Something isn't quite right…

[Draconic]

Nice to meet you. I'm Draconic, self proclaimed Lord of All Dragonkind, writer and RPer. And when I found this plan I was stunned. It has the best interface of any forum I've ever seen to be honest. However…

Though there seem to be enough people around, I don't see anything getting done. This place should have RPs going on and an active fanfic section. There should be one or two people posting fan art in the character fan clubs keeping them alive.

That's what's happening on Beast's Lair, and with Final Fantasy's fanbase being presumably much larger than Type-Moon's I can't understand how so few people are actually doing things for the fandom. I mean the Lair's fanfic section isn't as big as it used to be, but there are still stories being posted once in a while, and even if there aren't, people discuss story ideas constantly, or give each other writing tips.

Come on, people! There's more to being a fan than liking a series. I understand that this forum is getting old, but so is Beast's Lair, and they're still kicking, even if some of the veterans seem to have left. And they're actually more productive than ever before too. More translation going on there than there used to be.

You've got the most exciting features I've ever seen in a forum, so show me what you can do. I will jumpstart this site's fanfiction production, and to that end I've set up the Final Fantasy Fanfic Ideas Thread. Come one, come all. If you have an idea, come and share it. Doesn't matter what you think of it. Just revive the writing subforum, at least from a discussion standpoint.

 

[FinalxxSin]

There are numerous reasons that contribute to this forum not having active discussion like it did in the past...

1. There are multiple Final Fantasy related forums, and that's not even including the official SE related one.
2. The are multiple subreddits dedicated to Final Fantasy in general, or even a specific number.
3. Forums in general are not as active as they once were given the rise of other social media platforms.
4. Low drama = lower posting activity. <---- That can be objectively proven correct.
5. People on this forum are getting older so some don't have the free time they once had. That's life.
6. New Final Fantasy projects aren't as enjoyable as past installments to some people, hence their withdrawal from forums.

If you try and force something that isn't meant to be...you may set yourself up for a bigger failure in the end.

 

[Dionysos]

Welcome, and thanks for the feedback.

Memberbase is the key thing here, I think.

We put an awful lot out there (more than I see on most of the active forums I've seen on the web), but few people ever bite.

There are many reasons for this, and FinalxxSin sums the problem up nicely. Forum communities are taking a hit in general thanks to social media. We've been trying to do a bit more on our forum's social media page recently to try and join in with this, and we've received a bit of increased traffic as a result, but it comes and goes.

A lot of the memberbase migrated and stopped posting on this forum, and it takes a while to recover from that. A few people can live in a ghost town and work on making the buildings look pretty inside, but the tumbleweed will still roll on the empty streets.

The simple fix is if you want to see posts, post. Other people may follow as activity breeds more activity. People can flock to something here when it appears active. When people see a ghost town they are less inclined to be the one to break the ice and start the conversation again. Be that person and activity might continue. No guarantees, but if you want to see that happen then you can say you've done your bit.

That's not at you personally, by the way. I'm just saying that perhaps this is the attitude which members (and staff included) who want this forum to be active again should adopt.

We have a lot going for us here, and I thought that the Christmas events had a good turnout, personally. But you're right that we've been a lot quieter than we should be (considering that we're the number one google search for 'Final Fantasy forum' - and have been for a while). Let's work together to increase activity into the streets of the FFF ghost town?

You've got the most exciting features I've ever seen in a forum, so show me what you can do. I will jumpstart this site's fanfiction production, and to that end I've set up the Final Fantasy Fanfic Ideas Thread. Come one, come all. If you have an idea, come and share it. Doesn't matter what you think of it. Just revive the writing subforum, at least from a discussion standpoint.

This makes me happy though. We do try our best with the features. Again, though, the features need to be used in order to be enjoyed. I fear that many members either haven't noticed them, or don't think that they apply to them. Many others just don't have time to notice them and only visit FFF for the SB for a quick chill and chat with friends.

As FinalxxSin says we can't force people to participate, but we can do our best to encourage people with incentives.

For example, the recent 'New Game Grants' drive has been giving out Community Tokens (which people can use to buy sprites and special forum features in the forum MogShop) to anybody creating threads about Final Fantasy XV and World of Final Fantasy.

In the near future we can possibly give similar incentives for creating / participating in RPs or for writing and posting fiction on here, etc. I would like to see life breathed into those sections too.

 

[Soulcorruptor]

Well let's give you a heart felt welcome you deserve one for coming into our corner of insanity, we hope you stay.

Now to address your concerns with some of the sections mostly the RP crowd, we used to have a fairly large crowd here to make that section active, it even used to have it's own main forum and not be a sub one. However due to life people getting older and moving away from some activities among other reasons we have lost a good portion of our RP crowd as a whole. We may now only have 3-4 people who may like to RP but have such differing preferences on what they like to do in an RP for the type of genre they may feel more attracted to, that that also is a reason we have not seen a rise in our RP's as of late as well.

Still I regress we welcome you and hope ya stick around, glad you enjoy the layout. If have any questions feel free to shoot a member or staff a PM and anyone that can will be glad to help you out.

 

[greenyxi]

Welcome Dragon Lord! Happy New Year too!

There's such a lot to have a gander at so I hope you enjoy. Good luck with the fanfics .