The Game Box

1. Many of the questions have already been asked - how many more threads to do we need on Counter clipping, what is a wargame, etc, etc. The best answers are already out - anyone asking is going into a hive that should respond the old fashioned way - USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION!

2. The desire to be funny or ironic is probably way overboard at times - I am guilty.  Truth is, that is who I am - I am a quick witted smartass, pure and simple. I will keep you in stitches or offend you - depends on the result rolled on the CRT (Comedy Routine Table).

3. entirely too serious people getting uptight and preachy.

Personally, I think some of the damage created is by me - some of the silly threads (the what is a wargame thread from last week) just inspire me to wake up one morning and go all Case Blue on the threads (morning of July 4th) which seemed (though it might just be my ego telling me this) to precipitate the ASL thread that now has Calendale and Dorosh in the same holding pattern.

One of the reasons I did that series of three Case Blue threads was to express how stoopid the GF has become - there is no longer anything of merit there.

And even that got ruined by MD who is not capable of decent human interaction online - just self righteous mabustatory dialogue.

(Yeah, spelled wrong, but this BBS software is screening bad words.)

Search function sucks ass at BGG. Plus, it's too big a site. People are wandering in and are just constantly asking the same ****.
My biggest gripe are actually all the 'favorite' threads. I've grown to really like the lists Nap20 put together. At first, I thought
they were pure gall - but he polls the community and more or less grabs the consensus. In most eras, there are few enough
games in a class that he gets anything anyone likes (and then some).



All this is why I'm on boards at all. I want some witty, little cutting remarks sprinkled in. I want to be able to engage with a little bit of pushing.
And I absolutely love putting parody threads up - but I tried not to at BGG, because I would end up filling the damned board with them.
Figure I've pissed more than my share of people off already, since the very beginning.

The forum just got too big for me. Too much noise over there now although, like Bill, I will occasionally pop over to make a smart-ass comment here or there. I've pretty much given up on Geeklists as well, especially since they **** up the item comments.

Almost all of my time over there now is spent in a couple of the guilds.

I agree with Jim. I mostly make smart-ass quips over in General, and that's about it.

The signal-to-noise ratio over there has become horrendously low.

I'm ok with the same valid questions popping up. I view BGG as a community, and not just a database. It's always cooler to talk with people than a search engine. And quite frankly, search functions aren't all that great anywhere.

The humorous stuff is fun, but we inevitably jump the shark every time.

And I agree with the up-tightness for sure. Heck, I'm an evangelical, fundamental, Bible-believing Christian, and I don't get anywhere near riled up as most folks over there.

P.S.  I posted this response, which was wiped out when I hit submit because I got logged out of the site with a "you can't post in this forum" message. I thought "man, I'm already banned for being the Christian!"  ;D

I wonder what happened. I wasn't playing with this one at any point recently.

BGG=Repetition   ::)

There's only one thing worth saying there.

I don't know what happened to the BGG wargaming subdomain forum, but I have an idea.

Most topics there I don't even click on any more. I just know there's going to be a lot of pontificating going on, especially from you know who. Silly threads do get my attention, but the problem with the silly threads is that some people take them seriously. When they chime in, it goes downhill quickly.

Maybe what happened is you know who showed up. Having someone there who just has to comment on everything with multiple lengthy posts spoils it for me. I mean I'm getting carpal tunnel from having to scroll down past his posts!

I think the ultimate there was the roll call thread for wargamers to post in the thread :calling all wargamers' or whatever it was ... yeah sure- I didn't post there... I am a bad wargamer... a very bad wargamer... :(

It is possible to set people on ignore. I'm sure many do it to me - and since less and less folk
respond to MD, I wouldn't be surprised to think the majority have him on ignore. :P

BGG was a lot of fun until about 3 years + ago. Thats when out of the blue BGG decided to fracture the wargaming community into 3 pieces that were completely unconnected. You had to search all over to find the wargame forum(s). That was total bullpoopie. It was a year before they put it back together. For me personally the sock puppet sniping that went on for 2 years really took a toll. I never knew when out of no where some newuser with zilch in there profile was going to start launching attacks. BGG did nothing about it for 2 years. That and my good buddy Pee Wee with his non stop trolling.
BGG went from a friendly fun place with a lot of great information and good friends to a place where you needed to watch your back. I post far less than I used to and don't contribute anywhere near as much content because I just don't "feel it" anymore.
I made a lot of friends there that I wargame with both ftf and on vassal though and BGG did get me back into wargaming after a 15 year sabbatical. I am grateful to BGG for that.

Geez. Has it been 3 years already?

I won't confirm or deny that is the case. . . 0-:) ...

