Knights of the Round Table

Greetings all!

As most of you know, this forum was created with one game specifically in mind - Cybernations. I had organized the forum sections into what I thought flowed well given the singular purpose envisioned slightly over a year ago. Those sections were:

1. General Information
a. Announcements
b. Help Center
c. Suggestion Box

2. The Kingdom
a. Welcome Tent
b. The Great Hall
c. Round Table
d. Kingdom College (recent addition)
e. The Library
f. Trading Post
g. Archives

3. Embassy Row
a. Diplomatic Liaison Service
b. General Assembly
c. Rue des Lombards (renamed)

4. Non-KoRT Topics
a. General Chat
b. Current Events and Politics

Fast forward to today and the majority of you (those who are masked) should see a new section call Pixel Nations. Within that section you have three areas; Mead Tent, Archives, and Rue Tiquetonne, respectively.

The PN aspect of the site has introduced some complexities that weren't originally planned for. An example is the dual usage of the Welcome Tent and Diplomatic Liaison Service for both CN and PN players. Here's the rub - the Welcome Tent is in The Kingdom while the DLS is in Embassy Row. Both of those areas were originally just for CN Knights.

While the system we have now works, the flow or "chi" of the forum feels a bit broken; as if different pieces were sort of mashed together. Here's what I propose:

* Create a new section called Welcome Tent and move the actual Welcome Tent forum area along with the DLS into it.

* Move the CN General Assmebly into Rue des Lombards, and then move Rue des Lombards into the Kingdom.

* Create a new Trading Post just for PN; perhaps we could call it the General Store or something like that.

If we do the above, the new forum layout will look like this:

1. General Information
a. Announcements
b. Help Center
c. Suggestion Box

2. Welcome Tent
a. Welcome Tent (original)
b. Diplomatic Liaison Service

3. The Kingdom
a. The Great Hall
b. Round Table
c. Kingdom College
d. The Library
e. Trading Post
f. Archives
g. Rue des Lombards
-General Assembly (now located inside Rue des Lombards)

4. Pixel Nations
a. Mead Tent
b. General Store (proposed)
c. Archives
d. Rue Tiquetonne

5. Non-KoRT Topics
a. General Chat
b. Current Events and Politics

Does the above feel like a better-organized forum or should we leave things as is? Let me know. If we decide to change things around, it'll take a bit of time. I'll let the poll run for 2 weeks since I'm pretty busy at the moment but I do want to get your feedback.

*scratches chin*

I've rewritten this post several times now and I keep changing my mind - so I'll just say that I find it a good idea to create a PN General Store and move the Embassy Row into the Kingdom like in Pixel Nations - that way all our knights will notice new posts there if they visit the Kingdom overview (I at least use it all the time).

Separating the Welcome Tent from the Kingdom would have the opposite effect: Fewer people would notice new arrivals which in turn means fewer people would say hello. I'd personally leave the Welcome tent where it is for now.

Finally, I don't find it so bad that PN-Knights have to visit the Kingdom every once in while - for them it serves well as the place where you introduce yourself or go to check treaties. As the name suggests, the "Kingdom" is the central hub and it should therefore remain centralised. If you move stuff out you might as well rename it "Cyber Nations" to keep everything uniform. And if you do choose to decentralise it then adding a second Library for PN documents would be a must.

That's just my opinion on the matter, I'm fine if it changes how you've suggested.

Interesting and valid points Overseer. I didn't think of it from that perspective. Let's see what others have to say before any decisions are made.

OK, based on the poll results, the forum layout will stay as-is for now.