I was thinking today a lot about how great EF has become and thinking why the heck would MA need to invest time and money into managing there own forum when you have EF that is not tied to any one soc or point of view and is moderated so well. I would rather them spend there time and money on making playing PE better. How different would a MA offical forum be from EF. I can’t think of any difference. So i ask the question do you think EF in your mind is good enough to be the offical PE forum or you think MA should still have there own.
I think this forum is as good as a forum can get !
I still think Mindark should consider running a forum of their own though as its importantfor the community to feel they have a " direct " contact with the developer.
I think MA should have theri own forum to leach all of the “bad apples” away from all of the other nice forums out there. 
DD
:evilking:
Yup-
MA still ought to have their own forum for any kind of assistance with matters that a community forum can not get into (ie bugs, exploits, etc).
Otherwise, that does not mean that community-run forums such as EF will be obsolete. To the contrary, I think more ppl will use the community forums, but would go to an MA forum for any problems.
An official PE forum is a MUST !!!
No matter how you look at it, it just looks unproffesional !
How do you think it looks for newcomers when they find out that there are two great PE fan forums runned from their own house yet the hole company , MA, is not capable of running their own ? 
On EP whining isn’t allowed ,so newcomers only see the good , happy , cool side of PE .IMO this is not so good cuz when they start playing and harsh reality hits them in the face they will be 
Before I started playing PE in march 2003, I started reading MA’s forum on february and lemme tell you ,it was a lot of whining but it reflected reality in PE .I knew what I should expect and I still tryed it !
[QUOTE=RexDameon]
How different would a MA offical forum be from EF. I can’t think of any difference.
[/QUOTE]
EF is still young , MB didn’t have to moderate a lot until now from what I’ve seen.Now , the MA official forum I assume would have MA moderators , if it would be chosen from PE players it would still look kinda unprofessional .
MA mods would mean more “direct contact with MA” and problems players have would be answered or solved faster :wise:
Since Marco said they don’t want to make a forum I guess another way to improve contact would be if MA’s balancing manager and the CEO would start posting on EP&EF,also the guys that think of PE context before implementing a new VU , asking the players of this or that ideea before implementing would make a huge diffrence .
I think an official forum is needed too. EF is indeed moderated really good but didn’t have to face many challenges yet, although I’m confident MB can handle them.
I think the real money aspect of PE will make obnoxious people show up on every forum, also on this one in time, also on the official forum in the past. (I was being a pain for MA there for quite some time, childish when I look at it now. Now I’m on the other side on EP and it really isn’t easy to face these situations. Only to show no matter which forum unhappy people will always show up to vent their frustration.)
An official forum would be great because of what MrClaude said and on top I think it would be good for MA to know a bit better what’s going on ingame. (Remeber the rather funny event on the old official forum where Marco found out scopes and lasers weren’t decaying for like a year. If you played the game at all back then you knew :yup:. Marco wasn’t comrep for that long when that happened though.)
About EP: the policies have been discussed there plenty of time. It’s hard to walk the middle road and mods are only human (yes even I) afterall. EF isn’t the place to discuss this I think though, feel free to PM me :yup:!
[QUOTE=Leafren]
(Remeber the rather funny event on the old official forum where Marco found out scopes and lasers weren’t decaying for like a year
[/QUOTE]
lol, I remeber that. ppl would like to have lynched the guy who posted that thread, lol
DD
:evilking:
MA should have official forums.
They might well limit topics there for informing, problems etc and quite strictly just delete offtopics IMHO.
Community forums could then concentrate on a bit other things.
This forum is great, dont get me wrong, but I still think MA needs to have some kind of official forum. Even if it would be small and just for questions and ideas orso. 
i think the reason MA needs a forum is to provide the community for a place where MA staff regularly visit and post. We need to feel joined to MA, not like playing a single-player game but like all those other MMO’s.
MA Forums…
I can remember the shut down of it like it was yesterday.
A MA Forum is a must for me.
It is not i think the others are unprofessional but, only MA wil be able to build a real FAQ And known issues database is needed.
Knowledge about bugfixes, supportcases that already closed & Development status are only a few things to cal needed.
Things like official tutorials in use of the Interface & Gameoptions with TIPs and Triks to have a faster and stabile use of it.
