EoFF Elections 2010, Debate Thread!

[Election Booth]

Next up, 501st Legion Party's Round II argument.

The Eyeson Frontsite has been worked maticulously by a hard-working dedicated staff of Cid's Technicians. With the coming of vB4, the possibilty of connecting the frontsite and the forums is more possible than ever. How much and how do you feel that they should be connected? Any specific ideas?

Instead of member-submitted reviews (which I, for one, will never read), actual playthroughs of Square games by members would be more interesting additions to the front site, especially if they're accompanied by screenshots. They'd be like walkthroughs, I guess, and even better than normal playthroughs would be challenges (you know, like low-level challenges).

The blogging feature of VB4 could be used for this, too, and the really good blog entries could be linked from the front site. Regardless, the front site should/could recognize past and future threads like SeeDRankLou's Perfect Game of FFIX, for example, and Necronopticous' "Ah, the Power of Cheese" (website here) by linking to them or giving them their own pages. Very helpful they are!

For real! No joke!

Also, I happen to have a Loony BoB icon:

How do you know what people will and won't be interested in? And why do you assume that just because you don't read reviews, that other people would not? Sometimes, even a short statement from a party is enough to seal a deal between what is played and is not.

Though I see the value of having more user-generated content, why is it the assumption that there would be people with both the drive and the technology to complete and post their playthroughs in such an organized manner? Videos would suggest a YouTube account, which not everyone has (much less any other video streaming site). We already have enough trouble as it is getting people to write tables of information, and suddenly, you want them to advertise entire blocks of time dedicated to playing the game, with what could possibly be an incomplete and non-expert showcase of the game?

The question asked for integration, but this feels like it only covers one aspect of frontsite-forum integration, which is based on watching someone play through a game. I tried that noise, and I didn't even get through video 9 of 54. You're going to have to come up with something a little more interesting than simply saying "let's play a game in a specific way for the amusement of others." What's your incentive for doing so?

Darth Banana is correct that you will be able to have your own member blog when VBulliten4 comes out. but she has only barely skimmed the surface of what we can and should do. Here are a few examples of what we can do already with it, after all we can do so much more than feature simple playthroughs.

Say for example a member comes up with a technique that makes a certain boss fight easier in Final Fantasy XIII. Cids Knights and Cids Technicians will have the ability to take any post and promote it to an article for the frontsite, so when a newbie comes asking for help this member created technique is available for them. This can encourage members to post their ideas on how to beat a tricky extra boss, explain the trick to get the Zodiac Spear from the Henne Mines, or even a nice april fools prank like how to really revive Aeris. Adding content to the frontsite will become easier than ever before!

In addition, there can be things like thread of the week or picture of the week, where a single thread or work of art gets put up on the frontsite. It feels really nice when the random people from google who come to find the location of all the Stellazio coins and sees your picture of Mog dancing with Umaro in Narshe. With a chest bump. The possibilities VBulliten4 are endless, and the forums, frontsite, and even chat the the wiki will come together as one.

Also I know html too.

Clearly people are catching on to the idea that integration is a good thing, and that there needs to be a way to include what the standard user wants to see on the frontsite as being entirely possible. You've offered more possibilities, all of which seem viable.

Here's the better question: where are you going to get all of that manpower? Half the people here don't do anything, the other half don't even like Final Fantasy anymore, and the remaining half does not have the steady hands or the technology to pull off a procedure like that. Yes, I'm aware that adds up to 150%, but I'm an engineer (a real engineer, mind you), so I'm allowed to do like that.

This round goes to the Zombie Party for providing a more complete suggestion on what integration could possibly be with the new vB4. The looming question remains, of course, is even if those plans are implemented, how is it going to be done with what appears to be an unwilling fanbase?