Why does Quarter to Three attract so many developers/ industry insiders?

[theblackw0lf]

Even though (and possibly because) QT3 is less well-known compared to some of the other gaming forums out there, it seems to attract a large amount of individuals within the game industry, far more than any other forum I've seen. I have some theories as to why this is (more mature forum demographic, less forum population) but I was interested to hear why others thought so.

[scharmers]

Qt3 started as a USENET refugee camp. Lots of developers used to hang out there. One reason, I guess.

[Lorini]

Probably because of this statement (contained in the sticky at the top of the Games forum)

* Finally, although we welcome everyone, this is a forum composed largely of people in the industry: press, publishers, developers, and PR folks, many of whom openly identify themselves as such. Please handle any differences with a modicum of respect. This doesn't mean you have to treat anyone with kid gloves, this doesn't mean you can't ask hard questions, and this doesn't mean you have to defer to industry people in any way. But what it does mean is that I want to keep them around and I realize that even the thickest skin has its limits. Please try to stay within those limits.

-Tom

[AndrewM]

Clearly Tom bribes them with a cut of the massive ad revenue.

[slantz]

I thought it was Tom's dreamy cologne.

[Tim James]

I just wanted to thank QT3 for attracting the right people. This is the only online forum I've ever seen that has mostly adults calmly (most of the time) discussing mostly PC games. And it was hidden well enough that I had to be referred here by another adult when I complained about the same issue.

[flyinj]

(more mature forum demographic, less forum population)

This... and also, Tom filters or used to filter applications to post.

[Rob_Merritt]

QT3 is less well-known

That may have something to do with it by itself.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Whittalinks.

[Charles]

Man, I'm only here cause I can't post on PlanetCrap from work.

[Tim James]

Thinking about it, there is a car forum I read that has an onerous vetting period and very infrequent registration. It has attracted a few small industry people and amateur automotive engineers. But it's kind of dying now, for various reasons I haven't really thought much about.

[Griddle]

I hear Tom makes the best cole slaw, this may be why.

[quatoria]

That may have something to do with it by itself.

Well, every time the site has gotten major publicity, on Kotaku, Digg, what have you, we've gotten an influx of quickly-banned idiots. (And a couple new quality posters, as well, of course) So, yeah, I'd say the low profile is a critical component of the formula.

[Matt Perkins]

Man, I'm only here cause I can't post on PlanetCrap from work.
I'm only here because Planetcrap is too slow. And qt3 talks about games sometimes.

Also, I'm not a game developer! yet. :D

[Brian Rucker]

I think it's this:

http://www.deadbored.net/qt3/bottle%20fly%20trap.jpg

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=46046

[PeterK]

Now that I think about it, I can't remember at all how I found out about this place (not that I'm a developer/industry insider anyway). Maybe it was the "All Along The Watchtower" playing in my head.

[Reldan]

I always thought it was because of Tom's Amazing... Acting... Abilities!

[WarrenM]

This is one of the last forums I bother with on the internet. Most discussions here are just that - discussions. Not troll infested flame wars where mental invalids work out their frustrations lashing out at strangers. Mostly.

[theblackw0lf]

Now that I think about it, I can't remember at all how I found out about this place (not that I'm a developer/industry insider anyway). Maybe it was the "All Along The Watchtower" playing in my head.

I think I found out about this place from talking to people who used to be members of Gone Gold, and were looking for a new forum after it shut down.

Actually I keep thinking this forum is related to Gone Gold in some way, not sure why.

[Lorini]

I think I found out about this place from talking to people who used to be members of Gone Gold, and were looking for a new forum after it shut down.

Actually I keep thinking this forum is related to Gone Gold in some way, not sure why.

No that would be Octopus Overlords, next door ;)

[Warren]

Qt3 started as a USENET refugee camp. Lots of developers used to hang out there. One reason, I guess.



Ah, USENET. How I miss thee. The strategy and RPG forums downloaded and read at leisure via Agent. Those were the days. The price of entry was something a little more than the ability to clickety-click-click on links.



Sort of.

[Andrew Mayer]

I think it is the maturity of the place, combined with just the right kind of immaturity.

[Charles]

This is one of the last forums I bother with on the internet. Most discussions here are just that - discussions. Not troll infested flame wars where mental invalids work out their frustrations lashing out at strangers. Mostly.