I occasionally add someone to my ignore list if they are being really annoying (spamming usually). And every few months I remove everyone I've added from the ignore list.

Except Octavian. He's going to stay on my ignore list until the end of time.

Yeah, Advance After Combat is the one guild I post in - and I probably spend more time there than the General forum anymore.  I tend to enjoy friendly, social posting, and the General forum frequently turns into people posting their absolutely unchangeable opinions, just to hear themselves talk. 

As much as people talk about an internet forum being a place to exchange ideas, my experience over the years is that there is very little "exchanging" going on - tell me how many times anyone has ever changed their opinion or viewpoint in an internet forum?  No, everyone just digs in, and refuses to concede anything, and then it's just an endless cycle of people trying to get the last word in. 

I regularly refine my thoughts. And think about new things.

It's why I want this place. To fuel ways of thinking that I wouldn't stumble on by myself.

Yeah, starting early 2012 was the turning point. I blocked the Wargames forum entirely after the subforums debacle and the anti–thumb posse sockpuppeting and haven’t been back.

BGG became an almost entirely pleasant place for me after that. There’s only a degree to which you can have a Finca-related argument.

It's not just the Wargames forums either. The geeklists, main forums, and such are becoming annoying as well. I really hate seeing someone get told 50 times over that their dislike of a popular game/expansion/company, is misguided, and if they don't like it, then don't post.

Apparently his OPINION means nothing. I'm glad that BGG has a caste system to remind us all that we are worthless to the hobby.

I just posted many of the sentiments on the other thread here - the "Who Are You" thread in the F**k It forum! I'm not quitting BGG, but dang, the wargaming subdomain general forum has really become a deserted alley littered with bags of stinking garbage and winos sleeping under shopping carts. It's the same old dreck day after day, though as I noted in the other thread, I'm not contributing any earthshattering content either, so I can blame myself as much as anyone. Hopefully, some enthusiastic wargaming dialog can develop over here (maybe I can even find the energy to contribute in such a manner - but don't anyone hold their breath on that!)

It's tough to come up with new threads. The most excited posters
tend to be newbies, who end up posting something we've seen a
hundred times.

Well put. It's gotten so bad that I really can't be bothered anymore.


Lately it seems that any substantial discussion in General gets swamped with negative waves, haters, trolls, sockpuppets, etc. etc. Sucks the joy right out of it.

I feel like I started this place for what everyone sees as the WRONG reasons.

:D

Stop sucking my joy, Calandale!   ::)

Oh, that did not come out right...

I'm sorry - I'm more into sheep.

Welcome to The Game Box! Plenty of room here to park your cart with the rest of us!

Ah, time for a nap.

Hey now ..... you in the back there ... settle down mister.

 ;D

S'okay. I tossed Calandale a sheep. He's been quiet ever since. The sheep is another story.

Those are bleats of pleasure.

This bleat goes on.

 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zujUQVW_RfI)

I was going to do this privately but why not do it publicly? Congrats Calendale!
This site is going pretty damn good so far! Time will tell but things are looking good . I apologize for ****ing about the place when I really should have been ****ing about my own lack of computer skills. :-[

Thanks - I'm really glad you're back.

A site is all about the people in it.

I saw that Bill - stuff like that is easily fixed in that there are usually a number of ways to get what you were looking to do done. :)

It is really getting good over there - yesterday I saw some post about if there was any game that covered the entire Revolutionary War.   Apparently using the search function is too old school...   I guess that is an even larger issue than just one site... how many people out there expect to be spoon fed.

Myeah.  ::)

GROUP HUG!

Ew.

As I said somewhere else recently - a hug without a knife is somewhat like sex without a body.

A true friend stabs you in the front.

Whenever I go to BGG, I search for the game, and then look in the threads for the answers to my questions.

What's so hard about that?
Are people getting even lazier?
I didn't think that was possible...

...and in other news I mean repetition... a known serial navel-gazer is beginning to navel-gaze again over there with another seeming blast from his past (paraphrasing) 'What is it about solo-wargaming?'  -I spotted another one yesterday -and forget what exactly it was - had to check to see if it was not a dredged up thread from the past ... but it was a current one again.

Disclosure, before I got better, I had been a moderator at a large gaming/"history" magazine's message board and the same guy pulled the same serial self examination threads over there -which such classics such as 'Help me find the perfect wargame', among others.

-Spoiler Alert- no one ever could (mainly because I think that these threads were all about him being able to find ways to not ever 'figure anything out' -or ... it was about the process, and not what anyone who answered those posts ever said.

Repetition repetition... gotta love it... and especially repetitive roll calls.

I like Patrick's posts.

