I have only been here at the SDMB for a year-and-a-half, and most of my time here is spent playing the [GAMES] in the Game Room (as you can see by my post count). I’m a lifelong gamer (I’m 60.) and my current health situation prevents me from getting out to friends’ houses and playing. The entertainment and mental stimulation I gain from playing here on these various threads has lightened my life’s load more than I can say.
I assume that many of my fellow Dopergamers feel the same: they enjoy playing word and parlor games but lack a social outlet for these activities, and so are happy to have found a home here, even if some of the games are at the cutting edge of simple. At the very least, it’s a quantum of contact for those who have difficulty expressing more elaborate sentiments or opinions.
It was suggested that the [GAME] threads be moved away from the Sports enthusiasts as the threads are meaningless and insignificant (as opposed to the Sports, which are, news to me, apparently meaningful and significant). It has also been suggested the [GAME] threads be done away with, in part or in whole. The reason: they are a pestilential nuisance to those who are not interested in them and who have to share the same space, and the frequency of place constantly bumps them up into the grill of those who do not give a good goddamn about them. So: are there too many [GAME] threads these days?
I hope that others who’ve been here longer will support or correct me in this, but in the last 1.5 years I have seen many [GAME] threads come, stay a wee awhile, then fade away like the ephemera they are. The trick here is that there have been quite a number of new threads that arrive, stay awhile, and then keep on keeping on. My explanation for this phenomenon is that we have Dopers who have found (or rediscovered) these threads, are enjoying them to the fullest. These types of [GAME] threads are more fun when played by a moderate-size group, so the increase in number of participants causes more frequent play, allowing the same gamer to play more than the once-or-twice a day of some months back. This leads to the creation of more [GAME] threads by happy gamers, built usually along the lines of “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. More people are happily playing more [GAMES] then ever, in the appropriately named forum, and I would think this is something that should be encouraged, rather than the opposite.
It isn’t likely to last. As mercurial a medium as the Internet produces new interests and endeavors, and, of course, life is bound to get in the way. The transient nature of interplay here opposes the change of a Forum or basic rules for a matter which is likely to end on its own through inertia. When I first arrived to the hallowed halls of Dopery, there was great debate in the Election Forum because non-Election-related political matters were being discussed. That, IIRC, ended in a restatement of what that Forum’s limitations were. When St. Pauler started a weekly Bible Study thread (to which I participated until my health issues prevented me) there was a clamor that the Café Society was going to quickly fill up with these threads. In that case, there were rarely more than two of those threads “active” at any time.
Swift, draconian measures are certainly not called for here. I can appreciate the passion of the Sports fans, and understand their irritation at having to wade through constantly renewing threads, but, after all, this too shall pass.