Until you start posting.

*kisses*

[Kool Moe Dee]

Less BS, more interesting discussions. The signal-to-noise ratio has gotten a little worse over the last few years, but is counterbalanced by the increased volume of posts.

Unfortunately, there have also been a few outbursts that have made developers more wary about speaking openly on here...

[JZigish]

I (random, unimportant game dev) ended up here after Jeff Green mentioned it on a podcast. I keep trying to get into the uber-secret dev forums, but no one ever gets back to me. I interpret this as fear, and thus hang out here now.

The only thing I don't get here is why everyone is so afraid to start new topics. Why do people keep raising threads from year old graves?

[WarrenM]

Oh, and Charles. I can never get enough Charles. :)

[Jon Rowe]

I came for the shit bonerz, and I stayed for the pie.

[PeterK]

I think I found out about this place from talking to people who used to be members of Gone Gold, and were looking for a new forum after it shut down.

Actually I keep thinking this forum is related to Gone Gold in some way, not sure why.

I've never been a member of any other general gaming forum, so that can't be it for me. None of my friends know about this place, so that wasn't it. The only thing I can think of was that this site was mentioned in a news item at Gamespot/Gamecenter(?) when it was first founded.

[Fozzle]

This is one of the last islands of common sense in gaming forums left on the internet. It seems to me like a place where a developer could get an honest negative comment and reply without having to worry about "neogaf syndrome". Let's hope it stays this way.

[Lake]

Tom hands out free blow. We know that game developers like their blow. (http://www.cracked.com/video_16019_video-game-pitch-meeting-1979.html)

[MatthewF]

I don't even remember how I found this place. I think someone linked to the story Tom wrote about his friend and the obscure Star Wars reference. Then I probably clicked on the forum and registered.

"This bickering is pointless."

[Warren]

This is one of the last islands of common sense in gaming forums left on the internet. It seems to me like a place where a developer could get an honest negative comment and reply without having to worry about "neogaf syndrome". Let's hope it stays this way.

I don't recognize neogaf syndrome so I go to google it to find out, and that post comes up as the 8th entry. Lotta help there! Heh. Ermm, so, what's neogaf syndrome?

[Tim James]

I don't recognize neogaf syndrome so I go to google it to find out, and that post comes up as the 8th entry. Lotta help there! Heh. Ermm, so, what's neogaf syndrome?My only exposure to other game forums is Penny Arcade where people make fun of that too. I never cared enough to figure out what they're talking about. I think it's just a general term for rabid fanboys and trash talking perhaps? *shrug* Doesn't affect me!

BTW, maybe they're psychically attracted by this creepy thing:

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/images/misc/forumeye.jpg

[Royal Fool]

Probably that and the fact that some internet game journalists tend to pick up news from threads on NeoGAF. Or is that Kotaku syndrome?

[Fozzle]

I don't recognize neogaf syndrome so I go to google it to find out, and that post comes up as the 8th entry. Lotta help there! Heh. Ermm, so, what's neogaf syndrome?
Well I was thinking more along the lines of the recent not too human NG campaigns against a developer, as well as others where things can just get crazy out of control there. Granted that developer was probably a bit more boisterous then most, but still.. I don't actually read NG anymore myself. I wouldn't want to go there and post an actual developement question I was interested in getting opinion on. You just never know where it is going to end up. You are practically guaranteed however that it isn't going to take the form of enlightened discussion. As I said, I haven't read there in awhile, maybe its all better now.

Come to think of it, the last time I visited NG, there wasn't actual reading to be done at all, just login names, dates/times, and several people's heads pasted onto Nikko Belic's body.

[Moore]

Even though (and possibly because) QT3 is less well-known compared to some of the other gaming forums out there, it seems to attract a large amount of individuals within the game industry, far more than any other forum I've seen. I have some theories as to why this is (more mature forum demographic, less forum population) but I was interested to hear why others thought so.

They are big The Office fans.

[Kunikos]

Tom is dreamy in his beret.

[RobotPants]

I think it's because of all the candy.

[Tim James]

They are big The Office fans.
I know I'm late to the party on the office thing, but my wife and I are catching up on the series and I had to yell out loud at the Christmas episode. (My wife didn't seem to care care, by the way, but she's not a game developer or industry insider.)

