Post new topic This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 33 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 6th, 2013, 6:17 am 
Site Owner
User avatar
Offline

Joined: September 9th, 2004, 7:39 pm
Posts: 3498 ca
RS Name: mike12088
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Bits and Bytes
Today is RSBandB's 9th birthday. When we started this site, I never thought that it would be as successful as it has been or shockingly still be around 9 years later. I have met so many nice people because of this community and am glad we still have many active members.

Now, it's no secret that the active community on the forums and runewire is nowhere near as big as it was years ago. I'm not sure what we are doing wrong in that we have no new people coming into the community and sticking around. We've tried things to help promote the site and have discussed this many times with the mods and admins over the years. Obviously what we are doing is wrong because we seem to only lose members from the community. And keeping that fact quiet isn't helping because everyone already knows it, we just aren't discussing what we can do to improve.

We have a few site projects in the works, but things take time with the limited resources we have. Who's to say new features on the site will bring new people to the community anyways? They haven't really in the past.

Basically, I'm looking for ideas from the community. Shane and I keep this site around for all of you. We don't make a profit from it and we have never really been noticed by Jagex cause we've always been smaller than the big sites. I've never managed a community this big before, but the strangest thing to me is the amount of pageviews and ad earnings has remained relatively constant over the past 8 years, it's just the amount of daily posts that has gone down.

What makes interacting with the reddit runescape community more interesting than interacting with the people here? (I've noticed many of you on there. Not implying that's bad, I am just interested)

What do you like about RSBandB? What don't you like? What are we missing (that other sites don't have or that we could do better than other sites)? Where would you like us to go in the next year?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Register and login to get these in-post ads to disappear
PostPosted: August 6th, 2013, 6:17 am 
Site Owner

Joined: September 9th, 2004, 1:47am
Posts: 9047
Location: In your web browserz


Top
  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 6th, 2013, 8:31 am 
Runite Member
Offline

Joined: August 26th, 2009, 8:01 am
Posts: 586
Location: Waterloo, Ontario ca
RS Name: Bonsai99
RS Status: Retired
Mike wrote:
Obviously what we are doing is wrong because we seem to only lose members from the community.

In my opinion this is Jagex's fault mostly and not the fault of the site, in the past Jagex they had 100s of thousands of people playing at any given time of day now their active playercount seems to be dwindling every week. When most people seem to leave runescape they also leave the fansites behind because there is usually little reason to stick around with a runescape community if they don't even play the game anymore. The only reason I stay is because of the people.

Personally I would love to see support for other games other than runescape (even though this is supposed to be a runescape fansite) but I doubt it would work well right now with the low amount of members that are left. One thing that I would love to see is the PC gaming event run more than once a week!

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 6th, 2013, 9:48 am 
Dragon Member
Offline

Joined: May 13th, 2005, 7:51 pm
Posts: 3099
Location: Arizona us
RS Name: Evalithia
RS Status: P2P
My suggestion for the PC gaming event in particular is to not have it be so rigid. Just have the server run and let people join and play any time, that would encourage regulars on the server to visit the forums and hopefully join up!

_________________
Image
2014.3.28
[size=70]Steam


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 6th, 2013, 11:39 am 
Runite Member
Offline

Joined: July 4th, 2011, 6:04 pm
Posts: 323
Location: Waterloo, Ontario ca
RS Name: Estor
RS Status: Retired
Mike wrote:
Now, it's no secret that the active community on the forums and runewire is nowhere near as big as it was years ago. I'm not sure what we are doing wrong in that we have no new people coming into the community and sticking around. We've tried things to help promote the site and have discussed this many times with the mods and admins over the years. Obviously what we are doing is wrong because we seem to only lose members from the community. And keeping that fact quiet isn't helping because everyone already knows it, we just aren't discussing what we can do to improve.


Yeah again, Jagex's fault. They killed RS, they kill the community, both their own and other fansites.

Mike wrote:
What do you like about RSBandB? What don't you like? What are we missing (that other sites don't have or that we could do better than other sites)? Where would you like us to go in the next year?


Like: People, discussion etc.
Don't like: The occasional bashing
Missing: More players unfortunately :<
Where would you like us to go in the next year?: No idea, issue is this is a RS community but RS is dying and not many still play. Only way to get more users really is to branch out to other games. It sucks because RS is dead but you can't just throw RS aside because it's what this community is based on. A lot of people have left, but I don't think anymore people have left recently. I think the best thing to do is just to hold on to the current users, and try to slowly regain old and new users and possibly expand out to other games (unlike Jagex, who just wants more money, so they completely change the game and **** everyone off to the point of leaving). Honestly I think a lot of people here don't even play anymore, and are just here for the community.

