Perhaps a history lesson would be helpful, as in the origin of the forums and whatnot. I mean, the main website isn't that popular (I don't think), but the forums attract basically everyone in some form, poster or lurker. So, how has GAF achieved this enormous and continual success?
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Why is GAF so popular?
- Thread starter Widfara
- Start date
Red Blaster
Member
GameFAQs has like 200k registered users.
TheJollyCorner
Member
sangreal said:
sarcasm or not- POTD!
Because we're groovy.
To be more accurate, though, alot of the founders went off to work for important mags like EGM, and brought alot more industry types back to the forum. We also have/had crazies like 0pa-0pa, Castillian (now better known as Drinky Crow) Msanti, Dominus Defunctorium, and Futami (and many more infamous guys that I am surely forgetting...that Drunken Kojima guy was pretty cool too
) that made this forum a truely interesting place to be a part of.
Antics ensue, and more traffic is the result. Then you've got the combination of on the ball posters battling to be the first to post whatever significant piece of news is flying around out there, and the crazy mad mods and admins with their banning sprees.
Lots of factors, really.
To be more accurate, though, alot of the founders went off to work for important mags like EGM, and brought alot more industry types back to the forum. We also have/had crazies like 0pa-0pa, Castillian (now better known as Drinky Crow) Msanti, Dominus Defunctorium, and Futami (and many more infamous guys that I am surely forgetting...that Drunken Kojima guy was pretty cool too
) that made this forum a truely interesting place to be a part of.Antics ensue, and more traffic is the result. Then you've got the combination of on the ball posters battling to be the first to post whatever significant piece of news is flying around out there, and the crazy mad mods and admins with their banning sprees.
Lots of factors, really.
Red Blaster
Member
I'd say because a lot of industry people post regularly. Mark MacDonald, a lot of guys from the 1UP crew like skip, chespace, etc. Then you've got a fair amount of Japanese INZIDURS like johntv.
Basically the best place to get gaming news.
Basically the best place to get gaming news.
I found this place had the quickest and best news updates this E3, with actual intelligent discussion directed at people who weren't brain dead, and also noticed that the forum was conspicuously absent of twelve-year-olds, and their poor grammar.
That makes it one of the best forums around.
Alas, I just registered recently, so I'm only a junior.
That makes it one of the best forums around.
Alas, I just registered recently, so I'm only a junior.
SomethingAwful's game forum is great because it very little fanboyism compared to GAF, but sometimes it's funny to have fanboy arguments (within reason). I like GAF because of the quick industry news and the people living in Japan that tell us about all the great games that we should be looking forward to.
Musashi Wins!
FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
Taibhse said:
that's very true. sometimes when you go to other forums (not the dregs like gamefaqs/system specific sites,etc.) you forget how "console war" centered GAF is.
Wafflecopter
Banned
Go the the GS forums, and click on System Wars. You'll then know why this place is popular. Less idiots.
Well, it's the only forum I know of to spawn it's own "hell" so to speak of banned and misfit posters...that's gotta count for something, lol
There are plenty of reasons...
GAF is pretty diverse location wise. There's almost never a dull moment(downtime), cuz when you're sleeping, someone else around the world is awake and posting away.
GAF also casts a wide news net, and when you're about to hit the "Post new topic" button, you're almost guranteed to be met with "Welcome to..." replies.
The moderation is also pretty good(if uneven).
And the design itself is more geared towards function than flash...so many forums are blitzed out the ass with every feature turned on. Hard to believe that signature banners were once allowed here, lol...that's taking it way back.
And clearly, despite what may seem the opposite at times, the average intelligence level here is pretty high among video game forums
I guess the ongoing lore is what sustains GAF's popularity, tons of "insider" humor, history, notable quotables, milestone events, over the top personalities, etc.
A lot of times, GAF IS the internet for me.
There are plenty of reasons...
GAF is pretty diverse location wise. There's almost never a dull moment(downtime), cuz when you're sleeping, someone else around the world is awake and posting away.
GAF also casts a wide news net, and when you're about to hit the "Post new topic" button, you're almost guranteed to be met with "Welcome to..." replies.
The moderation is also pretty good(if uneven).
And the design itself is more geared towards function than flash...so many forums are blitzed out the ass with every feature turned on. Hard to believe that signature banners were once allowed here, lol...that's taking it way back.
And clearly, despite what may seem the opposite at times, the average intelligence level here is pretty high among video game forums
I guess the ongoing lore is what sustains GAF's popularity, tons of "insider" humor, history, notable quotables, milestone events, over the top personalities, etc.
A lot of times, GAF IS the internet for me.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
OmniGamer said:
Counts for something, but it's not entirely unique, as my status as a member of the BMB attests to (short explanation: evil robot named Bubbleman joins EGM boards, calls people meatbags, gains following, breaks off from EGM, James Mielke threatens to IP bomb Bubbleman's followers, etc, etc, etc).
GAF's popular because it has the latest news, the most intelligent posters, and a lot of different people with different interests.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
CO_Andy said:
And all ^^accounts>> belong to the same overweight, male, high school dropout.
Lonestar said:
Yeah. I wonder whatever happened to those guys. I remember one of Msanti's rants got in an IGN Cube mailbag, and for a while he had a big head and started calling himself Mad Mike Santi. That was funny.
Oh, and I want to steal Dominus' old avatar.
And whatever happened to Terrapin? He was cool. Someone should make a GAF old school reunion thread.
