Is this sub much quieter than it used to be?

[Gimpymoo]

Maybe my rose tinted glasses but seems quieter to me.

Are forums less popular than they once were?
Are gamers now fragmented among a gazillion social media channels?

I am not talking a few years, I am referring to maybe 10 years ago.

Please do not misunderstand, this is not a "OMG PC GAMING IS DYING" thread, far from it.

I remember PCG being VERY active but the reason for it being quieter if indeed it is can be varied.

Forums are not as active in general as they used to be as gamers can choose from soo many more platforms now, not just forums.

 

[Gimpymoo]

Everyone's busy getting killed by children in Fortnite.

Thank you, coffee all over keyboard

(That comment works on soo many levels both as a point I am an old fart in gaming terms and that any shooter you play, ones reaction times are just not not as they were, well, mine are not).

In my experience, forums are used by the older and more wiser crowd, and we dont have time to talk about gaming as much as youngsters that have moved to other platforms (Instagram, Twitch etc).

The current generation are an "Instant satisfaction" generation. Forums are similar to posting a letter to them I guess, where as they see Discord/Twitch as "instant".

 

[Gimpymoo]

Traditional forums aren't the only outlet these days. Reddit has centralized a lot of online gaming talk/debate, and then there's the platforms like Discord.

I personally have not been a fan of this "centralisation", I enjoyed there being smaller communities instead of massive tribes.

 

[Gimpymoo]

Totally. Discord killed our clan forum overnite.

There is less of a "community" feel when it comes to Discord/Reddit etc though in my opnion.

Discord has killed a lot of clan forums.

Obviously, people vote with their feet and people obviously like those services. Just us old farts it seems who are "hanging on"

I remember having PCG open when at work and leave your screen for half an hour and you would come back and it was highly likely the thread you were looking at had gone to second page, nowadays, still there a day later.

If only we had thread notofications back then

Probably much easier to mod around here than it used to be. I could barely keep up many years ago.

"Back in the day (Sponsored by Hovis)" The ban hammer was yielded frequently from what I remember with thread deletions, suspensions rather common, even in PCG.

Nowadays, you do not see it so much, likely a sign that the people here are just older and not just a teenager with spots with all the problems that brings with it

For someone who is say 15, a forum I suppose is not desirable compared to the many other more "flashier" systems they have become accustomed to.