NetEpic future
I've recently turned a new eye on the latest release of the core
rules and Oh my! It's filled - I'd say crippled - by special rules
and optional rules. In the oldest version of Space Marine I own,
there was a french translation, including diagrams, of main rules. It
was two pages long.
The recent topic of continuing this list instead of switching to a
true forum is another point.
Having to go as far as a poll to know if colors should make an
appearance in NetEpic books is yet another point.
All of the topics above raises important questions over NetEpic as a
whole, its purpose and its future.
I truly enjoy this game and this community. I decided to jump on the
bandwagon in 2002, just for NetEpic - I've never been an Epic player
in the first place. I bought armies from eBay, and I am still
painting some. Of course, I consider myself a newcomer. Being mostly
a painter, I'm not the veteran of hundreds of games like so many
people hanging around, but it is not necessarily a bad point: I dare
to say that I can have a fresh view over this game, something many
gamers involved for too long are lacking.
NetEpic is great but NetEpic community has a problem. It seems that
the community is afraid of moving forward. By moving forward, I mean
gathering new players, promoting the game in events, making it
appealing to newcomers, and giving everyone an easy access to become
a new member of a growing community. There are 347 members in this
list where there should be thousands. And I'm not even speaking of
dead accounts among that number. I've seen several falling stars
around - gamers seduced by the game system, posting happily several
messages on the list, and then giving up for unknown reasons.
In my opinion, YES, NetEpic group should cease to exist as a Yahoo!
Group, and so long to our old habits. Truly. It should become a forum
tree hosted somewhere. NetEpic.org webmaster implemented PhpNuke
which provide plenty of forums. We could have sorted forums,
moderators, administrators, smileys, pictures, quotes, avatars,
threaded views, recent posts, search feature, and an easy access to
archives.
Why not using those available features? Because we are hampered in
old habits. So, a couple good souls (Yar and Peter) are animating a
sleepy Yahoo! group and that's all of the NetEpic community, and it's
real sad.
Some people can answer that this group has 6 years of existence, and
that's a proof of its life. I beg to differ. Internet in 1998 is not
the same as in 2004, and any webmaster has to carry on with the
changes. Less than 500 members for a game with such a potential is
truly a shame. Do you consider NetEpic to be inferior to Games
Workshop's Space Marine game? I doubt it. But how many players for
the latter at its peak? How many players that should have switched to
NetEpic but did not because they weren't even aware of its existence?
If we want to bring life into NetEpic community, we have to switch to
a true forum.
Attracting new players is another weakness of NetEpic. The rules are
sound and complete, but unappealing. Adding pictures and a bit of
layout (not necessarily a background) could help. Definitely, there
should be color diagrams or pictures instead of those bland B&W
diagrams for examples. Non core-rules for should be pushed aside, and
sorry for the veterans that will need to browse into two books
instead of one. The KISS process should be applied again and again,
this rulebook should definitely be splitted and shrunk in size. I'm
speaking as a newcomer for that one; I don't remember what the polls
gave for that one, but I fear it has been affected by the old habits.
I sincerely apologise if I offended anyone with my long rant. But
sometimes I consider what NetEpic is and compare it to what it could
have become and I'm disappointed.
Anything is more easily said than done, and I admit that some great
fellows are doing all of the job while other are just lurking the
list or ranting like I do. I have little free time but will do
whatever to help. For example, I could provide more diagrams like
those I provided for my Outnumbering in assault article
(
http://www.stephane.info/show.php?code=gang_up) for NetEpic core
rules. As soon as my collection of models is ready, I'll rock this
group with pictures and provide plenty for rulebooks.
There's a great future for NetEpic, but it won't happen unless we
move forward.
Received on Wed Aug 11 2004 - 09:59:39 UTC