Community Spirit

When looking for inspiration to look for something to write about, there is always something to moan about when it comes to the scene as we all know, it is far from perfect. To harp back to the brilliant podcast with @GetSacked founder Jordan Cooper which was probably more interesting podcast for the scene then the so dubbed Milescast two weeks earlier. One thing that came out of the conversation was the use of forums around the scene. For around 5 years now a culture of forums have come into place in the scene allowing people to setup a simple site with the same old forum titles that you would find anywhere else including the official SI Games forum. FM discussions, FM players, tactics, training and off topic chat would be the pattern in which was followed at all these sites, but the problem came that the majority of these sites either had poor content on the homepage or even worse no mainsite to begin with.

The problem with this is that the same sites generate the same threads that have appeared on another forum beforehand, alot even taking them as inspiration to start elsewhere, but this then breeds a lack diversity, fragmenting the scene members who lazily and rightly find themselves conveniently bookmarked at one particular site, ultimately killing the reason that we are around on the scene anyways, to discuss Football Manager and a few things on the side with like minded people. Even more as people get bored with the same old FM chat with a small number of people that still dedicate themselves within that forum, off topic chat becomes the main focus point for a the FM site.

So what could we propose? Well the first option could be that we direct everyone to the official SI forums, this is the option that is opted for by Jordan, his websites has no ties with a forum despite being the biggest FM Live fansite in that community. Instead if anyone wants to discuss the game they are directed to the official forums where the lads congregate anyway. Meaning he can talk to more people in one particular place and a site that has a huge marketing power and brand draw that it will give him even more people to talk to and promote his own material which is written with quality. But also he doesn’t have to worry about the maintenance of the forums which will be run by a team of paid staff at SI and keep things running smoothly.

The only problem with this is I find that the SI forums a little overcrowded and overwhelming a hive of activity as they are the first place to land for anyone who is looking for some help in FM for what the experienced users would deem simple things. I think that this should be the place for these people to land and get help, but the community at large should be able to have a gathering place for themselves to talk about more in depth aspects of the game in which we try to do in our blogs and forum posts. But that is the word that I use community, but the scene isn’t really. It is a group of several very small communities which would probably have an synergy when joining forces.

The scene and community could then grow as sites could then concentrate on what is king, ‘content’ which would help draw more people to our club and expand our enjoyment as we attract more like minded people. I know that people have their cliques and they like that but surely in the aim for a decent discussion we can all come together, want to talk Off Topic or something else? Then you should find a medium for that elsewhere, FM sites should be FM forums and that should be the main focus with an off-topic attached on the side for good luck.

We are all here on an ego trip, we want the most people to visit our site that we can possibly get, but having one forum as a point of call would make it much easier for people to be able to find what they want and of a better quality. Using this forum then as a portal to promote what each of us is trying to do with our sites and increasing numbers reading to satisfy our ego. We are a scene after all on the internet which is a tiny niche of the online community, 1 million people may have bought the last installment of the game and less then 1% of those people actually make up the community, leaving either a small amount of people to fight for, or a huge opportunity to bring together alot more people giving easier access to discussion and the content available on your site filling the demand of what the usual web surfer looks for.

So something to mull over are more forums the answer or the main focus of your plans when wanting to dominate the Football Manager world? If you are then you have already failed,  instead you want to start with a great mainsite attracting your consumer and then you should create a forum that will cater for you niche and maybe cater for a certain type of player, something that FM Britain can be held up as a great example of doing.