Is CFC forums' overall activity dying?

[Valka D'Ur]

Yeah I don't think the Civ games themselves are a reason for the forum's decline - it's still a top-selling, blockbuster franchise.

The pool of posters in OT is shrinking at a slow but constant rate. I will say that while this decline sucks, the people that have stuck around are generally nicer to talk with than the wider pool that used to be here. This place could be pretty vicious in the past and while there are obviously still spats, overall it is much chiller than it used to be and has a more cooperative rather than competitive vibe. There is also much, much less mindless spam and posture posting now than in the past and more genuine debate and exchange of ideas.

Most of us from many years ago have had 10-20 years to grow up, get through school, establish a career, marry, have kids (or watch kids marry and have their own kids), and generally have a different perspective from 10-20 years ago.

There are people who had negative histories who are either both gone or one half of the feud is gone, and that contributes to the more easygoing vibe of the place.

It's not all roses and sunshine, though. There are still disagreements and feuds that can flare up into bad situations. What I appreciate are good-faith efforts to patch things up.

Mediation used to be a thing used here at times, about 10 years ago. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't. It only works if all three sides - the two opposing individuals and mediator - go into it in good faith, with the goal of at least a truce, if not achieving peace.

I wonder if some of the former activities might come back if we had an opt-in thread pinned in OT, as we had in the social group. I never participated in the avatar switch, but I did in a couple of other things. It was both frustrating and fun at the same time.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

Ironically, when Civ 5 came along and forum activity wasn't all that great, people said "either Civ 5 attracts newcomers or this site will die". As most of you will know, the Civ 5 forums were actually freaking brilliant, very active, and people spilled over to OT (among them, yours truly). The Civ 5 forums had a better community than I've ever seen on a forum like this (excluding that one World of Warcraft related site ).

Now with Civ 6, while there is a decent amount of discussion in the general forum, mostly about the new content though, the strategy forum was a stillbirth. It was heartbreaking for me, because I kept trying to make something happen. There was discussion for a short amount of time when Civ 6 started, but it died down.

It's a shame because the CivF strategy and tips subforum is literally the single best source for Civ-related information, especially formulas, on the entire internet. I would bet at least one finger than the Civ 5 strategy forum actually had (some of) the best players in the world. As for Civ 6, it's mostly Victoria and a few other diehard Civ fans keeping the strategy forum alive. HOF doesn't look quite as dire, but not good.

I really wish I liked Civ 6 more, but I just don't. Maybe the season (p)ass can make people flock to the strategy forum once more

 

[AdamCrock]

I am a "die hard" Civ 4 fan !! I've played Civ V and VI extensively but it comes nowhere close to the quality of the golden part four , I think that Civilization IV is a best Civilization game out there - original Civilization (part 1) is right behind.

edit:
Sadly I think that part IV is the last part where Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) reads the quotes

 

[Catharsis]

Here’s a bigger one from 2011 https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/is-civfanatics-dying.415881/

Main thing I learned from that thread is that Truthy used to be called Derrick CB. That name change passed me by!

 

[MrCynical]

I'm also back after a break of some years, and the forums do seem much quieter than I remember. In the off topic forums it's very noticeable that there only seem to be one or two new threads a day - there used to be a lot more than that. Most activity is in a short list of long running topic threads rather than a steady stream of new topics.

I'm also surprised how little action there is up in Civ 6 strategy - Civ 4 strategy was vastly busier last time I was posting regularly (I larger skipped Civ 5).

 

[Zardnaar]

I am a "die hard" Civ 4 fan !! I've played Civ V and VI extensively but it comes nowhere close to the quality of the golden part four , I think that Civilization IV is a best Civilization game out there - original Civilization (part 1) is right behind.

edit:
Sadly I think that part IV is the last part where Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) reads the quotes

For a moment there I thought you hit your head. You're talking about Civ3 right?

 

[Lexicus]

For a moment there I thought you hit your head. You're talking about Civ3 right?

He mentioned Nemoy. He was talking about Civ 4.

I have fond memories of Civ 3, but 4 is just hands-down a better game.

 

[Zardnaar]

He mentioned Nemoy. He was talking about Civ 4.

I have fond memories of Civ 3, but 4 is just hands-down a better game.

Lies reject your reality and substitute my own.

 

[Commodore]

He mentioned Nemoy. He was talking about Civ 4.

I have fond memories of Civ 3, but 4 is just hands-down a better game.

Maybe. I could never get into 4 though. Civ 3 will always be my favorite with (unpopular opinion incoming) Beyond Earth a very close second. But that's just because the setting of Beyond Earth really played to what I like and the aliens were much more fun to deal with than the barbarians of other Civ games.

 

[_hero_]

Having a website that's primarily a discussion forum and that's active in 2020 is a difficult task. Sites like this have largely been replaced by reddit and discord. Also facebook groups and twitter seem to have replaced forums for some people, though I'm not sure if that is true for Civ in particular.

