User of the Year: TheNinjasRock
Worst member of the Year: Mick
Topic of the Year: Sig of the Week
Overrated Topic of the Year: n/a
Underrated Topic of the Year: Shit I post
Newcomer of the Year: n/a

All I got. All I'll give.

I'd agree with you in the sense that I only really ever check around here when I've had my fill of Facebook, YouTube and just about every other website I look at on a daily basis. There was a point in time when I'd be posting here daily, now I don't. But that's to be expected. We've had our fill of MK9 and there's no hype or buzz going about our community to keep things fresh.

I don't mean to sound like I'm digging up old dirt but it was a ridiculous thing shitting all over Garlador's threads and to this day I've no clue why any positive attention or contribution to the website such as that got knocked down. To be honest, anything they can muster up to keep people coming back for more is a blessing for them and really threads like that should be common place around here. Has anyone SEEN what's happened to the TMK website? Dude's ego and his temper got to him and people were like "fuck it, we're not coming back". I know that's one of the reasons I left anyway and this was long, long before even MKvsDC came out.

You want good quality posts? Have good quality topics. Compare the past to the present, have silly little topics like "Which Costume best suited this character?" to spark debate and appreciation, have some of the more experienced mods show tutorials for fan art or gameplay to direct traffic to their sub-forums. Have members actually dare to step away from the Drive By Thread and actually contribute to other aspects of the forum. Draw attention to people's posted work on the home page, make it feel more communal and involved. You know, actually get off your asses and contribute rather than complain how crap it is.

Don't get me wrong, I totally get what your saying Murcie. There is a lack of energy and it is quite stale around here. But complaining about the good old days being long gone is as useful as farting into the wind. If people remember what was so good about this place they should be trying to emulate that and work with improving the site rather than moaning about it on the internet, and that applies to staff and current posters.

People just stopped caring about particular parts of the site. I see the same ole same ole in the fan submissions, and very rarely do I see people who mainly post in the drive by only ever go on in there... In fact, I only see a handful of people stay mainly in the general area and maybe like 1% of the time, they actually post in a different forum.

I stopped submitting artwork on here after seeing various people saying that people constantly give them zero points when they didn't deserve. Of course, you can't see who votes for your submission. That is unfair and really rude. I did make a suggestion but I have yet to see anything be put fourth on it that something is being done about it... But I'm not the demanding type, however, a nice word or two would be nice to hear.

I like this site, I like majority of the users here... But it does get repetitive to see really nothing new. I'm happy that this create a fighter is happening, that can be a good crowd pleaser... But then what happens where it's done?

Well... This is coming from an art major...

:')

I thought he meant Ninja Mime honestly...

Why not take that frustration and actually do something about it?

Here's the dirty little secret about online communities. It's the users who make or break the experience. The staff, when acting in their official capacity, are just the referees. If you feel like there's some branch of discussion not being covered, start a thread. If you think there's some content that is missing, provide said content. If you think the overall personality of the community is going in the wrong direction, be an example of the kind of user you want to see more of. It'll rub off on the newcomers.

If you think the site needs some additional functionality to help facilitate any of this, then don't hesitate to PM suggestions to a staff member. Trust me when I say that, regardless of whether or not the ideas get implemented, they aren't ignored. I personally keep a log of every good idea that comes my way and have passed the info on to the powers that be. I know others do the same.

It's easy to point out when things aren't going the way you want. But do you have what it takes to be a leader in the face of that?

All ya'l deserve an award :')

I think that it can be a tough transition for people that are used to coming to a site like this and simply posting their opinions about a game to then transition in to becoming more involved with the community as a whole.

The idea of "if you don't like something, change it," certainly works in a lot of areas of life, but on a website? I think that a lot of people simply have the attitude of "if it's not interesting to me, then I just won't go to that site anymore."

Unfortunately, I think that's just the nature of the internet. It's a consumable resource, so to speak, and once that resource has been consumed to the full satisfaction of the conumer, they tend to move on to something else.

So the questions then become two-fold:

How do you both keep the consumers entertained and visiting? Those that will never feel a sense of ownership, but are a part of the site none the less.

And...

How do you foster a sense of community in a place where Community either hasn't existed in a long time, is segregated in to areas of site interest, or possibly never existed in a larger sense beyond nostalgic reflex in the first place?

I mean, I remember a lot of great posters here, but a "community?" I don't know, maybe I was even more of an outsider back in the day, but if it was such a great community before, then why have so many of those people left? And don't say "well they just moved on" or "they grew up" or "they're not fans anymore."

