Mon 22 Jan 2007
The IGDA website is in need of a massive overhaul - both the frontend features/design, as well as the backend member database/systems.
One idea I’ve hinted at previously is simply making the entire IGDA site a wiki (ie, get rid of the static pages/content and just dump it all into the wiki). This is appealing for many reasons - in part, that you cannot find a simpler approach to content management than via wiki page edits.
But, there are drawbacks, one being the lack of traditional threaded discussion forums (sure, there are the talk pages, but not quite the same thing). So, I thought I’d explore some forum stats to gage the level of importance and usage of the IGDA forums.
No big surprises, I suppose. The IGDA forums very much follow the rules of thumb for “participation inequality” on the web…
Some stats:
- 166879 total posts since starting the forum in 2001
- 11268 member accounts registered in the forums, 107132 “free user” accounts (total of 118400 forum accounts)
- of the top 100 posters, 45 are regular members, 5 are student members, 50 are “free users”
For the members specifically:
- top 5 posters have 14469 cumulative posts (~20% of posts)
- top 10 posters have 23136 cumulative posts (~32% of posts)
- top 50 posters have 48474 cumulative posts (~67% of posts)
- only 111 members have made 100 posts or greater
- 10802 (~96% of members) have made 10 or less posts
- 9882 (~88% of members) have made no posts at all
- 64760 (~90%) posts made by 232 members (2%)
- 4328 is highest number of posts by a member (then 3119, then 2462…)
And, the stats become way, way, worse if the free user accounts are included.
Admittedly, we’ve not pushed the forums and other than just having them, they’ve not been a central part of IGDA strategy per se.
Conclusions? Hmm…
February 4th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I’ve been thinking about the IGDA site for about a week now, and I wish there was an easy answer that I could relate, and then take absolute credit for. ^_^
Unfortunately, there’s no one thing that could be done to revitalize the IGDA site. In a lot of ways, I don’t really see the problems you’re referring to. IGDA.org is a fairly effective hub. But I do see it as very little than just that: a hub to other information.
I spend more time on SIG sites than I do on the main IGDA site itself. Perhaps more integration with the blogs of the SIGs would help keep the main site full of new content.
Personally, I’m always turned off by the idea of Wikis (I haven’t seen a mainstream Wiki application that doesn’t have major aesthetic issues). I’m not a regular forum-goer, but I do believe they’re a vital part of the site. The biggest problem with the forums is just that there are *a lot* of them. I understand why the breakdowns, but when you get that specific into each SIG, chapter, topic, you’re bound to stretch the content thin across the entirety of the system.
My biggest problem with IGDA.org is actually the profile and account integration across the entire site. I log-in to alter personal info and look at subscriptions, but that account never remains activated when moving around the site. The system feels flimsy when I have to sign in more than once in a session.
This might not be in the cards, but what if members could personalize their IGDA main site? If I’m a member of the Sex in Games and ARG SIG’s, for instance, I could get updates of those blogs on the igda.org root, as well as updates to forum threads I’ve recently posted in.
That’s all I got. Hope that was helpful.
February 9th, 2007 at 11:26 am
I suggest the front page be a more standard news blog to keep it fresh and up to date, allow comments on subjects up to a point and then move the more popular topics to the boards. Then, spruce up the forums GUI to encourage members to contribute their thoughts more easily and discourage the usual freeby account pot-shots that spark useless thread wars.
Some additional weekly features would be nice, such as podcasts that covered all aspects of game production and development.
March 30th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Kathy Sierra wrote/writes a blog on community which I think you would find interesting. An article that many people have linked to as a must read for community is User Community and ROI. I think much of what she wrote would help develop the IGDA website from a portal to a community.
I think the best application to replace the portal is a social networking system a la LinkedIn and MySpace. A combination of the two, adapted for the needs of our community, is what I think the IGDA website should become.
I am anti-wiki at this point.