Also reminded me how tricky editing can be. The two walk in, they cut to a scene of the office real quick, and when they went back Tom was already standing still and leaning over. Witchcraft and magic!

[Jason McMaster]

Chet talked me into checking it out

[LionelThompson]

I'm not a developer, just a huge, HUGE game geek that has been playing since the 70s. It's an awesome fanboy thing that I can talk to developer heroes like Brian Reynolds, but also big names in the industry like Lum and Tom Chick.

I've been here about 6 years, posted not TOO much, but I absolutely visit at least once a day so I can stay 'in the know'.

[Angie Gallant]

The majority of posters can separate the individual's opinions from the company they work for. Of course, not all of them can, as can be seen in some of the stupid blow ups we've had. Most forums will just blanket assume that if you work for a game developer or publisher that every fuck-word you post is company policy.

[Chuck Jordan]

1. The boards are relatively small, with a manageable number of new posts everyday.
2. Most of the people on here are literate, so even when they're saying something I think is idiotic, it's not actually physically painful to read O___o lolol!
3. Most of the people on here aren't interested in the games I'm working on, so I don't have to be paranoid about misrepresenting my company or having stuff taken out of context and posted elsewhere.

[Slainte Mhath]

This forum has many people who actually played the same games I did over the last 25 years and will gladly talk about them for hours on end if prompted. That, to me, is the most amazing thing on the internet.

The cake here is no lie.

[aphoristic gamer]

I'm just a random Joe Blow but I also enjoy this community a lot because of the mature game discussions that go on here. I like the fact that there's often almost no moderation going at all and it doesn't even matter because everyone stays courteous. And you can say your game opinions without being banned as long as you're reasonably sensible, unlike on other communities where going against the groupthink gets you mocked by a mob of rabid fanboys and often expelled in a blaze(*cough* GAF *cough*). People don't react like outraged Backstreet Boys fangirls when you criticize their system of choice. Hmmm, the joy of being able to tell at leisure how the Wii and its games suck. :)

[gordonrumble]

Talking as someone who isn't in the industry, this forum is the best I've ever been on. The ability to have sane, reasonably mature discussion with people inside and outside the industry is an oasis in the internet's desert of stupidity. I assume it's a combination of the age of entry, the individual account vetting, the lack of advertising and the lack of signatures, avatars, etc. I appreciate it very much.

[theblackw0lf]

3. Most of the people on here aren't interested in the games I'm working on,

That makes me sad :(

[bloo]

I blame the Gallants. And Alan Dunkin.

[ReptileHouse]

Pointed here by a few good friends in the industry for a place to talk about games in a bit more serious fashion.

While I don't work on games myself, at least some of you who do are using tools I help write, so I live vicariously in a roundabout way.

I also spend way, way too much time playing games.

[Robert Sharp]

The average education level on this forum is also quite high, and not just because developers and journalists tend to have a BA or BS degree. If we did a poll, I bet you'd find that a surprising percentage of posters have at least a bachelors and often an advanced degree of some sort. This feeds into the "literate posting" point mentioned above.

There's also the strict "No Minors Allowed" policy.

[gordonrumble]

Just on the topic of 'NeoGAF' syndrome, my take is that NeoGAF runs in a series of memes, where

1. some game or revelation about a game is announced,
2. key influencers in the forum voice their approval,
3. everyone gets on the hype train and starts frothing at the mouth for the game,
4. dissenting opinions are punished and the forum works itself into a frenzy.
5. Then the game hits,
6. cannot possibly live up to the the hype,
7. a backlash occurs and
8. quickly the groupthink finds another game(s) to put on a pedestal. It's quite amazing to watch the process objectively, and a bit frightening to see people subsumed by the collective.

Maybe i'm thinking of the wrong thing. If someone could correct me, i'd be much obliged.

That being said, it's better than many forums out there, likely due in part to the necessity for a paid email, no signatures and fairly strong modding. QT3 is king of the hill, however. I stand by it being the best gaming-related forum on the internet.

[nixon66]

I can't remember how I found it years ago, but the civility, and general knowledge of the collected membership of this board has kept me coming back. I know that if I had a question about some game, genre, coffee, computer or monitor with holes drilled into it that I'd get any number of well informed responses, dissenting opinions and with minimal extra crap.

Maybe my opinion has also stayed this way because I've stayed far far away from the P&R forum as well.

