I don't post much on any forums these days, but I still try and read up on the games that I am interested in. I don't love every post and every poster on the Obsidian boards that there is one thing here that I find really superior to the Bioware forums.
If someone disagrees with the outlines that we see from the designers, they are still taken seriously as posters here. As long as they stay civil and cosntructive, that is. On the Bioware NWN boards... ? Well I have tried to take part there several times and each time any constructive criticism is shouted down by the board fanatics and the moderators.
Of course the designers are often right in what they think, but thoughts from people on the outside is one of the main reasons for having a discussion forum during game development, isn't it? I do not look forward to going back to Bioboards and being told that NWN itself was perfect in all its design choices and that all my opinions don't count for anything because I am neither a game designer nor a mod creator...
To give an old example: I used to post during NWN development pushing for an optional pause-in-play to be decided by the module creator. In my little opinion I stayed civil and constructive. The feelin was though that since the original plans didn't include p-in-p it was something that a lot of the fans wanted to strangle me for even mentioning - especially as they claimed that it would ruin their multiplaying. Supported by the fan mob a Bioware spokesman told us dissenters off, without even bothering to look at what our suggestion actually meant.
As a result I left those boards mildly disgusted, and later on felt a minor evil delight when the game in the end included a simplified pause-in-play, included in a lot less elegant way than what we had proposed...
I have later peeked into the Bioboards off and on, and always felt the same vibes staring back at me: Bioware reps and mods who take criticism as insults, and a fan crowd who back them in every way. Also a special in crowd of modmaking peeps who try to make sure that mere mortals understand that no opnion is worth anything if it isn't backed by a "name in the community". Mind you, this feel of mine might be truly unfair, as I have not read a majority of the NWN related threads on those boards.
Still. If a forum deals with a game in development it has to be open for questioning of as good as any planned feature in the game, as well as for any relevant suggestion. Of course people are allowed to say so if they agree with the developers' plans, but the more neutral moderators stay in the matter, the more constructive the environment becomes. Obsidian has started well in this respect, echoing the original feel of the BIS boards. Other forums sometimes seem to go for a format where designers give out a little bit of info and fans sit and praise it all - while shouting at anyone who doesn't 'oooh' and 'aaah' in the right places. That just ends up being an interactive advert, and I have no interest whatsoever in taking part in something like that.
So, I would love to see some sort of NWN2 part of this forum, especially if it is possible to see the designers interacting with it as well... The Bioware forum is the better interactive advert, I agree with Atari about that. But it would surprise me if it is better constructive idea pool for the game...