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I've been working a lot with the forum layout, but I've been told it's still confusing...so I would like some input before I plan the next step in the overhaul.

Basically, I'm considering merging a number of forums together. The Amalyan Quarter would disappear, and it's topics would go into the general discussion, gaming, or Citizens Platform forums (it mostly consists of avatar/game/Citizen of the month topics at this point). There Werewolf and Minecraft forums would become subforums of the Gaming Lounge, which would host all game related topics, whether they're general gaming or something specific to the region...removing a distinction that I think confuses a lot of new people. The Dumping Grounds would move to The Frozen Village of Fourneshore, eliminating the entire Old Town category area.

Additionally, I would like to rework subforums so that they appear as they do on Paradox Interactive's Forum. I like the clean way that the subforums are presented as a three-column list...it looks cleaner than what we have, and makes it easier to find subforums.

Thoughts?

I like it.

I could agree with Minecraft since it's a video game...I hesitate to agree with clumping Werewolf and potential other forum games in there, though, since that might end up being even more confusing.

I also hesitate at demolishing the Amalyan quarter and moving any and all topics to one area, since all that will do is cause clutter unless all of the locked topics are moved to a new archived area.

What about going back to the old way of pushing the Forum-based games (not the Dumping Grounds) back into the Amalyan Quarter itself, with a subforum for Werewolf?  Other potential forum games could be hosted right in the AQ, and given a subforum only if they end up being popular enough.  That way, it stays in the AQ.  If we get a few popular forum games rather than just Werewolf, we can even bring back the Frostbite Arena.

I also think merging the RP forums minus the guild (or perhaps even the guild in its own subforum) is a good idea as well.  Pretty much overhaul the structure of it (in a way I mentioned in the RP topic in the guild) since I actually find the new setup a tad confusing myself, to be perfectly honest.

The Dumping Ground could be a subforum of the Howling Tavern...like some areas have done unless we want to keep it as its own forum.  But then that begs the question of if the Dumping Grounds retains its own forum, then why not others that you're thinking of integrating into each other?

In the end though, the layout is going to confuse some people no matter what.  It's never going to be perfect enough to where everyone is going to be able to navigate it easily.  That's just messageboards, though.

Actually, since I didn't realize Guilds had an actual forum, amend what I said about the RP guild and put it in there...but move the Guilds forum to a higher area so people can see it right away.  Since we're wanting people to know about the guilds and even possibly take part in them, that should be one of the first things that should pop out to them. 

I would also argue move the SV area out of The Guilds area, the military has no guilds and does not use them. Therefore the either they should have their own area or not exist with in the Guilds...as that is just confusing.

I agree with Chanku; the notion that a branch of the military is a guild can be a bit weird. I propose that we rename the guilds section into 'Civil Services' or something similar, as it is where new citizens, such as myself, can look for governmental jobs to start out in the region.

I could agree with Minecraft since it's a video game...I hesitate to agree with clumping Werewolf and potential other forum games in there, though, since that might end up being even more confusing.

I also hesitate at demolishing the Amalyan quarter and moving any and all topics to one area, since all that will do is cause clutter unless all of the locked topics are moved to a new archived area.

What about going back to the old way of pushing the Forum-based games (not the Dumping Grounds) back into the Amalyan Quarter itself, with a subforum for Werewolf?  Other potential forum games could be hosted right in the AQ, and given a subforum only if they end up being popular enough.  That way, it stays in the AQ.  If we get a few popular forum games rather than just Werewolf, we can even bring back the Frostbite Arena.

I think to you and I who have been around a long time and are on the forum on a daily basis, the organization behind the previous setup was obvious, but it seemed to confuse a lot of people. People didn't understand why there were several areas for gaming...one for gaming discussion, one for forum games, and one for competitions and tournaments. My thinking is that if we merge it all together, then there's only one area for all of gaming, and that should make it easy for people to find and understand.

I would also argue move the SV area out of The Guilds area, the military has no guilds and does not use them. Therefore the either they should have their own area or not exist with in the Guilds...as that is just confusing.

At the moment, that forum just divides out the different 'jobs' in the region...although the SV could easily be adopted in the guild system, since it already has a marshal and doesn't operate much differently from the recruitment guild.

I agree with Chanku; the notion that a branch of the military is a guild can be a bit weird. I propose that we rename the guilds section into 'Civil Services' or something similar, as it is where new citizens, such as myself, can look for governmental jobs to start out in the region.

We actually just changed the forum from The Civil Service. It still serves that role though even with the name change.

So basically you're recreating the Frostmist Arena and merging it into the Gaming Lounge?

I would also argue move the SV area out of The Guilds area, the military has no guilds and does not use them. Therefore the either they should have their own area or not exist with in the Guilds...as that is just confusing.

At the moment, that forum just divides out the different 'jobs' in the region...although the SV could easily be adopted in the guild system, since it already has a marshal and doesn't operate much differently from the recruitment guild.

I've told you this before SV will NEVER EVER be a guild as long as I am Jarl of Defense. I've mentioned that I extremely dislike the implementation of guilds and as such I merely refuse to use them and call anything related to defense a guild.

I agree with Chanku; the notion that a branch of the military is a guild can be a bit weird. I propose that we rename the guilds section into 'Civil Services' or something similar, as it is where new citizens, such as myself, can look for governmental jobs to start out in the region.

We actually just changed the forum from The Civil Service. It still serves that role though even with the name change.

You mentioned causing issues with confusion previously, or trying to make stuff more clear but here you have it shown it's causing confusion still because you have things that will never be guilds in an area titled "Guilds"

So basically you're recreating the Frostmist Arena and merging it into the Gaming Lounge?

We're not recreating the Frostmist Arena.

Whatever you end up doing, I think The Amalyan Quarter should stay up. Wasn't the area named that in honor of someone dear to this region? Just seems wrong to get rid of it.

But it literally only hosts three things now...Avatar of the Month, Game of the Month, and Citizen of the Month, and most of those topics are closed. I'm sure that we can transfer the honour to another forum, but do we really need a forum for those three things? =/

At the very least the name should be kept. Maybe rename whatever area they're moved to The Amalyan Quarter.

So basically you're recreating the Frostmist Arena and merging it into the Gaming Lounge?

We're not recreating the Frostmist Arena.

Where would games like Spyfall or other regional games outside of Werewolf go then?  It might end up being just as confusing if other regional games were mixed up in the same forum as video games.

And I was suggesting keeping it to 2 areas for gaming: One for Werewolf since it's big enough for its own area, and one for the others...which would be in the AQ with all of the cultural stuff.

It's only if we end up having other regional games that become as popular as Werewolf that I'd suggest recreating the Arena and putting them in there.  Since Minecraft is first and foremost a video game, it'd make sense merging that one with the video game area.

So basically you're recreating the Frostmist Arena and merging it into the Gaming Lounge?

We're not recreating the Frostmist Arena.

Then I would suggest that we should. I think it's better to have somewhat sleepy subforums that are better organized than to dump everything together.

And although I don't particularly agree nor disagree with Chanku, I do think that the name "Civil Service" was better for that subforum.