Together Retro 2022?

[alienjesus]

I don't know that I'd be likely to join in on discussion focused around high scores myself. That kind of single player competition doesn't really hold any appeal for me. The idea I had thats kinda been discussed around in this thread without me actually writing it up is that we could try playing a specific console each month, and that the thread would be more than just talking about what we're playing, but an excuse to talk about everything related to that console - when you first played it, what games you had back in the day, how you think it was recieved amongst the wider world but also your own friend group, what cool games you think people should definitely try, your top 5 games for the system - all of that!

Basically, my thinking is that not everyone is going to have the time, the inclination or the finances to join in on every TR thread, but that I reckon most people would join the wider discussion if it was around a topic they could engage with. It might help with both TR participation and also having more activity on the forum too.

Hell, maybe Nick could even tie in some of his articles to the console of the month and we could tie the front page and forum activities together a bit more. It's kinda weird that they feel like seperate worlds right now. When's the last time we discussed an article update on the forum once it went up?

[SpaceBooger]

I see your point. I have noticed a lot of people vote or participate for the wide gamut of TR when they already have a game they want to play... or use that as motivation to pull a specific game back out to play.
I think we just have two different takes on this. I view this as a book club where we all participate in the same book/game and then discuss. This would have people keeping discussions on topic and a natural progression to keep the talk going. When we play a wide theme that would be like a book club where everyone reads something different, or sometimes a couple of people are on the same page, and everyone just shares their thoughts. This sharing of thoughts does not encourage discussion, replay, and continued participation.
That is just my take. I'm looking for a way to keep people engaged and wanting to check back and discuss weekly, or better yet daily, instead of one post per person. I really like how this month I am able to ask for advice and share my progression on Shining the Holy Ark. Knowing others are playing, or have played, it this month motivates me to play and post.

[marurun]

SB, that’s the ideal, certainly. But I’m not sure it is sustainable here and now.

[alienjesus]

Any more thoughts on this? We're 3 days away from the first month of 2022, and so far it's looking like interest isn't there to me at least!

[Note]

I like the idea of doing the TR as a bi-monthly, and picking either a single game as prfsnl suggested, or a specific console to discuss.

I do feel like this month's TR benefitted from a few people picking the same game to play.

[MrPopo]

My perspective is that when we pick specific games it greatly increases the discourse, but participation goes down because people may or may not have the game or be interested in it. With categories I think we've had more people participate to some degree, but it doesn't really spark dialog because everyone is doing their own thing.

Years ago we did a bimonthly Together RPG; those threads tended to only have a couple people really engaging with them, but you'd get a lot of back and forth as they compared notes.

[SpaceBooger]

Comparing notes and discussing the same game is the major draw for me. The times we can discuss and dialog I participate more. I know that I am biased, but maybe we do bi-weekly one game and one theme?
A good start for January is always freshly "retro" games since it's a new year. We could start with that for Jan and continue this discussion and be ready with whatever is decided for Feb. 1st.

[Ziggy]

Any more thoughts on this? We're 3 days away from the first month of 2022, and so far it's looking like interest isn't there to me at least!

I didn't have a chance to really digest this entire thread and post my own thoughts, but that's also pretty much my point. I took a quick look at the thread views for 2021 TR threads, and yes December was an all time low. But also consider that many people simply don't have the time in December. I know I didn't. I was busy with a lot of things, I didn't even know what category was chosen. And now I'm kind of sad that I missed out on it. Shining the Holy Ark is one of my favorite games, and I just recently played through it and finally beat it for the first time. I would have loved to have chimed in about it. And if I had the time/ambition, I've been wanted to play through SF3.

Anyways, don't let that dip in participation make you think there's no interest left for TR. To the people who organize TR each month, it's kind of a thankless job and it's a real bummer when the participation isn't there. But to that I say, just look at the numbers. There might have been a few months were participation was low, we'll just have to chalk it up to that month's theme not being popular. And let's not count December, I would even go as far as to not count November. If you look at the views for the rest of the months, even with a dip in the second half of the year, there are many people viewing these threads each month. You have to remember that people might participate silently. I know that I do most months. I don't always have the time or desire to play a game from the select theme each month, but I almost always check in on the thread throughout the month even when I'm not playing. I will still read the thread for months when I don't have the time to play the selected games, and I will sometimes even check out months when a theme was selected that doesn't even interest me.

I know it sucks when you spend the time to make a post and it gets little to no replies, but this was actually something we were talking about this past year. The lack of a "like" system, or something similar, makes it difficult to gauge interest. The number of replies, or lack thereof, isn't always a clear indication of how well liked or received a thread is. I suggest also looking at the thread views. It isn't perfect, but it can give you a good idea of how many people are enjoying the thread even if they aren't posting. For example, earlier this year I posted a thread about a solder spool holder that I built. It got exactly one reply (thanks, Ack!) which sucks, but it got nearly 8,000 views so it can't be all bad.

My point being (and I apologize for my unorganized thoughts here) that TR should definitely continue!

[alienjesus]

January 9th, and we have nothing going.

[dsheinem]

January 9th, and we have nothing going.

I think your "Console of the Month" post has the same/more energy as a good TR month would have. I'd be content to stick with that idea for "themed playing" for this year...