Shame on Jagex. They've really screwed everything up for everyone.

Spoiler for My opinion:

Image

_________________
    ┌ Signature and Stuff ┐

ImageImage


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 6th, 2013, 11:38 pm 
Rsbandb Donor
Offline

Joined: October 13th, 2005, 9:18 pm
Posts: 3366
Location: USA us
RS Name: Duke Juker
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Clan Quest
I agree with what was said above. The Runescape community as a whole has died off a bit given how the game as developed. As a result, the site suffers along with the drop. The bigger sites have lots of people already, so they continue to do fine. This has just always been such a little site. I don't know what you can do other than keep trying to promote it more.

_________________
Image
RSBANDBInformer! Gaming Writer: 08/31/2011-09/30/15
RSBandB Donor since 07/01/2010
82nd Dragon Member since 05/12/2010
RSBandB Member #517
Current Activities: Ports, Dailies/Monthlies, DXP
Skill Masteries: Firemaking, Cooking, Woodcutting, Fletching, Mining, Agility, Prayer, Smithing, Fishing, Summoning, Construction, Herblore, Hunter, Thieving, Crafting, Divination, Dungeoneering, Farming, Runecrafting, Slayer, Magic, Ranged, Defence, Constitution, Attack, Strength, Invention & 1st Max (3/9/19), Archaeology & 2nd Max (4/16/21), 200m Firemaking, Necromancy


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 7th, 2013, 6:32 am 
Cleverly Disguised Spammer
User avatar
Offline

Joined: December 17th, 2004, 12:03 pm
Posts: 10901
Location: Anglia europeanunion
RS Name: Piratesock
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: The Mushroom Pirate Federation
Rebrand the whole site into a general gaming site called "Littlebomb.com" and do lots of video content.

Or turn it into a train simulator fansite. If my steam friends list is anything to go by Shanes into that now. :-k

_________________


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Register and login to get these in-post ads to disappear
PostPosted: August 7th, 2013, 6:32 am 
Cleverly Disguised Spammer

Joined: September 9th, 2004, 1:47am
Posts: 9047
Location: In your web browserz


Top
  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 7th, 2013, 8:12 am 
Chat Moderator
Offline

Joined: January 17th, 2005, 5:30 pm
Posts: 2029
Location: There's a place in the world where the sun won't shine, consumed of color and depth. I'm not there. ca
RS Name: Alex 43
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Rsbandb! All the way!
Quote:
What makes interacting with the reddit runescape community more interesting than interacting with the people here? (I've noticed many of you on there. Not implying that's bad, I am just interested)


I would imagine that's because reddit is more commonly known amongst the community than rsbandb, as it's not "just" a Runescape themed site, but instead a more generalized social site. And we, as human beings, are mutually attracted to the word "funny", whereas RSBANDB takes itself to be a bit more serious and mature. We are proper individuals, after all.

But that's the thing, isn't it? RSBANDB is 9 years old. The community that had held it together for so long have all grown up and began lives of responsibility. We're no longer those adolescent individuals that sacrifice a day's work of homework for one more hour of grinding woodcutting.


Quote:
What do you like about RSBandB?


I gotta go with the community on this one. Despite the bashers, there are a lot fewer "annoyances" on the forums. If I want to get an honest opinion on something, I usually always get it rather than someone starting a flame war on how badly I should reconsider everything I've done with my life.

Quote:
What don't you like?


It's... well, it's simple, and it's complicated. It's old-fashioned and up-to-date. Not sure how else to describe it; there's a mix going on. RSBANDB is trying to be old and new at the same time. I've seen the same site layout and everything for about 5 years now, and Shane sometimes tells me about some very technical updates he's done behind the scenes that are beyond my comprehension (do not ask - I am sworn to secrecy).

Quote:
What are we missing (that other sites don't have or that we could do better than other sites)?


Change.

I personally like that it doesn't change; that it's the same RSBANDB I've always known and love, but you need change to keep things interesting for the newer generations. Like if a town on the outskirts of a city stayed as it was from 50 years ago; old fashioned buildings, fire-place heated homes, get around on horses... what kind of people would want to live there? Forget what us old-timers think; the place needs a technological and graphical update. Make it new, fresh, and interesting. Maybe add a little more to it.

