HTL After Extended Cut

This Tuesday brings a long hard battle to an end with the release of the Mass Effect Extended Cut DLC. It will then be time for the people who don't like it to boycott and those that do like it to celebrate. So what happens here?

Well I have a couple ideas.

Number one we should put the Mass effect threads under their own banner rather than having it be most of the thread links on our main forum page as Mass Effect would no longer be the focus.
Why would Mass Effect no longer be the focus? Because let's face it if the Extended Cut is bad (which it could be. I doubt it will be but it could be) this is going to be it.

I believe after Tuesday it is time for us to expand our focus to all games rather than focusing on Bioware alone.

I would like to see this place become an IGN for gamers. We should start having reviews of games and more over reviews of game companies. Propping up game companies and games that have the gamer in mind not just the profit, and letting people know what games and game companies are just out for money.

One day we could have a real influence in the gaming culture, and we wouldn't be bought and paid for like so many other gaming sites that exist.

Now it's not up to me it is really up to our leaders namely @Volion as he runs the site as far as I know.

Those are my ideas and my two cents.

Vega-Goose out

Heh I hope we don't become anything like IGN I know what you mean though and agree with the rest of what you said.

It would be nice to incorporate some kind of wiki for developers and publishers and populate it not with opinions, but with facts and articles. E.g. each developer page could have a list of vital statistics including who they are owned by, when they were formed, which games they have developed, important people (including community manager contact info), etc. and then a section with links to news articles about them. Each publisher page could have the same sort of information - which studios they own, which games they publish, etc.

A section for 'active campaigns' would be handy too. So if, e.g. (thinking about the gamers with disabilities thread) there's a campaign for fully customisable button mapping, then there's a mission statement for that campaign, some vital statistics, a section with relevant links as above, and a sub-forum for it.

Re reviews: functionality for a numerical out-of-ten score for each game would be great (which is aggregated on a game's main page). Perhaps developers and publishers get a 'gaming score' that is an aggregate of the games that they developed/published too? At the end of a campaign, a developer or publisher could be given a user score (or number of scores) as to how they dealt with the issues of that campaign as well. E.g. outcome/10, communication/10, attitude/10.

These are just some ideas and I'm not sure how hard it would be to implement them. I imagine developing the site to incorporate additional functionality isn't going to pay for itself either, so there should probably be a conversation about funding somewhere along the line. I'm not sure I can see HTL surviving long term without advertising (we don't have the scale that wikipedia has) but that presents a number of conflict of interest issues.

Well we look for advertisers where we can find them just because we take their money doesn't mean we have to become their puppet a lesson many sites could learn

I fully agree with this idea, I thought that RME-FB had a similar idea but since the whole FB-page lacks a administrator i find HTL better suited for the task

We should just say : "I want this place to be what should have been IGN"

I'm still drinking my first cup of coffee so I'm word-inept right now and will keep this brief: I like Vega-Goose's idea! Especially since I read the whole thing imagining a Krogan voice.
No, but seriously -- good idea.

This one I like HAHA

Other then the focus shifting away from Mass Effect and Bioware I don't expect much will change, people already are posting reviews in their blogs we just need a place to put them so that everyone can find them.

I like this idea, cause I would really love to carry the torch in fighting companies who threat their customers like nothing but bags of gold.

I fully agree with you all on this as long as I get to be a reviewer seeing as how communication is in my degree.

I think everyone that wants to and has the skill to do it should be reviewers.

Rather than having a set 'official HTL review' for any given game, I'd like to see a page for each game with access to reviews posted by whatever members wish to contribute, possibly with some sort of aggregate score. Not everyone values games for the same reasons, and not everyone will look at a given title the same way. If multiple reviews are posted for titles, we'll have access to all these varying opinions and be better able to judge based on the one that seems to best align with our personal preferences.

This.

Just reading a few pages about any given game will give someone a good idea on the general consensus. But it should be something that is available for all to contribute. That way, we don't have to worry about a single reviewer feeling his opinion lords over anyone else, much like some folks over at IGN.

Oh, I never thought you were suggesting anything contrary to what I hope for. I think it would be really awesome to have access to the resources you're compiling and it'll be great to have that added level of professionalism in this endeavor.

Hey there.

HTL is obviously linked with the Mass Effect universe. To leave Mass Effect completely behind might be a mistake, in my opinion. HTL could be a place for the Mass Effect fan community to express themselves about their continued passion for this series and their hopes for the future, in a positive light.
I know, there are many feelings up in the air because of, well, you know what. But one of the good things about HTL, when you look to other forums and sites out there, is that HTL was never a "hate group". It was a campaign that became emotional and even aggressive at times, but it was always motivated for our incredible love for this series. Are we/you ready to let go and leave it behind?... Do we really want that? Just raising the issue here.

On the other hand, I do believe that HTL could widen its scope into the world of gaming in general. A place promoted by gamers, completely independent, where you can voice your ideas, your concerns, your love for games, away from all the pressures of mainstream gaming media websites. One of the things that was brought to light by this movement is that, when the gamers opinions clash with the views of the gaming industry, mainstream journalism becomes a narrow window for the truth to come out. So yeah, maybe we do need a place like this that can become that open, unbiased forum for public opinion.