DRE
Well-known member
When I was at a 4th of July BBQ yesterday I showed some peeps my site and some of em said what's that? And wanted to know what it was about. I would say 'entertainment forum' and they would say 'What's a forum?' and I'm like uhhh oh boy... and tried to explain.
Anyway I went to bed thinking 'Okay there really is nothing to gain point-wise on here because you can't do much with your points. People love games and acquiring points to do stuff with'
I woke up the next morning and it came to me that the forum home of most websites is probably what turns forum noobies off. I have realized that since we're in the Touch Screen generation, nothing more would appeal to them than an actual map instead of just words. If the forum home was a map then it would make it easier to browse through the site...
If the forum home looked like a map, either a city map, town map or island map, whatever theme you had or even combine several locals, then this may actually appeal more to noobs. The map is a constant feature in videogames, like a Grand Theft Auto map or Zelda map or the Super Mario map for instance.
So if you had a ladies forum it would be the salon on the map, the sports forum would be the stadium on the map. The breakroom would be the mall. The Global Forum would be Time's Square.
Then I started thinking of the Sims... The points people earn would be enough to buy houses or buildings etc, these actual buildings would be a subforum and they would moderate their own subforum... but that's too advanced for me to figure out at the moment, I'm really just thinking about the map right now. I think the forum home sidebar could stay, and instead of having the forum listing, turn it into a map.
This concept is nothing new as ibaker has it on his own site as a Quick Navigation Menu
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/quick-navigation-menu.28559/
Anyway I went to bed thinking 'Okay there really is nothing to gain point-wise on here because you can't do much with your points. People love games and acquiring points to do stuff with'
I woke up the next morning and it came to me that the forum home of most websites is probably what turns forum noobies off. I have realized that since we're in the Touch Screen generation, nothing more would appeal to them than an actual map instead of just words. If the forum home was a map then it would make it easier to browse through the site...
If the forum home looked like a map, either a city map, town map or island map, whatever theme you had or even combine several locals, then this may actually appeal more to noobs. The map is a constant feature in videogames, like a Grand Theft Auto map or Zelda map or the Super Mario map for instance.
So if you had a ladies forum it would be the salon on the map, the sports forum would be the stadium on the map. The breakroom would be the mall. The Global Forum would be Time's Square.
Then I started thinking of the Sims... The points people earn would be enough to buy houses or buildings etc, these actual buildings would be a subforum and they would moderate their own subforum... but that's too advanced for me to figure out at the moment, I'm really just thinking about the map right now. I think the forum home sidebar could stay, and instead of having the forum listing, turn it into a map.
This concept is nothing new as ibaker has it on his own site as a Quick Navigation Menu
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/quick-navigation-menu.28559/