Also, make Runewire more obvious. It's like our own personal Twitter, but at the moment, it's the third link down in the Community navigation section. People brwosing the home page will just glance at it and not know what it is, so they'll either ignore it or possibly even avoid it. Same with the forums. A couple of nice big back-to-back button links on the home page.


Quote:
Where would you like us to go in the next year?


To Runefest. Or rather build up a bit of a relationship with the community staff at Jagex. Invite them for a Skype interview on rsbandbUpdate on a topic not yet discussed on RuneHQ or whatever else there is. They've been extra-keen on interacting with the community, and RSBANDB is, in their eyes, a "silver" fan-site.

Let's bring it up to gold, eh?

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 7th, 2013, 11:48 am 
Chat Moderator
Offline

Joined: December 15th, 2006, 4:43 pm
Posts: 1318
Location: G.A., USA us
RS Name: Firemana
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Problem Solvers
Alex 43 wrote:
Or rather build up a bit of a relationship with the community staff at Jagex. Invite them for a Skype interview on rsbandbUpdate on a topic not yet discussed on RuneHQ or whatever else there is. They've been extra-keen on interacting with the community, and RSBANDB is, in their eyes, a "silver" fan-site.

Let's bring it up to gold, eh?

We would have to drop all ties to any game other than Runescape to become Gold.
TBH, the whole 'Jagex supported Fansites' thing has seemed like a publicity stunt for Jagex ever since creation. "Platinum are known as go-to resources" yet RS Wikia, the largest source of RS info, is only a Silver. RHQ and Tip.it are the only anchor sites that are platinum.

But switching from that...

I'd have to agree with the general consensus that the reason BnB is/has shrunk is because Jagex has screwed over RS and caused players to quit playing. Subsequently they no longer have a reason to be active on BnB unless they are interested in something else here(i.e. PC Gaming).

Also, Alex makes a good point. 9 years ago most of us were kids. Now we're all adults except for the new blood. We don't have the time we used to as 10-15 year olds and we don't like the same things. Many of the things in RS just aren't neat/cool/challenging/etc anymore. Most of us play other games as much if not more than RS.

Regarding Reddit: I don't know. I've never been on it and don't plan to. I'd rather a couple dozen people I know than hundreds I don't. BnB + RW is good for me.

What do you like about RSBandB? Community, close-comradery(usually), everything in general.
What don't you like? When we fight about petty things....
What are we missing (that other sites don't have or that we could do better than other sites)? I'm just being honest on this one, most other RS Fansites do not have any or hardly any support for RS OldSchool. That's just a fact. We had(and I know you still have backups of them) some really good tools for that era. We could certainly do that better than other sites. I know Shane doesn't like OSRS, but you asked what other sites don't have: OSRS support. And what you could do better: OSRS tools(we used to have some good tools and had some in development that we unfortunately never got released). So there is #3, honestly.

Where would you like us to go in the next year? I think we either need to be content where we are, add support for OSRS, or branch out into other games. We're never going to be high on Jagex's popularity list so we should just do what works for us. Maybe more broad PC Gaming support? Honestly I think supporting(even if its only a little support) of more games would be better. Maybe make a thread asking people to post what games they play. Might find we have a few dozen for a game we never knew.

In all honesty, I think sticking to only RS will pull us to the grave. I know people will disagree with that but that is my honest opinion based on things I have seen over the course of my 9 year RS Career.

Random: I just noticed I've been writing for the Informer for 6 years as of today!

_________________
.:: The Legend of The Sword :: FaceBook : Google+ : Twitter ::.
Image
::
88th Dragon Member : Informer Writer : Content Crew : Chat Moderator ::
"If it ain't broke, dun fix it."


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 7th, 2013, 1:06 pm 
Rsbandb Donor
Offline

Joined: May 6th, 2010, 7:38 pm
Posts: 271
Location: US/Virginia us
RS Name: iZant
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Apocalypse Slayers
Bonsai99 wrote:
Mike wrote:
Obviously what we are doing is wrong because we seem to only lose members from the community.

In my opinion this is Jagex's fault mostly and not the fault of the site, in the past Jagex they had 100s of thousands of people playing at any given time of day now their active playercount seems to be dwindling every week. When most people seem to leave runescape they also leave the fansites behind because there is usually little reason to stick around with a runescape community if they don't even play the game anymore. The only reason I stay is because of the people.

