Well, I think part of the problem is that we don't identify who has written what in the forum. Names rarely appear in the article posted by the newsbot, and the forumers don't take the time to see who did it until a big discussion pops up.
Of course, there's also the fact that the only new staff I've really talked to are Crimm and Azure Nightmare, it's like they don't really exist to us.
Evan, Karl, Pale, James, AN's name, and a few others are nice to us, so I don't really see this as a big problem, really. If staff wants to talk, they can. I think the issue is more along the lines of "We want to know that staff is there," not necessarily interaction, though. The podcast helps, but I haven't found time to really listen to one in a long time, it's too long and could use being chopped up into pieces, I think, or perhaps with chapter selections or something. Radio Trivia being podcasted also creates a disconnect between staff and users, though that's understood, technical issues and attendance sliced things up a little there.
On with the questions:
1. I don't know what I like about NWR, really. I've just been drawn to it for years now. Initially, I think it was the great amount of Nintendo coverage incomparable to most sites at a time, along with the "staff sez" type thing that was going on. Now, I'm drawn because it seems like so much of the forum is a valuable place to seriously discuss things among Nintendo intellectuals of all types, while still being able to have fun. I also like the news search function, it's worked pretty well for me before. I like the featured stories at the top, the three highlighted stories. That's a nice effect
2. I dislike the press release trend NWR follows now. I'd appreciate a summary of the press release in a paragraph or two, then the press release in tinier writing, then allow staff comments that apply to the press release or other staff comments to appear on the page like in the older format. I don't like the chat room, because it's not used enough. There's never a real invitation to go in at a certain time and talk about something, so it's always filled up with inactive chatters and Rimmer, I think. The articles and writings offer less personality than they used to, and there's a lack of the "staff talks" chat transcripts, too. I miss Louie, and I think the site would do well to pick up a new mascot, just because it adds personality.
3. I've mentioned some above, but I prefer to see my news over hearing it, and find myself bored with listening to a podcast, regardless of how well done it is, that's just my taste. To that effect, I enjoyed the staff chats that used to occur, I liked the staff says part of news articles, and I want to know who reported a story, who wrote the review, or whatever someone did in the talkback forum, not just on the story. That's for my convenience. I'd like more trivia and radio trivia, done live, though. I think competitions are fun. I'd like to read about small staff battles of games, too. Like an NWR staff championship of BWii. That would be interesting to me.
4. Said before: just press releases. They're boring, bland, generic, tedious, and almost irrelevant. When I can read a headline and learn everything interesting present in the article, that's a problem. They need spice, really. Lots of it. And pancakes.
5. Yes and no to all of those, in a way. It's one of what is really two sources of news, and the only one I like, really. The forums provide lots of news quickly, too, so NWR might be slightly behind them. I also visit kotaku, as much as it pains me to say it, because they get a lot of news quickly, most of the time. Learn how not to report news from Kotaku, though. They don't separate opinion from fact and jump to conclusions too quickly. They report on one topic ten or twenty times a day, and ignore other important things a lot. I liked that the "staff says" things were separate from the article. These had a box underneath, so you knew when the information was finished and the opinion began, and didn't mix the two together. I love to read video game opinions, I just don't want the people who write these opinions to attempt to disguise them as fact and complain about every single thing, either.
With reviews, I find myself reading less and less. I disagree more and more with reviews as a whole, and it's to the point where I can't get through an entire game review anywhere, regardless of writer/publisher/author/whatever. NWR is no exception to this. I would like an easy to access review "database" for each reviewer, so I could easily find their opinions on games with similar genres, though. That would be nice.
As far as previews go, I think they're slightly above average, but not spectacular. Perhaps applicable media could be attached to previews more often, so we could see what's being talked about? I like the inclusions of video, but that's not being added very much, and the last one I recall, which was with Brawl, lacked narration that I think would have been nice. I read previews of games I'm interested in, and NWR serves this purpose well, just not as well as I think is possible.
7. Yes, I think it's great. However, ads need to be slightly more selective here, from time to time. Those multi-colored flashing seizure ads make the page look a lot more ugly. I remember when PGC used to team up with online game retailers, which was pretty cool, because we'd get relevant adds that I cared about. They almost made me consider buying a game online, something I don't think I've ever done. I think events, especially forthcoming events, like trivia, contests, and other thinks like that need to be stickied at the top or given their own area where they can easily be seen after being posted, so we don't have to search for them and so they don't get forgotten about, and I think that dividing lines need to appear between each article, too, just for ease of looking, though I could be wrong about that, I'd have to the final product to decide. Other than that, I like the "clean" look, it's very stylistic and seems to be incredibly trendy and professional, not bad things, IMO.
8. The forums are nice, and the whole staff needs to help with implementing the Newer Waffle, I think. It can take a lot of work to create a fair, fun, and functional competition, so it would be nice to receive some official help, or some kind of set rules decided on. I don't want to be the decider, and I don't think any of the forumers want that responsibility, either. It just doesn't seem right. Also, change the wall paper on the funhouse a little more, please. I liked that a NWR group was formed for GHIII, but are we going to see any more organization for the game beyond that? I hope so. Great way to implement the chat room there, guys. And I remember those Pokemon fun-days, too. I think perhaps an online event needs to happen bi-monthly that utilizes at least the chatrooms, really.
Anyways, I think that's about it. Enjoy, Crimm!
Topic: Nintendo World Report Poll (Read 20898 times)
