For those of us more like myself, that is more sober and cynical...

 

Let's face it, the forum situation has reached a dead end. Without at least a lengthy timeout for the forums, Obsidian can only embarass themselves. Here are a few reasons.

 

1. The game turned out buggier than expected by anyone. Naturally, people are pissed. And there are flames. The patch is too little, too late; and even if the PC version gets patched, the X-Box is SOL. Forget XBL, the game isn't Live-aware, hence no patch for the X-Box. You think you saw flame wars? Just you wait til the patch comes out. Those poor controller-wielding slobs who shelled out $50 last year will be coming in droves to voice their displeasure. Loudly.

 

2. LucasArts hates this board. It's not nice when someone who's been paying the piper hates a board. Between the forums and LA's support, Obsidian should, and will, choose the hand that currently feeds them.

 

3. Obsidian cannot or will not hire a community manager/moderator. The existing mods (apparently volunteers?) obviously cannot hack it. These forums are a part of Obsidian's public image. It's not good to have a part of your public image trashed.

 

4. Obsidian has failed to distance itself from the community and forgot the principle of "sticks and stones". No, it's not quite as bad as Derek Smart. We all know that it STINKS to read a board and see a long litany of "YOU SUCK". But to publically announce your displeasure with the situation? That amounts to taking the bait. It's downright embarrassing. Now that the precedent has been set, as long as there's a rancor (Obsidian), there will always be someone willing to prod it with the stun baton (flamers). The question is, how long will the said rancor resist the urge to Smartinate the opposition? And wouldn't it be simpler and easier to just take away the said rancor?

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Obsidian. Hell, I still have the first Fallout installed. But as far as these forums go? Get the shovel and dig the grave, this one's a goner.

2. LucasArts hates this board. It's not nice when someone who's been paying the piper hates a board. Between the forums and LA's support, Obsidian should, and will, choose the hand that currently feeds them.

 

Lucasarts boards are far, far more hateful towards Lucasarts than this forum. On the LA forums, the main pages of the KotOR II PC boards have been largely dominated by threads trashing Lucasarts since release. If they hate this board, they must LOATH their own boards.

 

Also, these boards are more positive about the game in general at present than any other boards I've seen, the Lucasarts boards, as I say, being the most negative overall out there, it seems to me. These boards tend to deal with the issues more directly than most, as most people here are more familiar with the circumstances of the game and its development, but input is usually more constructive. There's less background noise.

 

Get rid of these boards, and you get rid of the most positive and constructive KotOR II fan community I know of. Lucasforums (NOT LA Forums) is pretty positive too, but when dealing with critical/contentious issues, I think the current vibe here is about as optimistic and helpful as you could hope for.

But as far as these forums go? Get the shovel and dig the grave, this one's a goner.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Look, I've read your post and can understand where you're coming from...but you joined this board when - post release?

 

Some of the forum veterans here were here from the very beggining. We followed the develepment process and contributed many of our suggestions which were implented in the final product. This was a game for us - the gamers.

 

Sorry, but in this case you don't really have a frame of reference. You're merely judging from your relatively limited exposure on these boards. Obisidian can't make a product for us, the gamers, if they dissolve their only medium of correspondence.

1. The game turned out buggier than expected by anyone. Naturally, people are pissed. And there are flames. The patch is too little, too late; and even if the PC version gets patched, the X-Box is SOL. Forget XBL, the game isn't Live-aware, hence no patch for the X-Box. You think you saw flame wars? Just you wait til the patch comes out. Those poor controller-wielding slobs who shelled out $50 last year will be coming in droves to voice their displeasure. Loudly.

Irrelevant. The amount of trolling, bashing, and general whoring could be drastically reduced if the mods actually banned people and deleted thrash threads and posts. It seems to work over at BIO. The current situation is the result of very deficient moderation, nothing else. I'm not bashing the current mods here, because they probably do what they are allowed to, but there are too few of them and they can't be here 24/7.

 

 

3. Obsidian cannot or will not hire a community manager/moderator. The existing mods (apparently volunteers?) obviously cannot hack it. These forums are a part of Obsidian's public image. It's not good to have a part of your public image trashed.

