I like the groups idea, as long as it has a hard limit on it. If group creation is unlimited, I'd bet within one month that a large slice of the groups would be created by a small portion of the userbase. Some people will just go nuts with this if there are no limits.
If there are groups/clubs allowed, here are some ideas for the limitations...
Only allow a few clubs to be created per person. Perhaps the amount of clubs to be created by one person should be scaled, based on how long they have been signed up and post count(a reasonable post count, nothing too high).
Maybe each group/club should have a monthly VGbucks charge to it? I'd gladly shell out the VGbucks to have a retro group/club/forum. You could even allow members to check a box allowing a percentage of the monthly charge to be taken from their account to chip in. This would also help weed out useless and lifeless groups, as well as being a good drain for VGbucks.
Having benefits to VGbucks, the age of your account, and your post count would help discourage people from getting themselves banned also. As it is now, there are few privileges to being around a while and building up a post count. We all know some people don't care about their identity here and will create alt accounts. Giving some perks to sticking around and posting with one profile would at least discourage that sort of thing to certain people.
And I would not want silly groups created just as jokes, like "The Shrine of QuiGonTCB" or "QuiGonTCB's Concubine". If that kind of thing is allowed, I'd just rather we not have groups.
With that in mind, if there were a "Retro Gaming" forum, I probably wouldn't even care to have groups. :)
"I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."
