maybe get a couple of staff extra.
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