But, I'm a navel gazer too.

I think you diversify a bit more though, Enrico... so it really isn't the same impact. :)

I basically only engage with Judd's monthly 'Wargames on Your Table' these days...and AWOL

Heya Steve! Good to see you over here.

Ditto from me. Steve, you're instantly recognizable by the spider avatars!

Same. Happy to see so many familiar faces.

Just checked out Bill and Enrico's latest posts on the 'World War One Gamers' thread, and of course they were followed by a typically obnoxious self-righteous post from good ol' Mickey Dee. Yeah, I don't miss it.

See my answer?  ;D

See my tip?   ;D

I gotta avoid going there.

Didn't want to post all that. Had settled into not doing so. :(

Negative waves, dude. That place is full of them. And don't mind me, I'm just burning off my remaining GG.    ;D

Instigator. :D

I went to post on BGG and a hockey game broke out...

Doug

TROLL


(http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic2088981_t.jpg)

If anything ever deserved the red X bomb its this post of Doroshes

It just re-affirmed why I'm more here and not there anymore. Tired of that soul-sucking crap. Don't need it, don't want it.

I miss the other parts of the site though.

Wish we could get more non-wargamers on board.

I'm starting to think that maybe wargamers are just more chatty in general. I mean, just how much can one say about 'Caylus'?

I guess. One could talk about mechanisms. There were some good philosophical
discussions about what a game meant or about winning, which felt significantly
different from the sort of stuff that wargamers talk about.

A lot of the interesting threads were just bitch-fests though about some
gaming night going horribly wrong - and I can't see that kinda thing translating
to a small place.

I think the wargame crew over there were a little tighter with one another than the "general population".  It's a smaller crowd.

The problem with bailing over there to start a new forum here is that it just kind of brings all the people who already know each other.  Getting some new names onto the site will create a little more "stimulus" in the forum as some more varied gaming topics start to crop up.

How about Circus Train? I hear its a real clown show!  8)

I agree. Not much I can do about it though. I WILL be banned again and again
if I'm at BGG. If others are willing to straddle the sites to recruit, that would
be optimal from my point of view.

'Course, it is possible to just thief conversation topics too. I was thinking about doing that with
the Gods or Generals one.

Some of that's already going on, since we're borrowing the "what are you playing" and "what are you reading" types of threads already.  I guess those would show up on any gaming forum, though.

Along with "what are you eating" "what are you doing THIS moment" "where are your socks"
and the like. :P

I understand this is where the cool kids are hanging out these days.

Hola!  Welcome aboard, Charles!  :)

Glad to be here!  When billyboy first posted his transfer, I rolled my eyes like, "why do I need another gaming forum?"  But then I realized I do nothing on BGG but commerce and Judd's lists.  So here I am. :)

Where is Judd, anyway, did he not get the memo?   ;D

(http://gentlemint.com/media/images/2012/02/13/5a1c5000.jpg.505x650_q85.jpg)

He registered some time ago, IIRC.


User airjudden: http://thegamebox.freesmfhosting.com/index.php?action=profile;u=30

Stayed for four minutes back when things were pretty dead.

Thanks for the welcome guys!

Who iz dis man??   ???

Spider Man.    ;D

I've been pretty much MIA from the BGG wargames subdomain for the better part of a year. I've been spending more time in the RPGG domain than the BGG side of things. The place has become pretty toxic, and boring.

I never unsubscribed from the AWOL forum, so I get to see the threads that are sent to die there.  I also saw Kev's link to this nice little corner of the interwebs. I was wondering where I could go ask for a recommendation for a solo wargame!

At a robust 98 kilos I look pretty good in spandex

This almost looks like a ziggurat.

More like Crocodile Dumbdee   ;D

Bugger it!!..there's no red X button!!

Just hit that handy 'Report to moderator' link.

Well...the site can handle a whole lot more - but there is an issue with too much nesting eventually.

I wonder what NSA thinks of ziggurats?

Geez, the North Koreans are here! There goes the neighborhood!  :o

Its about trolls . BGG protects them and bans anyone who responds. BGG has failed to follow there own rules and makes them up as they go along.
BGG has some fabulous content and is a great resource. Its become an extremely unpleasant place to try and discuss anything though.

The whole red X thing is a complete failure. It rarely does anything at all. On the rare occasions where they lock a thread the troll just moves on to the next thread and carries on. It appears as if the moderators do not care as long as they think there putting out the little brush fires they notice. Over the long haul I've watched the cancer in the wargame forum grow until its driving folks away. That cancer has a name but god forbid anyone speak of it or they are instantly banned. The red X does not work (except when its abused) and the wargaming forum  moderation has been an epic fail.