Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Saeviomagy Jul 28, 2008 18:27:20	wizards.com has a big "gleemax announcement" that basically comes down to this: these forums are offline in september. It surprises me that there's not a discussion thread already. So - here it is. Important Edit: Reading the blog post that comprises the body of the announcement - the forums aren't specifically mentioned. But the post does say that gleemax will be totally shut down. So maybe no need to panic yet, but also a need for some information to fill the gap. Very Important Edit: A post by randyb on his blog states "The forums are alive and well, and maintenance of them will actually get more resources thanks to this decision. (They will probably migrate off of gleemax.com and back to wizards.com, but that's the only change I expect.)" So no need to panic at all!
#2 emwasick Jul 28, 2008 18:36:44	The announcement is here. Gleemax is getting the nuke, but it sounds like the forums will not be shut down. They may have a new URL, but that's about it. I expect the usual transition headache, of course ;)
#3 ostrakon Jul 28, 2008 18:39:51	I didn't read it as them shutting down the forums. I think they're just getting rid of the blogging aspects, and some of the other Gleemax features.
#4 Cpt_Micha Jul 28, 2008 20:01:44	The announcement is here. Gleemax is getting the nuke, but it sounds like the forums will not be shut down. They may have a new URL, but that's about it. I expect the usual transition headache, of course ;) I figured the forums were here to stay. This isn't Games Workshop after all :D
#5 Cpt_Micha Jul 28, 2008 20:10:15	Double post... gotta love this forum...
#6 Cpt_Micha Jul 28, 2008 20:17:20	triple post don't you just love this forum seriously.
#7 lord_karsus Jul 28, 2008 21:39:07	-The Gleemax stuff...That failed miserably...Meh.
#8 rictras_shard Jul 28, 2008 23:16:46	I figured the forums were here to stay. This isn't Games Workshop after all :D I figured the forums were here to stay. This isn't Games Workshop after all :D I didn't quite hear what you were saying. Could you tell me again? :P
#9 Cpt_Micha Jul 28, 2008 23:22:59	I didn't quite hear what you were saying. Could you tell me again? :P Stupid infernal forums *L*
#10 Belorin Jul 28, 2008 23:55:24	The correct strategy at this point is clear: we need to focus. We’re not going to abandon the vision, but we are going to put large chunks of it on the backburner until we prove that we can succeed at the most important pieces. Those pieces are Magic Online and D&D Insider. Magic Online “V3” is up and running, but it took us a long time to get here and it’s by no means perfect. We have a lot of ideas about what we can do now to make the game better and we’ll be devoting significant resources in future months and years to doing precisely that. D&D Insider functionality has started to roll out, but we’re still behind where we wanted to be. In the plus column, Dragon and Dungeon magazines have launched in their new online format, and they seem to be getting rave reviews. The Rules Compendium has also launched – it’s a searchable database that contains all the rules elements from all the 4th Edition books we publish. The magazines and the rules compendium are available now to anyone who signs up for a free trial of D&D Insider. Next up are improvements to those pieces plus beta-testing of the Character Builder, Character Visualizer, Dungeon Builder, and Game Table. Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave us with any bandwidth to devote to Gleemax right now. Wizards of the Coast remains committed to online community, but instead of trying to grow a new website for a brand-agnostic community, we need to focus on keeping our own house in order. We have the two best games in the world, and we need to take care of them before expanding into new digital arenas. So they knew that they didn't have enough bandwidth for Gleemax, DDi and the forums and tried to make it work anyway? Bel
#11 emwasick Jul 29, 2008 1:29:44	So they knew that they didn't have enough bandwidth for Gleemax, DDi and the forums and tried to make it work anyway? Bel The section you quoted seems to say the opposite of that. At some point, it became clear that the range of proposed services was too ambitious. I don't read anything that says they knowingly bit off more than they could chew.
#12 gabe1k_dup Jul 29, 2008 8:29:22	The Rules Compendium has also launched – it’s a searchable database that contains all the rules elements from all the 4th Edition books we publish. This coming from the Vice President of Digital Gaming. As far as I understood it was not a complete Rules compendium.
#13 cart_sprinter Jul 29, 2008 8:43:44	This coming from the Vice President of Digital Gaming. As far as I understood it was not a complete Rules compendium. In the interview with Chris Youngs, posted early June, addresses this already. As you notice the statement that you quoted says rules elements, not rules. From the transcript of the interview that I provided (mid-June): GZ: This is the rules compendium. CY: Right, well it doesn’t actually have the rules of the game in it, but it has all of the different rules elements, your feats, your races, your classes your powers. All of that stuff will be fully searchable. I bolded the parts that are important. As you can see rules elements refer to what is and can be found in the Rules Compendium, so there is nothing wrong with the statement you quoted.
#14 gabe1k_dup Jul 29, 2008 10:02:46	I bolded the parts that are important. As you can see rules elements refer to what is and can be found in the Rules Compendium, so there is nothing wrong with the statement you quoted. Thank you for pointing that out to me. So I guess it has all the rules elements from the DMG and MM now, like he says?
#15 dragom Jul 29, 2008 10:08:51	Thank you for pointing that out to me. So I guess it has all the rules elements from the DMG and MM now, like he says? Only one way to find out.
#16 elondir Jul 29, 2008 10:11:14	Sorry to be a meanie but I totally saw this coming back when I found out how poorly they were marketing it, and when I saw the green text and in-character rambling. Okay, maybe it's just not my demographic, but overall it seemed kind of unprofessional. Hopefully this transition of resources will greatly improve the quality of DDI, especially in getting Dragon and Dungeon back up to their Paizo-era quality, and hopefully we'll still have a forum here. If you try to build a plastic model of a battleship all at once, you get leaning masts, guns that are all gooey, glue fingerprints on the hull, and it doesn't turn out well at all. But if you take your time, you can make it look wonderful.