Journal #6330
Posted 14 years ago2010-01-15 11:36:53 UTC
I had a lot of fun while it lasted.
When I created GamingParents in September of 2006, I was hoping to start a thriving community between adult gamers where a discussion of gaming strategy could intermingle with topics on parenting.
More than three years later, it is clear that the community has not blossomed as I had hoped.
2007 was the best year, with more than twenty active members.
By 2010, there are basically three members left. And I think it's silly to have a forum with just one or two people having a monologue.
I greatly appreciate every member that GamingParents have ever had, but the experiment is coming to a close.
I will still visit other forums, including TWHL and Sermo. It's time to move on.
Farewell, friends. Thanks for the good memories.
When I created GamingParents in September of 2006, I was hoping to start a thriving community between adult gamers where a discussion of gaming strategy could intermingle with topics on parenting.
More than three years later, it is clear that the community has not blossomed as I had hoped.
2007 was the best year, with more than twenty active members.
By 2010, there are basically three members left. And I think it's silly to have a forum with just one or two people having a monologue.
I greatly appreciate every member that GamingParents have ever had, but the experiment is coming to a close.
I will still visit other forums, including TWHL and Sermo. It's time to move on.
Farewell, friends. Thanks for the good memories.
5 Comments
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I remember when you first started the site, something like 90% of the members were just regular TWHL members just checking it out and playing around, but they were mostly teenagers, and none of them were parents. Did you actually advertise the site anywhere except TWHL? I think part of the problem is that word just doesn't get out about new sites like yours. It's really hard to establish an identity when there's so many popular sites out there that cater to a wider range of people. Most of us have no incentive to choose a small, slow-moving forum over one where you'll get fast responses from a wider range of people.
I did manage to recruit quite a few actual "gaming parents", but most of them stayed on for a few months and disappeared.
I think the fundamental problem is that parents are just too busy participating in forums for games. For those parents who do play games, they rather spend time playing the actual games rather than browsing forums.
That's the fundamental flaw.
It's not necessarily too narrow. Just look at TWHL. It's really targeted toward a very narrow demographics--mapping for Half Life and its sequels. Yet TWHL is thriving. I think it helps that the members tend to be younger and TWHL had established itself early in the history of mapping so it's one of the oldest mapping sites around.
Anyway, I have analyzed it a billion times already, it's just time to call it quits.
I'll still come here, of course.