Do we need AoEZone?

[TurboNoob]

Is this a realistic option? With 1$/month there would have more people chipping in, but the transaction fee would be enormous, to the extend of 40% even

well, you might be right with this

 

[Michaerbse]

Is this a realistic option? With 1$/month there would have more people chipping in, but the transaction fee would be enormous, to the extend of 40% even

You could allow yearly payment to avoid this..

 

[Funito]

AoEZone (well the community site since BsK Zone days, then AocGroup and so on) is the refuge for the ones that always being there. Other places are just for passers-by

 

[Spring_]

To me it should be a question of expansion rather than closing. Why does AoeZone not host its own stream + tournaments? Viper has been the biggest profit earner so far, I would think having him as your son and running the best AOE website it would be fairly easy to get yourself a decent revenue stream. When thinking about how aoe operates its usually the high earners putting money back into the community and making things happen that people can donate and help support. if you look how voobly turned out, just asking for handouts or threatening closing doesn't really motivate people. I bet if you ran a charity stream or casted show matches periodically, even just using new upcoming streamers who want to help, you could generate something, especially if its made clear that its to support the future of aoezone.net

 

[wattle]

There are three forums which I don't want to miss:
aoezone
aokheaven
aiscripters

Like some people already mentioned, discord is a good thing, but serves a different role, at least from the few that I'm aware of.

Thank you very much PkZ for your effort, also btw I'm very glad you made the effort to update aoczone to this newer forumplatform. It has some handy features, which I wouldn't want to miss.

 

[NovaAoE]

Full disclosure: I haven't read all 5 pages.

That aside, I think we don't need AoEZone, obviously, but it is still incredibly valuable. These are the reasons.

We don't need it because:
* There is an official AoE forum that we could use
* As DE keeps gaining players, anything outside the official ecosystem keeps losing traction
* There are also lot of discords around which the community can survive, even if fragmented

But it is an invaluable asset because:
* It is the place for the community to be in, that isn't maintained by MS
* The official AoE forums will likely die at some point. It isn't a good idea to rely first party support
* When the official forums die, people won't have a centralised place anymore, just like people won't have a place to play the game when servers are shut down if Voobly dies
* There is just so much history here

It is definitely possible to keep this up and running. We need a number for costs, and there are multiple crowdfunding systems that exist already for things like these. "Just go premium" is a bit vague. I'm sure the community can come together to cover costs

PS/ asking in a forum whether we need to keep it alive will certainly have more positive than negative answers.. after all, people replying are forum users. Hopefully my own grain of sand will make sense with the lists and reasons above!

 

We don't need it because:
* There is an official AoE forum that we could use
* As DE keeps gaining players, anything outside the official ecosystem keeps losing traction
* There are also lot of discords around which the community can survive, even if fragmented

That is just one side and feels a bit superficial, because:

• Relying on the Official Platforms would mean AoE would have been dead many years ago. So it's actually securing the community from decisions of the official franchise.
• AoEzone is well-established over many years and deeply connecting many people of the community. Official ecosystems are built up in the last couple of months and no one knows for how long. AoEzone has a quite clear direction what it can do and what it can't. It's kind of differentiated in comparison to reddit, Discord or other social media BS like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
• Discords are not Forums, Reddit is not a forum either. Discord is more like a chat server with different channels, Reddit is a news-aggregator and platform to post memes.

 

[Nobody41]

Yes aoezone is absolutely essential. Find a way to delegate responsibilities or help with funding if needed.

 

[YetAnotherWolf]

Yes aoezone is absolutely essential. Find a way to delegate responsibilities or help with funding if needed.

I agree with this. It's a nice place this forum. Thanks to those responsible for welcoming me.

 

[IYIyTh]

Thank you all for the feedback. The initial post came from a frustration point after spending 8+ hours fixing a failed OS-upgrade on the server. It all went fine in the end and things are a bit better now

Its not all about the money - i seriously thought the new platforms had taken over and that there was actually no need for a site like this. But i guess i was wrong.

If i shold guess the monthly cost running aoezone is somewhere around $100-150 including internet, spare-parts, power and hardware-upgrade now and then. So a few premium members are needed to help covering the cost. We got some new premium-members the last days which helps a lot - thank you all.

