Does Gearbox value their Forum?

[FerocityFlynt]

On other social media I see the Borderlands devs, community managers or even the CEO himself respond to comments from the community. On the Gearbox forum, however, absolutely nothing. No reaction whatsoever. Does Gearbox even read their own forum? What do you think?

• Yes
• No

News get posted on all other social media channels. Meanwhile the forum again has to take a backseat. News get announced on the forum hours… days later or they don’t. Usually forum members rather than moderators or staff have to spread the word. Does Gearbox even value their own forum? What do you think?

• Yes
• No

Is it really that big of an ask to post news here at the same time? They post news on twitter, facebook, instagram… might as well include their own forum. Should news be announced on the Gearbox forum too?

• Yes
• No

Should news be posted on the Gearbox forum at the same time they get posted elsewhere?

• Yes
• No

Forums are communities of people sharing ideas and discussion online, so yes, they are social media / social networks too.

[Bremen1 (Bremen)]

Yes to all of it but you also gota look at it from a logical point of view. First this is probably the smallest of the social media platform there is being overshadowed by reddit and twitter. Second anything noteworthy posted on either of the 2 makes its way here. Lastly forums in general are extremely dated I’m pretty sure many new players don’t come to this place. Reddit is one-stop shop for many forums and has become sort of the new gathering for fans. While twitter as you’ve sais kind of has become the hub of current news in general and most people from young to old are bound to hear alot of the current going ons thru twitter. This place imo is the best place for theory builds tho. Ultimately it still surprises me Noelle still posts on here and that job isn’t taken up by one of the moderators.

[FerocityFlynt]

@Bremen1

Yes to all of it but you also gota look at it from a logical point of view. First this is probably the smallest of the social media platform there is being overshadowed by reddit and twitter.

Yes, those other platforms have quantitiy… but they don’t have the quality of the forum in terms of profound discussions. Those platforms in that regard are quite limited. Twitter has a 280 character limit for example. In reddit threads get forgotten very fast. Meanwhile in this forum we have active threads dating back to September last year. Multiple threads have 100-400 comments. I also feel like the forum represents the core playerbase more than anything else.

[vCarpeDiemv]

Don’t forget about Discord, that has been a driving force chipping away at this forum as well.

I understand, and fully agree about what you said about this being a lot smaller of a following than other platforms. My only argument is, why keep this site up of it’s just going to be ignored?

[nat_zero_six (I’m Nat and just a Number.)]

they don’t have shift accounts, maybe?

[FerocityFlynt]

If they don’t feel the need to register an account which takes 1 minute… I will assume they don’t value the forum.

[Gorbles (The Magnificent)]

@FerocityFlynt

Yes, those other platforms have quantitiy… but they don’t have the quality of the forum in terms of profound discussions. Those platforms in that regard are quite limited. Twitter has a 280 character limit for example. In reddit threads get forgotten very fast. Meanwhile in this forum we have active threads dating back to September last year. Multiple threads have 100-400 comments. I also feel like the forum represents the core playerbase more than anything else.

You shouldn’t equate length with quality. People can type 1,000 words and still not present a decent conclusion (guilty myself, at times).

You can “feel” like the forum represents whoever you want. Unfortunately for you, Facebook, Twitter, and Discord users who play the game are all part of the “core” playerbase. We who use this forum aren’t special. We’re just another demographic (though I also use Facebook as well as Twitter, so it’s not like people only use the forums, or only use Twitter).

Social media is easier to use, that’s all there is to it. There’s no grand conspiracy, or undervaluing of the forums. A lot of developers have work accounts that are also their only social media account. It makes posting as “yourself” easier. Better communication with the fans.

Besides, it takes less time as well. If developers started posting on the forums more, you’d have people challenging them to spend hours of their day in endless threads. Which at some point they’d have to ignore. So we’d still have the same “problem”.

For the record, I voted “Yes” to all four.

[Psychichazard (All out of kittens.)]

Yes, they do.

By comparison, they are posting on this place a lot more than they used to. Sure, I’d like them to post here more but I understand why they don’t.

[FerocityFlynt]

@Gorbles

You shouldn’t equate length with quality.

You shouldn’t equate shortness with quality either. I can quickly post some brain fart on my twitter that has no substance behind it.

@Gorbles

You can “feel” like the forum represents whoever you want.

