[Oddey]

I've been here quite a long time. Oddworld Forums holds a special place in my memory.

Let it go.

Let me explain my reasoning. Forums are, fundamentally, not the hub of internet discourse and discussion anymore. Reddit is. We haven't had any big influxes of new members in who knows how long. Don't give me a "well, our VBulletin is outdated, so nobody wants to use this ancient site" there isn't so great a difference between this website and a brand new forum. All we have been, for years now, is a niche. A forum, which is a no longer hip and exciting medium of discussion, for a game series that we all think peaked nearly 20 years ago.

And now, that this is finally going away and most of us here have a replacement in the form of Discord, you want to go and make a new one? I can't say I agree.

Any new members are going to be in one of two groups.

The first is returning members. These guys might join a new forum, supposing they can find it. But I find it hard to believe that Oddworld will bring back any of our old forum goers. More likely, they'll stay away, having finally found meanings in life outside of Oddworld. If they weren't back when SoulStorm was announced, leaked, trailers made, or even just when New n' Tasty was revealed, what makes the game's launch so much different?

The second group is totally new members. But this is just not going to happen. Forums, as I said, are no longer the de facto means of communication on the internet. Reddit has taken over the "longform" discussion. A forum is not going to reel in the membership it might have in the past where, by virtue of being the one place to talk about Oddworld, it might draw someone in. Nowadays, there is a slew of choices and any new forum is not going to appear at the number one slot on Google search. If anything, I'd be surprised if it appears at all, rather than a dozen links on Reddit asking if "OWF is kill".

The only use for a forum now is to give us, the remaining community a new place to talk at length about topics and try to speak seriously. I don't especially care about that, because I find Discord tends to be better suited for it anyway, instant messaging allowing much less confusion of points because you can stop the other person before they get sidetracked overmuch by a point you weren't even making.

All in all, I don't have any particular desire for a forum and I don't think it's practical or well-advised to make one.

That said, if you make one, I suppose I'll join, if only for appearances sake.