I still love this game and as many of you i visit aoezone more than once a day to check for tournaments, scheduled games, events in the calendar etc and i think i will still do that for a long time in the future

See you all around!

I completely understand. Forum hosting is a thankless job, especially around update time.

 

[NovaAoE]

That is just one side and feels a bit superficial, because:

Absolutely, that's why I added all of the other points that weren't included in the quote. AoEZone (or AoCZone before that) was the hub for the community after MS killed their official page. The AoE forums will die at some point, too.

 

[Cuth]

AoEZone is great!

My go to place to keep up to date with whats happening in "pro" AOE. This is the place to catch up with all the tournaments and stuff.

Thank you very much for this place! It is great

 

[RuunerReign]

I had a similar situation when we decided to close the website and forum of the Arg Clan. The forum had been running for almost 15 years since the early days of Zone.com (it probably was the 2nd largest -alive- AoC related forum in amount of users and messages), but eventually people stopped using forums at all. Some old dudes like me where still using it but overall activity was clearly dying, and new/younger players had no reason to even register in the forum, for them it had no sense at all.

The AoC community is quite old in terms of age, so there is still a lot of people using this forum on daily basics, but i think that soon or later it will inevitably die. Forum boards are a thing of the past, i really miss them, but new stuff like Discord, Reddit, etc have taken over. People don't even watch/post recorded games anymore, they use twitch, mixer, youtube, etc.

Imo a site like aoe2.net for rating mixed with some news feed for tournaments and such is all we need, social interaction will be done on discord/reddit/twitch/youtube/etc.

Keeping a site like this alive requires time and money. And when you know that the forum will slowly die out, maybe not now but in a year or two (or whatever it takes), it kinda kills the motivation to keep investing time.

i disagree, I'm new here, this is my first post, and I've been watching aoe2 for 3 years on Youtube and twitch, and I'm so glad this place exists. It really is needed to serve the purpose of a central hub, the site files should be made publicly available for download if it is ever shut down so that someone else can continue it because it's needed.

 

[pumukel]

(I didn't read all the posts above.)

The question "what do you, PkZ, need" is even more important than "do we need AoEZone". If you need to slowdown your AoE engagement and value the existence of AoEZone, the constructive solution would be to find a successor (if existing). Such a transition would be a lot of work, but well invested work, I guess.

If money is the issue, replace "do we need AoEZone" with "are you willing to pay for AoEZone" (e.g. quarterly donation goal).

For me, AoEZone has unique value. I wouldn't say that I need it. But I love the fact it exists. AoE as a whole, as a community, would lose a lot if AoEZone disappears, but it would most surely survive it.

 

[wimsi]

https://www.aoezone.net/account/upgrades/

Well... this is the way to keep aoezone alive
Support with premium memberships.

Sorry for the sellout but thats the only thing that keep aoezone alive

dont you dare letting this site die.

 

[oozkan]

Every time I hear such a comment from a website owner/admin, it always followed by 2 steps in couple of years:

1st year: Asking more money to keep it alive.
2nd year: Closure.

FYI, in case of closure, as a software developer, I am interested in purchasing domain and all content of site or migration to a new domain by bearing the costs myself. Just keep in mind.

I am not Carlini or Matt but in the end it can't be that expensive, i prefer to keep something that enjoy instead of drinking extra couple of beers.

 

FYI, in case of closure, as a software developer, I am interested in purchasing domain and all content of site or migration to a new domain by bearing the costs myself. Just keep in mind.

In case of closure, as a person, I'm proposing to give the domain and all content to a community funded project/group like the SiegeEngineers that could collectively hold it alive.

 

[YetAnotherWolf]

In case of closure, as a person, I'm proposing to give the domain and all content to a community funded project/group like the SiegeEngineers that could collectively hold it alive.

2

 

[_PkZ_]

https://www.aoezone.net/account/upgrades/

Well... this is the way to keep aoezone alive
Support with premium memberships.

Sorry for the sellout but thats the only thing that keep aoezone alive

I really have to point out that the initial post was writteen in frustration and that the money is not the ONLY thing that keeps this site alive. I also am deeply in love wit AOE and thats a big factor too. Also was a big factor back in 2008 when i started AoEZone (then was AoCZone).

Anyway thank you all for kind words and a huge thank you to all the premium supporters of this site.
Long live AoE!