Personally I would love to see support for other games other than runescape (even though this is supposed to be a runescape fansite) but I doubt it would work well right now with the low amount of members that are left. One thing that I would love to see is the PC gaming event run more than once a week!


If you look at google trends, and look up some other mmos, it is not only RuneScape that is losing players, it is other mmos as well. I remember RuneShark talking about this in a podcast a while back, and it is not only RuneScape that is declining. Also I don't think RuneScape is "dying". With the release of RuneScape 3, how can the game be dying? An awesome new interface, epic story content, a new audio engine with top of the line music, and a new HTML5 client coming in a few months, I don't see how this game is dying.

Google Trends Proof that RS is not alone

Image


The way the game is going with RuneScape 3, I think the next few years for RuneScape will be the best yet. It is not Jagex's fault that RSBANDB has declined.


As for RSBANDB, I think we just need more involvement with regular RuneScape players. It seems to me that we are just very "unknown". We need a way to get people to discover this website. Aka a way to spread the word.

_________________
Image
Image
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 7th, 2013, 8:23 pm 
Runite Member
Offline

Joined: July 4th, 2011, 6:04 pm
Posts: 323
Location: Waterloo, Ontario ca
RS Name: Estor
RS Status: Retired
You say RS isn't dying but then you show us a google trend graph that shows RS dropping. Not to mention you compare it to WoW and say "it is not only RuneScape that is losing players."

I don't get it Zant. :?

RS3 in my opinion was Jamflex's last attempt to get their player base back after they ******* everyone away with SoF, SGS and EoC. Greed made them rotten.

_________________
    ┌ Signature and Stuff ┐

ImageImage


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 7th, 2013, 8:57 pm 
Rsbandb Donor
Offline

Joined: May 6th, 2010, 7:38 pm
Posts: 271
Location: US/Virginia us
RS Name: iZant
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Apocalypse Slayers
Declining is different than dying. And let's try to not turn this thread into a battle about jagex actions. Also, personally I think now is the best time to be playing RuneScape.

_________________
Image
Image
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 8th, 2013, 10:32 am 
Runite Member
Offline

Joined: September 3rd, 2007, 12:42 am
Posts: 564
Location: Anchorage, AK
RS Name: Addiv
RS Status: P2P
The negativity found in many of the threads isn't something that new members are going to be interested in. Other sites have a bit of negativity as well but nothing like it is here. The place has become a dumping ground for constant Jagex bashing and EOC needling. I'm all for criticism but nothing new is being said, just a rehash of the same boring "Jagex ruined RuneScape" theme. Who wants to come here to see that all the time? It's one reason I've become more of a lurker than a contributor.

_________________
Image
SKOTM wins: Herblore | Farming | Mining


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 8th, 2013, 3:19 pm 
Rsbandb Donor
Offline

Joined: May 6th, 2010, 7:38 pm
Posts: 271
Location: US/Virginia us
RS Name: iZant
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Apocalypse Slayers
addiv wrote:
The negativity found in many of the threads isn't something that new members are going to be interested in. Other sites have a bit of negativity as well but nothing like it is here. The place has become a dumping ground for constant Jagex bashing and EOC needling. I'm all for criticism but nothing new is being said, just a rehash of the same boring "Jagex ruined RuneScape" theme. Who wants to come here to see that all the time? It's one reason I've become more of a lurker than a contributor.


Very well put, it seems like it is like this every time there is an update, and it probably drives the new members away.

_________________
Image
Image
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 12th, 2013, 8:40 pm 
Iron Member
Offline

Joined: August 10th, 2013, 10:44 am
Posts: 24
Location: Minnesota us
RS Name: Qwc
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: Casually Addicted
I would love to see a youtube channel done by some of the mods or something. Most of the good runescape youtubers have been quitting recently. I think if it becomes successful enough jagex might notice the site.

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: What would you like to see out of RSBandB?
PostPosted: August 13th, 2013, 10:26 pm 
Runite Member
Offline

Joined: January 5th, 2008, 6:37 pm
Posts: 429
Location: Edmonton ca
RS Name: Bryan Tran
RS Status: P2P
Clan Name: W22 Farming
New users could be sent an email of every one of subsequent replies to a topic they post in, by default! That'll keep 'em from not returning!

Too annoying?

How about a weekly digest of the forum's best posts?

_________________
Image

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to: