Quote from Rlarudska;1243486:
It's bad enough we don't have many people on the site, more and more people would stop coming here if it is no long about Mabi.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you're saying is, because we don't have a lot of people on this site, trying to bring in new people and a little variety from what we have now is a bad thing? Considering that most of the discussion on this site is mostly complaining about how this game sucks (either from how there's nothing to do, because people burnt through the content as quickly as they can, how the community sucks, because other players aren't at their level/are more interested in socializing/etc., or how Nexon sucks because they screw up on a constant basis), a little breath of fresh air would probably be good for this site by bringing in more discussion.
And to me, it also sounds like that you think members of this site are so addicted to this game, that they'll be totally intolerant of discussion of other things that they'll leave this site because of it (though I think that you're right in thinking this). But that's also a problem.
Now this may just be because of nostalgia, but I've been in this "community" (including back when we were on Mabiguru) for almost 7 years now. And in the past, I wouldn't have had to use quotes when I say community, because we really were a community. People talked about Mabi, (not just circle jerk about how bad it is like now), the good and the bad, but they also talked (and discussed) other games. People were willing to try
other games with people they met here to
have fun, a concept that seems to have disappeared as of late. This site used to hold events all the time, both in game, and out of game. From regular raffles for NX, to members going to each staff member on Halloween saying "trick or treat", just for the staff member to put a small picture of a piece of candy in the person's signature.
I don't mean to self promote, but it's a very good example of what I'm talking about. Right now I have an event going on where you play some Pokemon with other Nationers, and if you do a really good job, you could win a copy of the new Super Smash Bros. game that comes out in a month. So far, I only have seven people willing to participate, with one person who "might participate". Of those seven people that are definitely participating, there's only two that are "semi-active" in discussions about Mabinogi. But since the event is about trying to bring a community together, and not directly about Mabinogi, it's being largely ignored by the members of the site. Nobody has come to me, either through the thread, or through PMs, and see if there's a possibility for alternate prizes instead of Super Smash Bros., so it's not because of prizes that don't interest people. The fact that it's being ignored because it's about bringing the community together speaks pretty loudly to me.
I also regularly see people [s]ask[/s] demand that Chise get rid of the sections outside of the Mabinogi sections because "they're cancer". These people want to take away the core community part of a fan site that was originally created to be a
community to get together, but mainly focusing on the Mabinogi games (including Vindictus and the now cancelled Mabinogi 2/Mabinogi Arena). Why talk other things that my interest you, and possibly making a new friend that also has that same interest, when you can say the same thing over and over (ad nauseam) about a game that you hate, but can't quit because you're too addicted to? A game that you've sunk thousands of dollars into, but instead of walking away for the better, you continue playing out of shame? And the reason these other sections "are cancer"?
And yet, these same people don't understand why there aren't many new members that stick around, when new players come here for advice, and instead of help, they get told where they're supposed to be at their level, assuming they don't break out debating with themselves about endgame material that the person asking isn't close to yet. None of these people offer to help out the new player, they just tell the newbie "git gud" in a way that makes it look like they're helping. They don't reminisce about the past when the game used to be fun for them, and use those experiences to help the newbie. It's only about the end game, which many of them surpassed a long time ago, or mentioned earlier, about how much the game sucks. Not exactly something a new person can jump into and talk with them about.
Now, it would be different if Mabinogi had enough new permanent content updated regularly instead of maybe twice a year so that discussion doesn't stagnate on a regular basis, or if the community showed interest in other things (games, movies, etc.), or hell, even in being an actual community, by participating in events, whether forum or member run, I probably wouldn't suggest turning Mabination into a general gaming site. But personally, I think this site could use that variety it's been lacking for a while. And if people get too upset about it to the point where they leave because the site isn't
focused around Mabinogi, then I won't shed a tear when they do. It's a shame, sure, but really: Is Mabinogi really that great to warrant that kind of irrationality?