Ace of Spades

As I suspected, the review at Xero’s Gaming Forum was the real boost for this site’s popularity for a while.

Because of that, to make this blog worthwhile, I’ll have to make another review soon.

However, I will not be making the review this weekend, most likely. Why? I’ll be visiting my grandparents. My dad and my grandpa want to go hunting with ‘all the boys’ and we’re also having our Christmas with them. I might possibly be staying for the entire weekend, meaning I’d have some, but not much time to work on my review.

I think I’ll be working on a slightly different angle this time, and with a smaller forum.

I’ll leave you with that.

To everyone…I wish you all a belated Christmas! I have been absent for these last few days due to family, food, and presents. What can I say - it’s Christmas?

A short list of what I got:

-Bose iPod Speakers dock (to crank out the tunes)

-Harry Potter on PSP

-Gift cards

-Books

-Candy

-Clothes

Feel free to share some of the things you got this Christmas (or other holiday, I suppose).

Thanks to everyone that visited today! We had resounding success, mostly, as far as I can tell, because of my review on XGF. A total of 82 views!

I’d like to thank everyone who came over and read the review.

Also, if you like or don’t like any of the articles I write, I would ask that you please leave a comment - otherwise it seems like the place isn’t viewed at all!

I’m currently taking requests on the next review! It’ll be out in a week or two. Suggest a site, whether it be your own or somebody’s that you know. If there are several results, I will either take the most ‘popular’ one (if one gets many requests) or pick one if results are skewed.

Editorial Note: This is the first review and will be the standard format of all reviews. I will generally choose one website to review every once in a while. Requests can be taken, though only on my approval, obviously.

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INTRODUCTION 

Xero’s Gaming Forum is a one of a kind website. It’s one of the few forums that can pull off the large amount of posts, while still feeling home-y - like a small forum. Why? Excellent mods and admins, plenty of forums with a wide variety of topics to choose from, and friendly members.

REVIEWS

Admins and Mods: I have found only the best in these admins and mods at XGF. Each and every one of them works extremely hard to keep the forum neat and clean, but not being hard-nosed about it. For instance, TacoBob and I had a more-than-slightly off-topic conversation in a thread and he did not once start flaming me like some admin/mods might do had this happened, nor lock up the post. Just a friendly reminder sometime after the convo started. The two admin/mods I know the best at this time are Shadow (through PI, Spore, and Sims2Talk) and TacoBob, mostly because I see TacoBob on almost all the time I’m on.

Forums: Clean and tidy and well developed, each of the forums at XGF have a specific purpose for each topic you’re discussing. The admins did a great job of making each forum individual of a single subject so as not to confuse. For instance, gaming systems are not all shoved into one forum. There is a Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Sega, PC, and Handheld forums, all for different systems. It’s nice to have such a wide variety, simply because you always know what you’re going to be talking about when you enter - meaning you don’t have to go into a ‘Console’ Forum and say to yourself, “Ugh, I don’t care about this system.”

Members: Such a wide variety of members exist. Most of them are male, as it usually is in gaming forums, but the site has prominent female members such as site admin, Shadow. Of the members you have several interesting characters, all of their own personalities. Some are quirky, some are brilliant, some are critical, some are insane, some are just plain nice, and many are a mix. It’s great to know that you can have such a variety of members, male and female, all with something interesting to say.

Downsides: This is the part where I list some things that range from minor problems, to things that are just…weird. Fortunately, XGF has very few problems and those that are are very minor. One such problem is a glitch within the forum programming itself. It seems that once you leave the forum index, all of the new post icons go back to ‘no new posts’, meaning that each time I have to scroll down to see if that forum has been active today in the right-hand table with forum info. Another one is the interesting setup of the forums. “Main Boards” has things like General talking and such, which confused me when I first looked at the site (long before I signed up). Also, all console systems are at the bottom of the page. But these are minor things that mean NOTHING. XGF is almost as flawless as a ’small’ forum can be (though the members certainly are LARGE on posting!).

