Let's evolve, shall we?

That would be cool.

 

That should be done. I have often felt the need for this link myself.

 

This mod is one who works for a graphics tech company but has never made a secret of it. I, however, speak only for myself and I'm sure there others here who are employed in the graphics/computer industry but are not officially allowed to speak on behalf of their employer.

Adding such a signature may force such members to cease posting and, frankly, without contributors who actually know about the technology B3D would be a much poorer site.

 

^^ This.

This is what makes this place different.

 

Regards forced disclosure :

1) How do you know if someone's a shill? If they tell you, they're not very good!
2) The base level intellect of B3D users should be enough to have reasoning capacity: not to take anything at face value, and so a shill's words carry no weight without being supported by real evidence; to evaluate their own choices and so not be swayed into agreeing with the last person who said, "I'm right, listen to me!" Regardless of whether a post is an individual's or a corporate policy, it makes no odds to reader's unless they can't differentiate between a well presented argument and some airy-fairy sales pitch, at which point I'd say that reader has as little right to be here as the industry insider.

Given that individuals have a right to act as individuals in their own time, where it may be their opinions are coincidental with their workplaces but not corporately sanctioned, 'unmasking' them would also take away their free identity, with the forum possibly disregarding their opinions as being a corporate policy, or even an individual wanting to talk out against their company being unable to do so.

So I'm not in favour of 'outing' people!

Regards forum structure and PC/Console crossover :

I agree that there's a lot of redundancy/crossover, that developed over this gen in a way perhaps unexpected so that the separate forums seems nonsensical when the same games are being discussed in them both.

However, the discussion contents tend to be asynchronous. PC talk will cover a different range of topics (like Nebula's joyous settings files) to console games, not to mention the issues of console gamers saying such-and-such looks nice, and the PC gamers deriding the consoles and saying PC looks better, which is a truly pointless and obvious point but one some people seem compelled to make...

Where there is a definite crossover though is in the software technology. UE3, CryEngine, Frostbite, all multiplatform. And the platform range is expanding with handhelds. The console space has traditionally been a hotbed for clever thinking to get around the hardware limits, but GPU progress and programmability means that's no longer the case, and things like new AA techniques are a common, platform agnostic topic. How rendering software is built and designed to work with the system hardwares is thus, IMO, a general topic that should integrate all platforms. Mobile devices as well? I think so seeing as they are becoming as programmable as any other system.

The site's future

I suppose question is what job is the site wanting to do? I see B3D as the best place to read up on hardware evaluations and 3D progress, as a professionally targeted site even if made accessible to Joe Public. The main reason for the forums is to connect the inquisitive outside with the industry insider, which should be a two-way relationship. Regards the gaming forums, the best content always comes from the developer contributions, but they are fairly few and far between. NDAs are a PITA, but I'd like to think that B3D would be viewed by developers as a place to get informed opinions, where they're happy to talk freely with game post-mortems etc. For that to happen, the level of debate would have to be tightened considerably...

So all in all, I feel B3D should be working to become that bridge between worlds. The industry will have specialist press and sites, but they exclude the wider world and can be somewhat insular as a result. Then there are public sites like GAF where everyone is welcome, and that means mostly unbearable noise. There's nowhere for the two sides to chat and sound each other out - take Insomniac's choice about dropping 60 fps support; it was made without open discussion. These sorts of game design and engine decisions are always made by developers talking with developers, and not developers talking with a broader range of folk which will bring different, and ultimately important seeing as Joe Public is the buying public, perspectives.

 

a) The tech staff could be exempted from this. Only the marketing shills need be asked to do this. I think this was the intention behind the original request. But, this rule is unenforceable anyway, so there's not much point in pursuing this.

b) Yes,

 

I agree 100%.

How do you guys feel about news? What kind of news should we be covering? I don't mean we'll become like an engadget type site, but I think the front page should be a bit more active.

 

Regarding the forum layout, 2 very simple things that could be done:

1) Ax the "Welcome, Unregistered..." section at the top and just put a register button next to the login button.

