Together Retro - Brainstorming Changes - Your Input Is Wanted!

[Ziggy]

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Original Post below...

Let's use this thread to discuss Together Retro. What we want to see in the future, in which ways do we all enjoy using it, and so on.

In 2022 and most of 2023, AJ took the mantle and did console of the month, with bmoc finishing up 2023. In January of 2024, no one had posted any TR threads and there was no talk or plans in motion for this year, so I hastily threw together a roadmap for genre of the month. But two weeks went by in June without me posting the next thread, and no one seemed to even care. So that's why I'm posting this thread. It would be nice to see TR live on, but I think we need feedback so we can make it more engaging for everyone.

The console of the month threads were fun. At least with the exception of the more obscure consoles, those threads were pretty engaging with people sharing their stories and memories, likes and dislikes. Genre of the month doesn't seem to be as popular. It seems like it's more of a chore. Like, alright, let me organize and post my thoughts on X. Like a school paper that became due. Anyone else feel that way?

With both console and genre of the month, we really shifted to just TALKING about games and not actually PLAYING any. I really enjoyed talking about some of these console. But I do miss playing games for TR, together with other people. My hopes were for people to take up games that fit in the genre of the month, but I guess I should have stated that or something LOL. So one of my thoughts for the future of TR is to in some way make it more about playing games again, and not just talking about them.

Another thought I've had, and I'm sure a lot of you in my age group also feel this way, a single month goes by way too fast. Having adult responsibilities or being too tired after work, I don't always have the time or energy for video games. So not being able to play a game every day or every night, it makes it challenging to finish some games within a month. And things also tend to really fall off at the end of the year, especially November and December. Probably because of the holidays. So maybe we should change TR to every other month.

If we did a two month long TR theme, that would give people more of a chance to actually play the games. Personally, I feel like I'd be more willing to even start a game knowing that I had enough time to finish it. I have had some TR months in previous years where I didn't have time to finish a game before the end of the month, every one moved onto the next TR month but I had to finish the previous month, which made me not want to start the next month.

Also just putting it out there... If we did a two month long TR, we could fit 6 themes in the calendar year. But there's no reason we couldn't also do a 3 month long TR, which would mean only 4 themes for the year. If we shifted to this format, we could do either or both. For example, if we planned out themes where two months was plenty. But then maybe we could purposefully plan a year where some themes warranted 3 months. Like RPGs. Or we could alternate between 2 and 3 months as needed, because I guess it really doesn't matter if we end a theme in December and start a new one in January.

I'll stop here, I don't wanna make the first post too long.

Thoughts ???

[opa]

I feel you on the whole "adulting" thing. Little time/energy. Like, I have to be able to both play games and sit down to compose some thoughts. That time has shrunk pretty drastically lately. lol

A quarterly schedule feels more flexible to me. (This sounds so business-like, lol) Just reiterating some of what you said- it gives additional time for RPG's if you wanted to tackle them. Also, while there seems to be a core group of people that check the forum regularly, a lot of people seem to be more sporadic. This gives time for others to read and maybe contribute their own thoughts. You're most likely not going to post in a Together Retro if the month is up by the time you log in.

Additionally, the Summer Games Challenge seems to be more active during the summer months than any TR. I'm not complaining- just an observation. Maybe if we did quarterly TR's, perhaps skip the summer quarter? (July-Sept) The Summer Games Challenge gets way more actual "game playing" than any TR I can think of in recent memory.

[Ziggy]

Also, while there seems to be a core group of people that check the forum regularly, a lot of people seem to be more sporadic. This gives time for others to read and maybe contribute their own thoughts. You're most likely not going to post in a Together Retro if the month is up by the time you log in.

I had this same thought, regarding users that post infrequently.

Additionally, the Summer Games Challenge seems to be more active during the summer months than any TR. I'm not complaining- just an observation. Maybe if we did quarterly TR's, perhaps skip the summer quarter? (July-Sept) The Summer Games Challenge gets way more actual "game playing" than any TR I can think of in recent memory.