INTERVIEWS

Here is where I’ll interview a few top members at the website. I’ve decided to use the admins, since I don’t want to freak some random member out by PMing them for an interview.

Interview with Xero:

1. Why did you decide to create XGF?
I was an experienced forum owner and I took a break from the internet for a while. I rejoined a couple of friends ones, mostly role-playing and videogame forums. I thought I’d start another one, as I loved the forum experience, but this time I would try to make it bigger and better then the others, and put more effort into it. Thus XGF was created.

2. What hardships did you go through while trying to build up the forums?
Not a lot really, although in XGF’s early stages we had trouble gaining members at one stage, but a bit of luck and hard work and we went from 15 to 20 in two days, and 3 of those members are some of our veteran posters. Other hardships were arguments with one of our staff members abusing his powers, which eventually led to his departure for a while and a hacking by one of our former top posters.

3. Are you pleased with the general attitude of the forums, member participation, etc?
I am very happy, the members and staff both contribute to new ideas for the forums, like competitions, new logos, etc.

4. What makes XGF a great forum?
Why is XGF such a great forum? The members are all such great people and everyone gets along so well, and my fellow staff members are the most helpful and friendly people who I have ever worked with! This along with all the effort everybody’s put in to keep the forum up and running etc, I think is the reason why XGF is such an awesome forum.

5. If you could change one thing about XGF, what would it be?
Hmm that’s a hard one, I don’t really want to change much about it. I guess maybe if uploading mods and new templates were allowed on this host, that’s about it.

Interview with TacoBob:

1. Why did you first join XGF?
I was originally a member of the Animal Crossing Ahead forums. Xero and I were already pretty good friends at that point, and when he advertised, I decided to join. I knew from the start it would be a nice website, it had a nice owner, and the topic would interest people; and it has. 81 people to be exact. I was falling in love with gaming at the moment, and I am still hooked to it. “Why not?” I thought to myself. “It interests me.” So I joined. I loved it so much I completely forgot about the ACA forums, and just kept posting here. It appears as though that turned out for the better, eh?

2. What makes XGF a great place to visit?
I guess the overall fun and uniquity XGF is. We aren’t as strict as some websites. We let you kind of do what you want most of the time. Of course, that’s not to say we’re rule free. Also, considering how amazing and advanced gaming is becoming (Like the Revolution’s controller, for example), it is certainly a fun topic to discuss. Another thing is the gaming controversy. A little annoyance named Jack Thompson raised quite a debate a few months back. Last but not least, is just the amount of things to post about. Sure, we’re mostly about gaming, but at XGF you can discuss movies, music, love, school, and really any other thing. We’re a bit more of a forum. It’s more of a community, per se.

3. How did XGF succeed in becoming so large?
You know, I’m not exactly sure. Heh heh.
It was hard to see XGF at 81 members in January, but we somehow did it. By this time next year, we’re expecting to have over 150 members.
How we can accomplish that is sort of unclear for now. But I guess we’re going to do what we did this time. We just advertise, get the word out. I’m not saying we just advertise everywhere. We join the forums, we like to get out the message “We’re not just here to advertise”. When we join, we don’t want to just advertise and go on our way. That’s not what we would want happening to us. The average member is the most important part of a forum. We want them to feel welcome, and by being friendly on their forum, we will have already established that we’re friendly and welcoming.

4. How did you come about becoming an admin?
Well, after doing many things for XGF, I was promoted to moderator position. I was pretty much like that for a while. Doing things as mods should. But it May, we were hacked (which I will not elaboate on), and I was given immediate administrative powers to deal with the situation. I fixed the problem, and we were okay. After that, I really wasn’t supposed to remain an admin. But after performing under that sort of pressure, I guess Xero thought I deserved them I suppose.

