Good or bad?

I think it's good for the community, and thus good for the game. Though, I don't really think it's had a drastic enough effect that the game was noticeably different after it showed up.

Edit: this poll should have a "neither" option.

the entire premise of the board was that people wanted another board to talk about the game. i opened the board because multiple people e-mailed me through the website I put up and expressed interest in it for that reason.

I think these boards helped the game in a BIG way. However, now I think they may be killing it.

I did. It's right there in my post that I think it was good for the game. That doesn't change the fact your poll should have a "neither" option.

Maybe "killing" is a bit dramatic, but if it dies then it won't be. I don't know. I've tried to make a post on this a few times but I've never been quite sure how to word it, so I've deleted my post every time.

I'm almost certain these boards have brought about great changes. I'm really encouraged by the shift in attitude and management in the game, but I see just as much negativity here, or almost as much. I don't know. I don't want to come off like one of those GDB people who says things like "if I were staff I wouldn't want to do anything for you ungrateful players when you say things like that!" I think those kinds of statements are eye-rollingly ridiculous. But when I see (what I think is) positive change in the game and in staffing and I turn here and you guys pick it all apart or say it isn't enough or that things haven't really changed, and the numbers continue to go down and down and down...it's really disheartening. I wonder if this kind of attitude is contributing to the continued decline. And some people do seem to take a sort of glee in watching it burn.

It's all subjective. Who can say who is right or wrong? You voice your criticisms because you think they are good for the game. And perhaps if the game crashes and burns, it's because the players have decided they don't want to play in the current environment, and it will deserve to die. I really don't know. I'm just questioning whether all the continued negativity and the ripping apart, say, the Tablelands plot announcement, for example, is unnecessarily contributing to player dissatisfaction.

ETA: By the way, I am not at all saying there should not be a venue for people to speak their minds about the state of the game. Please don't think that. I'm just wondering if some of the loudest voices are managing to convince players that the game is no longer worth playing. It's actually managing to make me not feel like playing as often, despite the fact that I do feel encouraged about the direction. It doesn't make sense, but there you go.

Can you point to any shift in attitudes and management in the game that might be evidence for encouragement?  The only one I could think of was Nyr's departure, but Nyr went on a hiatus, and no reason was stated. 

There's been zero policy changes publicly announced.  There's been the usual snark from staff on the gdb.  There's been the same old (fill in with the echo chamber).

These boards have been helpful.  Staff needs to get slapped on the wrist.  Bad.

teatowel, I suppose I don't really think it's reasonable to expect them to fulfill a list of demands. Nyr left, as you mentioned. The GDB has been allowing more dissent (yeah, there are petty bannings and I don't like them, but I accept that the GDB isn't ever going to be 'jcarter.org' as Nessalin calls it, lol.) The ancient code's beginning to be updated more, albeit in small ways, I'll grant, but baby steps are still nice. Staff's showing interest in running plots that empower the players. I understand the skepticism over here but they've said several times that the Tablelands plot is designed around allowing players to affect the game world, despite the use of certain words that set off people's alarms.

Truthfully, though, the players listen to us here more than the staff does. When we say that the game is in a bad way, more likely what is going to come of it is that people are going to be discouraged from playing. Staff may or may not try to fix it as a result. Maybe they will, maybe they'll be in denial. But even if they do try to make changes, if it continues to get nothing but negative feedback on these boards because it's not considered enough, it becomes a vicious cycle.

This is my point of view. I acknowledge my perspective is a skewed one. I started playing at probably the worst time in Arm's history, when the "player-run plots only" rule was in full force, the end of the world was supposed to be nigh, and the promise of Arm 2.0 made everyone feel pretty "meh" about Arm 1.0. So maybe my standards are low. I don't have much to compare things to. I was never around when everything seemed possible. I'm amazed when staff sends me echoes, even though I know I shouldn't be. So there's that.