I’m looking for a forum where I can talk about video games and ask for tips and what not without every single thread being over run by fan boys shitting on the game or system? One where posters don’t get to have a half screen sig that is full of pictures and dumb clan shit? That makes it almost impossible to read threads on siteslike gamespot because each post has so much sig material etc…
Anything out there?
Your best bet is to download a FAQ, print it out, and refer to it when needed.
Seriously, I’ve just about given up on video game message boards. Nobody ever gets banned. No post ever gets deleted. No control, no restrictions, no warnings, NOTHING. And every single board is like this. Even GameFAQs, the one site which was tightly controlled, has slipped into utter anarchy for absolutely no reason I can think of.
If you have to have an online discussion, make sure it’s one with limited membership. Do electronic bulletin board systems still exist? You might want to look into those. Or else you could find a number of players you trust and exchange e-mail with them. If you must go to a message board, make sure it’s one with an ignore feature. I know it’s a somewhat drastic measure, but if the moderating team is completely unwilling to keep anyone in check, it’s up to you.
P.S. - GameFAQs is fine for the FAQs. Just thought I’d point that out in case anyone thought I was slagging the site. It’s just the message boards that are gargabe, and again, it’s like that everywhere.
The only two I ever use are rottentomatoes.com if I want a concensus of reviews for a particular game, and gamefaqs.com if I want to use a walkthrough guide if I’m stuck at a point in the game.
I used to hang out at Gamespot in the glory time - around 2000. Then it died, we all left, and then we just kind of lost contact. Last I heard, everyone started going back there. AFAIK, the modding isn’t bad there though.
My honest advice? Get a LiveJournal and subscribe to some gaming comms. Some aren’t that active, but people there are generally well-behaved. You hear horror stories about whiny teens there, but most of them aren’t active in comms - it seems to be the same few hundred people around the general gaming comms.