For example :P

Then the answer is "no" and that's why you can't hold a conversation with me; I want to talk about games.

I'm not sure I understand how talking about the presentation aspect of a game is not talking about a game. Do you mean you like to limit your convos to gameplay?

Also, I know you're a castlevania fan. I'm curious as to why you never made a thread for that game, about anything Castlevania related, be it sales, graphics, gameplay, timelines, characters. On the subject, how did your Mass Effect thread go?

Because to me I feel like there's room for improvement in terms of your participation, as well as some other invaluable posters, but something is stopping you. Have some of your favorite threads been sabotaged?

Thats actually quite right ,nobody here really likes to talk about games (be it gameplay or whatever) just look at the threads about it they are usually the least posted in

I disagree. If you give a game an "official" thread, and it's A: a game people around here play in significant numbers and B: the kind of game you can discuss (Platformers like Mario, for instance, don't garner too much discussion, because they are just meant to be played), then you can get some good stuff going. Look at the Xenoblade thread, huge and long-enduring. The Last Story thread is having a bit more trouble, but that's because of the incredibly staggered release (for Europeans, its "been there, done that" by now)

Borderlands 2 will likely be a good locus of discussion when it emerges, being the kind of game that you can talk about and the kind of game that (according to Salnax's Most Wanted threads) people around here are actually going to buy.

The long-suffering graphic conversation is a pissing contest about console abilities, not about the games in question, and as consequence is not a good conversation about games.

I thought I had made a Castlevania thread, actually, though if I didn't it's based on prior experience; I made a big Mass Effect thread (as you have mentioned) wherein I put in a lot of effort, and there was a Fire Emblem thread in much the same vein, and perhap a few others

All of them met their inevitable fates because I was, in the end, the only person positng in them; if you have to post three times in a row in a topic to keep it alive, it is time to let it die because the conversation is simply not there. So too happened with the "Zelda marathon" thread, and some others.

I have been trying to get good conversations going in this forum ever since I noticed there was a problem in that respect (about three years ago, maybe a little less). They never last long, in spite of how hard I try. People here just aren't that interested in talking about games for the sake of games, they - or at least, many of them, it's not fair to characterize everyone this way - are in it for pissing contests, for oneupsmanship, and for spam. It's an altogether adversarial, non-constructive environment, and it stifles conversation wherever those seeds are desperately sewn.

My efforts to troll the thread aside, i thought your Metroid thread did decently well.

The Zelda marathon thing i don't remember well, but i remember that my issue with it was a matter of time. I lacked the resources to participate, and therefore did not, which i imagine was the issue with others as well at the time.

A conversation about gender dynamics and the faceless hero archetype managed to break 100 posts

Now granted that's not bad on a site that's such a total sausage fest as this one with as many people who are as sexually defensive as the users here, but it's still relatively disappointing

Over a dozen people signed up for the Zelda thing; it did not get off the ground regardless.

The Mass Effect thread was probably the most egregious.

The point remains, though, at its core: it is inordinately difficult to get people to talk abotu games here, even games they play and games about which there is a lot of discussion to be had.

I remember the Zelda marathon thread. I had registered to join but that was still early in my time here as a poster and I never lived up to that promise, and oddest thing it was in the back of my mind lately. I've been getting better at making promises I can keep and keeping those I make personally. Once I saw people were ahead of me I had to abandon the thread because I had no progress to post. It's too bad because Zelda is one of my most beloved series and it would have been a stimulating experience, but oh well. Anyways, I'm upset that didn't turn out like you would have expected. Do you think it would have turned out better in the other forums you're in?

I noticed alot of participation in your ME3 thread, and almost all the posters respected your asking for spoiler markers where needed. I'd be surprised to hear that that didn't go well. The threads run out of steam, is that something that's unique to vgchartz or does it also happen on the other forums you're in? Could it be possible that in those cases, maybe on vgchartz, it would be good to post a new thread on the series without having to go through the official thread? Start a more specific topic on the series and see what people say. Give it a try I'd like to see how it turns out. For example, I made that thread on Mario's appeal. Remember how Rol said that I had made a previous one very similar to it? Well, the first one had run out of steam, much like your threads. A few months later I rehashed it and look how many new opinions came out of it. I find the second one was much more of a success. What's the crime in doing that, if people say anything about it, just tell the to buzz off.

About oneupsmanship, pissing contests and spam, I personally can only talk about what I know, and that's my own behavior, in that I am guilty of all of it in different degrees, and am always working on it. How to be meaningful, how to be relevant, and how to keep your interlocutor's interest and attention. I'm not sure, it's all a mistery to me. I've found that when I least worry about what I will say is when I get the best responses. When I'm actually interested, expecting answers and asking questions, that's when I get the best conversations. So I'm not sure how much others are working on it but I personally am.

There are certain games that I like, certain games that I want to talk about, and others that I'm less familiar with that I might not talk about. Maybe what you're proposing is that people should try to post only in topics that genuinely interest them and not post on an urge on something that tics them, and take a more observant approach for games they are less familiar or happy with? I'm not sure.

As for the first para, I was really referring to the stylistical debate. Does that change your answer?

Agree with this post.

I miss updates to the site.  Bring back Badges those were fun too.  I often notice that on this site certain members only respond (quote) members they are friends with.  Not always but it seems unless your a regular poster your taken less serious which leads to less debate.