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Thursday, January 31, 2013

What Would You Want In Your Perfect RPG "Hub" Site?

To take a step away from critiquing what you aren't finding to fit your desires, what would those desires be?

Would your ideal site list recent blog posts from blogs in the OSR? RPG Blogs in general? Be customizable and list the blogs you follow? Not list blogs at all?

Would it have a forum? If so, how expansive should that forum be? Would it have sub-forums for all the different OSR games and other RPGs, or should they be all in one general forum?

What about sections run by different people? Or would that just duplicate G+ Communities?

Should it have campaign tracking software?

A section to upload community created works for use by the community?

I'm not even sure what my ideal RPG website would entail. It would definitely integrate the blogs that I enjoy reading the most, it would have a forum (at least for the exchange of ideas - G+ is a pain to look up old threads for this purpose) but most importantly, it would be a link repository of gaming goodness.

Links for blogs, free RPG resources, other RPG Forums (perhaps with the last 5 posts from Dragonsfoot and RPGNet and others showing - so you can link right to an interesting post right on another site).

What don't I want? Ads. Minimal ads if any. They just kind of take me out of my zone when I'm trying to immerse myself. Or, if there are ads, they should be from other RPG sites - kinda of expanding the reach of all of them.

Oh, and virtual 3d chatting. Hey, if I'm going to ask for things that aren't going to happend, I mayas well ask for the world ;)

Posted by at

19 comments:

  1. SylvaeonJanuary 31, 2013 at 3:19 PM

    No ads, for certain! I despise ads on any site.

    A forum and maybe the ability to do blog posts on your own personal / profile page (that you could share in the forum or elsewhere, of course)

    A place to share OGL or other resources would be great, but not a first priority, IMHO.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Greyhawk GrognardJanuary 31, 2013 at 3:37 PM

    I don't mind ads at all if they're relevant. Ads for reverse mortgages and "secrets to heart health doctors don't want you to know"? No. Ads about miniatures, new RPGs, and board games? Sure; even ads impart information.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Keith DaviesJanuary 31, 2013 at 3:41 PM

    I totally need to get back onto build that blog aggregator again. I'm already aiming to do a lot of what you're talking about, adding the missing bits shouldn't be that much more work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JeremyJanuary 31, 2013 at 5:32 PM

    Honestly, a big reason I visit this site more than once or so a day is your excellent blogroll that keeps track of recent posts.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ERIC!January 31, 2013 at 5:47 PM

    A forum for Bloggers only? I really don't care for forums all that much but a place for bloggers to discuss stuff maybe...Am I being elitist?

    Blog reviews?

    Maybe a joint blog or series of blogs?

    Ads? Yeah like what Joseph said.

    ERIC!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Steve MossJanuary 31, 2013 at 5:53 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownJanuary 31, 2013 at 6:41 PM

    Here's a big one: a great community site needs to be accessible to your average gamer who only visits an RPG site once or twice a month. Or even less. It needs to give them something of immediate value to them, and it needs to quickly get them back up to speed with the rest of the community.

    ReplyDelete
  8. TenkarJanuary 31, 2013 at 7:39 PM

    @Steve Moss - you deleted your comment, but I'll still answer it:

    The ads on my blog are minimal - the RPGNow Hottest list and the D&D Classics Hottest list - both RPG relevant.

    The links to free games and such are just that - free games. I don't see that as ads, I see it as free resources.

    If someone like Hexographer or some other gaming resource wanted to advertise on this site, i'd give it serious consideration. Online Poker and Korean MMORPGs I've already turned down.

    As Joe Bloch says, relevant ads are more than just ads. Irrelevant ads have no place. It's why I ditched Adsense previously.

    Oh, and the RPGNow referral sales get cycled back into contests and giveaways here and at the G+ Community site

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jeremy "frothsof" SmithJanuary 31, 2013 at 7:51 PM

    I would want a grouping of free downloadable content from multiple blogs and sites updated regularly, a section for gamers to find online games on multiple free platforms (campaigns and one-shots), kickstarter updates from various sources along with other game development news, a comprehensive as possible list of links of interest dealing with the history of rpgs, and a section devoted to reviews of rpgs and related material, both old and new

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TenkarJanuary 31, 2013 at 7:55 PM

      this actually sounds damn cool!

      Do I still get 3d chatting tho? ;)

      Delete
  10. Steve MossJanuary 31, 2013 at 8:38 PM

    I deleted my comment because I was mistaken. Find it odd you decide to reply to comment I deleted, 1 min after posting it. What was point of deleting it if you

    ReplyDelete
  11. Steve MossJanuary 31, 2013 at 8:42 PM

    Respond to it anyway didn't you think I deleted it for a reason?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TenkarJanuary 31, 2013 at 9:00 PM

      because it was sitting in my email, which is where i read it - then typed out the answer before seeing it was deleted on the blog, at which point i figured it was still relevant to answer

      Delete
  12. SylvaeonJanuary 31, 2013 at 9:22 PM

    BTW, when i said I hate ads in my original comment above, I am not saying they are bad for your blog, etc. I just don't like them in any place I have to log into to personally use. Just wanted to clarify

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TenkarJanuary 31, 2013 at 9:25 PM

      i like them as unobtrusive as possible

      i run banners for RPGNow sales on occasions if I think it will benefit my readers, but that's as large as i go.

      i did laugh when i got the inquiry from the Online Poker folks

      Delete
    2. SylvaeonJanuary 31, 2013 at 9:28 PM

      Yeah, the minor amount of ads aren't intrusive or unrelated to what your blog is about, so it's fits in :)

      Delete
  13. MelJanuary 31, 2013 at 9:48 PM

    For me, it would be rpggeek.com with the odd forums bolted on, and an ability to customize so that I could list my favorite wordpress and blogspot blogs, and finally with the clean design of rpg.net.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Keith DaviesFebruary 4, 2013 at 10:54 AM

    I think for my blog planet thing, Erik, that I might want to have the option of personal tagging or flagging certain blogs with priority, something like "put these in my 'always' list, these in my 'time allows', those in my 'nothing better to do', and those ones 'ignore'", possibly across multiple axes ('OSR', 'GURPS', etc. as other flags). I might just consider personal-level tagging or something.

    As for linking to downloadable content, I don't know that I'd want to automate it, but perhaps looking for certain blogger-assigned tags might work. Actually, make it a little broader. I already grab the categories and tags on posts and store them (this post doesn't have any, your BFRPG thank you post has 'basic fantasy rpg' and 'gaming thoughts'), so presenting a specific list of recent posts with 'downloadable content' (or any other tag) shouldn't be too arduous.

    Hmm. I'm off next week, maybe I'll blow the dust off this and see if I can get it done enough to open to the public.

    Right. Possibly "user-based flagging" so you can highlight posts you want to keep track of. I'll want to come back to this one because it's got some good ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hex OxMarch 11, 2013 at 6:00 PM

    I would be happy with OSR wiki where I could easily find systems, modules, kickstarters, blogs, etc.

    ReplyDelete

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