Hey guys. Long time no see. We got funded, which is awesome, and now that the game's going to be a reality, I'm ind of scared. It seems to me that the IRC is dying down and it's looking like the focus of the game is the forums, and...I can't deal with forums. I have bad social anxiety so I mostly stick to chat rooms and e-mail and the like. Am I overthinking or jumping to conclusions or something? Please say I am...
i'll probably still be on the irc mainly, because i very rarely participate in forums and lurk a lot more. hopefully people still use the irc.
IRC still seems busy to me, particularly when something is going on. The countdown to the Kickstarter ending yesterday is a prime example, I really wouldn't worry
I wouldn't worry, IRC fluctuates wildly in terms of activity. You might have dry spells like now, which are common a bit after an "event" is finished - be it a mission, AMA, or as in this case, the Kickstarter - with a spike of activity during and for a short while after the event, followed by the aforementioned dry spell. I am fairly certain that IRC will not only pick up in activity again once a new event is on the horizon, but that when the game goes live, this activity will be less transient, because of the sheer amount of missions we'll likely have available. That is, of course, guess-work, but again, when looking at how this tends to have gone in the past, I wouldn't be worried that all the activity will be on the forums.
I'm not an authority about what is going on in headquarters but there has been talk about reforming the agent communications systems in ways that accomodate keeping a moment-by-moment history for later study and new-agent training. I'm hoping it borrows a lot of IRC's spontaneity and conversational character. I'm also thankful that there is very little forums drama among our community (except for that which is introduced purposefully in pursuit of an investigation).
I wouldn't worry too much about it. As was stated already, everything fluctuates. I can say with relative certainty that when an event is going on most people involved will be all over ever communication medium we can muster. I personally prefer forums because I work a lot so it is sometimes difficult to stay in the moment in regards to IRC. That doesn't mean I won't jump in IRC if time permits. Yesterday was a perfect example as we all counted down the end of the Kickstarter campaign. I wouldn't overthink it and go with the flow. From what I have seen in there as of late it is kinda quiet but there are usually a good number of people logged in waiting to pounce when need be.
Often more than 30 users on irc, even when there isn't an active investigation. The users involving themselves on irc and the ones posting on forums are generally the same (mostly posting recap', like we were doing on TSW's forums before). These forums are used like TSW forums before, and wiki, to keep track of informations. Sorry, but I just don't understand where your impression of having more active and involved users on forums than on irc (or focus shift as you state it) comes from.