Another great point! Maybe going forward the Summer Games Challenge can BE Together Retro for those months? That might be a better idea than having two (competing) things going on.

[o.pwuaioc]

Is anyone actually playing anything for Together Retro? I feel like the playing together part is what's gone away.

I also agree that a month isn't a real enough time to really sit down and play, and interests in a genre waxes and wanes.

What about having more threads on reminisces (something like Key asked for in the summer thread)? Maybe a complete rehaul is in order? Or a separation of different types of *togetherness*?

My last 2c is that going the genre route hasn't really worked out. It's been cool seeing Ack post about Rome:Total War, even though I nary have time to play it this summer (though I might get back into it just for that). But if he was posting about other Total War games I hadn't played, I wouldn't really be able to comment on his posts. There was something special about playing the same game, or at least a theme uniting them more than genre.

[pierrot]

Yeah, I haven't been around much in recent years, but even four years ago, people didn't really end up playing the same things much, from what I recall.
I know the reason for the initial change was a sense of a lot of people not having the motivation to acquire and/or play along with a given pick for the together retro month, but I don't think there's really any way to avoid that if the goal is to get people playing things together, there probably have to be fewer options.

If not just a single game for together retro, then maybe something like four or five that can be related to each other in some way (console, generation, release year, genre, series/sub-series, publisher/developer, director, etc).
Not sure how much I should really weigh in, since my activity on forums and social media is pretty low, but I do think a quarterly schedule might work out better, also.

[Ziggy]

So I think moving TR to a quarterly schedule sounds like the way to go.

Only 3 people besides myself have weighed in so far. But assuming that no one will come along and veto the change, I think we should proceed with the idea that TR will be in 3 month blocks going forward. So that said, let's brainstorm ideas!

Even though I have laid out genres for the rest of the months in 2023, there's no reason we can't abandon this format. And as it has been pointed out, the genre of the month format hasn't been popular for whatever reason.

What kind of games do we want to highlight for each quarter?

I vote that we keep the Summer Games Challenge as-is, but we make it the official TR thread for the third quarter every year. And just because the third quarter is technically JUL/AUG/SEP, there's no reason this thread couldn't be posted in June or even late May.

In fact, I think one key aspect of TR going forward should be the ability to plan ahead. We should pick out the themes for each quarter in advance, and make them known. That would give people the ability to prepare for those months. Pick up some games, set up an emulator, et cetera. If "adulting" is one of the key reasons for low participation, than having plenty of time to prepare should help with that. In addition to the longer run times.

So if no one has any objections, I vote that we make the Summer Games Challenge 2024 the official TR topic for July through September. And then we need to start coming up with ideas for each quarter starting with the fourth quarter of this year.

[bmoc]

Doing it every 3 months sounds like a good idea to me. I never participated much because I could never be sure I'd have time to finish a game in a month. Hopefully I'll be able to participate more. I'll think on some potential topics for the coming quarters.

[marurun]

I have all sorts of opinions about what would be cool, but I haven't actually played a game in 2 months, so whatever I say is pointless since I have no ability to speak to my own participation (or lack thereof).

[Ziggy]

I have all sorts of opinions about what would be cool, but I haven't actually played a game in 2 months, so whatever I say is pointless since I have no ability to speak to my own participation (or lack thereof).

I disagree, your input is still welcomed. I too have gone for long stretches without playing any games. Perhaps TR could entice you to play games. Or even if you’re just too busy adulting or whatever, that doesn’t mean you still can’t participate in TR in the form of posting. We’ve mentioned that there was a shift away from people actually playing games for TR, and that’s one thing we’re trying to fix. But that’s not to say you can’t participate unless you also play the games.

[marurun]

Then I think we should focus on games which are available today on multiple platforms through re-releases (except in the case of Nintendo titles, which are inherently platform-bound, but to the second-most owned console of all time). Like maybe we do a Capcom Fighters quarter and try to arrange a few on-line matches through the existing collections to engage people. Or look at the SNK or Atari collections.