Current Events > Age Demographics of GameFaqs over the years...

(+) Yeah! (+)

What, you expect less ads with a bigger userbase?

I'm 13

havean776 posted...

So they want to get rid of the exisiting userbase? And just hope it gets replaced?

Why not make a new website instead?

The content is valuable. As is the SEO, and quite honestly the email list that could be used to reengage older users ones that are a bit more casual in their online interactions but still just as core in their online spending

Foppe posted...

What, you expect less ads with a bigger userbase?

Yes.

Or better implemented adds, ones that are more experiential in nature, and less generic and in your face.

Community hubs have always been and will always be loss leaders. Every attempt that I've seen to integrate free community hubs to a profitable core, save for if the hub is tied to a product, has been an abject failure. Gamefaqs has no product and I do not see a monetization strategy for its existing offerings. In other words, I do not think it's possible to make this place profitable or a growth vehicle, it's just a bad investment that has sentimental value, but not economic value

STEROLIZER posted...

Its seen as weird when a bunch of forty year olds on the internet do it. But not when teens and young adults do it. Double standards or whatever.

The fact of the matter is that GameFaqs is mostly folks in there late thirties and early forties. Thats just the demographic thats here

so guiding them to stay on topic and not devolve into weird internet culture, 4chan types of discussion will help cultivate the vibe so that it appears to a younger audience that thus place isnt some weird, dark corner of the internet that they need to run away from.

But rather a place they could waste some time on, and make some new friends.

Everyone is anonymous here. Nobody can tell who's 30 or 40 other than they themselves admitting it. Or by them showing the bitterness of 30/40 year old boomers that clings to nostalgia and hates the youth that is very much still active on the game and system boards that is much more likely to drive younger audiences away than hornyposting when the younger audience's sex drive is at their highest or politics most relevant to the younger audience's identities.
Yeah, GameFaqs is mostly folks in there late thirties and early forties because that's just the premise of the site. Younger audiences are simply not as interested in text based guides for games these days or traditional message boards. Unless gamefaqs molds itself to becoming like Tiktok or Discord (and even then it won't) then it'll never be as relevant as it once was. And that's fine. Everything has an expiration date. GameFaqs is fine being a space for folks who still want that older message board feel. It can still keep that going until the site eventually naturally dies. What Fandom is doing is just cutting off body parts to kill it faster.
Honestly, I don't think Fandom is trying to grab new users. I think it's trying to appeal to its conservative probably Trump-supporting executives who don't want Republicans to be lambasted before the election. This stuff appeals to older conservatives like yourself but doesn't attract new young users who are predominantly left wing. This is the very opposite of attracting new users. This is Fandom execs having their agenda while letting GameFaqs's rapidly accelerated death being collateral.

STEROLIZER posted...

I don't think you can place the blame on Fandom like that. GameFaqs itself under the old regime couldn't retain it's users. This place was the 81st most trafficked website on the entire internet in 2011-- modernization or not, the reason we lost so much engagement on the forums was due to the vibe and culture of GameFaqs not aging into adulthood as it did with it's users.

It took so long for us to get swearing for crying out loud. Around 2011 the medium age was 24 years old -- we were all just basically getting out of college, shedding our awkward young adult skins, and becoming normal, mundane, average joes. So the folks who moved on with their lives, and started racking up their various adult milestones posted less and less, meanwhile the folks that didn't do these things, and more or less just retained their "awkward young adult skins" posted more and more.

It upset the vibe of the platform, where the minority of active users had a very large voice...the vocal minority set the tone of what GameFaqs were to become, and it ostracized your normal everyday average joe, which unfortunately made up the vast majority of the active userbase.

A poll of the day in 2010 got 120k votes -- most of those votes were from users under the age of 25. At this point everyone is just an akward kid. We aren't adults yet. We have no credit, we drive crappy cars, and most of us live at home with our parents still. Flash forward to 2016 and where down to 25k users, most over the age of 25. What happened to the rest of them?

Sure some will always just "move on" but for the most part the vibe and culture of GameFaqs continued to appeal to awakward teenagers, and less to normal adults with salaried wages, home ownership, teslas, and wives.