Moved on? It's the internet. It's not like they moved away from home and can't visit as often. Grew up? The average age of gamers now is mid-thirties. The first real gaming generation IS grown up and guess what? They're still gaming, and that's regardless of whether they have a spouse, a house, a demanding job, kids etc. And the last one is just absurd: Not fans anymore? The best MK, arguably of all time is released and THAT'S when they decide to leave? I don't buy it.

Perhaps people leave because they lose interest in the site. They have some issues with the series, so they start some threads, talk to people, visit more threads and slowly inbed themselves in the website.

But after a while, it may take months, it may take years, they slowly realize that they don't have anything else to say. They realize that they've seen the same thread ideas, the same rants, etc over and over again to the point where they visit less and less because there's nothing new coming from others and even their own idea well has been tapped.

I mean, how many times can you argue about frame damage, the MK ladies outfits, speculate on super-unlockables etc before all the wells go dry?

I've heard the general sentiment coming from the mods that it's the community's responsiblity to foster interest in the site and to an extent, that's true.

I mean, what more can the site's caretakers do? They have contests, they keep the news up to date, and they stuff to vote on, there's IRC, fan submissions, etc.

So this is the environment that I think we find ourselves in:

#1 We're in one of the bigger lull's in the series' history thanks to both Injustice and the fact that, more than likely, the next MK will be on next-gen consoles, which are still a ways off.

#2 Because of #1, You have a community of people that have basically talked about MK2011 to the point where many don't have a lot more of MK to speak on. At least not that they know of at this point. Thus, numbers of users online has dwindled. ie, both the casual fans and many consumers have largely left.

#3 Because of #1 and #2, you have a remaining community that, from what I can gather, has separated in to areas of specific site interest, who don't venture beyond those areas all that often and don't visit the site as often.

#4 Because of #3 as well as the mere nature of the internet, you have a community of users that don't take ownership of the website because they either don't feel inclined (because they're consumers as previously defiend), or they don't know how.

#5 You have mods who present content for the site, which is consumed, and debate is generated. News is provided on the internet episodes as well as the movie.

One thing to note: This site will renew itself (as it always has) once a new MK is announced and info starts flooding in. It happens every time. I'm sure that even some older users that left will return.

In other words, the problem of user numbers has and will always solve itself as long as the news is up to date and the news, images, gameplay etc generates conversation, which it always does.

But in the meantime, I would throw out a few ideas (take em or leave em):

1. Create a Site Ideas Forum for suggestions on how to improve the site. Fostering a sense of community, to me, begins with enticing people to begin with the minimum effort needed and I guarantee that most people feel that they're being helpful when they're providing feedback.

2. Advertise the Site Ideas Forum on the front page and leave it there, even when other news comes out. Create a graphic that draws people's attention to it in the same way that Fan vs Fan picture currently does, though obviously it wouldn't have to be that large.

3. Mods could create threads asking for specific ideas from the site users, thus establishing a dialog, an access point where users and mods can communicate out in the open. I don't mean this to be a place where users complain and criticize, and that could easily be a potential downfall, but a give and take has to start somewhere.

4. Scrap the dragon points and ranking system all together. As much as I've always liked both, and I really have, the system seemed stray from its intended purpose.

People started looking at DPs as a reward that they were entiteld to every time they made a good point or helped someone out. People would even become angry if someone got a dragon point and they didn't. It fostered ass-kissing and complaining about consistency issues and likely requires a lot of thread monitoring by people that likely don't have the time to monitor the threads to such an extent.

As for the rankings, I would simply list who is a moderator. If people really want status symbols, then show the date they signed up and, as is currently done, how many site visits they have. Because if dragon points aren't going to be doled out anymore, then people can't move up in rankings anyways, so why keep them?

I say all of this because getting rid of both might ease any real or potential resentment and make people feel more like a community of equals. It's a small idea that didn't need this much explanation, but there ya have it.

5. Post some "of the week" types of things. Character of the week, user of the week, this week in MK history, topic of the week... In other words, advertise your own content on your own site.

Maybe a user can provide basic info about themselves (nothing invasive or information that shouldn't be givin out) in a sort of interview type of thing. This probably lends itself more to a large community, but a "get to know you" type of thing could be nice. Just the current user spotlight taken to the next level.

For the other stuff, maybe a few users could generate this content if they're so inclined? It doesn't have to be the same user or the mods each week.