Oh yea. No avatars. Thank jebus.

[JZigish]

3. Most of the people on here aren't interested in the games I'm working on, so I don't have to be paranoid about misrepresenting my company or having stuff taken out of context and posted elsewhere.

(after browsing blog to figure out who Chuck works for) Screw you guys for making fun, intelligent adventure games! I'm going to post somewhere that you love Sierra adventures way more than Lucasarts adventures.

[Reldan]

People don't react like outraged Backstreet Boys fangirls when you criticize their system of choice.

That's it.

It's obvious we need to bring New York's King back.

This forum is getting the wrong kind of reputation.

[slantz]

Awww, I kinda liked K0NY. I went back to link to that rad video of his, but it's been taken down from YouTube.

[Andrew Mayer]

Another interesting question is "Why does every meta-topic about QT3 eventually become another 'How did you discover QT3?' topic?"

[Funkula]

I think the thing that keeps Qt3 viable is that it has a critical mass of smart mean people. Smart mean people, in sufficient numbers, can drive away idiots about as fast as they crop up so the forum is never subsumed in idiocy. Also, having mods that care as much about keeping the forum smart as they do about keeping it (semi)civil is crucial.

I used to love the Pointless Waste of Time forums for precisely the same reason, but when they were absorbed by Cracked.com the idiots (attracted by The N Most Adjective Somethings of all Time) were able to overwhelm the old guard and turn the place into yet another howling wasteland.

[Shadari]

Smart mean people, in sufficient numbers, can drive away idiots about as fast as they crop up so the forum is never subsumed in idiocy.
I'm proof that they can't. And good luck getting rid of me... muhahahahaha!

[Alan Au]

The cake here is no lie.
He's lying--it's a trap.

- Alan

[forgeforsaken]

I think the thing that keeps Qt3 viable is that it has a critical mass of smart mean people. Smart mean people, in sufficient numbers, can drive away idiots about as fast as they crop up so the forum is never subsumed in idiocy. Also, having mods that care as much about keeping the forum smart as they do about keeping it (semi)civil is crucial.


I think I've made two people stop posting here with my response to their posts, definitely one, and I wasn't even really mean! I don't even think I rate as a forum personality here!

[Shadari]

I think I've made two people stop posting here with my response to their posts, definitely one, and I wasn't even really mean! I don't even think I rate as a forum personality here!
You're like one of those one-liner dudes from an Infinity Engine game. Even worse, I'm like one of those guys from Mass Effect that doesn't even have a mouth. :(

[russellmz00]

people here usually use the f-word in a reasonable and constructive manner.

[Tom Chick]

"Fun"?

-Tom

[Kalle]

"Fun Star Wars"

[Jakub]

Originally it was sort of a secret type forum, spread by word of mouth, among people in the industry.

Then uh, well, it got known.

[Hanacker]

The only thing I don't get here is why everyone is so afraid to start new topics. Why do people keep raising threads from year old graves?

It is weird how the etiquette on that varies from forum to forum. Some places complain if you necro a year+ old thread, some places complain if you start a new thread when a perfectly good one tangentially related to the same topic from two years ago already exists (except for "What DS games should I buy?" Somehow that pops up every week.), and some places don't really care.

[quatoria]

It was never that secret. Tom and Mark were pretty excited about it, on usenet, at least, and eager to spread the word - before the ad bubble burst. :/ I heard about the place when Tom and Mark first started it in, what, 2002? But didn't actually come and join until 2003, when there was a major Planetcrap outage. I stuck with usenet far longer than was healthier, and somehow ended up at Planetcrap after usenet. I actually nave no recollection of how that happened. I think it had to do with morn setting up an irc channel.

[WarrenD]

I remember when Gone Gold died, someone from there(can't remember who) told me this is the place to go for people who love gaming as much as we do so check it out.
It was all that, and has been the first click of the day for me since.

Still the best gaming forum out there.

[hong]

I wish Knight37 would post here. :(

[Post-It]

I think there's alot to be said for the color scheme and no sig/no avatar choices. This is probably the only gaming site I feel comfortable visiting at work.

Agreed with all the other mature discussion, educated/literate posters, general lack of douchbag posts as well.

I'm with quatoria in that, I came over from planetcrap as it began its long, slow death spiral. Although, I had lurked on the old boards for awhile.

