Part of the joy of gaming is sharing. Sharing your achievements, asking questions on a particular nasty boss, or just generally sharing our thoughts on what we like and dislike about a game and even just sharing the news and wild rumors. Yet when I come to PureXbox there is none of that.
You look at the sister sites like Push Square and Nintendo Life and they have vibrant communities talking about just about everything. Granted I get that Nintendo Life is buzzing with activity now with the Switch 2 on the horizon but even before then it was much more lively place then Pure Xbox.
I have started several threads on big well known games that I know where on people's radars, Avowed, Indiana Jones Oblivion, Diablo III and nothing. Me and maybe one other person use them. Even on the sidebar that lists the latest forum posts I see that the lastest activity is a few days ago where as Nintendo Life and Push Square it's hourly the very least.
Dont get me wrong I do enjoy this site, the articles are great but maybe it's time to bring life to the forums. Maybe a revamp or just doing something to create more activity on the forums. Where are discussing games with each other, ideas, strategies etc. It would be nice to do that sort of thing on an Xbox site. Yeah I could go to Nintendo Life or Push Square to discuss stuff but let's be honest those communities are for Nintendo fans and Playstation the moment you mention Xbox there you are either ignored or insulted. It's time Xbox players have a place to discuss Xbox games.
Hopefully we will get something like that soon.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
I know, I've been thinking about the same lately. I guesss it has something to do with the number of members here. I've seen how many people follow Pure Xbox's site and we are fewer than the people following Nintendo Life and Push Square.
Regardless of the reason, yeah, I think it is sad that these forums are less vibrant than on the other sister sites. And double sad, because Xbox is my platform of choice this generation - don't get me wrong, I enjoy gaming in every platform, but I'm doing it more on Xbox and I would like too to have more active conversations here.
I've been part of the problem these months hehe (these months have been very rough, as you may know), but I'll try to be more active over here. And yeah, I think it is a good idea to see what we can do as a community to have more active forums.
It's never been as active as Nintendo Life or Push Square, scale is certainly a factor, as in general this site is still smaller than those two. The vast majority of readers seem happy to converse on the articles themselves and the forum being quiet is a bit of a chicken and egg situation.
Forums in general are a little dated now too, and not just the functionality of this particular one, but younger gamers tend to "hang out" and chat on Discord and other IM platforms. So there is an audience element there, too.
I would like to re-develop the forums (one day) to bring them up to date, but I don't think that would solve the activity levels seen currently. We'll see how things develop in the future though!
While I understand that this site doesn't have the numbers that NL and PS does, for one thing they have been around longer and I am sure that time when PX shut down for a few years didn't help either it's still boggles my mind that no one is discussing games. Especially when I see articles like This Month was a Great Month for Gamepass. That's great and all but where are the these discussions for these said games if they are great?
I mean if I have a problem with say a boss in Oblivion it would be nice to be able to ask the community here for help instead of having to go somewhere else. I like to discuss character builds maybe see some interesting builds that people come up with or even maybe discuss what skills are working and what now. But everytime I try to get a conversation going I get nothing. Instead I have to go to places like YouTube which are nice but I can't ask questions there. I can't have a discussion. I thought that is what places like sites Nintendo Life, Pure Xbox and Push Square are for. Instead we are met with silence and maybe the occasional spammer post here.
Again the articles are fantastic here and informative but maybe it's time you point that care into the forums otherwise just is just a news site. One of the reason I decided to join NL was the community, the fact that I could discuss the latest Mario game with other fans. Heck there was even a time when I could discuss non gaming things such as the current baseball season over there. Imagine my excitement when I first heard of Pure Xbox, I place where I can to go to discuss Halo, and Gamepass and everything Xbox. A ghost town is certainly not what I expected.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
A ghost town is a fitting description, I think. And yeah, I don't know why that is, beyond the number of active members on the site. Don't get me wrong, members here are great, but I've seen many of them discussing in another forums (like the PS and NL ones) but not here. It's like a vicious cycle.
I think there's room to grow. I don't know how, but maybe we can work something up as a group.
I do notice that there is alot of activity in the comment section of articles especially of reviews. Maybe instead of doing reviews as a article make it a post in forums and that way there will be more activity there. Also one thing I will mention that made me join Nintendo Life 15 years ago was the fact the staff participated in discussions in forums I rarely see that nowadays unless it's the mod posting as to why a thread is being closed. Maybe the staff needs to get more involved with the actual forums rather then just the comment section. Like if some asks a question about a game in the comment section of an article maybe direct them to the forum thread for that particular game.
Some valid concerns OP, things are fairly quiet round here and probably due to the amount of active members compared to the sister sites as others have mentioned. The core group that post frequently are all ace though and perhaps we just need to lean into that more? I think the game club works really well for the most part so can we find other more proactive ideas for threads?
I'm doing my best to be more active here, particularly as I slowly edge towards being more active on Xbox more than PS this gen.
I am quite surprised the three sites do not have a Discord yet.
As you may see I do pop up now and again but I tend to take some breaks from the site due to how negative the comments of articles can be. This is a hobby I enjoy and it just makes me sad seeing how much a few users complain about silly things. Or just makes stupid, pointless comments, like the one a few places above. I know it's supposed to be a joke, but there is a time and place for that. I use to be like that, but I just stepped back and started to actually enjoy myself.
@ZeD I always wondered about a discord, I only have one friend on there, so haven't quite seen it's full usefulness yet. Perhaps we could set a PXB one up?
Want your answer on why it is so dead? Go look at the last Gears of War post. ‘Gamers’ (I say this very loosely), just want to comment about their own personal disappointments instead of being excited for a great new(ish lol) release.
@ZeD I wonder how many of the posters are genuine Xbox users. You can predict exactly what they are going to say whether the news are good or bad. They don't care about Xbox, but they are obsessed with making Xbox look bad and even harass legitimate users. I know clicks are all good, but what future awaits like this? On the thread you mentioned, they complain about it not being the trilogy, which was only a rumour. They are complaining about a game that is a free upgrade and that is also on Game Pass in an industry where remasters are fully priced and have upgrade fees! There are also very interesting posters, but most of them - like us sometimes - no longer bother.
@Banjo- exactly. Sometimes I have wrote out a reply to some one and decided not to post it because it is just not worth it.
That Gears of War post should have been about celebrating the game and talking about memories and hopefully joy that gamers who have locked themselves to Sony devices can now enjoy a brilliant game.
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