Guest The Ghost of Inept Pig Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 How I miss the Gamesroom, and it's occasional resident Spencer of the tea-making fame.Don't know how many of you bother to browse through PCA in your local newsagents (wouldn't expect anyone to buy it..) but in this months (March, apparently) issue at the front of the lifestyle section there is an advert for the Gamesroom...And I quote....The PC Advisor Gamesroom has gone down a storm with our online forum members and it's the place to go if you have any gaming questions. Our lovely members generally manage to answer any gaming poser you care to put to them in record time...The article concludes with a link to the Gamesroom... which, sadly, doesn't work anymore.... It seems even the might of Spencer was shocked by the sudden departure of the Gamesroom, my only question is... where's he going to get his quality insults from now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 :o :D :lol: :P Good ol PCA :D :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Radfordin Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Must remember to find a newsagents tomorrow where I can browse the mag :ph34r: It was a knee jerk reaction to something and I doubt we will find what. Accountants, managers, people who don't understand the interent?! We could spend all day guessing!Is it me or have they stopped putting images on the news stories? Perhaps trying to save space! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spook Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 That's poetic irony, eh, IP? Advertising at its best.Had stopped buying the mag when I realised I didn't even want to look at it anymore. Just sat there, untidily stacked, collecting dust. The mag seems to have chosen a direction that holds little interest for me anymore. Lifestyle section, when it was small was quite an interesting diversion. Now, it is just bulk and uninformative.It was a shame we never got to know Spen. He seemed like an okay person. I guess it was PCAs choice that he didn't devote much time to the Gamesroom, but I really expected more, of him and PCA. It's oviously a personal choice to post in your own time, but having made an invitation for PCA doing a social at Xmas and those interested, writing games reviews and the like, to meet up online for a little gaming therapy. Not getting any kind of reply was to me, rude in the extreme. Especially, given that I'd given plenty of notice and even checked to ensure they'd gotten message okay.I think they are making a big mistake closing down the Gamesroom. I do not know much at all about the question of devoting "valuable resources" to the technical side of keeping a virtual room running, but when you need to expand and diversify somewhat, in order to offer something different which other mature market IT mags do not do, closing a growing working resource is almost as great a sin as not investing in it.I do not understand their reasons and cannot begin to even imagine the difficulties and demands placed in such a competitive industry as 'publishing', but still believe they made and are possibly making, some quite big mistakes.Like most of you, I am in my (late) twenties and should know better than to waste so much time playing games, but hey, it's the age of the computer and what better use does it have as a form of interactive entertainment? Big market there - Microsoft didn't market it's X-box in the manner it did just to see if the fish would bite. I've looked at the major gaming mags which appear to be targeted more at the twenty-something lad/laddettes, but their content and audience is often a little low age-wise, if not in mental development also. (Sorry kids!!) Patronising aside, the PCA Gamesroom did have its own developing ethos, one of courteous respect and that made, even the younger ones more abiding by adult rules of conduct. They were growing in number and very welcome, as far as I was concerned.PCA had nothing to lose, by the looks of it. But it is my serious belief that we have everything to gain. IP, I know you and a few others are boned up pretty well on the gaming/computer industry, and I really do think that many of the faces met in PCA Gamesroom could knock something pretty decent together, if given the time and resources. What? Like taking a bite out of this market niche and exploring what appears to be a very rich and deep running ore. Opportunites to be exploited, happenstance and who knows, maybe we'll all be the next Enron? :lol: Seriously, I hope something good comes out of this. Nothing comes from nothing. Right PCA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvw Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Well said Spook. To me the " I hope something good comes out of this" has already happened, in that all you "Gamesroom" members have stuck together and continue to contribute richly to this forum.I enjoy reading all your posts and congratulate all of you.As for you being " in my late twenties" and still gaming.......well I'm in my fifties and still enjoy battling away at Red alert2, my gun may be to heavy, my truck is not loaded, terrordrones frighten the life out of me, my kirov does not report anymore and my rocketeers have flown away......but it's still fun :)PCA has lost a valuable asset and may rue the day.Good