[Pogo]

I actually nave no recollection of how that happened. I think it had to do with morn setting up an irc channel.

And then very, very, very bad things happened.

Very bad.

[Sol Invictus]

Just on the topic of 'NeoGAF' syndrome, my take is that NeoGAF runs in a series of memes, where

1. some game or revelation about a game is announced,
2. key influencers in the forum voice their approval,
3. everyone gets on the hype train and starts frothing at the mouth for the game,
4. dissenting opinions are punished and the forum works itself into a frenzy.
5. Then the game hits,
6. cannot possibly live up to the the hype,
7. a backlash occurs and
8. quickly the groupthink finds another game(s) to put on a pedestal. It's quite amazing to watch the process objectively, and a bit frightening to see people subsumed by the collective.

Maybe i'm thinking of the wrong thing. If someone could correct me, i'd be much obliged.

That being said, it's better than many forums out there, likely due in part to the necessity for a paid email, no signatures and fairly strong modding. QT3 is king of the hill, however. I stand by it being the best gaming-related forum on the internet.
NeoGAF (which I don't visit) sounds an awful lot like RPG Codex, except RPG Codex just hates the game right off the bat. Goes something like this:

1. some game or revelation about a game is announced,
2. key influencers in the forum voice their disapproval,
3. everyone gets on the hate train and starts frothing at the mouth in hatred against the game,
4. dissenting opinions that say "the game (probably Fallout 3) could be pretty enjoyable" are punished and the forum works itself into a frenzy.
5. Then the game hits,
6. the game doesn't suck as much as they thought it would,
7. a backlash occurs and
8. quickly the hivemind finds another game(s) to put in the crucible. It's quite amazing to watch the process objectively, and a bit frightening to see people subsumed by the collective.

[Rod Humble]

Hey now, NeoGaf is fantastic. The Press event threads alone are classic internet entertainment worthy of going over again at a later date and savouring.

[aphoristic gamer]

Staring at pages upon pages of immature people hammering the same unfunny animated gifs and tired one-liners to get noticed is enjoyable? Not to mention like another poster just stated, how every person tries to suck up to the administrators and other posters of "importance" by agreeing with anything they say.

Seriously if one of them forum bigwigs started a thread praising the virtues of drinking your own urine they'd still express their agreement.

I'll take a forum such a this one without ridiculous castes where people honest and able to form their own opinion, thank you.

[Damien Neil]

Every time I try looking at NeoGAF, I'm just overwhelmed by the quantity of it all. Good, bad, either way, I can't get a drink out of that firehose.

Qt3 is a community, not just a collection of posts. I like that.

[Angie Gallant]

There is funny stuff over at NeoGAF. There's also a thread for pretty much any game you might have interest in, which we don't have so much over here. Also, NPD day meltdowns still make me laugh.

It's not enough to make me post, but I don't regret lurking.

[Warren]

Good Lord. If I never have to go look at NeoGAF again that's fine by me. Page after page of animated avatars, one line posts, and childish posturing. The sheer VOLUME of EMPTINESS boggles the mind.

I love you QT3. Keep me safe from the masses.

[barstein]

As much as many of the "Qt3 old school personalities" seem to feel (or at least, like to say, and at least in the threads I've been watching) the site has changed on a fundamental and critical level, I still think it's held its own as a protected pocket of cyberspace in that sense. To develop and fully back that statement up properly would probably require many blocks of text, but I honestly lack the energy for it right now and think I'll just leave it there.

[checker]

I'm a developer. For me, I don't read religiously (skim headlines a couple times a week maybe, less if I'm busy, more if I'm trying to avoid work), and post even less, but the mix of developers, press, and "plain old gamers" works really well. I actually get the most value out of the gamer posts. Qt3 manages to have enough gamers to "keep it real" (developer-only lists can become echo chambers, and I shudder to think about a press-only list...I kid, I kid! :) but the developers and press together here tend to temper the gamer discussions and the result is usually useful, often insightful, and occasionally hilarious. Unless the topic is copy protection, and then the result is like AOL circa 1996, for some reason.

Chris

PS. I agree about the size thing, it's small and managable. The big gamer forums are just too huge for me to even browse usually.

