Considering Starting a new Gaming Discussion Forum. Any Advice or Tips?

[Derri]

I know their is currently similar threads to my question. However I thought I'd ask here.

I've never really had the motivational drive to run my own forum. I tend to help out on others and be more a team player rather than a leader so to speak.

Anyway I was wanting to get advice. I am thinking about setting up my own forum. The topic will be a gaming discussion forum and I am not sure if I am wanting to do a specific series of games or making it general.

I can see both advantages and disadvantages for both. If you have a specific forum dedicated to a game then you can target a group of people. However when you do so, you tend to only target a specific set of people and can loose out on other gamers. If you do a general forum, you tend to have a mixed bag of people and can attract more as your forum offers variety. However you don't really get a "hardcore" base of people and sometimes people will sign up and leave very quickly due to the natures of the forums.

Anyway I'm going off topic here. Could anyone lend advice or any tips for creating a gaming forum.

[Kimo Force]

Depending on which game genre you're willing to start a forum over, you'll need to take different actions then.

An RPG forum would mostly have stuff such as Final Fantasy, Persona, and Pokemon, and those could run for a single pure forum since many RPG gamers are more likely to not have superbly-advanced computers to run strong PC games and will often hang out on forums while on the internet. Forums like these stay afloat mainly because of the large amount of repetition.

For an action game, especially shooters, you might want to include several games and not just one, but unless one of those games does not have mods for it, you won't see much traffic. I'd say stay away from these types of forums. Of course, you could make clans, but that doesn't work for all games.

If it's an MMORPG, this is probably the best solution, especially if it's for a free one. You could start your own clan and face other clans and stuff like that. I'm not a MMORPG kind of person, but I do know that clans are pretty common on those.

Mixed forums do okay, but like you said, they don't attract some of the hardcore gamers seeing that they are more likely to spend their time on people who are dedicated to a single topic than to several, because it means that you are more focused on said game.

One thing's for sure is that if you want more traffic, pick games which are usually free or easy to access. That will spark interest in people more efficiently. Just remember to have sections for general discussion, be it for games, music, or any random topic. And get a Chatbox too, that helps a lot. Chatango is the best option, but if you're willing to pool in some money, you could get the customizable cbox.ws which is even better since it also allows you. Also find someone who knows his way with HTML and the CSS stylesheet so you aren't at the mercy of the basic Forumotion functions, and get a graphic artist to spice up the website too. Hope this helps.

[Derri]

I am considering using the tab feature and creating multiple gaming topics via that system. This gives the impression of having an individual forum for each gaming topic and nobody feels left out. Although I am not sure I am still thinking of things to do and I am wanting to find a nice theme that can represent a little bit of everything or be plain enough not to sway to one side.

Still open to ideas

[Base]

I like the idea of a gaming forum. Wanna team up? (Serious offer, by the way.)

I've made several forums before, but never a gaming forum. I suppose it could be a general gaming forum i.e. one that covers all the consoles.

On the other hand, you can have gaming forums dedicated to one console or one game however I think that kinda limits the audience. At the end of the day, the choice is up to you.

[RPM]

Hey Base, I`ll take up on that offer. ; )

[Base]

He has actually agreed to the offer and we're currently working on a forum right now. I won't be taking on any more offers, sorry.

[perfectSTORM!]

Good luck you two.

[Derri]

Good luck you two.

Thank you

[RPM]

He has actually agreed to the offer and we're currently working on a forum right now. I won't be taking on any more offers, sorry.

K

[perfectSTORM!]

Good luck you two.

Thank you

No problem

[Elena♥]

Hy I´m creating forum about Pretty Little Liars, it will be also roleplay and some other stuff. I don´t have some big idea yet it´s still a lot to thing.
And I´m also form Slovenia so my english is not so perfect so yeah that could be a good challenge for someone

[Asriel]

Wow, be on look out for me. I'll be joining soon.