 

[simplybeourselves]

Just posting this in the world of discord, facebook and other social "forums".
I am putting quite some effort in keeping aoezone alive and i just wondering; do we need aoezone these days?

I would like to shut it down and get rid of the "keep it online" meme... i pay some $ to keep this site online and a really appreciate the premium members that are supporting the site... thank you very much! You make me keep it going.

The main question is; do we need aoezone... these days with discord (i feel everybody is there) and all other social websites.... do we really need aoezone?

Well.. i just want your opinion... i am not going to shut it down tomorrow, but i cant deny that have hit my mind... just close it... but its a bit too long story from the zone.com days and... well... i love this game..

But if aoezone is not needed anymore... i am really concider closing it down... you know... i am getting old... no... (older) 11 .... and the time is .... yeah,,, want to spend with family and stuff..so i bet you know...

How would the world be WITHOUT aoezone? let me know pls.... cuz i am considering closing it down...

Thx, _PkZ_

Which Discord server is everybody on? The official AoE one or some other one?

 

[robo]

Which Discord server is everybody on? The official AoE one or some other one?

There are dozens of different Discord servers that cater to different audiences. The obvious and most munerous large (and small) streamer discords (T90, Nili, Memb, Hera, TheViper etc), the national/country/community oriented discords (French speaking, Spanish speaking, MundoAoE, Clan Federation etc), more temporary event specific discords (NAC3 meetup).

There is no central discord that is used for the 'competitive' community that AoEZone mostly caters to.

 

[simplybeourselves]

There are dozens of different Discord servers that cater to different audiences. The obvious and most munerous large (and small) streamer discords (T90, Nili, Memb, Hera, TheViper etc), the national/country/community oriented discords (French speaking, Spanish speaking, MundoAoE, Clan Federation etc), more temporary event specific discords (NAC3 meetup).

There is no central discord that is used for the 'competitive' community that AoEZone mostly caters to.

Thank you for the thorough answer. I was familiar with all of those already (except for the nationality ones, where can I find those?) but I was wondering if there was some other big Discord for AoE that I didn't know about. Thanks for informing me that there isn't anything big I'm missing out on that I don't know of!

 

[Crawsack]

After spending some time on the official AoE forums I am more convinced than ever that AoEZone is absolutely essential, for all the reasons other posters have mentioned- but this is the best place for the established players and community contributors to get together and talk. I love the fact that pros and regular players like me all talk on this forum and it's generally very polite and productive. The official forum is a cesspool.

 

[Philippe le Bon]

Honestly if it shuts down tomorrow it may better for all of us, and I'll be thankful to PkZ and the rest of the staff.

This has become such a **** ass drama AW site since 2015-2016, and this has gotten worse every year it passes. For the past year, there has not been ten days without a ***** spewing drama or trying to spew drama, to a point it has even become a sport on here. Hell, there even is a competition of "best drama of the year" to show how ****ed up some brains have become here.

My head is scratching for answers, but apart from another french generalist board that rivals AoEZone, I don't have the knowledge of a website that has become as toxic, miserable to the outside and hazard-obsessed as AoEZone. I'm sorry for the administrators and moderators of the website who probably have tons ideas to kill this morbid obsession, about the pleasure people getting called out and mocked to the pittance we call "drama", but I feel we may be too far gone. These boards have become the internet personification of the worst TV reality shows blended together.

I'm not advocating for the site to be closed, I don't have the audacity for that. Not pointing any fingers on anyone either, as I feel this is a general mentality issue. I'm merely saying there's a line where a community (I've been vice-president of two associations, so I learned to sniff these things), is beyond repair, and in the case of AoEZone, we're seven miles past the line already.

 

[NachoAoE]

This has become such a **** ass drama AW site since 2015-2016, and this has gotten worse every year it passes.

I'm pretty sure AoCzone already had a lot of drama before 2015, if I recall, some dude called Dreams who also had high-ish level was a really trashy moderator who banned everyone who didn't think like him. I don't know him ,just watched his games so I don't know if it was true, but there was definitely drama.

Also there was a while where Aoczone was mostly about 3 comments in a random rec, so in my eyes, it's gotten better overtime. I enjoy being in this site a lot, and I spend a lot of time here!