It wouldn't be so bad if the site was also attracting younger users to replace the ones that were aging out, but the newer generation was growing up with smart phones, social media, and influencers -- GameFaqs had none of those things integrated into its platform.

The place didn't evolve with its own userbase, or with the world around it. It just remained frozen in time, and unfortunately the user that attracts is very niche, and not that conducive to growth or monetization.

Fandom recognizes this I'm sure, and I look forward to watching their progress. Will they succeed? Probably not, but I'm eager to watch them try!

Holy shit dude, are they fucking paying you?

havean776 posted...

Young people have no need for text walkthroughs. Why would they? Youtube is easily accessable now.

this statement always strikes me as being along the same logic lines as the news/social media 'pivot to video' in the mid 10s. There will always be a market for well written guides and content for games.

NintendoGamer83 posted...

The ONLY needed changes are mods enforcing the written rules equally and fairly against all users, and get rid of mod discretion so they can't invent rules to punish those they don't like for no real reason.

Do you ever say anything else?

STEROLIZER posted...

I envision a mobile app that allows for beta & pre-registration sign ups. Thats an easy bell to add, and it comes with whistles in the form of income from brands willing to pay for the service.

EXAMPLE 1

I think this is a brilliant idea. And you bring up a brilliant point about GameFAQs not capturing the Mobile audience. I've looked into other mobile games and was super hesitant about starting one. I watched videos of this one game, Brown Dust 2, but it didn't jive with me that I was watching a paid advertisement video. And of course when I went to the message boards, basically dead.

What shocked me even more is that I finally started a new mobile game, Blue Archive, but when I checked out the message board here, DEAD. And this is one of the bigger titles, with tons of fan art, concerts, and even an anime currently rolling.

So the idea of working with companies to allow users here to be the initial entry players sounds incredible. And this is something that always bothered me about GameFAQs; we've some incredible dedicated game fans who will analyze and document everything about games, and yet there's absolutely no communication between game fans and the developers. Yet you see AMAs on reddit and developers speak on places like neogaf/resetera. Why don't we have developers communicate on this board? They will be talking to their biggest game fans. This is something I've always wanted to rectify if I were at the helm.

And in addition, GameFAQs, despite losing out to reddit and youtube, it still has a place in being an easily indexable place for information. I still look for guides on new games I play. And I would not want to go through a video if I can get it in text.

I'm surprised at so many pessimistic and cynical responses. This is a good starting point, though you just need the opportunity to be able to implement ideas... which will come in due time.

STEROLIZER posted...

Yes.

Or better implemented adds, ones that are more experiential in nature, and less generic and in your face.

Oh sweet summer child...

STEROLIZER posted...

No I didnt.

Also can we not derail the topic to make it about me again, like its getting old.

You cant just run away from that subreddit like you were never part of it, and expect people to not bring it up. you made that mess, and everyone knows it.

You couldnt even properly run a subreddit without it getting taken over by fascists. Why should anyone listen to your fandom simping and ideas for this website?

Sad_Face posted...

I think this is a brilliant idea. And you bring up a brilliant point about GameFAQs not capturing the Mobile audience. I've looked into other mobile games and was super hesitant about starting one. I watched videos of this one game, Brown Dust 2, but it didn't jive with me that I was watching a paid advertisement video. And of course when I went to the message boards, basically dead.

What shocked me even more is that I finally started a new mobile game, Blue Archive, but when I checked out the message board here, DEAD. And this is one of the bigger titles, with tons of fan art, concerts, and even an anime currently rolling.

So the idea of working with companies to allow users here to be the initial entry players sounds incredible. And this is something that always bothered me about GameFAQs; we've some incredible dedicated game fans who will analyze and document everything about games, and yet there's absolutely no communication between game fans and the developers. Yet you see AMAs on reddit and developers speak on places like neogaf/resetera. Why don't we have developers communicate on this board? They will be talking to their biggest game fans. This is something I've always wanted to rectify if I were at the helm.