Most wil be the direct confrontation with the problems a PE user has. This is a point that can make the Support for MA also more easy. Only to think what the forum wil show up when you search for “lost Item”. Best would be a treat apears that explains you to go to a sorrage, relog & Write a supportcase with details of your PC-System.
Do you know how manny TREATS with right this question are posted on the Comunity Forums since MA closed the own forum
Not count, it would me a mess of work to collect on the riper forums.
My opinion is.
MA Forums are for Support & Comunity Forums are for fun & Infosharing to have most fun on PE.
MA knows why they not run a own forum yet.
It is realy simple. They miss the Human Resources to manage the Forumsupport @ the moment.
And by the way. MA wil stay a unfrofessional “Project-Entropia” until they have a own Forum with Knowledgebase.
I know & you know that
Annyway. MA has no interest to be professional until they fixed the mayjor Errors in the “Project-Entropia” that is clear.
Think about 6 VUs further & maybe MA wil place a Forum.
Until that time we all have to thank all private Comunities for theyr gradius work for the whole PE community.
So here also a BIG thx to the makers of EF, EP, S&M, and all others who take care about us. :tiphat: :thumbup:
Your
Rasta
Well..I think most everyone here knows my opinion on this subject.
For MA to achieve any form of validity they need to create their own portal.
I know…I know…I heard it already from Marco himself that MA would rather use resources elsewhere.
Frustrating to say the least…
Yah MA forum is a must. Now we dont see lars/Marco on IRC either.
what if MA started paying BM for managing this to become the Offical PE forum?
[QUOTE=RexDameon]
what if MA started paying BM for managing this to become the Offical PE forum?
[/QUOTE]
I gues you say this with a view on the Forum Software, right?
This forum uses the best commercial forumsoftware there is on market @ moment & afortable for a single person.
If i remember its only 89,- USD for the single domain license.
Like usual i donate something to all Forums i use to keep it up. You should also do.
And Marco should donate some too. :wise:
Not only here but also for EP, S&M & the others.
I gues this is just a great private work & to get back to the topic.
A forum is only as good like his Admin & MOD Staff.
So keep going with this forums, even MA starts his own. Its always best to have a independent Forum running to avoid missinformations & spride the infos to more people
[QUOTE=Rasta]
If i remember its only 89,- USD for the single domain license.
[/quote]
The owned license is a little more (which i have), then comes the gallery (paid for too), some advertising, hosting and bandwidth, work hours not calculated ofcourse 
[QUOTE=Rasta]
Like usual i donate something to all Forums i use to keep it up. You should also do.
And Marco should donate some too. :wise:
[/QUOTE]
How nice of you
I just happens to have added a PayPal Donate button yesterday before you posted this, ppl dont need a PayPal account to use it as i have a verified premium PayPal account which accepts CreditCards too
Respect.
[QUOTE=MindBuster]
The owned license is a little more (which i have), then comes the gallery (paid for too), some advertising, hosting and bandwidth, work hours not calculated ofcourse
[/QUOTE]
Well, its nut usual to take the Ownerlicense in the beginning, but it makes you a real serius Forum Provider.
[QUOTE=MindBuster]
How nice of you
I just happens to have added a PayPal Donate button yesterday before you posted this, ppl dont need a PayPal account to use it as i have a verified premium PayPal account which accepts CreditCards too
[/QUOTE]
Soon my this month PayPal is charged il donate a lidle to check your Donate-Link. Iam ripped by big bills of my Hosting-Service but a bit would be posible
BTW.
What Currency you prefere to get?
Your.
Rasta
[QUOTE=MindBuster]
How nice of you
I just happens to have added a PayPal Donate button yesterday before you posted this, ppl dont need a PayPal account to use it as i have a verified premium PayPal account which accepts CreditCards too
[/QUOTE]
When I can afford it, expect a click-click from me and Gnash
I luuv this forum. And I :bowdown: your work!
ill just add my 2ped here:
NO MA shouldnt open up a forum…
i think resources are better spend in bloody programming…
=> balancing, fixing bugs, add gamplay
no MA forum. EF is great!
this is a partial 180 for me as i thought up until recently that MA needed its own forum. they don’t.
what MA needs to do is communicate effectively and frequently to the user community. they don’t need a forum to do that. anyway, the forum would just be viewed as an official gripe submission form by a vast majority of users.
with the type of activity that PE generates within the users, MA should be communicating via their website and client loader on a DAILY basis.