5. Describe some features of what makes a good forum.
All forums need a few key ingredients: A good staff, good rules, and something that will really catch the eye. Something that will make someone say: “Hey, that sounds interesting. I want to become a part of that.”. Of course, when they do join, the staff needs to be nice, but still do their job. They need to interact with the members, and make them feel welcome there. A few problems with some forums, is that everything is spot on, but the staff is messed up. They are either waaaay too strict about things, or just very uninviting. It’s nice to let your members feel equal to you. Not make them think you’re better than them. Because you’re not. You just help run things. Remember: You’re consumer keeps you alive. Respect what keeps you alive( so don’t go off mocking them or acting superior).
All you future forum owners better pay attention to that.

Interview with Shadow:

1. Why did you first join XGF?
I met Xero at Emily’s forum, he advertised there and I ended up joining (back then the forum had 22 members).

2. What makes XGF a great place to visit?
I like how friendly everyone here is, you really feel like you belong.

3. How did XGF succeed in becoming so large?
I’m not really sure.

4. How did you come about becoming an admin?
One day I was send a PM asking if I wanted to be an admin, I was very surprised, I accepted.

5. Describe some features of what makes a good forum.
Friendly members, a good staff, to have things organized and under control.

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My review on Xero’s Gaming Forum has come to an end. XGF is an excellent forum for everyone, no matter what age, gender, etc. Hardcore games and softcore gamers can each fit in. XGF is by far the best general gaming forum I’ve been to.

So why are you waiting? Check out XGF now!

 Xero’s Gaming Forum

(Our next review will be annouced soon! It should be published sometime next week!)

Yes, it has begun. Christmas Break is finally here for me! Not much else to say other than that at this moment.

Our first review will be released shortly (probably tomorrow, but possibly tonight).

To lead off in the Technology category, I thought I’d post what CNET thinks about the best MP3 players (you still have time before Christmas!).

Here’s the link: CNet MP3 Player Review

Every once in a while I’ll be lurking around forums to report on their progress and new things going on. Today’s will be shorter because I’m currently lacking some time, but here’s what’s new at some of my favorite places:

Pink Imoen: Pink Imoen has updated their wonderful site even more in recent days. The first ever ‘publication’ of The PI Times was released only yesterday by editor-in-chief BucephalusStud. He and the entire PI Times staff did a wonderful job on it.

Chocolate Insanity: At this time, my internet will not load Chocolate Insanity. I’ll edit this part of the post ASAP.

Xero’s Gaming Forum: I recently registered at XGF, though I had been wanting to for a while. The site is wonderful, however I have nothing to report on it since I’m so new. It seems it’s teeming with activity, however, and I’ll update on it soon as well.

Sims 2 Talk: Sims 2 Talk is still going strong! However, recent activity has been sluggish as the Christmas season rolls in. The most likely cause - many people away from their computers.

Spore: Yes, my website. We’ve recently Christmas-ed ourselves up (or as fellow member, Coffee, nicknamed it: Sporemas) for the wonderful season ahead of us. Similar problems are currently arising at Spore that are occuring at Sims 2 Talk, however. Low member numbers plus only a handful of active members is most likely causing the problem when added to the holiday season rolling in.

That’s it for now. If you’d like your forum or website reviewed, please contact me through any of the forums I visit often (Spore, Sims2Talk, or PI are your best bets) and I’ll try my hardest to get through to them and post what’s new.

EDIT: It seems that links are currently NOT working. I’ll tinker around and next time I’ll add links to the website titles.

Welcome to my brand new blog! I’m Ace, as you probably know, so I’ll cut to the chase.

You’re probably wondering why this blog was opened. Was I desperate for a blog? No, I have a Xanga and a MySpace so I’m fine. Did I get jealous of others in the online community I’m in for having large personal blogs? No, not that either.

The reason I opened this blog was for a plain-and-simple view of the world and more specifically - the community of online friends I have.

So from time to time, I’m sure you’ll see some current event things, reviews of websites, talk about my own website, etc.

I hope you enjoy the blog. The blog itself is much different than my Xanga, which I am so accustomed to.

Hope to see you all here often!