And in addition, GameFAQs, despite losing out to reddit and youtube, it still has a place in being an easily indexable place for information. I still look for guides on new games I play. And I would not want to go through a video if I can get it in text.

I'm surprised at so many pessimistic and cynical responses. This is a good starting point, though you just need the opportunity to be able to implement ideas... which will come in due time.

You think mobile game fans will want to go to a place that restricts hornyposting? In fact it looks like you yourself called out Fandom for destroying communities here but it seems that when you've found a like-minded conservative user you feel the need to stick up for them.

Sad_Face posted...

I think this is a brilliant idea. And you bring up a brilliant point about GameFAQs not capturing the Mobile audience. I've looked into other mobile games and was super hesitant about starting one. I watched videos of this one game, Brown Dust 2, but it didn't jive with me that I was watching a paid advertisement video. And of course when I went to the message boards, basically dead.

What shocked me even more is that I finally started a new mobile game, Blue Archive, but when I checked out the message board here, DEAD. And this is one of the bigger titles, with tons of fan art, concerts, and even an anime currently rolling.

So the idea of working with companies to allow users here to be the initial entry players sounds incredible. And this is something that always bothered me about GameFAQs; we've some incredible dedicated game fans who will analyze and document everything about games, and yet there's absolutely no communication between game fans and the developers. Yet you see AMAs on reddit and developers speak on places like neogaf/resetera. Why don't we have developers communicate on this board? They will be talking to their biggest game fans. This is something I've always wanted to rectify if I were at the helm.

We have users that attested to being just that and it hasnt stopped boards from dying. Youd probably find people on OT discussing Blue Archive, which just reinforces people just congregate to where they notice the most activity.

I'm surprised at so many pessimistic and cynical responses. This is a good starting point, though you just need the opportunity to be able to implement ideas... which will come in due time.

The negative responses seem to be heavily looking at the track of the parties involved.

STEROLIZER posted...

Bounties could be paid out probably not in money but some sort of partnered cryptocurrency

Gamestop vibes lol

I am begging tc to go touch some grass

MaxEffingBemis posted...

I am begging tc to go touch some grass

alt or username change?

STEROLIZER posted...

No I didnt.

Also can we not derail the topic to make it about me again, like its getting old.

yes you did. you typed up and posted a paragraphs long instructional guide on how exactly they could go about harassing DToast and other GameFAQs employees.

STEROLIZER, you have said some pretty goddamn offensive stuff about neurodivergent people. both in the past, and as recently as literally last night on Discord. i don't say this to try and denigrate you or anything but because i think you may benefit from doing some self-reflection: do you honestly think this obsession you have with "user acquisition strategies" for this site is neurotypical behavior? do you think posting literal manifestos and going on and on and on across multiple platforms about how you think this site could improve while constantly ignoring everything everyone is telling you about where you are wrong is normal? going on the sex and sexuality board and instead of talking about sex and sexuality you rant about "incels", and in your own words "preach" your corporate bootlicking shill shtick? give it a rest, man. you are not accomplishing anything besides clowning on yourself for everyone to witness.

*looks at OP*
just look at all the "modern audience" and children that need protection on this site!
Gee willickers!

You know, it's one thing being an annoyingly insufferable NFT shilling techbro, and it's another thing to be that while also simping for Fandom and somehow thinking they're gonna revive GameFAQs when they're far, far more likely to gut and destroy it. It's a level of delusion on par with your buddies in the Tails crew.

And it's really funny that you keep trying to deflect and downplay from your enabling of them while simultaneously spewing very similar rhetoric whining about the "old regime" and whatnot. It's basically the same shit they'd whine about, just slightly less vitriolic.

Also remarkably telling that the only people even remotely supporting you ITT are a shitreddit dweller and a pizzagater lmao.

tc clearly has no idea what he is talking about but keeps posting the same absurd shit ad nauseum

DoesntMatter posted...

yes you did. you typed up and posted a paragraphs long instructional guide on how exactly they could go about harassing DToast and other GameFAQs employees.

No I didnt.

I shared a public link that Fandom actually wants you to use in good faith, that allows users to contest suspensions, and provide feedback.