 

[mitsho]

So, recapitulating:

- Forums have lost grounds to social media where there is a split: Reddit/discord/youtube etc where you will find communities to every game under one roof, and Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/TikTok which tend to favor a build up of your brand with your real name.

- No new civ game for a while as they tend to bring in fresh blood and new gamers to the community which start in the civ-forums and spill over to off-topic. New frontiers has brought ew life to the civ6 forum, but not as much as a new game would.

- the general polarization of political discourse has left its mark here as well: fewer threads, but they grow longer and cover a bigger range. It's easier to follow, you can just read up one thread, but on the other hand, that can become a daunting task if there's lots of new posts by a small number of posters. And then Americans themselves don't seem to be as interested in political debate as they used to.

I also wonder and I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not: so many subforums. I only look at a few and frankly, some could be merged. Or are they left alone on purpose? I'm already looking forward to many threads popping up in the civ6 forum wanting to discudd humankind. They then have to get closed and a link provided to that forum which is buried somewhere deep. Again, this is a question, not a statement.

Lastly, the demographics of this place are comparatively old.

 

[sendos]

So, recapitulating:


Lastly, the demographics of this place are comparatively old.

I can certainly see this reflected in our respective profiles. Most of us joined these forums over a decade ago and those older players are the most committed people to this forum, keeping it going, while some of us move on and forget about these forums.

For me, I would also say Paradox Interactive has replaced Firaxis for most favourite game developer about 4 years ago.

Checking the results, it's mostly tied.

 

[Akka]

The pool of posters in OT is shrinking at a slow but constant rate. I will say that while this decline sucks, the people that have stuck around are generally nicer to talk with than the wider pool that used to be here. This place could be pretty vicious in the past and while there are obviously still spats, overall it is much chiller than it used to be and has a more cooperative rather than competitive vibe. There is also much, much less mindless spam and posture posting now than in the past and more genuine debate and exchange of ideas.

Hard disagree on this. Don't feel people are in any way "nicer" today, in fact I'd say the opposite, I do feel today's posters arguments tend to be more agressive and pettier.
There is less spats, but that's just because the political trend has become nearly one-note, while it was much more varied a few years back.

Don't know if @Gori the Grey was trying to humorously say the same thing, but lack of fights can simply mean there isn't anybody left who disagree, not that people are "better".

 

[Gori the Grey]

@Gori the Grey was trying to say that @Gori the Grey is very fond of his own opinions, and that if he got to hear them and only them, he would regard himself as being in a very chill "discussion" site.

His joke at his own expense can include your meaning as well, though.

 

[Phrossack]

Overall I'd say it's slowly dying. The point of no return isn't when it hits zero posters; it's when things get so quiet it isn't worth coming back, starting a chain reaction of posters ceasing to post. I don't know what the tipping point is, exactly, but we're not far from it.

New Civ games won't help much. Most new players never discover CFC; of those who do, most don't join; of those who do, most stick to the game subforums. Not many trickle down to OT. I'd guess Reddit takes more users who would have joined ten or twelve years ago,and others go to Discord servers. The forum format is simply dying out. Sure, there are those who still use it, but not many newcomers arrive.

As for the tenor of discussion, it varies. Most of our worst posters are gone, along with many of our best. A combination of social media and algorithms lead to more echo chambers and division, but then things are also, y'know, constantly worsening worldwide, so it's no surprise that political disputes can get very heated, and everything's political when you get down to it. It may not be the infamous days of the early War on Terror - I don't know, that was before my time - but I wouldn't say it's getting nicer.

 

[Kyriakos]

I can't think of many good OT posters who left. Maybe 2-3 (I mean of the actual prolific at their time, a few more if in general).
On the other hand I can think of many pos that left.

https://www.freevaluator.com/

They'll let you look up two domains for free before they ask you to sign up.

Going by the evaluator - unless I did something wrong - TWC (forum for the game Total War) is worth a little over 2100 dollars. So that is ridiculously cheap next to even the current price of CFC.

Maybe that is why it has one of the lamest mods of all time

 

[Rhymes]

I was first here around 2002, haven’t posted in like 10 years, and I’m back! That’s proof enough it’s well alive.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Gradually as all forums are likely to gradually slow down, but it won't really die unless its owners shut it down or the Civ franchise itself dies and stops bringing in new posters.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think that fewer civ players move on to the next civ game than happens with game series which try to keep more elements from the previous title (eg Europa Universalis).
I haven't played any civ game after civIII (played I & II before).

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I think that fewer civ players move on to the next civ game than happens with game series which try to keep more elements from the previous title (eg Europa Universalis).
I haven't played any civ game after civIII (played I & II before).

I think this perspective is difficult to support. Civ being, bar none, the longest lived 'franchise' in the history of computer games makes it seem pretty unlikely that it is not at the top in terms of players "moving on" with the series, or at least close to it.