So every now and then i'll log into Vizzed to see that well basically nothing really changes that much except for their seeming to be less and less users active. 

Maybe i'm Just unlucky or maybe it's to do with the time difference but it really does seem that this place is slowly but surely just becoming a place were memories made. Don't misunderstand this isn't a typical "Vizzed is dying" thread., Because i don't have the information or the activity to suggest such a ludicrous statement.

I've not been posting actively for about a year now at least, and during that time i've met new friends, become great friends with some great twitch streamers, helped another friend with a youtube channel, and that's just the tip of the iceberg... 

So my question or i guess perhaps just curiosity is... What's happened in the last year?  

I'm simply asking because i don't want to make my assumptions vocal with some sort of actual active user input. 

The time difference does play a part. The East Coast is probably waking up by now, so 3/4 of our users are barely "alive" at these hours.

Vizzed is not dying. There was a time, many years in the past, where the board had several days without a single post, so the board isn't at its deadest ever. It's not at its peak either, but it's enough to keep going even if activity is on a downfall.

What has happened is mainly two things. The first is the so-known Nintendo incident one year ago, which was a heavy hit and made Vizzed lose a lot of traffic that hasn't yet been restablished. The influx of new users has also declined because of that, so if the active posters go away for a variety of reasons but have no actual replacement the downfall is bound to happen.

The second reason could probably be the instability of the staff. Not that long ago we had quite a solid team at all levels, but for the last year and a half it has become heavily unstable. We had a team of three Globals that lasted for several years, and in a year and a half we've seen like 5+ Globals coming in, with a few others out. The Local team has gone from 12 to 4 locals with ever changing numbers, and staff has declined to barely 15 members out of the +30 we used to have not long ago.

This instability greatly reflects how unstable the whole site is right now, and that's not of help. It will always be partially unstable because real life may get in the way of some users and take them away from here at bad timings, but the current instability is just too great. We're mostly relying in long lasting veterans instead of fresh blood, and that poses a risk.

There may be other factors, but I feel like those other factors are personal and differ from each user's point of view instead of these two which are as clear as water. The first fact will be hard to overcome, if we even manage to overcome it, and finding ways to overcome the second isn't easy either.

We're now in a period of drought, which comes after a lot of years of high activity levels. Everything in life goes like this as well, so all we can do now is have hopes that it will pick up in the (near) future. But I don't think this is the end of Vizzed, at most it's a time where maybe Vizzed must think of changing its ways. That's what I think that happened after the last drought, so probably we should go back in time and see what allowed things to pick up again so as to have a potential lead.

I'll take the other approach.

I believe Vizzed's activity to be in sharp decline, and I'm not sure it's going to kick out of it any time soon, if at all, at least regarding the boards.

If you need something to blame, it's the retention of newbies.

This past TDV was probably the most inactive one of all time. And despite that, it took like 28 days for a newbie to score a point in the TDV, which is so surreal, when you remember back during your heyday (and my own), that you'd have months where you had 5+ newbies each scoring 5+ points.

Newbies aren't sticking around, and neither are veteran members. I don't know why veteran members seem to be dropping off, but it feels like only the non-staff members are seeing this inactivity as a problem. I've yet to have a conversation with a staff member where the concerns aren't brushed aside, which also is a dramatic shift from how I'm used to things.

If you want the truth, and I hate to say this, I think it's just some elitist behavior, even if it's unintentionally elitist. Vizzed has always had that sort of streak, so it's nothing new, but now, newbies aren't really standing for it. Gone is the love between these new users and the site staff, gone is the feeling of warmth. All that you see on the boards anymore are conversations between roughly the same few people, and the occasional off-topic post.

I don't think time zones are as big a deal as Palen above seems to indicate. I live on the West Coast of the US, and also notice a huge lack of inactivity.

If Vizzed doesn't find a way to start retaining newbies again, at least with regards to the board, I think it's going to find itself deadening even further.

But what do I know, I'm only one of the members left out in the cold.

We aren't as stable as we have been for a few reasons. Too many newbies don't stick around, Nintendo nuked us twice and made us take down thousands of our games, old regulars lost interest in us, and school is also going on for most users. Hopefully the summer will bring us a ton more activity. Who knows? I hope this is just going to last a little bit, and we'll make it through alright.

Now there's a couple of replies let me just casually type some of my thoughts on what people have put


1) Nintendo games removed.

Naturally this might stop a few people from using the site anymore. It would also stop some possible new people from finding the site.. But i wouldn't put the decline of the site solely down to this either... I mean it was declining before i left.. so perhaps another nail to the coffin so to speak. 

2) General Staff stuff.

I could talk for days about this. Especially the elitist stuff but i won't. The fact there's a lot fewer staff than there used to be isn't precisely surprising with the lack of new members. After all staff are just here to contribute to the site in some way or form, and most people move on from that because quite honestly it's a thankless task sometimes, and they have to priortise their own lives first. 

3) The same old problems
New people not staying...  Lack of communication.... Tired and jaded users... it's pretty much the early indicators of a dead forum. Also i'm not sure if anyone else picked up on this but the only people to reply to this thread so far have been here for around 4 years or more... 


Final Verdict/reflection - It was fun lolz

It hasn´t been good.

For one thing I´m thinking of right now: Net Neutrality is being repealed within a few months, and the FCC refuses to listen to the public. This can cause Vizzed to shut down due to absurd costs set up by cable corporations.

Another thing: The U.S. Government. Absolutely backwards and with the worst administration of the century. The EPA is not allowed to talk to people, and several of its programs are being cut, and it could potentially close its doors for good, essentially allowing big oil to wreck up the enviroment until it´s raining acid and we´re breathing very toxic air. Also, more money will be spent on the military and defences rather than education and Healthcare, as if they put violence ahead of being smart.

Outside of that.... I´m still feeling lonely. I feel like each week that passes, we´re getting closer and closer to the End of the World. Playing old games only lets me think of positive things for a short time. How can I enjoy what I love doing when I know that the world is becoming worse and worse, with hippocrytical ideologies bossing people around, a foreign government that puts Cash & Capitalism ahead of everything else, a large chunk of modern games costing more than $110 dollars, and start-ups being forced to bow down to absurd demands.

What a terrible time to be alive...

TouchMaster97 :

Vizzed has been around since 2004.
Net Neutrality was officially enforced in 2015.

I am 100% we will still be fine even after Net Neutrality is repealed. 

Also, just pointing out, this thread is about what's going on with Vizzed's activity, not what's going on around the world... 

Anyways, about Vizzed's activity, I would put myself as responsible for the low activity we have cuz I'm not as active as I used to be. Yeah, I still log into this site daily, but... that's all I really do now. I don't post often anymore, and I sometimes don't even leave comments on other's profiles.

That may be what others are doing to. Just a thought.