The reason why scene isn’t doing too well is because people are lazy simple as, How many of the FM View staff have actually bothered to reply to the comments here? Q is the only one, it says it all really.

The problem is, regardless of the numbers, they’re all fishing in the same pond and they’re all using the same bait. I know that’s always been a constant but these sites are far more visible now than in the past. A lot of the sites are working Social Media, they’re networking and picking up SEO skills – this means sites are more available.

I can honestly say in the past you’d go to a site and most of the members there were different from the previous one you went to. Now you’re lucky to find ten different regulars at most sites. It’s very incestuous and because of that people expect more from a site if they’re to make it their home site. Only Susie, FMBase, The Dugout and possibly Fever-Pitch have members who are mostly on their own respective sites.

Everyone else will be all over the shop; most are satisfied with the community element – because they all know each other from other sites, if you give them good banter they’re very happy to stay – whilst guests only want content and that’s the the reason some sites are cliquey and can’t attract new members. If you offer both then you have the opportunity to get an active site but it’s totally dependant on what you can offer that is original but most people can’t offer anything other than forum posts in an off topic section and that’s why they die when their members decide to stop coming.

The real loss from the Scene is a generation of writers – that’s the difference from the old school member-base. Every site had a main site and people focussed on the forum for discussion, now owners care only for post counts and member numbers. The mentality of a lot of sites is to do everything but a lot of them can’t even do some of it because they’re trying to become king; they want downloads, they want GFX, they want guides, they want tactics, they want scout reports and they want a fun off topic on top of it all. It’s nigh on impossible to achieve and most sites don’t recognise that they’re pissing into the wind.

Even my own site fell for the same trap – trying to do everything and doing it all in a diluted, strung-out manner. We’ve definitely rectified the situation, gotten some focus and drive and I’m hoping that LW will be the final point to backup what I’m saying, unless you can do something different, do something exceptionally well or somehow do everything in one place; you’ll be left behind. Now is the time sites must raise to the occasion because people are realising that the members are raising the bar constantly, they want more if you want them to stay.

So to surmise, the Scene is reeling from a lost generation but it’s not the new generation not coming through, it’s the mentality of the fading generation, the mentality of the new kind of member and the distinct lack of effort and vision of some sites to be original, exceptional at a niche or clever enough to spot a gap in the market. – in my opinion anyway.

You’re speaking from the point of view of an FM-View admin. From your perspective what you’re questioning is the reasoning as to why people aren’t signing up to FM-V and sticking with the site. You’re not speaking for the Scene on a whole because you’ve not talked about any other outlet than fansites either.

The Scene is considered to be a collective of fansites who support the Football Manager brand. Jordan has stated that the Scene is fast becoming a collective of fansites, blogs and social media – but social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook are dictated by these fansites and blogs, they’re not a seperate entity.

Jordan and Levo aren’t wrong in what they say with regards to the Scene being bigger and expanding in a different way. This isn’t the reason for the Scene’s problems – the reason, as I’ve said before is because more sites are being created, the members are being spread thin and everyone is doing the same thing. There are some exceptions to this and they’re the sites who are active – they’re offering something which people which they want to come back for.

Because more forums are around, because everyone knows everyone on the Scene and they commune together you’re going to see this happen more and more. The only solution is to downsize and to merge until you increase quality.

We’re all somewhat elitist at times, we spout about “quality over quantity” yet most people are too ignorant to see that this relates to the Scene more than anything else. If the Scene sites worked together man-power alone would allow you to produce more content and discussion in one place. If people stopped trying to do the same things other people do then we might find a site with something original about it.

Ultimately to answer your question, FM-V need to find something people need and do it better than the competition. If you can do that you can attract a market who will support you. The problem is that members aren’t loyal to a brand, they’ll switch at the drop of a hat – this is why anyone will struggle in the current climate – because people, sites and members are in so many places that you have to work extremely hard to be successful at what you do and to get those people to come to one place.

The problem with the scene that you think of it is that it isn’t producing quality, it is no surprise that the likes of FM Pundit and FM Britain are performing well. This is because on these sites quality content and discussion is being produced and those who take the lead on these sites go on and interact on the communities terms and not ours, in an effort to eventually draw them in our sites and our community. If you produce quality content that people want then they will come! The internet is bigger and wider then ever, the Football Manager sales are also bigger then ever. There is potentially 1 million people out there, but why dont you try and talk to everyone on the planet! Telling them how good Football Manager can be and how much you enjoy it.

The internet has changed, the community has changed and for the better, we now have more tools then ever to interact with people. Lets do it!

FM2010 is doing record sales, more people are playing the game as ever before… but look at how many avenues of communication there are at our disposal now. We’re not confined by specific fansites or forums anymore. If you want to talk about FM, you can do so *anywhere* and find others who are playing the game.

There are a several thousand people discussing FM currently on Twitter. FM’s page on Facebook has I think 40,000 fans and tons post on their wall. Between a dozen other social media platforms, Blogspot blogs, Google groups, YouTube videos, etc… THIS is the new scene.

A scene that is based around individuals, not big outlets (like fan sites) A scene that gives an easy barrier of entry for *anyone* to create content on their own and have it get out to others who would be interested in it. A scene that doesn’t view itself as a “scene”, but as a collective player base who will communicate on THEIR own terms.

Merely building a soapbox and expecting people to come isn’t good enough anymore. It’s NOW about reaching out and interacting with people on *their* own terms, not yours. Platforms like forums/fan sites are becoming increasingly meaningless because there’s no longer a big need for them to exist. One person who has no “scene points” has the ability to chat & create content all they want about the game anywhere they want without any limit. The gate keepers (those who run bigger fan sites) are no longer in control because of this.

Welcome to the new scene. Embrace it instead of fighting against the change.