6. Post everyone's first name under their forum name. This might sound crazy, but personally, I think it'd be easier to feel like a connected community if we all went one small step beyond the names that hide who we are. Anything to remind people that there's a human being behind the post from Kabalfan420 or whatever. Maybe it even helps reduce arguments and internet-anonymity vitriol? Eh, probably not, but hey, worth a try?

7. Facebook / twitter style pages for users. The logistics of this would be an absolute nightmare, so I almost hate even suggesting it because it's probably impossible.

But what if every user got their own page, like their profile, only public, with their own info that they feel comfortable sharing: Their most recent forum posts (abbreviated if needed), what threads they've commented in recently, space for a few pictures that they want to share, friend lists (as well as most active post date for each friend), who they're following, who's following them, their interests, their systems of choice...

This way, you basically bring the community to each user. They can make friends with people that they like or whose posts they find interesting and then get to know those people a little and through those people maybe get to know other people, only in this environment, you might actually friend people that you don't know, but that your friends know because, well, we're all here for the same reason, right? Even if we interact with that reason in different ways, in different forums etc.

I think that something like this might encourage people to use other people as gateways to other parts of the site. I'm not saying that it'd definitely happen, but ya never know, especially when the next round of MK fans roll in to this site when new info starts coming out. Maybe something like this might keep them here longer, even during the times when there's no MK news?

Well, that's all I can think of for now. If anyone reads this in their entirety, well, good for you. Really. I want to be a constructive member of this site, even if I don't really know how. I have a job and other aspects of my life that don't allow me to post here as much as I'd like, but I'm sure that I'm not alone in that regard.

I think that most people here want to help in some way, that would like to give back, even if they don't have as much time or money; to bring that sense of community back or to enhance it or whatever, but we're all just one person each. We can post topics, we can talk to people about the games that we love, but beyond that?

I don't think that many of us really know what else to do, and that's just speaking for the people that feel like they want to do something. There are many more that probably don't, which sucks, but it's the internet. Most people use it in the manner that I described before. We go to a site, if we find something interesting, we read it or comment on it, and then we move on to the next site as part of our daily routine. For most, it never occurs to them that there could be something more.

Wow. Possibly my longest post ever. Oh well, just brainstorming. Anyone else? My apologies for hijacking this thread, but a lot of people were talking about it already, so if this, or other posts need to be moved, then so be it.

Also, I know that I listed a lot of things that mods could do. I feel like there are opportunities for users to get involved with a lot of these things as well, there just has to be a balance for everyone, mods included. Our time is valuable, and while alot of us really like this site, it shouldn't feel like a burden or homework or whatever to come here for anyone, again, mods included.

You said it all. ^^

Yes, I used all of the words in the universe.

Maybe that should be a New Years resolution for me. Four paragraph limit or something... lol

Haha, no, please don't. People rarely write long posts anymore, because they don't care to or people are generally tl;dr and then needs a slap in the face. XD

So please, do continue your long posts. I really enjoy reading them. ^^
I miss the people who used to do such, like queve and Garlador...

Answering your long post, I think one thing that could help this site is a an active YouTube channel.

Nowadays just about everything is advertised on YouTube, and most people get their daily info - and entertainment - from YouTube. If the site had an active channel that posted informative and potentially funny videos regularly, I think that would really pull in a wider range of people, especially if the videos are also linked here. It will give people something to discuss, and the diversity of the videos will lead them into the other more dormant areas of the site, like Gameplay & Matchmaking.

I think this could work.

I don't think there's any grand reason why MKO isn't thriving these days. MKO was mostly known for fans who were invested in the lore and art of MK. These days, the tournament players (who were once the niche-faction of the fans) are now the vital core of the base.

I don't think the solution needs to be groundbreaking either. All this site needs is to extend itself beyond the bounds of the message board. MKO has a name and a board, but TYM has a podcast, a status box, video and audio exchanges, and most importantly, a community who socializes outside of the internet.

MKO doesn't need "change"; it simply needs "more."

Hey guys. Just stopped by to pick up my Lifetime Achievement Award. I'm not too early, am I? I'll leave and come back again if you need me to. Oh, and don't worry, I'll act surprised. Just let me know when to come out. I'll be waiting behind the curtains over here.

I think that's the solution that I came to as well, more or less. It would be nice to see the site expand. To have more ways for users to interact with the site and with one another.

I think it's hard to pull a community out of a bunch of people that post on separate forums on the same site. Yes, we all love this series and many of us have been posting here for years, so I recognize a lot of names and I really enjoy talking to a lot of people on this site, but I don't know if I feel like we're all a part of a community at this point. I guess it depends on how far you want to take the definition.

