Launching an Official TripleA Discord
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Discord has really grown and there is a lot of utility there we could use. The voice & text chat channels would help supplement our existing channels, we could have in-game voice chats, and generally it is an opportunity to help foster more community.
This topic was broached before: https://forums.triplea-game.org/topic/1722/triplea-discord-invite-link, but did not take off, and there is a 'triplea' sub on the "Axis and Allies Arena" discord. We could do a lot better having an official channel, we could organize tournaments that way, and generally have more control and have bot-specific game channels for players that wish to use voice chat while playing, to do so.
We would be increasing our moderation requirements, but hopefully that could be a labor of love for some intrepid TripleA volunteers. Thoughts?
update: there is a discord server here: https://discord.gg/PRtexuSprq
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@lafayette i like it
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Yes, that would be another nice-to-have platform, at least for people playing online at the same time. It's less attractive for games of players who cannot or do not want to be online at the same time.
However there are good side effects for project collaboration, teaming up, etc.
Myself, having some (more or less) experience with Discord and/or Slack, I see the importance of giving some continuous input to the Discord community, then, at least as long as the community will be large and encouraged enough to somehow "self-run".That takes some additional manpower, ideas, time etc. Administration and moderation needs frequent and constant attention.
In other words, this is not only a question of "Do we want that?" - but also of "Who takes or joins the necessary constant maintanance?"
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It's less attractive for games of players who cannot or do not want to be online at the same time.
@Panther - Why would this be the case? Nothing is to say that discord must only be used for voice chat during a synchronous game. We could easily have a channel for async play, perhaps many players would feel comfortable posting to that channel than say compared to: https://forums.triplea-game.org/category/21/play-by-email, or https://forums.triplea-game.org/category/45/play-by-forum
The low traffic to those two sub-forums is a concern of its own.
Myself, having some (more or less) experience with Discord and/or Slack, I see the importance of giving some continuous input to the Discord community, then, at least as long as the community will be large and encouraged enough to somehow "self-run".
I agree here. A successful discord will require a good launch with enough of a community that it can be self sustaining. Launching a ghost-town would perpetuate it being a ghost town.
Administration and moderation needs frequent and constant attention.
I do not agree on 'constant' attention. The existing 'triplea' sub-category in the "Axis and Allies Arena" does not seem to require constant attention. Are there other examples that make you think 'constant' attention would be necessary?
I think this goes hand-in-hand with the above point about a good launch and establishing a community on the discord. (Side-note, I've observed discord is very conducive for forming communities). The 'frequent' attention would be there if we have engaged people. Undoubtedly there would be cases where some level of moderation would be required. Whether that is 'constant', I am doubtful, but if that becomes the case and it is too much, then we simply turn it off and call it a failed attempt. In that case the totality of TripleA's presence will be the sub-category in the 'axis and allies arena', which is far under-used considering it could be used to coordination async games, solicit general discussion & buzz, be a place for further map maker discussion, and be a place to have voice chat for those that find that appealing.
"Who takes or joins the necessary constant maintanance?"
I think this is putting the cart before the horse. First I'm not convinced and have seen no examples where it is 'constant' maintenance. The other aspect, this is something that can grow and once it has grown, then those questions are more relevant and perhaps the answers more obvious as well (ie: if the community on discord grows to some 50~100 people, there will be incentive for some of them to help ensure it is a vibrant place).
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@lafayette @Panther i think discord could also be a good place to try to have development meetings and bolster our developer pool
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Re: ghost town: After the Discord is set up, reach out to Youtube streamers to publicize, a number of 1942 Online content creators there. I don't see that 1942 Online has much of a current following on Twitch.
1942 Online developers might call it poaching, but TripleA really does have much better features. Full record of attack/retreat decisions, dice rolls, sub-phase, change viewed board to any point in game history, better UI - only fiddly thing is setting up ports.
Re: administration and moderation: A few clear simple rules stickied. I'd volunteer for moderation, but I run long with strongly held opinions, and have had pretty hard disagreements with people and developers in the 1942 Online community. Though if it came to it, I expect I could keep things professional and be a moderator.
Re: mission statement: What would the TripleA forum be for? A community of TripleA players? So there would be groups for Global, Revised, 1942 Second Edition (maybe)? What if 1942 Online players show up and want to talk about 1942 Online strategies? (A lot of lines of play that can be performed on TripleA can't be done on 1942 Online with its rules changes). Should they get their own sub-board, or asked to stick to TripleA implementation?
Anything else in general, or just "community"? To that end, do we want to take down player time zone information, availability, range of game versions they play, languages they speak, what they want to see out of the community?
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@aardvarkpepper A lot of good questions. Would you be able to help with that outreach or would you be able to PM me a small list of good people to reach out to?
What would the TripleA forum be for?
You are referring to this forum, correct? There are certainly differences in having a channel in discord vs a forum. A channel is good for discussing one topic. For example, if someone is getting long winded and off topic, it's easy to deal with - just post a few giphy's and the conversation scrolls off and everyone really carries on. For other items, we need more dedicated discussion and forums would remain an excellent place for that.
If referring to discord, " A community of TripleA players?", perhaps basically and largely that. Map makers too..
What if 1942 Online players show up and want to talk about 1942 Online strategies?
I don't particularly see that as a problem. They might find a better home in the existing "Axis and Allies Arena" discord, but overall I think it would not be a bad problem to deal with - if it comes about.
Should they get their own sub-board, or asked to stick to TripleA implementation?
I think we need to grow discord and keep that growth organic. I know many discords have a lot of channels, and that is perhaps because they have grown from a few, to dozens, to hundreds. So we should not jump to an end state IMO, but grow as the needs arise. The biggest goal I think would be to have a good launch and enough of a community that it is self sustaining.
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I was referring to Discord but typed "forum". Good catch, and thanks for the correction.
I can tell players about the Discord forum when it's set up. Be pretty natural as I consider TripleA the best. Port forwarding and emailing files back and forth is sort of eh, but everything else is loads better. Why not go for the best experience, I say. I mean, you can save .tsvg and view game history later, with a full record of dice rolls and sub-phase of combat attack/retreat and casualty assignation decisions. And rewind the visible board state to any point in the game history. And better UI. (Well, I like it a lot more anyways.)
Re: good people to reach out to, I was thinking Youtube streamers. I'll start a list.
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@aardvarkpepper Cool! Main use would be organizing the playing of saved games I think. Theres a bit of a risk of splitting the community though, not forum - discord wise so much as people hanging out in chat and people hanging out in discord.'
It would also be great for organizing multi-games and talking strategy I think.
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so do we want to make this discord channel and if so who wants to be in charge of it?
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I know this is oldish but how popular is it anyway to justify a server
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@board-3659 Does discord require us to install something and to host our own server? I was under the impression that it was largely a cloud service (but that could be a wrong impression)
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@lafayette You don't need any installation. You just sign into the website and make a server and send invites. Now I would say check for tutorials in setting up a server as in making channels and moderation and bots as IDK anything about that