Of course I can. I have every right to do so

@Gorbles

We who use this forum aren’t special.

How would you know?

@Gorbles

Unfortunately for you, Facebook, Twitter, and Discord users who play the game are all part of the “core” playerbase.

I believe this forum represents the core playerbase more than the majority of people on other social media platforms.

@Gorbles

Besides, it takes less time as well. If developers started posting on the forums more, you’d have people challenging them to spend hours of their day in endless threads. Which at some point they’d have to ignore. So we’d still have the same “problem”.

That doesn’t explain why news don’t get posted on the forum or only with big delay. Whose job is it to post on social media… I mean doesn’t Gearbox have a social media manager?

[hk.spm123]

biggest problem is that u cannot directly point at someone when making a complain post , usually result to ban xd

[FerocityFlynt]

I’m asking the community about their opinion regarding this topic. I very much doubt that anyone gets banned for that.

[hk.spm123]

yeah , but im saying if u talks about the name of the dev , then it will happen

[Hexxusz0r (Resident inZane)]

does it value for feedback? no value for grabbing player base? yes every bit counts even this forum

[Salvadorable]

@FerocityFlynt

but they don’t have the quality of the forum in terms of profound discussions.

I don’t see a lot of profound discussions on these forums. I see, uh, complaints that are more like review-bombs than thoughtful discussions. There are so many negative type comments that don’t contribute to legitimate discussion it’s hard to wade through them all to find the good ones.

[boombumr (Here comes the BOOOOM)]

Character sub-forums. You’ll never find any of that stuff on Reddit. I’ve tried.

I originally made an account on reddit to see if I could have discussions about things on there that I don’t here. Admittedly, mostly about FL4K’s pets since I have a one track mind. Finding actual in depth conversation on that topic is next to impossible. I’ve come across 2 people over the past 10 months that have actually had something insightful to say and not just “they suck” or “buff them by 1000%”.

I’ve found that, generally speaking, if it isn’t cosplay, memes, or circlejerking a popular opinion about Moze sucking, it’s much easier to just create a space for the kind of discussions I want to have here, or use Discord. Of course, YMMV.

[piratebones2 (I'm having a Half-Life moment here!)]

I feel there can be little doubt that GB “value their Forum”. It’s seems more a matter of where the forum fits into their overall marketing and how important is it to them to keep us equally informed about game developments.

Clearly Twitter has a large following and it’s also where the Influencers can be found regularly. Still, the forum is part of their community and as such should receive equal treatment for game announcements. We do get a lot from them via Noelle’s updates and patient interaction, but I was put off by GBs fopa of not announcing the BLM delay here. Which ironically in doing so, seemed to ignore a core value of equality.

“Forum” added by author

[VaultHunter101 (Flying: throwing yourself at the ground and missing)]

From borderlands.com:

I personally would love a bit more of the ‘chat’ mentioned as the first item in that second screen shot. But there it is.

[FerocityFlynt]

@VaultHunter101 the screenshot states:

• “Chat with the Gearbox development team”
• “connect with other fans”
• “and keep up-to-date on all things Borderlands”

Only one of those is really true.
The developers are nowhere to be seen on this forum.
Gearbox doesn’t keep us up-to-date on all things Borderlands here. Usually forum members rather than moderators or staff have to spread the word.

@piratebones2

I was put off by GBs fopa of not announcing the BLM delay here. Which ironically in doing so, seemed to ignore a core value of equality.

[piratebones2 (I'm having a Half-Life moment here!)]

Interesting, that does not show up on my computer. I get the photos that all link to Twitter.

Edit: Found it. For some reason my browser (Chrome) does not take me to the https://borderlands.com/en-US/community/#- page when I click on community. Even tried logging out of Shift.

[Gorbles (The Magnificent)]

@FerocityFlynt

You shouldn’t equate shortness with quality either.

Good thing I didn’t!

@FerocityFlynt

How would you know?

Because nobody is. We’re all players playing the game. We’re all the same kind of player in that respect. Nobody has special access. Nobody is under NDA (or at least, breaking it). Nobody is employed by Gearbox. There is nothing that makes your opinion more special than a random Twitter account’s.

@FerocityFlynt

That doesn’t explain why news don’t get posted on the forum or only with big delay. Whose job is it to post on social media… I mean doesn’t Gearbox have a social media manager?

Good thing I voted for more timely forum newsposts, then