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A new forum for sport? A new forum for games?

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Goodness Gracious Meme

00:06 / 17.06.05

Just wanted to dig up something from a while back (am catching up to this thread):

Loomis said:
I still have a problem with the antipathy towards discussion of sporting events.

The other spectacle fora don't limit themselves to dicussions of the philosophy of music or tv. They are full of discussions of what bands or writers are up to, developments of their work and new releases, etc. And there's plenty of "Have you heard this band? They're ace." Which is entirely as it should be. Is sport any less a spectacle than pop music? Is enjoying the physical dexterity and quick-thinking strategy of a sportsperson on the field less worthy of comment and appreciation than a musician displaying similar skills on the stage?

and while I'm very into (as is probably obvious) discussions of sport as spectacle/political/cultural entity (for which thanks for this space), I also want to feel able to enthuse about, say fantastic football matches I've seen, discuss the progress of the ashes series (you out there, Loomis) etc.

It seems to me that in some sense there's very little difference between say, Loomis and I (and anyone else who fancies) following the progress of the Ashes series, discussing the play, having a space to discuss something across distance(i know v.few cricket fans who i can do this with irl) and the Big Brother, Sopranos or Buffy threads...

eg, I might suggest to mods/Duncan that renaming the 'football' thread something more specific along the lines of 'the appeal of football' might be a plan, and then having a thread for football news, say, in which people could swop their latest news, thought etc. Anything which seemed to have more meat could then have a new thread created for it.

We're probably really only talking about a few threads anyway, but I'm dubious about the idea that only socio-cultural analysis is valid.

11:20 / 17.06.05

We're probably really only talking about a few threads anyway, but I'm dubious about the idea that only socio-cultural analysis is valid.

I'm working on the principle that if we focus on this sort of thread for the first few weeks, it might hopefully set a standard of posting that subsequent threads will stick to or improve on. As far as videogames are concerned - and you can say the same for sport threads - there should be threads on specific ones, just as we do specific films and TV series, but when they happen I'd like to see them have the same sort of consideration paid to the posts they contain as in the socio-cultural analysis threads.

00:17 / 18.06.05

I don't know how anybody else feels about this, so what's the general opinion on threads like the fella here? Personally, it's what I didn't want to see in the forum, especially not straight away - the converted talking to the converted in a way that presents an impenetrable barrier to everybody else. It's also one of those threads that doesn't really do anything - it's like the conversation you have in the pub when you've run out of other things to talk about. And it's grist for the mill for those who figured that there wouldn't be enough solid threads to justify the forum in the first place. Filler. Already.

My immediate reaction is to ask if there's any way of making a real discussion out of it, but I can't see how that's even possible. Is there a way to turn it into something a bit meatier, am I just worrying about nothing, or what?

14:26 / 13.07.05

I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of posting to the new forum, to be honest. I know it's still early days and all, but there seems to be a very distinct core of around ten or eleven people using it with some regularity, but that's about it. Most worryingly, I've not seen any sign at all of some of the people who used to post to the "What videogames" thread.

I've got about three or four games that I want to start new threads on, much as I did with Powerdrome and Amped 2, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm talking to myself. I don't want to appear to be swamping the forum or trying to use it as my own personal space, either, and without other people doing the same thing that may well be how it ends up looking.

Also disappointed that people like Stoatie and lula had ideas for games-related threads when the discussion was about whether or not we should even have the forum, but now that it's there, they're not using it.

Is there a specific problem with the forum? Are people just shy of starting new threads themselves, or what?

14:34 / 13.07.05

Sorry, I sould make it clear that it's the videogame discussion I'm disappointed with. The sports-related stuff, I'm really happy with.

15:32 / 13.07.05

Are people just shy of starting new threads themselves, or what?

For me at least, I think this might be the case -I was thinking of starting some kind of 'Games for casual gamers' thread (since I lack the hand-eye coordination necessary for things that aren't WarioWare), and then thought it might be a little like starting 'Books for slow readers' or 'Music to hoover to' threads in other fora. (Both of those might be useful for me, actually). I think that part of the problem (for me) is that I'm not sure what people want to talk about, and whether silly wee recommendations threads will actually be welcome / the way people want to talk about things.

16:08 / 13.07.05

Please start it, Vincennes. As long as recommendations are backed up with a bit of detail and reasoning, I can't see there being a problem.

If we can get a few more people starting a few more threads, at least there'll be some activity and a sign that more people are interested in talking about this than just me, thee and a few others. As long as there's some signs of life there, then we can always try and shape threads into something worth having if they're initially underwhelming.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

20:48 / 13.07.05

Yeah, I've been a bit poo, personally. The last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic for many reasons, but tomorrow I shall try to make with the cool threads I was suggesting!

Apologies.

01:01 / 14.07.05

I apologise for inactivity on my part. I have been really wanting to get in and about this for a while now, but I've not had regular intertron recently so haven't had the time to really engage. As soon as I've sorted everything out, I plan on posting quite a bit. I really do want this forum to work.

06:56 / 14.07.05

Maybe we should have a "what are you playing" thread, like the "what are you reading" & "what are you listening to" threads. It might help up the traffic and if a few people are all playing a game we can always spin it off into another thread.

14:03 / 14.07.05

I've been considering doing just that, but on reflection I'm not sure it'd really help. The forum was created, in part, to make that sort of thread redundant. If you're playing something and want to talk about it, then start a thread on it. That's what the new section of the board's there for - "what are you reading/listening to/watching" threads are little more than lists.

I'm going to be chucking a couple more game-specific threads up within the next few days, on newer and possibly more popular releases. Maybe it'll encourage others. I'm also going to reply to Vincennes' and Stoatie's threads as soon as I manage to tear myself away from Killer 7 for a decent amount of time.

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