On the other hand, I really hate saying that the mods and site-runners just need to do more and create more etc. I don't think that it needs to be that one-sided. I feel as though there should be a way for those that really like this site to help out in some way, whether it's doing some of the content generation or something else. I'm just not sure.



Thank you for reading my long post! Seriously, when I looked at how much I'd thrown out there, I was a bit surprised. I know I'm usually long winded but...

I think that your Youtube channel idea is great as well. Watching videos is a more passive thing that doesn't require a ton of effort, and when you're done watching, it gives you something to talk about.

This kind of goes a long with that "of the week" idea I was talking about, whether it's a kind of interview of the week with a poster (not video, just a sort of expansion on the current profile spotlight), character spotlight of the week etc.

Again though, the hard part is in content generation. Who puts all of that stuff together and will they want to do it week in / week out for the next few weeks, months, years etc.

I think that's the general issue right now. I mean, the people that run this site have lives and while I make zero assumptions in this regard, I would guess that this site isn't a huge revenue stream for those that run and moderate MKO.

So to say expand and "add this, add that..." At some point I think it stops being a labor of love and starts being work that occupies far more of your time than you'd like. Of course, if you want to lure people to the site and then keep them here...

Either way, I'm happy with this site and I always have been. If it expands, that'd be awesome, if not, I'm still here most days, whether I'm actually posting or not.



You and me both! I miss the long posts, the info that I didn't know or hadn't considered as much, the opinions, the reasoning behind those opinions etc. Hopefully when the next MK is announced we'll see people talking a lot more?

No offense to Injustice, but I really can't wait for that game to come out so that the anticipation for the next MK game can begin its ramp up. Of course, that's assuming they go back to MK after this game...

The great thing about YouTube, though, is that Google has the YouTube Partnership, where one can recieve payment for the success of their channel.

This works by various companies advertising on your channel page and videos. The money that gets pulled in can go towards the site, like graphic updates, and big prizes for the kontests.

I already manage a channel YouTube which is going quite well for me. I wouldn't mind managing one for this site with a few others. I love making cool vids anyway. My very first YouTube video, Fatality!, was the kickoff that gave me a following for my music career, and the video is nothing more than a bunch of MK characters getting killed.

I am very optimistic about this idea. YouTube is the ultimate outlet for just about anything, be it film, music, television, video games, or just basic promotion. I hope Mick-Luficer is down for this.

Wow, no kidding?? I didn't know that it was that easy or had the potential for profit. I mean sure, I know that some of the big Youtube people that have 500,000 followers or whatever can make a very solid living off of Youtube, but yeah, what you say makes a lot of sense here. Great idea, man!!

It isn't and doesn't really. Making good content isn't as easy as putting Fatality videos to dubstep. Not to mention the licensing issues that make monetizing videos a hassle.

Yeah, that was more or less my original assumption. Then again, I have no real clue on this one way or another.

Regardless, I'm sorry to Sektor for belaboring all of this. As far as I'm concerned, back to our regularly scheduled thread.

I'd like to help out but... not really knowing how.

I do have one suggestion though, that should be fairly easy to implement. More stuff on the profiles. (This is in keeping with Baraka's suggestion of 'feeling the community spirit'.) e.g. not just things like username, country, PS/X360 but add things like favourite music, favourite food, hobbies etc. So one day you might get a random IM from someone going "oh, so you're a Radiohead fan too"

I give you permission to check out my gaydar profile for info about me (for those who are interested) and possibly inspiration. The photos are from this summer.

http://www.gaydar.co.uk/ProfileView.asp?userid=picklemendip

Who the heck uses dubstep? lol

Anyhoo, as someone who has been doing this YouTube crap for some years now, as well as being affiliated with many YouTube partners, let me say that it is in fact much easier than people think, as long as your goals are realistic.

All it takes is a good hook, proper tagging, and knowing your demographic. And devotion isn't a bad idea either.

I'm not saying it's easy as pie, but it sure isn't hard.


Oh, and for the record I think queve deserves the MKO Lifetime Achievement Award. Just sayin'.

Sigh. Ditto.



Not me? Heartbroken.

Weird, seeing these forums again.

This is shit, I slept with every single one of yous and not one of you give me award.

Here my votes

Member of the Year:

Newcomer of the Year:

Topic of the Year:

Most Under rated:

Most Overrated:

Funniest Member of the Year:

_____________________________________________________________

I had no idea you left. =? But yes, I am glad to see you back as well. PSN Chat soon ok?

You're too quick!

You gets no award, fasty!