What do Do?
Apr. 21st, 2009 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kialio...since there's much ado about gaming.
Some of you may remember a website project I embarked on last summer. It was a thrilling adventure which turned into way too much for me to tackle. Also I believe it suffered from a very ill-chosen location.
_Chromatic Gamers Network_
It was a fun site to put together and run, till I began chasing my own tail for content. In truth I began neglecting the "network" part in latching my attention on to the "gamers" part.
Gamers of Color covers the vitriol, victory, and virtuosity that comes from being a PoC gamer. For CGN, rather, I'd like a who's-playing-what and who's-looking-for-others-to-play-with purpose. The journal model doesn't seem to be well suited to that sort of thing unfortunately. Though I wasn't thrilled with trying to divert attention towards the multi-purpose Ning platform.
Maybe I'm missing something about the journal model? I've seen it work in other connection-communities. Yet those journals have hundreds, if not thousands, of members. CGN in journal mode would be by invite only and feature member-locked entries. Pretty much the same as Mordor.
Some of you may remember a website project I embarked on last summer. It was a thrilling adventure which turned into way too much for me to tackle. Also I believe it suffered from a very ill-chosen location.
_Chromatic Gamers Network_
It was a fun site to put together and run, till I began chasing my own tail for content. In truth I began neglecting the "network" part in latching my attention on to the "gamers" part.
Gamers of Color covers the vitriol, victory, and virtuosity that comes from being a PoC gamer. For CGN, rather, I'd like a who's-playing-what and who's-looking-for-others-to-play-with purpose. The journal model doesn't seem to be well suited to that sort of thing unfortunately. Though I wasn't thrilled with trying to divert attention towards the multi-purpose Ning platform.
Maybe I'm missing something about the journal model? I've seen it work in other connection-communities. Yet those journals have hundreds, if not thousands, of members. CGN in journal mode would be by invite only and feature member-locked entries. Pretty much the same as Mordor.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-22 03:14 am (UTC)One is that gamers of color, generally either isolate as tokens in white groups (often with appropriate internalized values to go with that, including avoiding other POC...) or else form their own groups which isolate from greater gamer-dom.
Second is how well a new network can tap into existing ones to promote itself. For example, I've tried to start a gamers of color online network a few years back and it failed. The LJ one works because I'm part of a few POC safe spaces that work as networks which made it easier to get the critical mass going.
Ning hasn't really developed cross connectivity between networks and so, is harder to promote.
If you want it as a meet-up thing, you could even do something as open as a Facebook group- since everyone would be meeting and forming their own groups in person, they can do their own process of elimination.
The biggest problem of all online groups is the level of policing- the bigger the network, the more policing it will require. I both look forward to, and fear the day when gamers of color reaches the point where I need to start adding co-mods to keep it running.
We could also consider hi-jacking a current gamer-meet-up site, such as nerdnyc.com, nearbygamers, etc. by adding a codeword "GOC" etc. This lets us use a network already present, and the only difficulty comes in spreading the use of the tag for others to identify.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-22 06:19 am (UTC)The journal thing was being tossed up because we have a small but eager group right here as you've said. I don't want to move them very far from what's familiar, but the journal format is limiting.
I worry about griefing with using someone else's meet-up site. Dunno, I need to kick it around some more.
Policing doesn't worry me so much as getting this off the ground. Which I kind of sort of did before, but then waylaid myself by being too concerned about content.