I have been on Out of Cards since it's creation, migrated from Hearthpwn after that whole fiasco. i admit i have never been an active member of this community with little posts and interaction. But i have come daily or weekly for some years now and.... well no kind way to put this. Site feels dead. Whole of it, Out of Games, not just the card part. Vast majority of news articles have 0 comments or 2 or 3 at most. Forums are inactive with the Recent Posts window showing threads that have last replies from 2 days ago to 2 weeks ago.
So, if it's not too bold or rude of me to ask, i want to know how things look from the dev side of things. What the site staff thinks and feels about the current status. I hope it's just me and things are actually going good, i like this place a lot.
anchorm4nThe Cake Is A Lie 17802071 PostsJoined 03/13/2019
Posted 1 week, 6 days ago
Seconded. At this point, even if the major overhaul that I suspect is going on behind the scenes were to happen tomorrow, it would need to be flanked by massive PR stunts because it feels like there's hardly a handful of people left who comes here regularly.
I notice I am confused. Something I believe isn't true. How do I know what I think I know? Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, hpmor.com
The site has definitely hit a rough patch and it definitely feels like it's been that way for a while. As to why we're stuck in this hole can be attributed to several interlocking problems. We were definitely affected by HearthPwn. The original plan was that HearthPwn was going to be closed and then Out of Cards would effectively replace it as the de facto main Hearthstone fan site. Sounds like a solid plan, but of course, when the keys were handed over to other people and the site would stay around, you can see exactly how that would put a huge roadblock on the road of progress for Out of Cards. Even if hasn't seemed like it, our growth has always been slowed down by HearthPwn, ever since the very beginning. Brand recognition is a bitch of a thing to deal with.
One other big obstacle for the site was that card games are just simply a very niche market that ebbs and flows. Hearthstone's popularity in general has gone up and down considerably as time has went on and that naturally will have drastic effects on our overall activity. When you're trying to support card games on a news website, you also need people who are familiar with the game and play on a regular basis, which is also why news for games like Legends of Runeterra and MTG Arena have also faded out. Can't really write news about the game when you don't have the people who are familiar enough with it. SNAP is decently popular and guides about the game still get views and the game still has active players, but people aren't able to sink time into every game to play.
Now in theory, branching out to just general gaming coverage could counteract this somewhat, but it again runs into the problem of brand recognition. Let's face it. Out of Cards/Games has never been that popular compared to its competing websites and trying to climb that peak is a steep and difficult climb to make regardless of how hard you try. We're very grateful for the community we have, and we thank you wholeheartedly for sticking with us for as long as you have. Trying to expand that community though, is a process that even if you know what to do, is a pain that can take forever to get through.
What's the new way? :) and please don't say podcasts. Can't understand why people like to hear someone babble about whatever subject when you can read something more comprehensive and actually keep something in your brain.
New ways are : trying to find a decent discord, writing a never read message in a chatroom on twitch or youtube, and of course writing very short and stupid never read messages on twitter/instagram/tiktok.
I may be wrong, but I have looked at a few big forums and they are all quasi deserted.
The only "forum" still alive are 4chans and reddit.
I have been on Out of Cards since it's creation, migrated from Hearthpwn after that whole fiasco. i admit i have never been an active member of this community with little posts and interaction. But i have come daily or weekly for some years now and.... well no kind way to put this. Site feels dead. Whole of it, Out of Games, not just the card part. Vast majority of news articles have 0 comments or 2 or 3 at most. Forums are inactive with the Recent Posts window showing threads that have last replies from 2 days ago to 2 weeks ago.
So, if it's not too bold or rude of me to ask, i want to know how things look from the dev side of things. What the site staff thinks and feels about the current status. I hope it's just me and things are actually going good, i like this place a lot.
I'll boop you
Seconded. At this point, even if the major overhaul that I suspect is going on behind the scenes were to happen tomorrow, it would need to be flanked by massive PR stunts because it feels like there's hardly a handful of people left who comes here regularly.
I notice I am confused. Something I believe isn't true. How do I know what I think I know?
Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, hpmor.com
The site has definitely hit a rough patch and it definitely feels like it's been that way for a while. As to why we're stuck in this hole can be attributed to several interlocking problems. We were definitely affected by HearthPwn. The original plan was that HearthPwn was going to be closed and then Out of Cards would effectively replace it as the de facto main Hearthstone fan site. Sounds like a solid plan, but of course, when the keys were handed over to other people and the site would stay around, you can see exactly how that would put a huge roadblock on the road of progress for Out of Cards. Even if hasn't seemed like it, our growth has always been slowed down by HearthPwn, ever since the very beginning. Brand recognition is a bitch of a thing to deal with.
One other big obstacle for the site was that card games are just simply a very niche market that ebbs and flows. Hearthstone's popularity in general has gone up and down considerably as time has went on and that naturally will have drastic effects on our overall activity. When you're trying to support card games on a news website, you also need people who are familiar with the game and play on a regular basis, which is also why news for games like Legends of Runeterra and MTG Arena have also faded out. Can't really write news about the game when you don't have the people who are familiar enough with it. SNAP is decently popular and guides about the game still get views and the game still has active players, but people aren't able to sink time into every game to play.
Now in theory, branching out to just general gaming coverage could counteract this somewhat, but it again runs into the problem of brand recognition. Let's face it. Out of Cards/Games has never been that popular compared to its competing websites and trying to climb that peak is a steep and difficult climb to make regardless of how hard you try. We're very grateful for the community we have, and we thank you wholeheartedly for sticking with us for as long as you have. Trying to expand that community though, is a process that even if you know what to do, is a pain that can take forever to get through.
No idea about traffic in general but for the forum part that's an internet tendency : forums are the old way.
What's the new way? :) and please don't say podcasts. Can't understand why people like to hear someone babble about whatever subject when you can read something more comprehensive and actually keep something in your brain.
New ways are : trying to find a decent discord, writing a never read message in a chatroom on twitch or youtube, and of course writing very short and stupid never read messages on twitter/instagram/tiktok.
I may be wrong, but I have looked at a few big forums and they are all quasi deserted.
The only "forum" still alive are 4chans and reddit.