posted 08-10-99 12:00 AM ET        

I honestly think that having an official sites takes away from the fan sites who are dedicated to bringing you the best. Our SMAC forums are SICKLY small, while our BoTF boards are the biggest on the net - the reason is because there is no official forum!

Additionally, having forums on the official site makes people more and more dissapointed when the game comes out because of the tiniest flaw. It people hadn't been building up the tension to the level that was on here as compared to other forums (most notably SidGames and Apolyton) they wouldn't complain so much when there's a tiny flaw in the game

posted 08-10-99 12:40 AM ET            

Well, actually...

Many of us here have complained about the value of making an official site only to abandon it. Things here were pretty fun during the build up and release stage. The Firaxis team showed up often, etc. Then some trouble makers came around complaining and writing satires of Brother Greg, and the whole thing just turned to hell. But that also coincided with the Firaxis "Age of Silence" that befell our once great forum land. What's left here are mainly straglers from the Golden Age, people wrongly routed from porn sites, and Imran (who is looking for the people he wrongly routed from the porn sites).

Brian Reynolds recently posted here that this issue of Official v. Fan sites deserves their attention. I think, given the lack of staff Firaxis seems to have, they should simply make a static site (no forums) with as much up-to-date info on the games as possible, including patch histories, futures, ordering info, a collection of whatever web interviews to that point, etc. This should be the minimum and would require almost nothing on their part. And since there would be no "official" forums, we wouldn't have any implied expectations of official interaction.

This, as you say, would give fans a clear message: Find your on-line forum communities somewhere else. Of course, Firaxis should still pop in on those sites every once in a while, which, for a fan site, would be a nice thing. Put to pop in on an official site after weeks/months of silence only opens you up to the big question: Hey, why don't you stop by more often? To which the answer always is: There are enough bugs in SMAC to keep you busy here anyway.

However, this site is not in anyway taking away from fans sites. Why? We haven't talked about SMAC itself in ages. Some of us here have forgotten what SMAC even is. It's kind of like a legend now a days: Once, in the Golden Age, a disc was had--and it contained the seeds of a bitter harvest...

posted 08-10-99 12:59 AM ET            

He he he he he........

I wonder who would have been so bold as to write a satirical ditty about the legendary Brother Greg(uncleroggy subconsciously genuflects even though he isn't Catholic)?

Sheer Blasphemy! Where's a good inquision when you need one?

BTW, is this why the Firaxis link to this forum doesn't work for me anymore?