luck to you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Heh, yes, Dad plods away and fiercefully attacks any unit that kills one of his dogs :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mundy Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Agree Spook, the gamesroom carried a lot of respect. The even F.E. posted on one occasion that he rarely had anything to do in there as we were such an orderly lot.Some interesting postings/threads at the moment regarding the problems of the PCA site. The site was down for several days over Xmas followed by the sudden closure of the gamesroom and now due to a lack of resources there are problems with the search facility. This raises more questions than answers... which are not forthcoming and the question of subscriptions has been mentioned by some members (that would be suicidal surely).It made me wonder why the resources are not available considering the vast numbers of members and the advertising revenue that brings in? Also, how is this site maintained to such a high level in comparison then ?If success is measured by member growth (careful now... ;) ) does this mean we will have to face the same problems here sometime? ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankus Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 It may be me..........but I felt that the other place's "feel" was changingSpen appearing less often ...FE a bit more abrupt ?Less resources........Downsizing.....jobs on the line ?The well running a bit dry ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark2 Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 If success is measured in member growth we're not doin' too bad, but the success or failure of any forum is only down to the members, we have mods, but all we occasionally have to do is check the postings are in the right place. Craig does the donkey work which we are grateful for without him or you members there would be no forum.Keep coming in, keep the site the success it is.Thanks ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spook Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Mundy, that's excellent detective work, sir. Member growth and loss of (Site) potency? I am having a good laugh - thanks.Ash, you are so lucky your Dad even knows 'how' to use a computer. Mine cannot even use a CD player properly - last visit I made, had to show him why one of his CDs wasn't working correctly... thought it'd be easy enough but not as easy as turning it the right way up. Duh.BVW - your comments are spot on, something good has come out of all this already, yes, and you are quite right, of course. Thanks for pointing that out - I am always impressed by the resourcefulness and ability to help, demonstrated by the x-gamesroom crowd. Not too mention the general politeness and conducive atmosphere.Tankus, think like Mundy, you're words are more than a little close to what's going down at PCA of late.IP, I take it (from your comment: It seems even the might of Spencer was shocked by the sudden departure of the Gamesroom), you have some information about Spen that I don't? I know I'm a thick (sometimes!) :rolleyes:, but this maker of hot beverages has emailed you or something? I hope they keep Spen at least, if PCA/IDG are 'down-sizing'. I suspect his talents far outweigh some of them at least (the guy who is responsible to updating reviews section that often reads totally wrong in the context of the next month). Another reason why I stopped getting the mag - blatant lifting of older content made it look a little like a paste job. For longest time, there was no updating done at all. Maybe, it's all making sense now? The good ship PCA must be in pretty bad shape if with 70,000+ targeted users (pop ups etc) does not bring in sufficient revenue to support even the website. Would've thought they'd be rolling in it (comparitively)?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spook Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 "Tankus, think like Mundy, you're words are more than a little close to what's going down at PCA of late."I suspect :o (no insider knowledge here unfortunately). Hope they sort it out though - they don't want to pare the site down further or like Dan says, it'll just be pop ups and little else maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ordep Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Would you addam and Eve it !"The place to go if you have any gaming question""Our loverly members"Does make you wonder what went on be hind the scene's."Went down a storm" They got that bit right anyway!... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PC Eejit Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 This thread would have been locked hours ago over there... :D :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankus Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 "Went down a storm" They got that bit right anyway!..."Sank without a trace would be more apt ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarthy © ® ™ Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 TankusAgree totallyFE a bit more abrupt ?I don't know for sure but I think that Guy is doing other things of late. I know he has other businesses etc. All my contacts with the FE have been replied to by Peter Thomas and he seems alot more 'rigid' than Guy. Maybe they have brought him in to rid the forums of us lot once and for all.....hehehe :rolleyes: :blink: Come to think of it.....Stricter moderating + removal of gamesroom + 80000plus members + Possibility of cash problems = Why things are happeneing as they are in PCA???? hmmmmmmmmmmm :D :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Leo49 Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 You're a bit on the wrong track there Scarthy. The driving force/brains behind the PCa forum has always been Peter Thomas - he was doing the moderating unannounced for a long time before his official appointment as FE early this year.Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Dad is the cleverer one, in some ways, heh. He does the installation and upgrades and that - I pwn everyone on Bf1942 and write things :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mundy Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 Scarthy, with Leo49 on this one. If you remember maby66's post to PCA regarding the gamesroom it was Guy who gave the short and dismissive answer. The FE's response I thought was cautious but also helpful in that he suggested several topics to promote discussion. He didn't give the impression that the gamesroom's closure was imminent. Don't know why (maybe wishful thinking) but I don't think he would of approved of the way in which they closed it down.Also in his favour is that he has allowed pilch two weeks to archive the gamesroom's data (he also volunteered to e-mail any threads to those that request it). But most of all I thought the decision to allow several members to promote this forums existence on PCA was going beyond the call of duty... perhaps he was in his own way trying to help us find a new home... and for that I would like to thank him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PC Eejit Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 The driving force/brains behind the PCa forum has always been Peter Thomas - he was doing the moderating unannounced for a long time before his official appointment as FE early this year.Shame PCA didn't actually ask him to moderate before giving him the job :D :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger Posted January 10, 2003 Report Share Posted January 10, 2003 I remember the Lounge in PCA and some of the subjects and debates on it were fantastic (some not so) but they just dumped that as well for, as far as i'm concerned, no good reason, at the time it probably cut my amount of time on the PCA website by about 70%, I have increased my visiting to the PCA site again, but it is probably still only 60% of what I used to. On the current topic on the PCA site regards paying for the site, no way, I wouldn't mind if they added a couple of pounds on the subscription charge as we already make a saving compared to the shop price, but if they want me to pay a seperate charge for a site which is basically a advertising medium for them, then no I wouldn't do it, Another thing they could do that would help costs slightly is round up the subscription charge, it was time for my renewal this month and it was £21.97, if they have say 40,000 subscribers (half the website members) then it works in about £1200, not a lot in the big scheme of things probably but every little helps i'm sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Radfordin Posted January 11, 2003 Report Share Posted January 11, 2003 Ranger: How did you work that amount out?40,000 subscribers paying £21.97 per year would be £878800 in subsdoh just worked out what you did...40000*0.03 = £1200Very cleaver! Problem is that nothing in life is ever a round price, your mind wouldn't like it!As for The Lounge, it has no doubt got a lot to do with the type of posting, and keeping things under control. There was no way to manage it easily and people could've posted stuff so easily that would've got PCA into a lot of trouble. To be fair, the site didn't seem to suffer much when it went, true some people didn't come back but it continued to function and still is a great resource. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PC Eejit Posted January 11, 2003 Report Share Posted January 11, 2003 This place is better though :ph34r: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted January 11, 2003 Report Share Posted January 11, 2003 Yes BUT the loss of the search engine will probably result in more threads being posted than would otherwise be so! Was that a split infiny thing? Anyway a bigger use of the resources. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug Posted January 11, 2003 Report Share Posted January 11, 2003 No. I now think I ended the sentence on something or other. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Radfordin Posted January 11, 2003 Report Share Posted January 11, 2003 PC Eejit:It may be better, but it will take a lot to match PCA. Reason being is the volume of posts is not going to be high enough. Most of the people here know a fair bit about computing, so we aren't going to see the volume of "help it doesn't work" threads which will be the thing that draws me back to PCA.Its a good site for discussion and the like, but its yet to present some challenges to solve! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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