2) Make the "Hall of Fame" 1 forum and all the current entries sub forums.

 

I would have to agree with that. Quite often we get a developer who gives his insider opinion and then has to subsequently defend himself/his content often over 3-4 pages or 5-6 posts worth of badgering by one or more forumites. I see this in the console technology forum most often whilst the other parts tend to be much better behaved. On the one hand there is the NDA but the behaviour of a few certainly doesn't always encourage people in the know to speak out. Funnily enough I see it quite often when Joker454 contributes and I haven't seen him contribute as much recently, so this may be a sign hes getting sick of it. Im not talking about people having a discussion, but it seems whenever someone who does know speaks out in the console technology forum area they get people trying to ram uninformed decisions down their throat.

Overall I would like to see Shifty Geezer promoted to Beyond3D Demi-god.

I would like to try my hand at moderating if you want volunteers?

 

In the end there is only very few professionals who can stomach open forums in the long run and I don't think anything which can be done will change that, it will do more harm than good.

 

Does the forum software have a mobile version that can be implemented at Beyond3D? I wouldn't use this often, but it would be nice on occasion.

 

I think Forum Runner is installed and supported for mobile support.

 

@ PC/Console Forums:

How about keeping the segregation (PC Gaming & Console Gaming) but under the larger Umbrella of Gaming General? The main Console Forum mostly (as far as I've seen) covers industry news. What with Steam or Onlive seemingly becoming a bridge, it seems an even more general section would be conducive to inviting opinions on these matters from the more PC-centric folk. Keeping the divide between the gaming sectors should mean there's little else changing compared to now... Unless people really have problems avoiding clicking a link.

I definitely agree about Console Tech becoming a more general Gaming Tech, and maybe this should be outside Gaming itself so we can try to keep discussion on a higher level?

 

Forum-wise change:

I would keep the Core Forum structure, but move completly the "console technology" into 3D Technology & Algorithms.

I would merge PC Games and Console Games into Videogames (and you can still have separated thread for PC and console version).
Or having a section called Videogames and then splited into Handled, Console, PC sub section.

And many threads can be moved from the general Console Forum to 3D & Semiconductor Industry

 

After much discussion we have decided to make everyone volunteer moderators! All users now have the ability to report posts! Reported posts will be sent to our "Strong A.I." which will then determine if posts should be deleted, moved, or kept!

 

What about console tech = gaming tech, console forum = game industry talk? I think keeping the actual gaming forums separate is a good idea however.

 

Wow, thats an incredible system! Have you submitted this AI to any of the various AI competitions around the world? I think you may have a contender for 'AI most likely to take over the world and render it mostly uninhabitable to humans after an event called judgement day'.

 

No, AI is much nicer than that...I couldn't see him going for world domination.

 

That already has been answered but it's worth repeating it, a lot of knowledgeable folks on the domain are actually employed by a company or another which has an invested interest in the discussed topics. A lot of these folks are not free to talk openly because of company policy, and when they are, some would prefer the relative anonymity and be considered like any other poster.

It goes without saying that if some poster, with undisclosed ties to a company related to a topic discussed here, decided to go on a full guerrilla marketing campaign; that poster would be called out.

Unless of course, the said company buys our silence with expensive bribes (cars, houses, yachts, etc.), of course.

More seriously, as Shifty pointed out, I think the B3D forums readership is smart enough not to take void marketing claims at face value.

The front page will see some redesign work. And yes, it will be streamlined to some extent.

That's indeed an issue. The forum theme needs some improvements. The direct link to the front page will be one of them.

That's my opinion as well. Specific news/rumours should be discussed in their own specific threads.

Another big issue is the lack of comprehensive first post when people start a speculative thread. It's never redundant to summarize the current situation with regard to the speculated topic (what's the lastest word, what has been debunked, etc.)

There's something along those lines in the works. Some place to allow developers to share their opinions with the community.

 

How do you use it? If I visit the forum via my Android phone it shows the normal forum with teeny tiny text.