Hey GWers, it's Feldschlacht IV, or as most of you know me, Mog. This is my first article in my tenure as one of G&Ds resident Staffers, so I hope you guys read this and tell me what you think.
Today I'd like to talk about an issue that's been more or less dominating the conversations at GW for the past few days, bridging the gap beween Game and Demo and well, the rest of GW. As most of you know, GamingWorld for the past many years was defined by it's game making scene, particularly being the de facto capital of RPG Maker and even today, the Game and Demo forum, dedicated to such, remains one of the largest and active subforums on the site.
But there's trouble in this 'paradise'. An astute member of the community who's been here long enough won't take long to notice that the Game and Demo forums and the rest of the Gaming World community are almost completely isolated from one another. 'Regulars' in Game and Demo and 'Regulars' on the rest of the site are hardly ever the same people, major events are rarely noticed by members of the opposite forums, and members who are mutually active on both Game and Demo and GW as a whole are an increasing rarity. What caused this split in what could formerly be called sister cities in GW?
Many reasons, let me tell you. One reason being that many GWers have moved on or lost interest in gamemaking, making the G&D forum irrelevant to their interests. Another oft mentioned reason is that many G&Ders feel they don't or may not fit in with the rest of GW. And finally, the most talked about and most recently discussed reason is that G&Ders are more or less self contained, with little interest or awareness of what's happening outside their walls. It's really too bad that all of those proposed reasons are grounded in truth, but that's the reality. The question is, what to do about it? Well, I have a few proposals for both GWers and G&Ders.
Want people to get into your game? Get into the community.If you're relatively new here and your first intended stop is G&D, I highly encourage you to get some activity on the forums under your belt before you showcase your game. A perceptive poster will notice that well known members usually get more posts, views, and overall recognition for their projects than newer or entirely unknown members. Sometimes many excellent games by newcomers slip under the cracks because of this, but it's a sad truth. A good measure to circumvent that is to spread yourself around the forums and community before you let us know what you're cooking up. GW has a particularly wide range of topics and interests with many forums to represent it, and a few minutes of looking around will almost assure you that at least two or three topics might pique your interest. Give it a try. Besides, it's far easier for anyone to go "Hey, it's ___'s game! I'll check it out" to someone who's made an effort to involve himself than a guy with zero to five posts, no?
Enlist the talent of GWs various artists and musicians.GamingWorld has some of the most talented people I've ever met. Everyone from pixel artists, guitarists, writers, and painters are under the same roof here. You'd think there would be plenty of collaboration for artists and gamemakers to produce a lot of good work, but alas, it doesn't usually happen, and it's a pretty big shame. Start something! Whether you're an artist or a game maker, stick your heads in the opposing forum write a PM, or make a topic and get something together. It's rare that GW really collaborates work between artists and gamemakers, but when it does happen it's seriously amazing. Artists, throw yourself out there to make original music, graphics, or even write a kickass storyline for some of our resident gamemakers. Gamemakers promote their games, and artists promote their art, and it's a win win situation.
Not into making games anymore? But you still play them, right?A prime reason for the lack of communication between G&D and GW is difference of interests; many GWers simply don't make games anymore. Which is well and good, but that's no reason not to play them, right? Many excellent games from adventure games, platformers, shooters, and yes, even RPGs made by G&Ders fly under the radar of the mainstream GW, and it definitely doesn't have to be the case! I know it's hard to sift through what you don't want to play to get to the needle under the proverbial haystack, but there's no reason not to check out games such as
Ad Nauseam 2, or
U.S.G. ~A New Beginning~. Not only does it get the makers of great games the recognition they can certainly use, but it encourages more and better highly quality games by said makers. And besides, you get a free game out of the deal.
Those are just three ways to mend that burnt bridge between GW and G&D. While they are by no means a quick fix to an issue that's been discussed for quite some time now, examples like the above are one of the few solutions that help both GW and Game and Demo mutually. Despite what seems evident, both sides of the equation are necessary and paramount to GamingWorld. Game and Demo and the community within are the foundation that GW was built on and still resides on today, and the GamingWorld general members, the "rest of them", is what keeps GW thriving on the community front. There can be nothing but good that will come out of these two entities mixing and molding with each other, and what's there for either party to lose? So whether your stomping grounds are Game and Demo or the rest of Gaming World, I implore you to do your part in bridging that gap.
Gaming World Forums
A Message to both Game and Demo and the GW Community at Large-Bridging the Gap [games] [forums]