I didnt instruct nor encourage anyone to abuse the link for the purpose of harassment, in fact the guide itself clearly told users NOT to do that. Users did it anyhow much to my chagrin.

You know this. We literally worked together to clean the place up.

But seriously this is getting tiring, can we just stay on topic? There are plenty of other ways to get in contact with me if you just want to yell at me.

Guide posted...

alt or username change?

This is my main. Its always been this @Guide

STEROLIZER posted...

No I didnt.

I shared a public link that Fandom actually wants you to use, that allows users to contest suspensions, and provide feedback.

I didnt instruct nor encourage anyone to abuse the link for the purpose of harassment, in fact the guide itself clearly told users NOT to do that. Users did it anyhow much to my chagrin.

But seriously this is getting tiring, can we just stay on topic?

Like it or not, your past actions are on topic. Hell your entire conceit for this topic is "I've been talking about this for years!" so I don't know why you think your other actions in recent years don't count.

And lmao at "I just shared the link!" like you didn't know how Tails and crew were and how they would use it. Insanely dishonest but that's your thing.

Murphiroth posted...

Like it or not, your past actions are on topic. Hell your entire conceit for this topic is "I've been talking about this for years!" so I don't know why you think your other actions in recent years don't count.

And lmao at "I just shared the link!" like you didn't know how Tails and crew were and how they would use it. Insanely dishonest but that's your thing.

You can talk about him being a self admitted corporate shill for years, but dont you DARE talk about his off-site antics with some of the worst users this community has ever seen!!

MaxEffingBemis posted...

This is my main. Its always been this @Guide

Huh. I recognize the sig as usual, but not the name.

STEROLIZER posted...

You know this. We literally worked together to clean the place up.

lmfao i didn't "work together" with you on anything. you founded a subreddit that you never moderated properly ever, and when i came across it i marked all of the Reddit content policy violations that i saw. i didn't even know who you were at the time, nor did i care.

Sad_Face posted...

I've looked into other mobile games and was super hesitant about starting one. I watched videos of this one game, Brown Dust 2, but it didn't jive with me that I was watching a paid advertisement video. And of course when I went to the message boards, basically dead.

What shocked me even more is that I finally started a new mobile game, Blue Archive, but when I checked out the message board here, DEAD. And this is one of the bigger titles, with tons of fan art, concerts, and even an anime currently rolling.

Bringing up the dead message boards. Thats actually a problem for indie devs. Original IPs dont come with their own built in communities. If some mobile game studio gets the Batman IP itll come with a userbase of millions. But if its something original like Crashlands it wont come with anyone who cares until the game comes out or does a paid beta test.

But if you turn GameFaqs into a platform that allows for pre-registration, then you actually get to siphon the audience of established IPs and send them over to original IPs.

Like the Batman Arkham mobile game is giving away an exclusive skin to anyone who pre-registers. So thousands of people rush to GameFaqs to do so thus brings in new users (and gets Fandom paid by WB), then once those users are here they are going to browse to see what else is around and theyll find Crashlands.

Theyll pre-register for games they never had any intention of playing due to FOMO. But once you pre-register you automatically opt into push notifications for updates on the game. Including when the developers themselves post on the forums the user clicks that push notification and is taken to the topic to join in on the discussion. Now that indie dev has a thriving community.

You charge WB for the service. You dont charge Crashlands. Its feee for indie devs because they are helping GameFaqs with user retention by actually interacting with the community gives gamers a reason to stick around.

That makes Fandom money (from the AAA corporations), gets Fandom new users for free (also from the large gaming studios), it gives independent game developers a much needed community before launch (which is free), and in return those devs help Fandom retain its users by providing unique value in the form of dev to fan interaction.

Guide posted...

Huh. I recognize the sig as usual, but not the name.

Its fine, I dont post a lot. But I have been here for years

Murphiroth posted...

And lmao at "I just shared the link!" like you didn't know how Tails and crew were and how they would use it. Insanely dishonest but that's your thing.

I literally told them not to, then banned those people when they did abuse it.

