IDDALAI'S PROFILE

Really? Because I think it's fine just the way it is ;)

I actually love the border and it gives the game a very unique look.

As for the ATB, there isn't much one can do, unfortunately, with the limitations of the program. It's kind of a compromise.

I'm not the developer or anything, just a fan.

Man, I remember reading those old forum posts some months ago.

I was filled with a mix of nostalgia and surprise at how harshly the game was received back then.

I don't think you'll ever see something like this ever again, a similar project (complete to boot!) or people willing to discuss it afterwards in a forum.

Cherish that it ever happened.

Then again, I may just be feeling especially down today.

author=Darken
Citation needed, just a quick glance and you'll see that there are more RPG Maker VX games posted than RM2K/3 combined (not even getting into MZ or MV). at best it's the largest gathering of RM2K/3 users but a huge portion definately use the latter makers. Even if that was true the average user is likely using a 1920x1080 monitor, the text and scalability is SMALL without compensation (see those empty blue bars in the background of the site?). If you boot up an RM2K3 game it will upscale to compensate. This justification makes no sense, a preferred game engine doesn't affect how the common user browses a site.

Never stated it as a fact nor did I say rm2k/3 were the majority, as I said: from where I'm standing. I.E.: personal experience.
Every time I come here there seems to be a large number of rm2k/3 games being worked on and some new ones.
As I said, it doesn't bother me. I can afford to use a lower resolution on my monitor. I know I'm not in the majority.
If people are OK with using an RPG Maker from the years 2000/2003, then I don't see how those same people would have an issue with a website from "2010". That's where I'm coming from.

author=Darken
Well for myself I'd like to just be able the navigate and use the site a little better. People DO post games here, and if the experience is even slightly improved then maybe it'll help out with other aspects like say retention or activity. Which is why I'm saying in the previous sentence that it's the harder/longer roundabout answer to the structural aspects to site. You're the only person who mentioned mainstream here.

Sure, I can get behind that. I mentioned mainstream because it seems that's what all those "improvements" are aimed at. To make the experience better for people who really wouldn't care about RMN otherwise.

author=Darken
Well for me it's not an alternative? I don't use Discord for community stuff, Discord is way less passive and not the same thing. I use RMN and I would like it to be more active, I post blogs, I shitpost on the forums, argue for fun, I check on archival games. I prefer communicating in long form especially between gamedev. I would like the thing I currently use to be better. Again your suggestion is reductive.

I don't use or like Discord. And while I don't use the forums often, I still prefer them to Discord and think they should be kept for all the information and history they have.

My suggestion may be reductive, but it works for me and needs less funds. Your suggestion seems unfeasible right now. It's my understanding that it's hard enough to keep the website afloat.

Now, "shitposting" and "arguing for fun"? You're practically admitting that you argue for the sake of arguing. How can I trust what you say?

author=Darken
Let's actually unpack this here. You state that technology can be used for good or evil, then you say some examples of it being used for evil. Your examples don't disprove the merit of technology modernization though, just the evil intent. In fact subscription based models and ownership has more to do with policies/laws and the underlying state of capitalism/monopoly than technology.

Subscription base models exist because the infrastructure and technology necessaries were finally available. What you are missing is that said infrastructure and technology was purposefully created for that sole objective. Politics are also involved, yes, but without developing the necessary infrastructure and technology they wouldn't get very far.

If that isn't enough for you then I can say that the majority of modern appliances will last much less than say, appliances with the same use made 15 years ago.

It may be that such technology was made to fail after a certain period, and you may (correctly) assess that it's not an improvement of said technology. However those appliances are officially sold as being the latest sate-of-the-art technology. A modernization of the old decrepit technology (as marketing would put it). Even if that is a marketing lie, it essentially means that in our current world the modernization of technology leads to an inferior technology.

So when we talk about the modernization of something, it has a negative connotation.

Apply this to anything: food, music, videogames, films, books, constructions, cars, etc. A website update wouldn't be any different.

author=Darken
That's not the same thing as suggesting an improved webpage UX or whatever. RMN has no incentive to make the overall experience worse for the sake of profit (that I know of yet). It's better to attack something for its own merit than putting it under an umbrella and then saying the umbrella is bad for different reasons. Otherwise you're conflating unrelated bad things with specific improvement suggestions when you should be critizing the suggestions themselves which you conceded to some anyway.

Indeed it's not the same thing. But I have no reason to believe that the final result won't be inferior.

Neither was I saying RMN was doing it on purpose for profit. However, those who made the programs/etc necessary for a new updated modernized website to happen, may have the incentive.

The umbrella is as bad as what's beneath it. And sometimes that same umbrella was manufactured by what's beneath it. Then there's whoever is holding the umbrella.

They're not unrelated to me, or I wouldn't mention them.

I already criticized the suggestions: there's not enough money to keep RMN afloat, let alone update it and modernize it.

author=Marrend
Concerning funds, there is something of a donation drive happening right now. Please consider pitching in if you can.

I wish I could.

author=psy_wombats
while the discord is admittedly 10:1 general chat to gamedesign chat, there is still way /way/ more on-topic discussion there than on the forums, especially for the newer generation of users that only picked up the software via Steam sales and aren't 10year+ vets, even for 2k/3.

That's something, I guess. But I still feel that Discord isn't the way to go.

I think that if there was no Discord, that new generation of new users would probably be on the Steam forums, regardless of RMN being modernized or not. It just feels that if people will only talk about RPG Maker because there's a Discord, then the issue isn't really with RMN or the forums, but the people themselves. Times have changed.

That said, I understand that it's in RMN's best interest to adapt.

Unlike someone said earlier, I don't care if "RMN lives on" if that means becoming something completely different.

author=Darken
People landing into this site are gonna think they time travelled back to 2010 let's be real.

..and that's bad because?

Peer pressure is the issue. It's what made everyone get smartphones and what made everyone believe that "old stuff" is suddenly bad so we need to "update and get with the times!"...

author=psy_wombats
Also I don't think Discord "killed" the site any more than the Slack killed it, or the Skype killed it, or the IRC killed it before that.

You simply cannot compare the popularity of Discord with the other messaging services. Discord has become overwhelmingly popular much more so than any of the other mentioned services.
While Discord was not the sole offender, it was a major factor in RMN's current state.

This isn't directed at anyone is particular:

Can't check the forums on a smartphone? Maybe don't check them on a smartphone then. If someone is unwilling to set aside some time to do things right and use a proper computer, then maybe the issue isn't the forums.
When using a smartphone and Discord because it "makes things easier" is the excuse to continuing to pursue a hobby, then maybe that hobbyist mindset is already on life support. The same goes for just chatting in forums.

I was nearly legal when I found out about it in 2002.