There is apparently something very wrong with this forum. When people talk about "the x wing community" they don't mean here.

Where does this community actually happen? Is it the Reddit page? Or I have to presume something like a Facebook group?

Over the years I've heard people comment about the forum and how its mostly people that complain about the game but don't play it much. I've recently heard another comment where someone mentioned involving the community for some ideas and the response was (possibly jokingly) " well yes but...not the forum".

But then it occurred to me. That really this place isn't used by the ...er..mainstream x wing community.

With some rare exceptions the only podcasters that post anything here is by accounts with very very few posts and all they do is pop in occasionally to sell the next episode.

The more competitive players who we all know there names because they are in all the videos....are largely absent here.

So, this forum is really a conglomerate of ....what? What are we here? We don't even know what we're doing here.were wasting our time.(Luke Skywalker sulk)

But what I'm wondering is where is this actual community at? Evidence shows and opinions are such that it's not this forum. But where then?

I'm just a fuzzy bot.

I think there are people here that do post good stuff. I've seen many of them fad in the recent years, but I still think this is a community. There are people here who I trust their opinion. There are people here who I know to ignore. I've seen lots of great advice be given out to people that need it and have been on that receiving end, too. I'd say that this place has it's ups and downs, but once you learn to sort through the noise to find what you want that it's a good place.

Is there one community? I don't think so. I've looked at reddit and it's all hard core tournament people. I don't bother reading there at all. I know lots of local groups have their own FB page or something similar. I know lots of the people who play high level games all know each other and just email each other all the time. I don't think there really is any central place that can claim "the community" title.

The community is everywhere and nowhere. The community is all around you.

And who said there was only one?

It's here, it's on Facebook, it's on Reddit, it's on SomethingAwful, it's on BGG, it's on various blogging sites, it's in a whole mess of places (and a lot of people post in a broad range of those simultaneously), and an awful lot of it is in person at local clubs and at tournaments.

20 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

It's here, it's on Facebook, it's on Reddit, it's on SomethingAwful, it's on BGG, it's on various blogging sites, it's in a whole mess of places (and a lot of people post in a broad range of those simultaneously), and an awful lot of it is in person at local clubs and at tournaments.

and don't forget Vassal!

And TTS for that matter.

The most important community at the end of the day are the people we play with. That can be VASSAL (which has an amazing community), but for most of us it is the local folks.

Here's my personal take:

Vassal servers themselves: lots of friendly and recurring faces, plenty of new, unfamiliar ones. Shooting the scheisse with some people and watching games is always fun if you don't have time for a game yourself.

Vassal league slack channel: amazing, upbeat and very easy to coordinate anything you can think of

Reddit: very active, on top of every news that happens, lots of tinkerers who show off their great creations, a great level of discourse and respect most of the time. This is what the FFG forums should aspire to be IMHO.

FFG Forums: I've always found it to be too big for its own good and unfortunately for me, its toxic flippant atmosphere outweighs the few gems that can be found here. I only keep to certain threads and don't bother with the rest. This is not a new impression for me, I've been thinking this since at least early 2015.

Local facebook groups: Nova, Vassal&UK, my own group based around Quebec City, painting & mods, NA trade, are all fine spots respectful of people asking about rules, showing off stuff, organizing games, trading ideas, etc.

The community is what gives a player their power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

12 minutes ago, Mu0n729 said:

FFG Forums: I've always found it to be too big for its own good and unfortunately for me, its toxic flippant atmosphere outweighs the few gems that can be found here. I only keep to certain threads and don't bother with the rest. This is not a new impression for me, I've been thinking this since at least early 2015.

It's true for me too. The longer I've stuck around here, the far less often I post. I'm equally selective as to which threads I even read now too. When it's another "OMG NERF!" or "FFG SUCKS" or whatever, I know I can skip right over it.

The community is where you build it.

For me, on the days/weeks when playing can't happen, I tend to be here a couple times a day. If I was able to play every day... then yeah, I'd not be here

13 minutes ago, Smutpedler said:

The community is where you build it.

Listen to the Smut he's peddling....

sorry, couldn't resist. I'll see myself out now

I have made a good number of friends from this forum. I would say this is my community along with Facebook groups and my local store. Maybe that's 3 overlapping sets or just 1 big family. I know a forum can hold a bunch of jerks but the people here for the most part are ok in my book, we might get into a heated debate over something stupid but I do that with my wife. Other than a physical manifestation I don't see this much different as family.

2 hours ago, Velvetelvis said:

But then it occurred to me. That really this place isn't used by the ...er..mainstream x wing community.

With some rare exceptions the only podcasters that post anything here is by accounts with very very few posts and all they do is pop in occasionally to sell the next episode.

The more competitive players who we all know there names because they are in all the videos....are largely absent here.

I didn't know you had to be a podcaster to be good at this game. These forums have many store champs & regional winners/multiple top 8 finishers giving out advice. You just have to know who to filter out.

Also, newer players will mostly find themselves here since its the name of the company on the box they just bought so relative content in todays meta could be diluted with new players asking questions about Expose and Marksmanship.

It's a shmorgishborg of Xwing here, and some people want just straight up competitive meta talk so they go other places.

2 hours ago, Velvetelvis said:

There is apparently something very wrong with this forum. When people talk about "the x wing community" they don't mean here.

