Why are MMO's relegated to a separate forum area than Games & Platforms?

Just wondering...is it because there's an expectation of multiple threads for the same game?
I think I just answered my own question, but in my quest to some day get a personalized tag, I'm going to post this.

You could probably ask the same about sports, or I guess anything. You could lump everything in together.

I think MMOs are a bit different in how they're played, they (hopefully) stick around longer and have more little details to pick through than most games. Then there's the guild/social organisation aspect.

It's because when WoW came out, the dozens of WoW organization, trading etc. threads completely filled up the "Popular Forum Thread" bar. The MMO forum was created and MMO forum threads are excluded from that bar.

karmajay wrote:

It's because when WoW came out, the dozens of WoW organization, trading etc. threads completely filled up the "Popular Forum Thread" bar. The MMO forum was created and MMO forum threads are excluded from that bar. :)

Did not know that. This is effectively stating that GWJ on the surface (the "surface" that the popular forum threads feature advertises, anyhow) cares zilch about GW2, WoW, etc. Interesting.

ScurvyDog wrote:
karmajay wrote:

It's because when WoW came out, the dozens of WoW organization, trading etc. threads completely filled up the "Popular Forum Thread" bar. The MMO forum was created and MMO forum threads are excluded from that bar. :)

Did not know that. This is effectively stating that GWJ on the surface (the "surface" that the popular forum threads feature advertises, anyhow) cares zilch about GW2, WoW, etc. Interesting.

I'd say the majority of folks who hit the site dont care. Over the years dozens, hundreds? of folks have stated they couldnt care less and have no desire to partake in a mmo.

Yes, you answered your own question.

ScurvyDog wrote:
karmajay wrote:

It's because when WoW came out, the dozens of WoW organization, trading etc. threads completely filled up the "Popular Forum Thread" bar. The MMO forum was created and MMO forum threads are excluded from that bar. :)

Did not know that. This is effectively stating that GWJ on the surface (the "surface" that the popular forum threads feature advertises, anyhow) cares zilch about GW2, WoW, etc. Interesting.

Considering we have a front page article lauding Guild Wars 2 right now, your post rings kind of odd.

There are Catch-All posts in the regular forums for general discussions of various MMOs. The MMO forum is for nitty-gritty stuff.

GWJ has a site rule about not having more than one thread per game, and being limited to that would be really hard in the MMO space. Most of the MMO gang are actually happy that they've got their own place to discuss things and freely do the heavy coordinating a guild requires.

ScurvyDog wrote:
karmajay wrote:

It's because when WoW came out, the dozens of WoW organization, trading etc. threads completely filled up the "Popular Forum Thread" bar. The MMO forum was created and MMO forum threads are excluded from that bar. :)

Did not know that. This is effectively stating that GWJ on the surface (the "surface" that the popular forum threads feature advertises, anyhow) cares zilch about GW2, WoW, etc. Interesting.

I think it's the opposite of that. Look at the oldest threads in the MMORPG forum and it's 95% WoW-related. It's not that GWJ cares zilch about MMOs, it's that WoW was so unbelievably popular that it demanded it's own section to handle all of the threads. It's just more elegant to put it all into one area to not annoy those that don't currently play MMOs and to reduce the amount of mod time spent on collapsing threads. I enjoyed my time on Blackhand and I occasionally check into interesting looking MMOs (GW2, looking at you) but it's nice not to have to deal with raid/crafting threads in the Games and Platforms section.

Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a separate Hat Simulator section so I didn't have to dig through 500+ posts to get info on the latest TF2 patch. So count your blessings.

We actually asked for a separate forum repeatedly and the Overlords balked at the idea. They didn't want to split the community but eventually the threads choked out the update bar and the structure you see now was established.

It was primarily due to the excess amount of WoW threads back when that launched. It became clear pretty quickly that there was going to be a LOT of MMO posts by a (relatively) small group of people in the overall site population. MMOs generate a lot of discussion by a smaller concentration of people. Just makes sense to give the genre more room to breathe.

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else?

Certis wrote:

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else? ;)

We're like the crazy uncle everyone pretends doesn't exist.

momgamer wrote:

GWJ has a site rule about not having more than one thread per game

It seems to me ideally there would be an ability to post multiple threads about a game, but only if the site allowed for a tree structure so that all "GW2" threads were within the GW2 section...some of the threads are so long!...would eliminate much of the "filthy skimmer" apologies

Also to be clear the original post wasn't meant to be a complaint at all..it works just fine for me, just idly curious why the differentiation. Perhaps the word "relegated" is a bit inflamatory

Certis wrote:

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else?

I've always understood that to be a special haven for exceptional thinkers. I think it's kind of Certis and Ely to give us that courtesy.

Clover wrote:

We're like the crazy uncle everyone pretends doesn't exist.

Wait... What?

Certis wrote:

It was primarily due to the excess amount of WoW threads back when that launched. It became clear pretty quickly that there was going to be a LOT of MMO posts by a (relatively) small group of people in the overall site population. MMOs generate a lot of discussion by a smaller concentration of people. Just makes sense to give the genre more room to breathe.

