An actual website

honestly, either www.rig.com or www.respectingaming.com - it shouldn't add anything to what we're known for (and that is "respect in gaming" aka "rig"), as long as we have the choice to pick the "pure" ones.

I think it's a great idea Ty! I'd be willing to chip in, if wanted.

I vote for rig.com... easiest to type and remember.

Arzon wrote:

I vote for rig.com... easiest to type and remember.

Probably, yes! If it's indeed available it's wonderful

Just checked... it's not.

respectingaming.com is though.

Darn on the RiG

Let me know, I'd also be willing to "chip in" on our very own ".com" website!

*leghumps Dannica Patrick on GODADDY.com*

Love this idea, and I have to say, if I can contribute in any way to this I'd love to be on board. I do agree with the sentiment that a .com should provide a bit more of a service than just a forum. To that end, what should we feature? I have a glimmer of an idea about a blog section for various aspects of gameplay with a focus on the community. Additionally, I think it would be a good idea to have a section for displaying guild functions within the community. I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on what you'd like to have availible to you when directing to a respectingaming.com.

Variable wrote:

Love this idea, and I have to say, if I can contribute in any way to this I'd love to be on board. I do agree with the sentiment that a .com should provide a bit more of a service than just a forum. To that end, what should we feature? I have a glimmer of an idea about a blog section for various aspects of gameplay with a focus on the community. Additionally, I think it would be a good idea to have a section for displaying guild functions within the community. I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on what you'd like to have availible to you when directing to a respectingaming.com.

A blog is a great idea! We have quite a few writers among us! As well as artists, so we could add an artist's corner too, if wanted.

Things that I remember were:

Blog
Artist corner
News "feed"
Screenshot of the week
Chat window (or to stay in forums?)
Ventrilo "display" (and if music is played in one of the Vent channels, how cool would it be if we could have a "current music title" readout below the Vent display on the website?)
Guides, tools, etc section


We obviously don't need to overload it with stuff, these are just some of the ideas.

A good solid chat would be nice

Grome wrote:

A blog is a great idea! We have quite a few writers among us! As well as artists, so we could add an artist's corner too, if wanted.

Things that I remember were:

Blog
Artist corner
News "feed"
Screenshot of the week
Chat window (or to stay in forums?)
Ventrilo "display" (and if music is played in one of the Vent channels, how cool would it be if we could have a "current music title" readout below the Vent display on the website?)
Guides, tools, etc section


We obviously don't need to overload it with stuff, these are just some of the ideas.

I hoped someone would like the blog idea as I'd love to stretch my writing chops (I've done creative writing, but my current job is mostly all technical writing - so I'd welcome a bit of variety). Additionally, while we're throwing out ideas here, what do you guys think of twitter or facebook to help spread the word once we have something with some more functionality?

Variable wrote:

I hoped someone would like the blog idea as I'd love to stretch my writing chops (I've done creative writing, but my current job is mostly all technical writing - so I'd welcome a bit of variety). Additionally, while we're throwing out ideas here, what do you guys think of twitter or facebook to help spread the word once we have something with some more functionality?

It would definitely fit! It's an easy way to follow what's going on so it may well be needed/useful. Also, it's in. lol

I support a somewhat more organized 'web presence,' if possible. Although we could do everything from the forums, having a more official dot-com style portal could only be a positive thing for the community.

I am going to put this back on the wagon. (coming up with sayings, am I)


Anywho!

So far, we're apparently not entirely convinced we need a whole dynamic website on top of this forum (I'm not either). There's still a list with a couple of nice ideas a few posts above this one (my post).

Currently my thought is that we can make it do with only the forum, however it has to be well organized.

There is for instance the possibility to add a Blog Forum at the top with a couple of regular writers who are the only ones allowed to create threads in there (you can of course request to get the rights if you feel like having your own column, irregular as it might be).

I'm not gonna go further with this but I think a lot of things are very much going to be possible within the forums. It's not gonna be as pretty as on an actual website but arguably easier to handle.

One problem can be for the forum to be flooded with a lot of (sub)forums. Then again, everyone can just pick out what he wants so technically this shouldn't be an issue (although one has to admit a huge forum can be intimidating at first, so it will be crucial to have something in the welcome forum right at the top to get people hooked and oriented).


So, my point. We can certainly go for a website but we could also very well just go with an extended forum, as far as I can tell.

In any case however, I think we need a new domain name. The likes of therig.com or respectingaming.com (rig.com already being taken unfortunately) would do a lot nicer.

This idea I definitely support, however I don't know anything about the cost involved.

(Back from his marathon dj spree of 10 shows in 72 hours...and exhausted): I would chip in some $$ if we needed it all...

As far as I know you can have (good) domains for as little as around 10 bucks a year so that really shouldn't be a problem... I'm sure I'm not the only one that would chip in but those are really small amounts of money.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

How about a poll for the domain name? Any other suggestions besides "therig" and "respectingaming" - in theory we could also have "rig" but certainly not with a top class domain.

