faetal on 13/1/2016 at 00:24
I came here back in 2002 after becoming obsessed with Deus Ex and it coming up on an internet search. Ended up staying for the combination of the high brow chat and the excellent gaming recommendations. This is still the first place I take a game recommendation seriously. It's gradually dwindled and it's a bit of a shame because I prefer it to facebook for conversation. A lot of the time facebook feels like it's trying to engineer social dynamics with its news feed filtering and continual suggestions of ways you should be interacting with people. At least a forum is just a chronological list of topics with responses and a reply button. Nice and simple.
This place has lost its sparkle a bit, possibly due to people getting older and not gaming so much, or having families, or simply disliking other members - probably a combination. Nothing lasts forever, but I still enjoy coming here - just a shame there isn't more going on.
fett on 13/1/2016 at 00:58
There's a general agreement that people were being dicks. I may have been one of them. Part of the fault lies with the administrators. GBM will be the first to admit that he was burned out. I wasn't paying any attention because my health was in choas.
I think the reason this might be a good time to reconvene is that those of us who know and love this place are a little more objectively aware of the problems now. And we know what it's like to kind of lose this place.
There are several solutions. There are still admins who want to see this place revived. There are some folks who understand the place enough to be made admins. And I have no problem staying on top of the ones who are being assholes. I don't see much of a problem with vets being snarky to noobs because there aren't going many many noobs. It's mainly us old folk now. I think there's a mutual respect that didn't exist before because of having a different kind of interaction on FB. I'm willing to bet we can police ourselves pretty well just because of that fact. And admins can step in when needed. I just feel like we're all more invested in one another now. I will argue with any of you, but I love you enough to sit at the same table the next day. That used to be the spirit of TTLG and it's ridiculous to let a few assholes shut it down.
That said, I just want to declare myself in. I intend to start coming here when I'm inclined to punch up FB to vent or share. I want to at least contribute to the traffic on the commchat page. There's nothing to discuss if there are no threads to post in. If anyone here feels the same, just do the same. Either it will work or not. But I can't just walk off and consider FB an equally stimulating use of my time. There's more in our collective brain than what gets splattered there like so much graffitti and lost in the mix of Trump memes and cat pics.
hopper on 13/1/2016 at 00:59
Quote Posted by doctorfrog
I always was a lurker at heart
Me too. I think we need a subforum for us lurkers to feel more at home.
Anyway, Facebook, eh? Whaddya know, I never knew there was a Nuthaus hangout on Facebook. I do have an account there, but I haven't signed on to it for maybe five years. These days I don't play games as much as I used to, so it's more seldom I visit. But coming here is still a bit like coming home. And I still love Thief.
Duncan on 13/1/2016 at 02:03
We've seen this kind of post before, as you are aware, and it is always fills me with memories of a time I reflect on fondly. While I did enjoy following a lot of the more in depth conversations here, TTLG, along with Facebook, are a means of escape for me (for the most part) and I only enjoyed them for the times they make me laugh. This is not to say that I do not care. Far from it. You of all people will know I have a dark sense of humor (I do love you by the way) and refuse to let anything stand in the way of taking the piss. The problem I found is that I was laughing less and less when coming here to the point that it I eventually had to let it go. I enjoyed our time on IRC though. That is where I found we could laugh and play the most.
The other thing that kept me coming here was the creativity. I'm not just talking about the game mods, but for the stories, the drawings, the poetry, the music, the wit of some of you bastards, and the shear amount of energy everyone would throw behind what ever it is they were involved in. I guess if I had to say I miss anything the most it was that. I felt in awe of the passion. The craziness. It was infectious. You guys allowed me to forget any crap I had to deal with, and just let go.
I do regret never allowing for the serious side to emerge and engage in more meaningful conversations with most of you. Maybe we can one day remedy that.
Shayde on 13/1/2016 at 03:07
I haven't found any other platform with the same depth and variety of engagement so I'll try again happily.
I tried FB voice chat with Ducky and my data bill ate my soul, so that's out.
ZylonBane on 13/1/2016 at 04:09
CommChat has always been TTLG's dumpster. As long as it serves its purpose of keeping the attention whores away from the real subforums, I don't see the problem with a slump in activity.
Azaran on 13/1/2016 at 04:14
I think the issue with Facebook is simply there is too much. There's so much information and things happening, it ends up making life dull, especially the torrent of different things you get off your news feed. It used to be that you checked out a specific website if you were looking for info, and it was nice, you weren't overloaded with things. Now, we're drowning in information, videos, etc, especially considering more and more people have mini computers in their pockets with round the clock internet access. It's taking the excitement out of life.
You guys ever play with play-dough as kids? I remember the colours looking nice when they were artfully combined. But if you mixed all the colours together, you'd get this brownish-grey monstrosity. That's what Facebook does, just throws a bunch of different things at you all mixed together, so that they lose all meaning
I remember years ago going to university libraries looking for rare academic books to photocopy for research, and it was exciting; cumbersome and time consuming, but cool, like a quest.
Nowadays, I want something, wherever I may be, I post on a FB group and within a few hours or days someone posts a pdf...while there's an obvious advantage in that, there's no challenge in it.
Now Facebook is a great tool for keeping in touch with people, but I miss the days where forums like this ruled, the simplicity, which contrasts with the aggressive, teeming buzz of FB. I still prefer TTLG for Thief discussions, it's what I've been used to for 7 or 8 years. But it's understandable that a lot of people are migrating over to Facebook. It wouldn't surprise me if most forums vanished as a result of FB
I've thought about just using it to message people and for groups, without checking the news feed, but a part of me is afraid I'll miss something important
Quote Posted by Shayde
I tried FB voice chat with Ducky and my data bill ate my soul, so that's out.
Try Skype on your phone, I use it all the time for long distance, and it consumes very little, like 5 mb an hour or thereabouts
Renzatic on 13/1/2016 at 04:46
Well I'm still here. Barely. But hanging on. I don't think it's so much that TTLG has become boring, so much as everything else has swamped me over the last few years. I always mean to come back, but my grand return always ends up getting moved off for to make room for something else.
This is the problem with all of us here. We've grown old. Matured. Got busy with other things. It's goddamn tragic is what it is.
Malygris on 13/1/2016 at 06:10
Lack of time. Lack of interest, to a point. The drifting away of other oldsters who were such a big part of the attraction. Maybe the biggest factor is that I've been essentially forced to be a part of the fetid shit-circuses of Twitter and Facebook, and I'm just not up to handling much more in the way of "online communities" than that.
I have tremendously fond memories of TTLG. I tell myself now and then that I should make an effort to get involved again. I'm thinking it right now, actually. I doubt I will, at least not like I was. But I'll always be around. ;)
henke on 13/1/2016 at 06:40
Quote Posted by Renzatic
Well I'm still here. Barely.
RENZ POST MOAR
You're missed around here, buddy. :)
