ORAS Feedback & Clan Impressions

[Jimmu]

Hi Everyone

During November we ran the ORAS event to celebrate the release of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. This event also gave us a taste of how clans could work on the forums if they were to be implemented. Please use this thread to give feedback on the event and to discuss your impressions of how the clans worked during the competition.

Thanks for your participation throughout the event and we appreciate your feedback!

 

[Princess Niki]

It was fun doing all those different contest involving Pokemon and when it happened the team work was great.

 

[tketle]

Brief summary of my thoughts: the Aqua subforum and chat were largely inactive; fewer than half of the active userbase even joined a clan; the competitions were kind of interesting, but participation was really low there as well -- is pursuing the idea really worth it?

We pretty much failed to sustain even two clans for one month. Some of the lack of participation could probably be fixed by not having such specific themes, as well as making the competitions a little easier to join, but the test run gave me the impression that clans would just be a lot of work for the admins with little-to-no benefit for the community. (I can't speak for how it went for Team Magma, but I'm confident the situation was similar for them. Also having a blue name was kinda cool.)

 

[LittleGumball]

Brief summary of my thoughts: [...] having a blue name was kinda cool.

This guy said it all.

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

If a full-on clan system were implemented, the only thing I would hope for would be more activity within the designated discussion areas (chat, subforum, etc.). Although many people joined Teams Aqua and Magma, the groups as a whole were largely inactive, with hardly anybody participating in the competitions/posting in the subforum. I wonder if that's because of the theme; a good chunk of the people that joined one of the Teams weren't huge Pokemon players, and I think that contributed greatly to the inactivity. I don't think that would be a huge problem with a full clan system if the contests were presented with more variety in the themes. Perhaps there could be a Pokemon month, Zelda month, Anime month, Dr. Who month, etc. I think that could improve the activity problem and make the clans fun and worth joining.

 

[A Link In Time]

The Team Magma subforum was a bit inactive towards the end, but it had than twice as many posts as the Aqua subforum. Plus, people posted their own threads in the Magma section, which only happened once in the Aqua subforum. We had threads for Pokémon resources, the forum game, and keeping track of points. I think it mostly came down to the fact that people in Team Magma were more motivated than those in Team Aqua.

I don't think a Pokémon event was the best measure for general clan activity either. Most people are on this forum for the Zelda content and to have more general discussions about their days and what not. I really appreciate the work that as put into this event, especially by Jimmy, but it wasn't an effective way for gauging clan interest.

 

[Djinn]

Generally in a clan system it would be up to the clan mod/leader/captain/grand poobah to try to maintain the activity by keeping things like contests, activities etc going. At least until everyone there becomes accustomed to it.

 

[Terminus]

Focus was narrow but it was certainly a lot more active than any other exclusive subforum.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I liked the concept, but it does need some work overall, mainly we need a way to keep activity going, maybe have more events than the ones given to cater to a large variety of people and interests.

 

[Emma]

The event really didn't give the impression of clans I wanted people to get. They wouldn't be some one-off thing that has a short burst of activity and then sputters out into nothing. Really they'd be more like this:

Generally in a clan system it would be up to the clan mod/leader/captain/grand poobah to try to maintain the activity by keeping things like contests, activities etc going. At least until everyone there becomes accustomed to it.

They'd be ongoing. With various things to do all the time. Direct clan-to-clan competition happening now and then, but not being the sole point. And next time I think they should be drawn out over at least a couple months, not less than one.

 

[Kybyrian]

The event really didn't give the impression of clans I wanted people to get. They wouldn't be some one-off thing that has a short burst of activity and then sputters out into nothing. Really they'd be more like this:

They'd be ongoing. With various things to do all the time. Direct clan-to-clan competition happening now and then, but not being the sole point. And next time I think they should be drawn out over at least a couple months, not less than one.

It's best to get some solid volunteers who we know are going to be able to keep up on things like activities, competitions, etc. within the clan if they're given another run. In fact, drafting up an idea list and getting some events together beforehand just to get into the rhythm of doing things and getting everyone accustomed to it would be a good idea. I'd say have some clear leaders for each clan during the trial run, and a clear set of events/at least ideas that are well formulated that will be sure to spark up clan activity during the duration of their run. That would give everyone the best impression possible. Obviously, during real implementation no one would always have a clear set of ideas or events, but the idea is to get everyone accustomed to what they would ideally be like and leave an impression. People will fall into line and help support them themselves (and the leaders would get a better idea of what they need to do) after given some support from pre-formulated ideas and a smooth couple months of operation.

If you just throw clans out there, and say "this is a thing" and keep it around for less than a month, no one is going to jump in and situate everything to a point where they run smoothly, so no one is going to want them to come back. They need to be given the backbone to run off the bat, i.e. set up and ready to operate as they ideally would before launching them into the real world. It's like taking a section from an already-working clan system and presenting it to everyone, and then asking, "Would you like this?" instead of shoving an infant system in their face and begging them to build it up themselves to see if they like it.

 

[A Link In Time]

The event really didn't give the impression of clans I wanted people to get. They wouldn't be some one-off thing that has a short burst of activity and then sputters out into nothing. Really they'd be more like this:

They'd be ongoing. With various things to do all the time. Direct clan-to-clan competition happening now and then, but not being the sole point. And next time I think they should be drawn out over at least a couple months, not less than one.

