Social Networking

[joshr]

I would like to look into a few things about forums that I have never seen posted here, or even other forums. Why are gamers so much more inclined to forums than the average person? What is it that makes gamers more likely to thrive on a forum rather than on facebook? From my own travels I have noticed a trend, the biggest and baddest forums out there are gaming forums, and the majority of forums out there, big and small are related to games. Sure there are forums that are successful out there, and many of them that do not pertain to gaming, but scales seemed to be tipped in the gamers favor. What is it that draws us to forums, more so than the average person. Or am I wrong, are my travels biased because of my hobbies? Have I missed huge communities out there, bigger than the likes of IGN and the playstation underground? I haven't seen the whole expanse of the web, so it is likely that everything I have said is incorrect.

I have noticed a second trend, gamers are less likely to use facebook or myspace. Instead, they fill up there time with forums. I know for me personally, when I first jumped into social networking it was on a forum, cheatcc.com to be exact. The effectiveness of a forum is it's ability to simply hold a conversation, it's ability to discuss issues in a serious matter is unparalleled in the world of social networking. Facebook is great for sharing images, leaving short messages, but who goes there to have a serious debate, who goes on there to ask there peers for computer help. I'm sure some people do, but I haven't seen the facebook interface be as helpful as that of a forum. And because of my experiences with forums, and especially their strengths with conversation and discussion I have not been able to really "get into" facebook or myspace. The just don't satisfy my need for social networking. They aren't as sophisticated when it comes to simply talking. Facebook has all of the finesse in the world when it comes to chatting, but actually conversating (spell check is saying this word fails, but I like it), passing ideas, debating and discussing those ideas? It just doesn't work as well. And if what I have said is true about all of the aforementioned things, what does that say about gamers in general?

So with all of that said, do you disagree, agree, or don't care about my statements. Would you care to share your thinking on this matter? If so, feel free to throw down some criticism or to share some ideas. After all, that's the strength of a forum eh?



P.S. Didn't proof read, just rambled and posted...

[LemonRising]

I think there are a ton of gamers who like to forum because of the simple fact that it makes it easier to find people who like the same games as you.
A lot of my friends aren't gamers, so I would really only be playing singleplayer offline games if I didn't have a forum to come to where I could find others to game with.
And forums are an excellent way to stay up to date on the latest games and updates.
You get a lot of help from forums, many people wont even think twice before helping you with a problem you have.

Just makes gaming easier and fun <:


Besides IMs, forums are the only social networking I do online.
Not a fan of the alternatives.

[jango]

Aye, things like Facetwat and MyFail do absolutely nothing for me ..

I agree mostly with what Lemon says tbh - the appeal does tend to be finding people who share a similar taste in games mostly. For me personally I like to find good communities that have a good balance of fun, socialising, and a decent level of humour and respect - something that's often quite hard to find.

yay

[Morticia]

I'm gonna have to agree with Bone Jangles and Lemon-Lime.
For the most part, I go on forums to find people with more of a brain banging around in their skull than you can find on the entire xBox live gaming community. By going on a forum, I can easily ignore the people I don't like and find people with similar taste and interests to game with.

Seriously, the only gamers I've met on WasteOfSpace and Facetwat(I had to steal that Jangles) were so pathetic I cried.

[Iceskater101]

yeah Lemon basically answered the question

most of my friends don't play video games
but some of my guy friends do but they don't play some of the same games that I play
so its nice to find people on forums who like what you like and who would want to play online with you sometime

plus some of the members on this forum write reviews which helps me decide if I want to buy a game or not

[Kenoi]

I kind of left the social networking scene since I started on here. I like this forum because it helps me make new friends and talk about the latest games.

[joshr]

I kind of left the social networking scene since I started on here. I like this forum because it helps me make new friends and talk about the latest games.
As far as I understand forums, this is a form of social networking. Not as mainstream, but in my opinion superior...

[Diligence109]

As far as I understand forums, this is a form of social networking. Not as mainstream, but in my opinion superior...

Forums could easily be argued to be a form of social networking, although that is not their express or primary purpose. When a community comes together and makes an IRC chat and connect for some sort of group activity (video games, in this case) the forum comes much closer to resembling social networking functions.

I'm a gamer and I'm on Facebook, but I recognize that I am a bit of an anomaly. Because the greater part of the general public are not gamers, I don't find myself discussing games at any length with many of my "real life" friends or friends on facebook (who are synonymous parties.) I feel that really hardcore gamers find their nitch on these online forums where they can engross themselves and all of their time not only just playing games, but also discussing them at unrestricted length with people who will "keep up" with their understanding the current gaming scene.

I'm a closet gamer around a lot of my real life friends so that I seem like more of a normal person, but once you get to know me I'm a beautifully addicted mess :D

[LemonRising]

Oh, don't get me wrong, forums are definitely a social networking group, but you can be more specific withy the type of people you're connecting to

[Kenoi]

i was about to say that to my reply lemon, its all good tho. but yeah, thats what I was going to say joshr.