Why do should you have a "Forum Games" area?

[Luigi1632]

Frankly, while there's nothing wrong with having a general discussion board.. why should you ever add a "Forum Games" area to your board?

On my forum, well it's apparently one of the few places that gets a little activity.. but I'd prefer most of that activity to be in the other areas of my forum(like Gaming and stuff)..

 

[Acorn]

Because it's fun and a lot of people seem to find it fun. It's a hit on my site, too.

 

[Delirious]

It is just an area for members to have fun with. Free from the niche of the forum.

 

[forumhookers]

It will rise the activity in your forum!

 

[Luigi1632]

But yet, it seems to take some activity away from the other areas of the boards(e.g-ones related to your niche)

 

[Kaynil]

It is up to you really, many people like it but if it is not working you can give it a try without it. I don't think it is a must, but it helps o break the ice.

If your members don't go to otehr areas is probably because they don't get new threads or replies often to keep things rolling. Why not recreate the games section with things related to anime. Like give me a picture of X escene, say true of false, name animes A to Z... that will give an unique twist and even as games it would be interesting anime content that may itch visirors t register.

 

[dojo]

Well, sorry, it's useless.

Let's see my case: I run an admin forum, a martial arts forum etc. I want my members to discuss about webmaster stuff and martial arts. Or finances, or whatever my main topic is.

I need to make them talk about THE TOPIC, not count to 3000, ban the user above and other useless things they can do.

Yes, your forum gets a lot of activity there because 1. you have the category and 2. it detracts them from the topic talk.

I am running my admin forums now with NO general chat section. Yes, it's crazy. I have the 'welcome' area and we do have a general webmaster chat for topics that go for both forums and blogs (since it's a blog/forum admin community).

Do you think anyone misses discussing what they ate last night or how Rihanna got beaten up again by her 'male'? Let's say we have better things do do.

If you want REAL activity in your forums, kill the games, delete the category and START THREADS in the specialized areas. Members are less inclined to start new topics, but do reply. Give them something to chew on and don't fill your forums with junk 😉

 

[Krymzn]

People get bored talking about the same boring old stuff everday!
Its like going to work then coming home, do you want to talk about work more or fun and games?? Fun and games any day of the week.

Put it in and let the users have something fun to do, otherwise they will think your all business and no fun.

 

[Zaborg]

I find forum games quite lame.

Like those "Count to 2013 before 2013"... Why? It's lame!

They make forum statistics FAKE since they can take up to 60% of all posts.

There can be fun forum games like when each poster writes 3 words and then a story involves from it. Those are nice and they are not just meaningless numbers or something.

 

[Krymzn]

I disable the post count increase for Forum Games.

 

[Nuke]

Because it's fun and a lot of people seem to find it fun. It's a hit on my site, too.

But isn't everything on your site? :lol:

I love forum games, but it makes up a good 25% of my forum. NOT GOOD! However, we actually have games that are fun and have content. For example, we have elaborate text-based roleplaying games. Like six of them at least.

 

[Ghost]

I don't have forum games on my website for the same reasons as above. I find it is great without the forum games.

 

[Shahrier]

I added a forum games section because the games that my members started in the Discussion section was not much of a discussion.

 

[Migi]

I think most sites who have forum games section, most of their posts would come from there. Just inevitable. XD

I add a forum games section to my forum because members seem to enjoy it. I don't really care about number of posts, even if half of it comes from general discussion and forum games, as long as my members enjoyed it. And if that helps them to get to know each other, make friends, and enjoy their stay even more, why not?

 

[Nuke]

The majority of posts will extremely rarely be from forum games!

Now, 25-37.5%...that's a bit much, but I'm not one to say it's wrong. In fact...if it weren't for the fact that my forum is rapidly growing (even without promotion)...my forum would be at about 50% forum games. Although our forum games, as stated above, are mostly "text RPGs", which are actually fun and interesting.

 

[Darthmaul]

Well, sorry, it's useless.

Let's see my case: I run an admin forum, a martial arts forum etc. I want my members to discuss about webmaster stuff and martial arts. Or finances, or whatever my main topic is.

I need to make them talk about THE TOPIC, not count to 3000, ban the user above and other useless things they can do.

Yes, your forum gets a lot of activity there because 1. you have the category and 2. it detracts them from the topic talk.

I am running my admin forums now with NO general chat section. Yes, it's crazy. I have the 'welcome' area and we do have a general webmaster chat for topics that go for both forums and blogs (since it's a blog/forum admin community).

Do you think anyone misses discussing what they ate last night or how Rihanna got beaten up again by her 'male'? Let's say we have better things do do.

If you want REAL activity in your forums, kill the games, delete the category and START THREADS in the specialized areas. Members are less inclined to start new topics, but do reply. Give them something to chew on and don't fill your forums with junk 😉

Preach it! 😀
I 100% agree with you here! Forum games sections are the bane of my existence, and eventually (big)forums decide just to disable post count in those sections, therefore making it "for the fun only", and then the section dies. As for general sections, I see no harm in having one, as long as you personally contribute more to your niche sections. I know the general section will usually have a bit more posts than my niche sections, however I am confident that if I post more in the niche sections that my members will follow my lead 🙂

 

[Migi]

@dojo and Darthmaul:
I agree with your opinions in general. I personally think that forum games section won't hurt that much but in return we must work very hard to give content, start threads, and keep discussions going at other sections especially the main sections of the site to keep things in balance. ^^