I was actually thinking that clans should be left as a temporary thing that resurfaces every so often for a new event. The social groups are already a lounge to talk about anything. They aren't relegated to their own obscure tab like they were on vBulletin either. They have their own subforum. Above all, they're open to everyone.

Repentance was suggesting a Courage vs. Wisdom vs. Power event in the staff chat a few days ago. Such a competition could be introduced when ZD Red is ready to launch. More people are here for Zelda than Pokémon, anyhow. We learned from the ORAS Event what competitions people are more likely to participate in. There would be a larger focus on gaming competitions and more general forum games (e.g. completing the Hoenn Pokédex during the ORAS event).

The issue I see with permanent clans is them falling into inactivity. If everyone who is regularly active on the forums theoretically signed up for one of three clans, there would be 20-30 people per clan. That's about the number of members other private groups, such as the Hylian Knights, had during their peak of activity. Even with people who were active in other parts of the forum, that subforum was dead.

With the number of active members ZD has, clans should be taken advantage of as a novelty that returns from time to time. A thread explaining clans and clan sign-ups could be created and stickied in the Community Area so people are aware what clan events entail. Providing clans with a specific structure and function allows for a more organized and fluid experience for everyone.

 

[Kybyrian]

Even with people who were active in other parts of the forum, that subforum was dead.

But the Hylian Knights were never intended to be a social group or anything; they were intended to be a completely independent usergroup that only represented a title. The Hylian Knight forum was only created as a way to vote new Knights in, and not as a place for regular discussion. The clans idea is totally different, being social groups in which competitions, events, and chat is encouraged. The Hylian Knights were never that. No one was brought into the Hylian Knights with the thought that they'd ever post in the Hylian Knights section for discussion, only with the thought that they'd be labeled a role model who could vote on others to be labeled role models.

Some people tried to change that, but I don't think it was something that could have ever been changed in the first place. Not with what the Hylian Knights were. Clans are something different and can be started as such. I think it's a better idea to keep clans persistent instead of pulling them up for random events every now and then, to provide a staple and feeling of belonging to one clan over another.

 

[A Link In Time]

But the Hylian Knights were never intended to be a social group or anything; they were intended to be a completely independent usergroup that only represented a title. The Hylian Knight forum was only created as a way to vote new Knights in, and not as a place for regular discussion. The clans idea is totally different, being social groups in which competitions, events, and chat is encouraged. The Hylian Knights were never that. No one was brought into the Hylian Knights with the thought that they'd ever post in the Hylian Knights section for discussion, only with the thought that they'd be labeled a role model who could vote on others to be labeled role models.

Some people tried to change that, but I don't think it was something that could have ever been changed in the first place. Not with what the Hylian Knights were. Clans are something different and can be started as such. I think it's a better idea to keep clans persistent instead of pulling them up for random events every now and then, to provide a staple and feeling of belonging to one clan over another.

I don't want to derail this thread so I'll keep my thoughts on the Hylian Knights brief. The HKs were intended to be "role models" for the community. Simply voting in new members who receive a purple username isn't enough. From the day I first learned of their existence, I had always hoped the Hylian Knights were a group who brainstormed how to improve the forums. Anyone can post; that is the primary purpose of a forum after all. But it takes more time and effort to create and implemrnt new ideas that involve and better the community.

The main problem with permanent clans is maintaining activity. ZU doesn't have this problem because more people join and stick around. People like you and Kitsu who stay semi-active ZD for six or more years are the exception, not the rule. Time and time again, it's been proven that ZD users jump at something that's new before the novelty wears off. This was true with groups, blogs (after the Shoutbox was removed), and competitions.

At the end of the day, I am still partially sympathetic to the permanent clan cause. People like Djinn and Matt have laid out some specific ideas on how to handle them before. At this point, the best way to see if clans are better left as temporary or permanent additions is to introduce an extended trial run. A period of six months could be tried to observe how active clans remain over a rather long period of time.

 

[Kybyrian]

I don't want to derail this thread so I'll keep my thoughts on the Hylian Knights brief. The HKs were intended to be "role models" for the community. Simply voting in new members who receive a purple username isn't enough. From the day I first learned of their existence, I had always hoped the Hylian Knights were a group who brainstormed how to improve the forums. Anyone can post; that is the primary purpose of a forum after all. But it takes more time and effort to create and implemrnt new ideas that involve and better the community.

I don't mean to discuss the purpose of the HK group, I only meant to explain that you can't equate the clans idea to the HK group because they were never intended to be the same thing. Results can be a lot different when you put your mind toward a certain goal; that's what we're doing with the clans, and what didn't happen with the Knights.

So, I think it's unfair to use the Knights as a baseline for the clans or compare their implementation to that of the Knights.

Edit: Also, I still don't support the clans as a permanent solution yet. I think we all recognize the activity problems that come with implementing the clans, and I agree with you there. I only agree with Matt that the trial period should be longer. I also believe that something should be set up beforehand to try to spur activity into them right away and get into the groove of what an "ideal" clan structure would be like for the trial period. Two months was a good suggestion, in my opinion. I see where you're going with a longer period of time, though, if you want to test sustainability.

Edit Mk2: I suppose I should also say that I don't support the clans as a thing that pops up every now and then if they're not implementable as a permanent addition, either. I think it should be all or nothing.