Adventure Gamers - Forums

I have no idea what has happened and I bet not many forumites have. IMO posting stuff like this is unwise, Doom.

Karlok - 13 January 2023 07:36 PM

I have no idea what has happened and I bet not many forumites have. IMO posting stuff like this is unwise, Doom.

You mean about Weird Gaming Adventurer aka Joshua Cleveland? I just happened to follow his Youtube channel for a while (before he launched Hotspot with Jack), he is indeed weird. Not in a “weird” weird way, but the way he treated his channel. It was one rating after another, I had to unsubscribe after he started posting shorts of the MMORPGS he played and “best adventure games” ratings on a daily basis, just for the sake of it. He also acted like an insider behind many games/events he covered, yet never delivered. That’s just how it all felt to me.

A belated to Doom for starting this thread - it gets more and more interesting.

Nah, I decided do remove that part, I probably got too personal. Sorry if it sounded insulting, and it’s none of my business anyway. Everyone is a grownup and could make their own decisions. I still think this sort of behaviour — “none of my business” — is what killed many projects in the past, everyone just wished everyone luck and then mourned the loss when nothing could’ve been fixed. Then again, it’s only games, and if people enjoy doing what they are doing, then good for them.

There’s a thread for Adventure Gamer Blog, a tiny adventure community where they slowly play adventure games in chronological order, share their thoughts and rate them based on their own system. It’s pretty much a thing-in-itself, unpretentious and with zero budget investments, although it attracts some curious persons now and then, like Corey Cole, Andrew Plotkin, etc. I enjoy reading it from time to time too (as well as its “sister” RPG-related blog), but it’s mostly a bunch of friends having fun. And this lasts for years! So there are other formats. Maybe even there’s no need for an “adventure site of all adventure sites”, idk.

Doom - 13 January 2023 08:52 PM

Karlok - 13 January 2023 07:36 PM

I have no idea what has happened and I bet not many forumites have. IMO posting stuff like this is unwise, Doom.

You mean about Weird Gaming Adventurer aka Joshua Cleveland? I just happened to follow his Youtube channel for a while (before he launched Hotspot with Jack), he is indeed weird. Not in a “weird” weird way, but the way he treated his channel. It was one rating after another, I had to unsubscribe after he started posting shorts of the MMORPGS he played and “best adventure games” ratings on a daily basis, just for the sake of it. He also acted like an insider behind many games/events he covered, yet never delivered. That’s just how it all felt to me.

Hi Doom. I appreciate the feedback my friend. I disagree obviously, especially the part about acting like an insider and not delivering. That is far, far, far from my personality but if I put off that heir, I apologize. Frankly, I’ve never heard that said before but I’ll certainly keep an eye on it. Can you give me an example so that I can avoid that in the future?

I’ve never posted an MMO short before. Yes, I did a daily top 100 adventure game countdown but that was met with great interest and is very much an industry norm. In fact I got so many requests to continue it that we started another one.

I appreciate that you subscribed and I understand you unsubscribing. Not everything is for everybody. If it was then we would all have the same content

As for AGH, there was no menace in starting it. It certainly was not a jab at adventure gamers. I’ve been here since it started, as either a forum poster (one handle or another) or as a creator. I would never want to see what I still consider my home harmed. As Jack said, we made it very clear to our staff that they can and should continue to write wherever they wish.

The creating of AGH isn’t a conspiracy. It’s very simple. It appeared to me that the site was struggling a bit. I contacted Ivo and asked if we could work out a deal to where the site would have additional funds to operate. We couldn’t come to terms. A bit later, Jack became available. The rest is obvious. My love of the genre is why I’m here and nothing else. This is not a niche that we can make money, get famous or anything desirable and I hope that is understood.

In regards to the YouTube channel that we started for the site, I am a little shocked that you think it’s struggling. It just started a month ago and only has a handful of podcasts on it. Google doesn’t even know how to share new channels but it has progressed pretty well. The podcast itself, not counting YouTube, is actually top 10% in the video game category (ratio based).

Long story short is that I hope you are willing to let us get our feet underneath us before you jump to conclusions. I’d love to hear suggestions as to what we can do better. I took note that you mention that it’s cumbersome. We hope to work on that soon. Our site is in no ways complete and we have things being built on the back end. Our goal is to help shed as much light as possible on the games and sister sites can only help each other

Jackal - 14 January 2023 12:30 PM

I did see your earlier post, Doom, and all I’ll say is that Joshua’s been part of the adventure game community since forever, and that he’s never been anything but a pleasure for me to work with, so I have absolutely no concerns about his commitment.

My bad, I spend too much time editing my posts, even more than writing them) Anyway, I apologize once again, sometimes I feel overprotective about things that don’t require that. Still can’t get over the fact that all contributors just left the site at the beginning of 2022 and only now we learn about that. Currently I feel like AG forums is the only thing that holds everything together. I could only wish you succeed in recreating the same kind of environment.

Captain Blondebeard - 14 January 2023 02:08 PM

Hi Doom. I appreciate the feedback my friend. I disagree obviously, especially the part about acting like an insider and not delivering. That is far, far, far from my personality but if I put off that heir, I apologize. Frankly, I’ve never heard that said before but I’ll certainly keep an eye on it. Can you give me an example so that I can avoid that in the future?

