Is empty.

I know that I'm stating the obvious. Activity has been dwindling around here for years and it's been at a slow drag for a while now. But I was just sitting outside staring at the moon - The same moon I've been mystified by night after night for as long as I can remember - And memories of happier times flowed through my head like the current of a soft stream.

It's depressing to know that this place, my home away from home for so many years (even when I didn't have a home, ololo), is becoming more barren with each passing day. For all of those happier times, RuneVillage has been a place to share that happiness with - And the source of many of those memories, as well.

When I stepped down from my ranks, I thought I'd be fine with distancing myself away from this place - Let things play out and not have to worry about it anymore. And for the most part, that's exactly what I've been doing. But as this place clears out more and more, it bugs me. I can't even describe the feeling properly, but it's like I'm staring at a coma patient every time I check RV. It's disheartening, and now more than ever it seems like there's no way to fix it.

I know everyone welcomed the idea of becoming a general gaming site with open arms, but honestly, where is that going to get us? We went from focusing on a specific game with relatively small competition to focusing on ALL games with hundreds of websites to compete with - And most of them (far) more capable than us. This was a mistake, in my opinion, given the existing RS content we already had and the reputation we build for so many years. Sure, our reputation wasn't the best, but it was a lot more than we have now.

I don't know what point I'm trying to make, or if I even have one. I guess I'm just sad. Sad that RV suffered an unfair blow from Jagex, sad that we weren't doing too great before hand, and sad that we're doing absolutely nothing now. It's like I'm sitting at my great aunt's bedside all over again, not knowing if she'd be there the next day.

Also, it's weird, but I miss hiker.

I know what you mean, man. I've logged in a few times and there hasn't been much activity. I thought about making a bunch of new topics....but I didn't want to annoy anyone. If the people who are at least visiting the site would step up and post, things would be better. If the people who do post would post more, things would be better.

I personally think the general gaming motif would work out if people playing games online promote RV. Be it through steam, xbox live, etc...We do have enough people to keep this going for a while, but it's getting pretty bare-bones. We don't have to sit back and watch RV die. If I was gaming today like I was a few years ago, I'd most definately promote RV. How very tragic indeed.

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To be honest, I really don't think any specific "Focus" is going to save or renew the village.

We are Runevillage. We were created as a fansite for a single game, Runescape, which we've all played at one point and many of us continue to despite Jagex's recent shitstorm. It's a game, a fairly fun one, one that's still being worked on. We've spent nearly a decade being this, even as our focus had naturally shifted away from it YEARS ago. We grew up as a community, not as a fansite. That was our pride, our hook, and what I feel is our theme; Runevillage is more "Village" than "Rune", and the same will hold true no matter what is placed before it.

No matter what we try to point our little window at to focus on and try to present ourselves as, nothing is going to change that Runevillage is a nice little spot settled somewhere between "Games" and "Family" on the 'net for us in specific. I'm happy with that. A lot of us have been happy with that and come here because of that. Not for the Runescape, not for the Other Games, and most likely not for the guides. Our pride and joy has always been the people. Those that matter are almost always remembered as they deserve, and those that don't are very far and few between. That alone is a shining piece of proof of what we are--the fact that almost any active poster would be missed if they disappeared because we seem to know each other on that basis enough, even if we're not all friends with each other added off the site everywhere.

Even then, look at how many connections we have with each other individually. Safe to say, take one part common ground of why we came here plus two parts common ground of why we're here, add in numerous small hobbies and similarities found across different games shown here or musical interests, and I'd wager both the amount of good friendships formed and the strength of the friendships beat out communities much larger than our own.

Why try to change that and turn the focus away from it? General gaming site is what we've had going on for years, as is Runescape fansite. It's still not something I'd ever put first when I think of Runevillage. "Family." That's us, in a single word. And like any Family, people have grown up and left the nest. A few bridges burned, some without explanation, and quite a few trying to get back into it or checking in, or at least having left enough traces that we can still get in touch. Family's still there, bro, and it ain't going anywhere. Not until we're all grown up and out in the world and too busy to get on the 'net to bump year old topics for amusement and stress relief of diaper changing between McRibs... oh wait.

We don't need to do anything. We have what we need. The site is up, it's being cared for, and people who care about it and each other are still here. Some faces are gonna go, and a few are gonna come back now and then. I personally can be happy with that.

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Goten is dead!

But without pulling in new members, this place is going to empty itself. Like you said, a lot of villagers have become inactive and/or disappeared because of life. Not that I don't appreciate the current community, but it's just a matter of time before the amount of activity per quarter genuinely doesn't constitute keeping the website running.

It'll be like checking your old Neopets guild and seeing absolutely nothing.

Yeah, RV turned into a ginger.

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The good kind or the Cameron kind?

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There are 10 types of people in the world, the ones that understand binary, and the ones that don't.

Thanks Lou for the help with the avatar.

Piss off, both of you.

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I was referring to the gingers have no soul stereotype.

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Do it! Let's see what you got dude

Also, today at work, I will be thinking(again) of different topics to post that will be relevant to all.

It saddens me when I log on and look at active topics, only to see 6 new little red symbols. So let's change this start/revive forum games.

@camdude - update your guitar topic?

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But that's what's happened already. Goten's going through "empty nest syndrome". We need to all have some kids!

For serious though, I think it's very possible to get new people in here. Like Kik said, our strength is that core group of people, zeh Family, if you will. What he said that I don't agree with, however, is that doing nothing is good enough. He's got a right to opinion, of course, but I personally think this would be a big mistake. Being motivated and doing things to progress RV is not going to be progress for the sake of progress. It has a very real purpose.

I have personally seen the death of once buzzing forums. Once was because the site just shut down for good right out of the blue (and left people actually bewildered and trying to regroup somehow. We failed.), but the other was exactly like what we are experiencing. Tons of activity to a select few to a barron wasteland. It was pretty tragic, and if we can try and do something about it..........why not?

Ninja'd: Why, I oughta.......O.K. Market. I will try.

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I feel I may have misspoken about what kind of action I felt needed to be taken. >_> It's not a "do nothing" in that I want us to roll over and wait for an eventual emptiness of the forums to come. It's that we're already doing a lot of what we ended up agreeing to want to do. Currently, Runevillage wants to become a "general gaming site", and excluding having the frontal appearance and little nifty tools / front page updates of one, we already are.



Thanks for reminding me to check my stocks.

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Goten is dead!

Place needs more exposure, that's all... We have a solid core of users here who have shown time and time again that are willing to put in the time and effort to make this site succeed. If we can get our name out there, things should turn around...

But honestly, you cant even find runevillage anywhere on google when you type in "runescape" or "runescape tips" Try googling
"runescape quest help" and you'll find Sal's realm, runehq, runewiki, tip.it, zybez and a bunch of other sites i've never even heard of ON THE FIRST PAGE. Pages 2-3 get you a bunch of sites that sell RS gold. Guess where RV is? Yep, no where to been seen.

And when you google runevillage, the 3rd link is with regards to Hiker's situation and all that fancy stuff, which obviously doesn't help.

No one is going to join if no one knows about our community, it's really as simple as that. And yes, although our focus is more geared toward being a general gaming site, no one knows about this place, it doesnt matter what our focus is.

A lot of gaming sites will start up their own server on a game, maybe counter-strike or call of duty for example, and use the server to gain some exposure and get people to visit your site. Hold some sort of admin competitions or something where the top 3 fraggers get free admin in the server for a month? It costs money, but sometimes, you gotta pay to play.

-Phat

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PoopbaLL`

I recorded 5 videos and meant to put them up last night. Got distracted .

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Animal and folk got the RV TF2 server going. It goes pretty well at times, I think I've noticed a few non-RV regulars on the server. I do agree with the point that we need to advertise.

And I take it another appeal to Jagex is outta the question?

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Awesome

Why don't we take advantages of recent games, like Skyrim or BF3, hell, even MW3. Create a server for them. Post a notice to check out our site. Advertise. It's not a surefire way to gain more people, but I think it's got a better chance than most.

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Add me on Steam! Click this thingy!
If you're in the Runevillage group, it makes it easier to identify you!

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Kikori wrote:

Topsummoner wrote:

Riptide wrote:

I used to get you and J@n mixed up. Except your funnier. And nicer. Happy 21st bro!

Oh man Jan, you just got zinged by Riptide. How much does THAT suck?

Well, statistically speaking, slightly more than a giant suckusaur. A dire one.

PenguinGuy wrote:

Lets see if I remember how to play...

EX REX IS MAFIA SCUM FOURTHVOTER UNVILLAGE BLAH BLAH BLAH SCUM BLAH WINE IN FRONT OF ME BLAH BLAH META GAME BLAH BLAH BLAH SMELLS OF ELDERBERRIES BLAH

Right?

There's no way it could accomplish less than not doing it.

we need ask: why do you keep returning to the village?
find out what everyones favorite aspect of the site is. then promote that part and expand it. and get the word out! tell everyone about these things!

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Aye, this site has really just fallen flat on its face. Activity was actually pretty good after the hiker incident, but now it has gone back to what it was before.


For both the forums and the chat.

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The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. -MLK

Antic Hero wrote:

My new years resolution is 1680x1050.

Rocky Martin wrote:

TheAnimal is one cool dude.

Hideyoshi wrote:

There's a demo. Play the demo. Form your own opinion.

forums and chat eh?
well lets brainstorm! how do we improve both of those.

improve forums by: -advertisement. where would people(the kind willing to join an online community) spend their time browsing the web?
-activity. regularly visiting members can always make an attempt to make an average of 2-3 posts per day.
-layout/design. i think it is straight forward and easy to navigate. maybe edit the functionality of the 'new topics' link. and make more results appear.
-easier to log into. from the main page, there is one tiny little link that says 'the pub'... kinda like we are hiding.

improve chat by: -advertising? i know very little about other public chat rooms. but if we were to visit them, and get the attention of several gamers. and bring them over to our chat
-the little ding that dings when your name is typed... if we made that ding louder when your name is typed in CAPS haha then peoples attention would be brought back to the chat.

anyone else have ideas?? i wanna here more!!

what keeps you returning?? what is your favorite part of the village??

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The Village just doesn't seem the same anymore..

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Thanks Goten!