Where does this community actually happen? Is it the Reddit page? Or I have to presume something like a Facebook group?

Over the years I've heard people comment about the forum and how its mostly people that complain about the game but don't play it much. I've recently heard another comment where someone mentioned involving the community for some ideas and the response was (possibly jokingly) " well yes but...not the forum".

But then it occurred to me. That really this place isn't used by the ...er..mainstream x wing community.

With some rare exceptions the only podcasters that post anything here is by accounts with very very few posts and all they do is pop in occasionally to sell the next episode.

The more competitive players who we all know there names because they are in all the videos....are largely absent here.

So, this forum is really a conglomerate of ....what? What are we here? We don't even know what we're doing here.were wasting our time.(Luke Skywalker sulk)

But what I'm wondering is where is this actual community at? Evidence shows and opinions are such that it's not this forum. But where then?

A lot depends on how community is defined. A lot depends on what you need to get out of the community. IMHO, these forums provide the mainstream players the electronic equivalent of the neighborhood bar or local coffee house. And by mainstream players I mean mostly casual players. Not the hyper competitive, traveling to tournaments, always on Vassal players. They come for information, to share ideas, stories and mods. Yes you get the tweakers (fix this), whiners (nerf that) and you have the occasional Cliff. (Referencing Cheers) but on the whole it's just people that like to talk about X-wing.

For me, this is the place to come to ask about rules and play mechanics. There are some very knowledgeable and experienced players here that have patiently explained some cards and interactions to me. I know that process wasn't easy or painless.

The Paint and Mod forum is fantastic! The talent of some of these guys and girls is head shakingly good! I'm long past being able to deal with tiny bits like they do but I still enjoy reading how it it's done.

The forum for squad builds is very interesting! There are some really evil minds putting combos together! Things that I would never have considered being effective turn out to be borderline OP. A great source of ideas.

Finally the Bat Reps. Interesting to say the least. Some of these guys should be writing books. How they relate details of the game makes you feel like you were there.

I guess in the end community can be defined by what you get out of it as well as what you put into it.

1 hour ago, rubberduck said:

The community is what gives a player their power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. ... never seen anything to make me believe there's one all - powerful Community controlling everything.

1 hour ago, rubberduck said:

The community is what gives a player their power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

6 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. ... never seen anything to make me believe there's one all - powerful Community controlling everything.

I felt a great disturbance in the Community, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened...

2 hours ago, rubberduck said:

The community is what gives a player their power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

21 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. ... never seen anything to make me believe there's one all - powerful Community controlling everything.

10 minutes ago, E Chu Ta said:

I felt a great disturbance in the Community, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened...

The ability to nerf a planet is insignifigant next to the power of the Community

4 hours ago, heychadwick said:

I think there are people here that do post good stuff. I've seen many of them fad in the recent years, but I still think this is a community. There are people here who I trust their opinion. There are people here who I know to ignore. I've seen lots of great advice be given out to people that need it and have been on that receiving end, too. I'd say that this place has it's ups and downs, but once you learn to sort through the noise to find what you want that it's a good place.

Is there one community? I don't think so. I've looked at reddit and it's all hard core tournament people. I don't bother reading there at all. I know lots of local groups have their own FB page or something similar. I know lots of the people who play high level games all know each other and just email each other all the time. I don't think there really is any central place that can claim "the community" title.

On the subject of reddit, it's not all tournament focused - in the top 10 or so posts right now, there's 3 tournament/nerf/worlds threads. Contrast that to a post about repaints, 4oth anniversary, a custom expansion, list critique, FFA variant, getting luke back on the table... (that said, PGS has moved over there so...)

On the subject of community, I'd say the FFG forums are not the community - I see a lot more complaining here than any other places - reddit, IRL, facebook, slack, vassal are all more chill.

Never played, never will. People have had enough of experts.

11 minutes ago, ThalanirIII said:

On the subject of reddit, it's not all tournament focused - in the top 10 or so posts right now, there's 3 tournament/nerf/worlds threads. Contrast that to a post about repaints, 4oth anniversary, a custom expansion, list critique, FFA variant, getting luke back on the table... (that said, PGS has moved over there so...)

On the subject of community, I'd say the FFG forums are not the community - I see a lot more complaining here than any other places - reddit, IRL, facebook, slack, vassal are all more chill.

Are you sure he is not still here? I saw an identical thread started over there and here on the same day.

5 hours ago, Velvetelvis said:

There is apparently something very wrong with this forum. When people talk about "the x wing community" they don't mean here.

Right, but when people talk about "the nerf community", they do mean here.

I would think that the X-Wing community is the 'at large' community. It is the game that brings us together. It isn't a single web site, pod cast, forum, Facebook or reddit. The community is the group of people that play, and sometimes, enjoys X-Wing.

Many gather at different locations, some have different likes concerning the game as well and that is one of the things about X-Wing. You may enjoy Squad Building without ever actually playing. Perhaps it is casual with little or no upgrades at all. Or netlist or tournament scene. Because of the depth and complexity of X-Wing there are many different ways and combinations of way to enjoy the game. And others just be cause its Star Wars and that is cool enough to collect.

So, to me, we are a community/group not defined by location, web or internet forum, it's just that we like Star Wars: X-Wing.