Game Domain Site Development

[bdog13]

Hi guys! I will pay 50 credits to ONE person if they join my site, help me with my site and give me some suggestions on how to make it better.

[Slothie]

Wow, you don't ask for a lot, do you? :P

[bdog13]

Okay let me rephrase that, I will pay 50 credits if someone tells me a few pointers on how to make a successful site. If its not just crap someone made up for 50 points I will pay the first GOOD pointers from 1 person only so pm me and If you have good pointers after I pm you back you will get 50 credits!

[Slothie]

Your 'site' as far as I can see, is just a forum.

You'll want the basic forum plugins like a quick reply, welcome box and whatnot as well as perhaps some SEO function.

There are other mods available that would make the forums more fun to be on, but overall good content would get people to stay more than 'fun' forums

[bdog13]

Credits sent. Would you mind telling me how to install the pluggins? And what do you mean by a "fun" forum what content would attract people?

[ralf smith]

They are not plugins. For phpbb, they are mods.

My tips from experience...

-Scrap phpbb2 and move to phpbb3
-Get a skin, free or custom.
-Where are your rules, announcements, etc? If a user can not see them within a few seconds, he will not look for them
-For each game, merge general and games chat. Too many empty forums are bad. Within a few months, I guaruntee you that 1/2 of the forums will be empty or only have 1 post
-Get your own logo, or at least get rid of the phpbb logo.
-If you get phpbb3, disable the use of the flash BBcode, make bbcodes for hr, center, and right align.
-If you get phpbb3 or stick with phpbb2, get some sort of karma/rep modification. That way, users have a reason to be nice.
-Offer something rare and/or unique.
-Make only a few moderators. Right now, only you and one other person should be it. To many makes people think that you will give out positions for free.
-Have some sort of (paid) contest, that gets people attention
-Make a few good posts yourself
-Quick reply is enough
-Any other small customizations (such as a profile field that lets users say what gaming systems they have, would be good. Possible in phpbb3 standard, and phpbb2 with a mod)
-Add an OTHER console section, for old consoles or barely used consoles