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else? ;)

I sort of wish the link to P&C was lower down on the main webpage so I don't accidentally click on it anymore

Certis wrote:

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else? ;)

Nope, no complaints here sir. Got to keep P & C in quarantine, lest it infect the rest of the forums!

ScurvyDog wrote:
karmajay wrote:

It's because when WoW came out, the dozens of WoW organization, trading etc. threads completely filled up the "Popular Forum Thread" bar. The MMO forum was created and MMO forum threads are excluded from that bar. :)

Did not know that. This is effectively stating that GWJ on the surface (the "surface" that the popular forum threads feature advertises, anyhow) cares zilch about GW2, WoW, etc. Interesting.

I don't think that was really it.

I used to be a non-MMO Gamer, and before WoW came out, it really wasn't an issue. The popular forum threads were the same sort of mix that you see now.

Then WoW came out and broke PFT and the Gaming Forum.

Certis and Co. pointed out, and quite rightly, that MMO GWJers should have their own forum to discuss the finer points of their stats spreadsheets, so the rest of the forums could get back to talking about how dreamy Master Chief was, and TF2 hats.

It's worked out pretty well for everyone involved.

Robear wrote:
Certis wrote:

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else?

I've always understood that to be a special haven for exceptional thinkers. I think it's kind of Certis and Ely to give us that courtesy.

I've always thought of P&C as their way to contain Paleocon.

PurEvil wrote:
Robear wrote:
Certis wrote:

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else?

I've always understood that to be a special haven for exceptional thinkers. I think it's kind of Certis and Ely to give us that courtesy.

I've always thought of P&C as their way to contain Paleocon.

There is no way to contain Paleocon.

I find it odd that having seperate section is classed as "relegation". Isn't it more of a recognition of popularity? Think positive, people!

spider_j wrote:

I find it odd that having seperate section is classed as "relegation". Isn't it more of a recognition of popularity? Think positive, people!

You have to remember that those of us bitten by the MMO bug, at one time or another, are filled with shame and regret over our continued addiction.
In essence, MMO players are masochists.

spider_j wrote:

I find it odd that having seperate section is classed as "relegation". Isn't it more of a recognition of popularity? Think positive, people!

Man, way to make it way too easy to push this thread into Paleocon & Cleveland.

Can't we all just get along?

Can't we all just get along?

momgamer wrote:
ScurvyDog wrote:
karmajay wrote:

It's because when WoW came out, the dozens of WoW organization, trading etc. threads completely filled up the "Popular Forum Thread" bar. The MMO forum was created and MMO forum threads are excluded from that bar. :)

Did not know that. This is effectively stating that GWJ on the surface (the "surface" that the popular forum threads feature advertises, anyhow) cares zilch about GW2, WoW, etc. Interesting.

Considering we have a front page article lauding Guild Wars 2 right now, your post rings kind of odd.

There are Catch-All posts in the regular forums for general discussions of various MMOs. The MMO forum is for nitty-gritty stuff.

GWJ has a site rule about not having more than one thread per game, and being limited to that would be really hard in the MMO space. Most of the MMO gang are actually happy that they've got their own place to discuss things and freely do the heavy coordinating a guild requires.

It was actually the juxtaposition between that article's placement and the lack of a "popular thread" entry for GW2 on the front page that led me to comment. I fully agree for the reason behind a separate MMO forum, I was more wondering about the decision around not including it in the popular threads widget, as has been explained.

PurEvil wrote:
Robear wrote:
Certis wrote:

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else?

I've always understood that to be a special haven for exceptional thinkers. I think it's kind of Certis and Ely to give us that courtesy.

I've always thought of P&C as their way to contain Paleocon.

I always thought of it as their way to reduce the amount of time they had to spend breaking up ideological slap fights.

I just wanted to jump back in and say my original comment was correct so there!

If you disagree, we can meet in a duel in the latest MMO which is probably where I'll be hangin out.

duckilama wrote:
PurEvil wrote:
Robear wrote:
Certis wrote:

What, no complaints that P&C is separate from Everything Else?

I've always understood that to be a special haven for exceptional thinkers. I think it's kind of Certis and Ely to give us that courtesy.

I've always thought of P&C as their way to contain Paleocon.

I always thought of it as their way to reduce the amount of time they had to spend breaking up ideological slap fights.

Isn't ideological slap fights the shaky foundation upon which our Great Goodjer Nation was founded?

We few. We happy few. We band of MMO brothers.

We are there. On launch day, in your prelaunch play window,in beta ... we are there.

We need not the hype of console cycles! We need only the sweet embrace of patch notes. Of new content dropped on a tuesday, of microtrans models well planned.

With these small comforts we walk our many worlds. We grind, yes. But we grind for passion, for commitment, for rep and a sweet mount.

We few. We happy few. We, the MMO players.

Hurrah!

Michael Zenke wrote:

We few. We happy few. We band of MMO brothers.

We are there. On launch day, in your prelaunch play window,in beta ... we are there.

We need not the hype of console cycles! We need only the sweet embrace of patch notes. Of new content dropped on a tuesday, of microtrans models well planned.

With these small comforts we walk our many worlds. We grind, yes. But we grind for passion, for commitment, for rep and a sweet mount.

We few. We happy few. We, the MMO players.

hip! hip!