I didnt create the link, it exists because Fandom wants you to use it in good faith. Its not hidden, you can easily find it. It made sense to sticky it to the top of a sub that exists for the purpose of getting opinions on moderations and giving feedback on operation strategy.

I could have removed the guide once those folks started using it to troll, but what would be the point?

They already had the link, all that would be happening would be them posting it without the instructions that advise them not to abuse the form. Theyd probably give their own twisted instructions instead.

I worked hard to clean that place up, and eventually shut it down. Its over.

Anything to dodge responsibility, amirite?

DoesntMatter posted...

lmfao i didn't "work together" with you on anything. you founded a subreddit that you never moderated properly ever, and when i came across it i marked all of the Reddit content policy violations that i saw. i didn't even know who you were at the time, nor did i care.

He refuses to accept that he let those people run amok freely in his subreddit, until you did something about it.

Also really funny that Stero edited out the following part of his post...

"A lot of people, including myself used the guide sparingly and in good faith, so removing it would pretty much ensure that it would only get used by the folks who abuse it."

...because he knows it's not true.

Zoomers and Alpha just doom scroll YouTube tiktok Snapchat and Instagram on repeat

Murphiroth posted...

Anything to dodge responsibility, amirite?

List me some things you think I should take responsibility for. Maybe I will take responsibility, maybe I wont. But taking accountability for ones actions, and being truthful with your intent dont always match up.

You can have well meaning or simply neutral intentions, and it can still result in disaster. I can take responsibility for the outcomes, but cant take responsibility for an intent I didnt have.

List it out

STEROLIZER posted...

List me some things you think I should take responsibility for. Maybe I will take responsibility, maybe I wont. But taking accountability for ones actions, and being truthful with your intent dont always match up.

You can have well meaning or simply neutral intentions, and it can still result in disaster. I can take responsibility for the outcomes, but cant take responsibility for an intent I didnt have.

List it out

This post is evidence enough you're just going to continue to deflect and act like you had nothing to do with Tails and crew and that you're just an innocent bystander who had no idea what they were like.

Murphiroth posted...

Also really funny that Stero edited out the following part of his post...

"A lot of people, including myself used the guide sparingly and in good faith, so removing it would pretty much ensure that it would only get used by the folks who abuse it."

...because he knows it's not true.

No. Its true. I just thought it was a double paragraph. I basically said the same thing twice.

If you take down the guide you ensure that the only people who still have access to it are the people who want to use it in bad faith you kill off all the good faith traffic.

I think I contacted fandom five or six times over the course of two years.

Four moderations - two overturned, one I got clarification on since it came without a mid note, and one I agreed to disagree on. Then for a child endangerment topic over in the PWB which was promptly deleted, and another for a doxing/harassment topic made on CE which was also promptly deleted.

Last time contacting them was in September for a moderation that i ultimately admitted fault too. Looking back on it, even the one I agreed to disagree on I now look back and realize I was 200% at fault for. I can see that now and Im grateful for the feedback I initially received from Fandom it was helpful. All feedback was helpful.

The guide works if used responsibly. Its not a tool we should ignore completely or hide behind a wall because of some bad faith users.

Murphiroth posted...

This post is evidence enough you're just going to continue to deflect and act like you had nothing to do with Tails and crew and that you're just an innocent bystander who had no idea what they were like.

I probably wont dodge it, because Ive taken responsibility for most of the negative outcomes in past topics.

I think youve must have seen that which is why you arent actually listing things you want me to take responsibility for because you know I will.

I just dont lie about my intentions. I think people want me to be this alt-right, bigoted troll because its easier to discredit my corporate mindset aka fandom shilling as you all like to call it.

Im not saint by any means, there is plenty to criticize me for. But it all comes with nuance because I have a twenty year posting history that clearly shows Im not some bigoted political troll.

Engaging in off-site conversation with people who want this place absolutely destroyed for good, while knowing theyre alt-right and banned here is why people dislike the things you say about the future of this website.

You dont understand why the person who built a hive for those people isnt taken seriously when they have ideas for this website?

ssb_yunglink2 posted...