Hi, Josh. Yes, I probably jumped to conclusions too quickly, I formed my opinion based on your videos only, since that’s how I discovered you. I like tops now and then, but the number of those became overwhelming, mixed with mmorpgs videos which are alien to me. I honestly don’t remember what was my problem with you “acting like an insider”, maybe it was something Monkey Island-related, either way I just didn’t find what I was hoping to find at your channel, sorry. Games-related videos are generally the last thing I watch at youtube for the lack of time or involvement.

In regards to the YouTube channel that we started for the site, I am a little shocked that you think it’s struggling. It just started a month ago and only has a handful of podcasts on it. Google doesn’t even know how to share new channels but it has progressed pretty well. The podcast itself, not counting YouTube, is actually top 10% in the video game category (ratio based).

Well, I can only speak for the numbers of views under YT videos which is the only stats available to me. I’m glad you are more optimistic, hopefully this thread helped as well.

As for AGH, there was no menace in starting it. It certainly was not a jab at adventure gamers. I’ve been here since it started, as either a forum poster (one handle or another) or as a creator. I would never want to see what I still consider my home harmed. As Jack said, we made it very clear to our staff that they can and should continue to write wherever they wish.

The creating of AGH isn’t a conspiracy. It’s very simple. It appeared to me that the site was struggling a bit. I contacted Ivo and asked if we could work out a deal to where the site would have additional funds to operate. We couldn’t come to terms. A bit later, Jack became available. The rest is obvious. My love of the genre is why I’m here and nothing else. This is not a niche that we can make money, get famous or anything desirable and I hope that is understood.

I didn’t imply it was a conspiracy or you wanted to harm AG, I just tried to understand why was this split even necessary, taken that it’s not about money as you wrote yourself. It’s not like anyone told us anything, at least up till recently I had no idea AG went through such drastic changes in one year, basically turning into an absolutely different site with different aims, still unclear to its users or maybe even its owners.

Doom - 16 January 2023 06:41 PM

It’s not like anyone told us anything, at least up till recently I had no idea AG went through such drastic changes in one year, basically turning into an absolutely different site with different aims, still unclear to its users or maybe even its owners.

Yes, the reasons for the face/avatar of the forum’s departure were far from clear. However, from personal experience I’ve seen memos posted on the bulletin board that that “Tim has left the organization to pursue other opportunities.” Primary among those opportunities was finding another job. Which Jack has apparently done.

I didn’t always agree with the selection, but I have noticed the absence of the Month’s Best Games video. While I might not have noticed the absence of the Christmas video, seeing it on another site begs the question “What’s going on here?”

There is a noticeable decline in the quality of reviews. There is no way to tell whether the cause is the fault of the writers or the fault of the editors. Either way something’s wrong. If I search for some of the old writers, they’re gone.

I’m sure the aims of the owners are clear to them. Just not to us. That’s not a problem to me as long as the site keeps functioning. Most important to me is that the Adventure forum keeps functioning. The rest, for the time being. is gravy.

Doom - 16 January 2023 06:41 PM

Still can’t get over the fact that all contributors just left the site at the beginning of 2022 and only now we learn about that.
.
.
.
I didn’t imply it was a conspiracy or you wanted to harm AG, I just tried to understand why was this split even necessary, taken that it’s not about money as you wrote yourself. It’s not like anyone told us anything, at least up till recently I had no idea AG went through such drastic changes in one year, basically turning into an absolutely different site with different aims, still unclear to its users or maybe even its owners.

I can’t speak for any of the other former writers, but my experience with the sudden change in AG’s site direction/priorities was about as sudden as its readership’s. We heard from Jack himself that he’d been let go—the site’s ownership didn’t indicate beforehand that such major changes were being considered, and it was weeks after Jack’s announcement before we started to hear anything from that quarter. I waited around for a while to see what direction we’d receive and whether the new management style would be something I’d mesh with. In the end I didn’t feel like staying on was the best thing for me anymore. (This was some time after Jack’s departure, incidentally—not sure about anyone else, but I didn’t leave at the beginning of the year.)

One thing’s for sure—when I left, it wasn’t to join another adventure game site. At the time there was no other site to join. Discussions about the Hotspot didn’t begin until months after AG’s new direction was firmly in place, and when they did it wasn’t as a successor or splinter site from AG; it was as a way for a group of people who’d worked well together to keep doing that while staying engaged with the genre that brought us together. From the beginning—and as was true while we were here—we’ve been free to contribute anywhere else we wanted, and judging by how many names are still listed as active contributors on AG’s staff page it looks like a number are still contributing to both.

Anyway, that’s all I know, so it’s all I can share. The Hotspot is its own thing; it’s not trying to recreate AG or be a “successor” to a site that still exists. AG is going in its own direction, the Hotspot in another. They’re both places for adventure fans to celebrate the genre—the web has more than enough room for both!

Well, Messi became a better player thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo and vice versa. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic achieved so much because they coexisted. Maybe it will be same for AG and AGH.

Why not?