ObHowIGotHere: Jon Blow would occasionally send a link. I lurked for a few years before sending Tom mail to be able to post. I should get my join-date retro'd so I don't look like I came in with the brief open floodgates, I was before that, really! :)

[Thierry Nguyen]

This thread totally reminds me that at E3, Denis Dyack told me that his account was having issues (something about being tied to an old email address that doesn't work), and he's tried to re-register, but he's trapped in some sort of approval-queue. Which is why he hasn't replied to the thread with his own name in it.
But yea, Denis is a fan, at least, that was the impression I got. He didn't roll his eyes when I asked about Qt3 as compared to joking about NeoGAF. Then we started talking about Steve Erikson books and at some point I started talking about Robocop and then I had to leave for my flight home, otherwise I would have been on that goofy poolside 1up Yours this year.

[Drunkagain]

One of my favorite QT3 traits is how well the forums seem to moderate themselves. No draconian rules or moderators but when the occasional KONY finds his way here, the bullshit dosen't last for too long.

QT3 is the only gaming site on the net I would be willing to pay for these days.

[Niclas]

One of my favorite QT3 traits is how well the forums seem to moderate themselves. No draconian rules or moderators but when the occasional KONY finds his way here, the bullshit dosen't last for too long.
Well we do use the rule of dragons as suck deterrent.

[quatoria]

Dinosaurs.

[Niclas]

Man I hate the taste of my foot.

[Aeon221]

You guys are all wrong. The answer is judge floro.

[krayzkrok]

Game developers and industry folks need an intelligent and mature outlet for their interests, and it seems that QT3 is one of the few remaining bastions of intelligent life in the industry. I'm not sure what I find so enthralling about this place, but maybe the intelligence:madness ratio appeals to me. Either that, or I can't wait to see the next mis-spelling of my QT3 name.

[TurinTur]

I came only for the Space Rangers 2 FAQ, and stayed because it seemed a very good, mature gaming forum (the Fallout 3 thread kind of burst that bubble, but it is still an above average forum).

[Timemaster Tim]

A forum's quality is based on the quality of the posters. The Entity has managed to assemble a group of mature intelligent posters. With the lack of avatars and sigs, there is a lack of the "look at me" bits that seem to attract the posters who provide content-free posting found on some forums.

With the posts generally lacking a lot of nonsense, it goes against the norms to post nonsense, so it just usually doesn't happen. Sure we get lolcats posted. But it generally gets kept to its own thread and doesn't get done to death in the regular threads.

[Post-It]

I came only for the Space Rangers 2 FAQ, and stayed because it seemed a very good, mature gaming forum (the Fallout 3 thread kind of burst that bubble, but it is still an above average forum).

It's a honeypot trap for all the crazies. That way they stay in there and don't mess up the rest of the board. Don't tell them.

[Hans Lauring]

While no industry insider or anything fancy like that, I came here because I mentioned somewhere else, that I'd just gotten a new magazine gig and I would actually be paid to occassionally write about games. Another poster - an honest to God industry insider, who doesn't post here often - pointed me towards QT3 because I'd meet likeminded people in similar positions.

But I'm really here to read about that CrazyKroc and his cool pets in the backyard* (and I'm so taking you up on that croc-diving offer next time I'm in Oz)





*between Crayzkrock and JPinard I'm suffering a severe yard envy...

[tylertoo]

Originally it was sort of a secret type forum, spread by word of mouth, among people in the industry.

Then uh, well, it got known.

It got known to me and perhaps others not in the industry in 2006, when Qt3 "sponsored" Brad Wardell's now-defunct tech biz podcast Poweruser.tv (http://www.poweruser.tv/). Tom C. was a regular for a while and talked gaming.

[Warren]

Man I *MISS* Poweruser. Was my FAVORITE podcast. And they had an IRC room that was just fun to hang out in. It was the closest thing to 'live' QT3.

[Robert Sharp]

Game developers and industry folks need an intelligent and mature outlet for their interests, and it seems that QT3 is one of the few remaining bastions of intelligent life in the industry. I'm not sure what I find so enthralling about this place, but maybe the intelligence:madness ratio appeals to me. Either that, or I can't wait to see the next mis-spelling of my QT3 name.

You'll always be krazykrok to me!

[Alan Dunkin]

Jeez I don't even remember how I got to QT3, though it was a long-ass time ago. I'm pretty sure it must have been off of Usenet at some point in time. Pretty much stayed (with some prolonged absences admittedly) because you took the best parts of the Usenet discussions in a slightly more moderated environment, plus a lot of Usenet folks came and you kind of knew most of everyone anyway (in one way or another). Because journo types and some devs were on Usenet as well, the migration was natural.