Well for me money is not the issue.

I have had a couple of conversations with Selven in regards to this, and one of her concerns was the fact that everyone would have to re-register, and we would likely loose an awful lot of peoples posts if we did move the forum onto a more permanent dot com.

Again far from the end of the world really if we had too? But may be awkward for some, especially those who are only fleeting visitors at the moment.

The other option, and one I was looking at, but would actually require a lot of help and input from you guys in order to get off the ground, would be to set up a dot com, as a proper site, run blogs, gossip columns, interviews if we were ever granted them, and so on. And then have the forums as a behind the scene link from those. There are pluses and negatives to doing this though.

Pluses

1. Looks more professional and sleek.
2. Enables us to do an awful lot more in terms of promotions and video and podcasts etc.
3. More visually pleasing on the eye.
4. Could also stop the forums from becoming overly cluttered and too large, trying to encompass too much in a small space?

Negatives

1. I need someone who actually has some Web Design ability to create and maintain the site. (I Would pay for this of course)
2. I would require some of you to step up and be there to write for the site as well, maybe do some player interviews, right a blog, guild updates, events going on….and so on.
3. Need a blinking name we can settle on…..hahaha  I don’t mind what it is really, so perhaps as mentioned we have a little head scratching come up with one, and go with it if we are going to proceed with this?

There are probably more on both sides but those were the ones that stick out for me when thinking about it. All I will say, is I am completely happy to do what ever people would like me to do with this, (Ok within reason, lol) so long as it works, looks ok, and does what we need it to do, and perhaps a few other little bonuses as well I am more than happy. A fansite on top is one way we could go, perhaps others have other ideas? I like the idea, as it would give me the chance to let my fingers do their usual thing of typing way too much like this post now, haha, and letting us show off some fan art, videos of in game events, screen shots of things, and so on. A forum is a superb tool, but it is not always the best visually.

Anyways. Just my 2p

I like the idea of a full on website, and would support the effort as best I could. However, if we can't get there from here or just need an interim functionality...

Is it possible to setup an auto-redirect to this site from the .com site? The idea being that we could use that link to give people, but they'd just end up here whenever they clicked on it or typed it into their browser. That way nothing really changes and nothing is lost but we get the use (and prestige) of the simpler link.

Also, I could probably contribute some articles for the site from time to time.

Aldemarran wrote:

I like the idea of a full on website, and would support the effort as best I could. However, if we can't get there from here or just need an interim functionality...

Is it possible to setup an auto-redirect to this site from the .com site? The idea being that we could use that link to give people, but they'd just end up here whenever they clicked on it or typed it into their browser. That way nothing really changes and nothing is lost but we get the use (and prestige) of the simpler link.

Interesting.....Not really thought about doing something like that actually.....hmmm.....will have a look into that later on

Though I am tempted to speak to a good friend of mine, and see how bored he is, and if he might fancy just sorting a site out for me? hehe. He does it for a living anyways, but I am not sure how busy he is at the moment?

Even if it was just a front page for the forums or something, but one we could add little things too, links to articles and blogs, pop some screenies of events and so on, on too, and have that as the .com but with a link then to the forums here there after? Hmmm....

Well I have dropped him a message.

Cannot hurt to ask I suppose hehe

Good idea Ald. I didn't know it's not possible to carry over the stuff. That would be a solution, as all we are essentially looking for is for people to be able to type in something easy and get to our website.

Very interesting suggestion Ty. I like this "facade" idea. (if I got this right)

Basically a facade page, and overview kind of thing, that keeps everything clean and easy for visitors, whilst still keeping the complexity the forum in the back offers.

For instance, there could be a blog forum in here and every topic created would be automatically taken over to a blog feed on the facade page (just the opening post) and if people clicked on "comment" below the blog on the facade page they'd be redirected to the actual blog forum post. (of course in this case opening a new topic in that forum is restricted to the beforehand acknowledged writers)

It could work like this or similarly for many things. Keep it simple on the top layer (basic stuff) and let them go deeper if they want.

So, anyone agree or disagree?

I kinda like the blog forum idea as well as the auto-posting to the facade page. Would love to help with the blogging.

The idea works, its getting the actual work done though, haha.

I have spoken to a friend of mine who does this type of thing quite a bit, but i know his work load at the moment is a little intense so it would have to be done on a if and when he can type basis at the moment.

Unless anyone on here is up for the challenge? Or knows someone who has some website creation experience who might be able to assist?

I would love to get it done, as I just think it will add something to what it is we are trying to do here.

I've offered my assistance with this before and the offer still stands. I could set up a complete CMS platform whereby we can integrate the CMS with a phpbb forum and I would give those who need it admin rights to write up blog content, administer the forums etc...

Just need a URL. I don't mind hosting on my own hosting account, but if the bandwidth becomes too high, we might have to transition it elsewhere in the future.