HPS Simulations, 1990-2013

[76mm]

I'm am guessing that setting up a forum wouldn't be the problem as much as maintaining one would be.

If a forum board has alot of activity, there can be alot of behind the scenes "work" that is required such has moderating and reviewing new threads/posts, addressing received messages via the "contact us" link, weeding out spammers and trouble makers, addressing new member questions that deal with them not being familiar with the forum controls/settings, reviewing new registered members, not to mention responding to questions, comments, and suggestions that are found within the forum boards.

To do it right, you have to have the resources to be able to respond to member's issues in a very timely manner. If you blow off your members or if your members feel as if they are being blown off or ignored, they will find other forum boards where they feel that they are treated better, and call that "home".

Well I've never run a forum so you might be right, although given the level of activity on this board I don't think it would be much of a burden to maintain it. In any event, many game companies have players/volunteers take on most of the moderating duties.

As far as feeling blown off, I feel much more blown off by HPS' complete lack of a forum than if there are minor delays before responding, etc. Look at Matrix: I follow several games there, and often when looking at one game's forum, I notice another Matrix game that looks interesting, and buy it. The developers are frequently on the fora, many of them very much so, and they acknowledge issues, answer questions, etc. I know this takes some time, but for a indie game developer I think an hour or two on the forum per week is a very good investment of time. I feel pretty engaged with Matrix.

With HPS--completely disengaged...I bought one game (Tigers Unleashed) that I consider a complete debacle, at least when released (I've written the game off at this point). And the developer never responded--never, not once--to the many complaints on the random forum that about that game (gamesquad). I've been waiting for Aide-de-Camp 3 for years, don't even bother checking their website about that one anymore.

I avoided this forum for a long time, because it looked to be focused on ladders, tournaments, finding opponents, etc. Sorry for going on about this, but I just think it is very shortsighted of HPS, this being the 21st century and all.