--- Alan

[DennyA]

Qt3 has been around longer than "since 2002." I vaguely remember heading to the old blue boards to see how others were reacting to the insanity of 9/11. I'd already settled on it as my one-and-only gaming forum even then.

The board was started in late 2000 by the dynamic duo of Chick & Asher. Back when Asher was a computer gamer instead of an MMORPG-head. :)

[fuzzyslug]

Hold on. Game developers post here? Whoa!

[Wobbo]

No pictures, or signatures = victory.

[Kunikos]

There are pictures, just no smileys, avatars, or sigs.

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/mattdkerr/16698-noscale-ENGRISH-TOKYO-GAME-SH.jpg

[Wobbo]

Yes, but even there people don't abuse them in every thread.

[Supper's Ready]

The board was started in late 2000 by the dynamic duo of Chick & Asher.
I remember that time. I also vaguely recall the time Asher left game journalism due to some kind of conflict of interest thing.

The forum was different then. And Shoot Club was a pleasant discovery. But I only rarely visited the forums themselves in 2000 and never bothered to register. I must have been one of those 5 people who actually visited the site ... for the site.

Eventually I've completely forgotten about the place, some time after Asher left and stopped visiting entirely. It may have been Shoot Club ending that finally did it. Then some years later, on a whim while going through old bookmarks I was surprised not only to find the site still there, but also a very active and surprisingly high quality forum.
About a year later I registered. But funny enough, it took a while for me to clue in that people like Brad Wardell (who's columns I used to read on Adrenaline Vault ages ago) or Deslock actually are those people, and not random internet nicknames.

Upon said realization I said "hey, cool". Can't really get star-struck after watching someone post for over a year. I know some people are still awed that there's this place on the 'net where game developers and famous "personalities" post, but somehow to me now it seems perfectly normal and ordinary for there to be a gathering place where "the devs" are treated (almost) like any other poster. I hope this atmosphere lives on.

[Alan Dunkin]

Asher was doing work for Phil Steinmeyer IIRC (back when PopTop was still an independent).

--- Alan

[Octonoo]

I am not trying to be "funny," but this is absolutely the ridiculous truth.

I was in a nostalgic mood one evening and I did an online search for "three quarter arcade games" and discovered this site on one of the result links. I remember the 75 cents per play Dragon's Lair when it first appeared at my local arcade and I was trying to see if it was the first coin-op to ever charge three quarters.

I registered here out of curiosity and chose my username based on a character from a book I was reading at the time:

Octonoo? You who used to lead in choruses of majestic harmonies now hawking despair in your pitiful voice, despair meant only to bring others pain. Have you no conscience? Is there nothing in you that calls out for the Circle of Light? Do you not miss bathing in the warmth of His love? Or have you so soon forgotten? I used to envy your melodies, Octonoo. I used to marvel at the complexities of your arrangements, being limited myself to offer a token of the gift you had. I used to envy your ability to praise the Mighty One with such rapture. Now I envy you not. You have turned your celestial choruses into the mere cackling of the damned. Oh, the pipes that formerly sung such harmonies now just whine in misery. Yes Octonoo, we miss you in the Circle of Light, but will truth ever find a place in your breast and will you ever admit how much you miss us?

I received this email from Tom:

Switched on! You're all set now.

-Tom

My role in the game industry is "Mid-Career Consumer." It is a very important position.

In conclusion, I feel that I am part of the cause of the so-called "QT3 is going downhill" mood that several (perhaps many) true QT3 veterens seem to feel nowadays.

I apologize and I hope Civilization V combines Civilization and Alpha Centauri into one game.

- Octonoo

[Tortilla]

In conclusion, I feel that I am part of the cause of the so-called "QT3 is going downhill" mood that several (perhaps many) true QT3 veterens seem to feel nowadays.

Don't sweat it, old people always go on about how things were better in the old days.

[forgeforsaken]

In conclusion, I feel that I am part of the cause of the so-called "QT3 is going downhill" mood that several (perhaps many) true QT3 veterens seem to feel nowadays.


Your post count is way too low for that.

Also, what is with the Rise of the Lurkers. I swear over the past few months I've seen a lot of posts by people who have been registered for years and years with really low post counts. Just wondering what kicked it off.

[Kalle]

Does anyone know what Mark Asher is doing now? I'm kinda curious since he just seemed to disappear and if it hadn't been for him and his stalwart defense of Flying Heroes on Usenet I probably wouldn't be here to begin with.

[Kalle]

12345

[Tortilla]

Your post count is way too low for that.

Also, what is with the Rise of the Lurkers. I swear over the past few months I've seen a lot of posts by people who have been registered for years and years with really low post counts. Just wondering what kicked it off.

I would guess it was the day Tom got fed up and clicked "approve all" to all outstanding membership requests.

[forgeforsaken]

I would guess it was the day Tom got fed up and clicked "approve all" to all outstanding membership requests.

Nah these are lurkers who had their accounts created years ago, with posts, just very low numbers.

[Harkonis]

I've always blamed it on forgeforsaken, perhaps i was mistaken. ;)

[AndrewM]

Nah these are lurkers who had their accounts created years ago, with posts, just very low numbers.

I think account creation occurs the moment they sign up, not when Tom approves them for posting.

[Niclas]

I think account creation occurs the moment they sign up, not when Tom approves them for posting.
You create your account prior to getting approved, yes.

[Fersis]

I think that my approval took like one month.
Im a game programmer, but not a AAA game programmer.

[Jupiter Jones]

Your post count is way too low for that.

Also, what is with the Rise of the Lurkers. I swear over the past few months I've seen a lot of posts by people who have been registered for years and years with really low post counts. Just wondering what kicked it off.

You know, it takes a lot of effort to sit back and read 99% of the time, while crafting the lone idiotic post that will be ignored by everyone else with silent scorn, and many of us have just not had the time for it in recent months. Thank the Lord for the recent economic down-turn as we are making a come-back.

[Robert Sharp]

I'm silently scorning you right now.

[Lynxara]

No pictures, or signatures = victory.

This is 100% why I annoyed a co-worker to get me registered back in the day. I really hate forums where every user feels the need to express him/herself by posting giant user and sig images with every post, including the ones that contain exactly one sentence.

[Supper's Ready]

This is 100% why I annoyed a co-worker to get me registered back in the day. I really hate forums where every user feels the need to express him/herself by posting giant user and sig images with every post, including the ones that contain exactly one sentence.
Could be worse. It could be a giant signature and an animated avatar following precisely one word. Which more often than not is usually something like "lol", "OP" or "ghey". And for best effect, such posts are repeated in the thread over and over again, to the point where as you scroll through it you see no text but just a blur of images.

[Lynxara]

Could be worse. It could be a giant signature and an animated avatar following precisely one word. Which more often than not is usually something like "lol", "OP" or "ghey". And for best effect, such posts are repeated in the thread over and over again, to the point where as you scroll through it you see no text but just a blur of images.

It's like a vision of hell.

[Kunikos]

Does anyone know what Mark Asher is doing now? I'm kinda curious since he just seemed to disappear and if it hadn't been for him and his stalwart defense of Flying Heroes on Usenet I probably wouldn't be here to begin with.

WoW ate his balls.

[Niclas]

I like avatar solely for the reason that it makes it easier to remember people. But perish the thought of dynamic or gigantic smilies - just minor pictorial symbols to associate with the name.

NeoGAF as worst case scenario of avatar use.

J

[fuzzyslug]

I'm silently scorning you right now.

Shhhh.

[intruder]

I found out about QT3 while reading OO.
There often someone refered to something he / she posted on "the other site" or "QT3" and one day I decided to check that "other site" out.

[Brad Wardell]

I came here because Tom Chick and Mark Asher are my friends and I like hanging out on their site.

I think over time Qt3 has gotten a critical mass of like minded people. One of the things I think they did that was smart is that it's not open joining.

[MindToyGames]

Heard about this site on Usenet, and came over to check it out. Been ever since (in bits and spurts). Frequent lurker though.

[Kalle]

One of the things I think they did that was smart is that it's not open joining.

Well, it used to be. Clearly Tom has only grown smarter with age.

[fuzzyslug]

One of the things I think they did that was smart is that it's not open joining.

Amen. Unmoderated forums suck.

[Problematique]

Amen. Unmoderated forums suck.


So true.