Just because you feel a certain way, doesn't make it true for everyone else.

I consider the forums a part of the community at large and a place to share info and discuss things. My local gaming groups are much more personal to deal with than most people here - largely because you don't know the person on the other side of the screen.

I contribute here and feel it's worthwhile. Sometimes there is negative feedback, but sometimes positive. There is a balance.

The last regional I attended felt very impersonal and there were some groups there that held themselves apart with a somewhat arrogant attitude toward people they didn't know. So I didn't feel a part of that community, but I still knew I was an Xwing player and part of a bigger whole. Finished Top 16 and a friend finished 2nd.

I prefer small events more than the bigger ones, because there is definitely more of a sense of a community, with people not so hung up on getting to win paper and plastic. My last tournament I took enough packs of Star Wars trading cards so that everyone who came got one. Everybody appreciated it and it made the event a little more fun, because people weren't hung up on the prizes from the OP kit so much.

A person who lives in NYC can come from different boroughs and be vastly different in their views and circumstances. But still, they're all New Yorkers.

Down here in the South - their is a vast difference in people from different states and cities, but we still cling to being Southern.

Why can't Xwing be the same? Different people, with different motivations and expectations, but we're all still here for Xwing.

The Community surrounds us, binds us...

That token, the dice, that card...

You, me, everyone.

~Yoda (edited/paraphrased)

At your local FGLS store, Well that is one part of it. Other parts are at regionals tournaments and even gencon and worlds and for the most part is a very good community for now, the dialgate issue brings up some problems that are to come with the ever growing popularity of the game. The podcasts are perhaps the most visible and vocal part of the community but a very small portion of the community. You also have the Vassal which brings X-wing online for those that have the misfortune of living in a remote place so they can't play on the table as often as the rest of us. I think there is a discord channel I need to try out somewhere.

Forums are just a small set that allows those from other FGLS to share ideas and opinions, same goes for Reddit. Difference is the forums are managed by FFG directly while Reddit is an independently managed board. There is also Board Game Geek with their forums, but that encompasses nearly every board game.

Well, as long as these forums remain nerf whine central, I only visit once every few weeks....

Unfortunately I have seen this many times before. It is a consequence of a game that becomes unbalanced, most often due to power creep, and this unbalance hampers creativity as a certain portion of the game pieces simply are too weak to be able to win against the new meta. This results some/a lot of players becoming frustrated and the frustration results in negative posts. There is also a decline in the "fun posts" like list buildings as way too many times those will end up in a simple "X will destroy you".

This is according to me a very important trend that the developers needs to keep an eye out for. Keeping the playing field reasonably even and diverse is the single most important key to the long term survivability of any game.