There are a few members that I actually think could be good mods, if given proper powers and freedom of action. It's not like the forums can't be salvaged.

 

Honestly, I don't care much whether the boards stay open or not. If they are shut down, I'll find myself with a lot of free time which I will probably put to better use. If they aren't, I will just stick around. Either way, I win.

But still, your reasons just don't cut it.

Greetings,

 

While I'm not a long time KOTOR player, in fact, I've just sat down to begin my first experience with the new release, I felt that I should address this post. I decided to come to these forums for some background and have been following some complaints, which seem remarkably similar to the complaints of another game release a few months ago, HalfLife 2. I'm a chronic CS player (that in itself might get me flamed:)), and was quite pissed at the very major engine flaws in Source, as well as the story ending in the game itself. The point being, Valve's forums were overrun with complaints, suggestions and the community pulling together in order to find a solution to the problem with modders and devs throwing in opinions and suggestions. Yes there were flames, but I believe that that can be expected on any board and people need to let the admins know that they won't deal with it and want something done. The outcome has been that Valve was pressured enough, by bad press and such to commit to a solution to the problem in order to get ready for their console release. I think all of us as PC gamers have been burned to some degree by the "consolitis" affliction. Have you noticed an increase in lacklustre product? Games that seem to be still beta versions when released? HUDS and gameplay geared towards console gamers? Obviously this is inherent to the problems in, from what I've so far witnessed, is a great game. I am however hoping that the anticipated problems stay away from my experience with it. I've already noticed in some posts people trying to come up with solutions to problems that they've found with KOTOR2 and are going about it the right way. Don't think that these companies think of your input as irrelevant, as ultimately your money and support go directly to their ability to produce and market other items. These forums, I believe would be this communities most vital asset in getting something done to alleviate the situation, don't you?

For those of us more like myself, that is more sober and cynical...

 

Let's face it, the forum situation has reached a dead end. Without at least a lengthy timeout for the forums, Obsidian can only embarass themselves. Here are a few reasons.

 

1. The game turned out buggier than expected by anyone. Naturally, people are pissed. And there are flames. The patch is too little, too late; and even if the PC version gets patched, the X-Box is SOL. Forget XBL, the game isn't Live-aware, hence no patch for the X-Box. You think you saw flame wars? Just you wait til the patch comes out. Those poor controller-wielding slobs who shelled out $50 last year will be coming in droves to voice their displeasure. Loudly.

 

2. LucasArts hates this board. It's not nice when someone who's been paying the piper hates a board. Between the forums and LA's support, Obsidian should, and will, choose the hand that currently feeds them.

 

3. Obsidian cannot or will not hire a community manager/moderator. The existing mods (apparently volunteers?) obviously cannot hack it. These forums are a part of Obsidian's public image. It's not good to have a part of your public image trashed.

 

4. Obsidian has failed to distance itself from the community and forgot the principle of "sticks and stones". No, it's not quite as bad as Derek Smart. We all know that it STINKS to read a board and see a long litany of "YOU SUCK". But to publically announce your displeasure with the situation? That amounts to taking the bait. It's downright embarrassing. Now that the precedent has been set, as long as there's a rancor (Obsidian), there will always be someone willing to prod it with the stun baton (flamers). The question is, how long will the said rancor resist the urge to Smartinate the opposition? And wouldn't it be simpler and easier to just take away the said rancor?

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Obsidian. Hell, I still have the first Fallout installed. But as far as these forums go? Get the shovel and dig the grave, this one's a goner.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am hoping a prune of this thread will allow for the current discussion to continue in the respectful manner that is has thus far. Please feel free to state your opinion, but baiting, trolling and/or intentional SPAM is really rather boring ... subtle, eh?

 

FLoSD.ObE

I notice that the "Most users ever online was 1,225 on Mar 5 2005, 02:45 AM"

 

Probably as a result of other sites (Penny-Arcade etc.) linking to the cut ending thread.

 

Does this make the closure of the forums more or less likely?

It's all a ploy by Aur, you know.

every one protest!!!! keep the boards open!!!

Spamming isn't going to keep the boards open, and neither is posting stuff like the initial post here.