Engaging in off-site conversation with people who want this place absolutely destroyed for good, while knowing theyre alt-right and banned here is why people dislike the things you say about the future of this website.

Yea. I understand that.

You dont understand why the person who built a hive for those people isnt taken seriously when they have ideas for this website?

See this is what Im saying. Ill take responsibility for that place becoming a hive for harassment. Ive apologized for that many times before. I cant agree with your statement that I built a hive for those people because thats not correct, that wasnt my intention, and when it became that hive I took action (twice) to shut it down.

Intent is irrelevant. You allowed it to happen.

Frankenstein isn't absolved of what his monster does because he lost control of it. It's still a monster of his design.

Umbreon posted...

Intent is irrelevant.

Okay. Still cant just accept and take responsibility for an intent that isnt mine.

You allowed it to happen.

You need to be more specific here. Because I didnt allow it to happen because I supported it, I allowed it to happen by being a shitty mod. Thats where the intent comes in.

Ill apologize for being a shitty mod, and for alllowing that place to fester to the point it did. I apologize for offloading it to Tails in the summer of 2023 to try and rid myself of its stench instead of actually doing something about it.

I apologize that by the time I was able to get the sub back and clean it up that those folks had already formed a cabal that led to the creation of deathmatch.

I apologize for not doing more work to get tails removed from the mod list when I did come back to clean the place up, because the guy ended up taking over the sub after so cleaned it up because he wanted deathmatch 2.0 my apathetic nature allowed that to happen as well. First time Im apologizing for that I think, but its true.

If not for me deathmatch wouldnt exist, and that stupid banner party probably never would have happened. Fandom wouldnt have been harassed. Those are things that occurred because I was an apathetic moderator.

I apologize for all of that.

Frankenstein isn't absolved of what his monster does because he lost control of it. It's still a monster of his design.

Thats true. But trying to force him to say I agree and support the carnage my monster has created isnt right either.

If its not true its not true. Intent doesnt matter when it comes to consequences of outcomes, but it matters when it comes to consequence of character, and how you interact with someone going forward.

It doesnt even mean you have to forgive that person, but you can still recognize the lit intentions. Trying to prove their something that they arentwhats the point?

I cant just pretend to adopt some malicious intent just because Im sorry and apologetic for the outcomes.

Hey Ive asked this multiple times in multiple topics but you keep on ignoring me.

How does making CE read only and banning political talk across the site help increase traffic to the site at all? I think most of us agree that if the site is to stay alive some changes are required but the issue is nothing we have seen from fandom so far looks to be implemented to aid in that goal. As well as answering my direct question above can you elaborate on what changes fandom have made so far that will increase football to the site both in terms of ad hoc users and more importantly repeat visitors who will want to stay?

SHRlKE posted...

Hey Ive asked this multiple times in multiple topics but you keep on ignoring me.

How does making CE read only and banning political talk across the site help increase traffic to the site at all? I think most of us agree that if the site is to stay alive some changes are required but the issue is nothing we have seen from fandom so far looks to be implemented to aid in that goal. As well as answering my direct question above can you elaborate on what changes fandom have made so far that will increase football to the site both in terms of ad hoc users and more importantly repeat visitors who will want to stay?

Post #17

STEROLIZER posted...

Okay. Still cant just accept and take responsibility for an intent that isnt mine.

I think part of apologizing is also acknowledging fault even if an unintended outcome happens.

I've known you for a while, and I know you're capable of admitting fault. Your actions were a catalyst that led to the formation of that unhinged group. Can you take responsibility for that?

Miquella posted...

I think part of apologizing is also acknowledging fault even if an unintended outcome happens.

I've known you for a while, and I know you're capable of admitting fault. Your actions were a catalyst that led to the formation of that unhinged group. Can you take responsibility for that?

I acknowledge fault. For all of it.

I take full responsibility for it. I cant even take shared responsibility, because it was all my own apathetic nature that caused it to happen.

Without me creating my Reddit, there is no Deathmatch. Thats my responsibility I deserve that hate.

STEROLIZER posted...

I go on and on like this for 7 pages

but not outside, apparently