Merge iPhone and iPad main forums to just have "iOS Games"?

Discussion in 'Site Feedback and News' started by DemonJim, Oct 13, 2012.

  1. DemonJim

    DemonJim Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2010
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    #1 DemonJim, Oct 13, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 13, 2012
    I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this or even suggest it, but I think it would be much better if the main site games forums were organised into just "iOS App Store Games" and "Mac App Store Games" main categories, ie. don't have separate iPhone/iPod and iPad main game forums. My points for this are:

    1. Currently a universal game has to reside in the iPhone/iPod forum. This means people looking only for iPad games won't ever see discussions about the game.
    2. The platform is iOS. Main categories should be platform.
    3. Even a game that has separate iPhone and iPad versions (and therefore two threads) would benefit from having a single common discussion thread.
    4. Whether the game is Universal or just iPhone/iPod or just iPad should be marked in the thread title in a consistent, common way (I suggest always using square brackets [Universal], [iPhone/iPod] or [iPad])
    5. Everyone is familiar with the term iOS now

    Naturally the separated 'Upcoming' forums can be merged into just one "Upcoming iOS Games" thread too.

    Oh, and the "iPhone and iPod touch Developers" forum should be renamed to "iOS Developers". Thankyouplease. ;-)

    * Yes you could create two threads for the game, and I did that for my game and I'm sure lots of people do, but my iPad forum thread was shut down by a mod. Makes sense having one thread so I'm not complaining, but point 1 above is a real issue.
     
  2. JBRUU

    JBRUU Well-Known Member

    May 9, 2012
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    Makes sense. Just be sure to clearly specify in the title if the game is iPad exclusive.
     
  3. Royce

    Royce Well-Known Member

    Mar 22, 2011
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    I've thought for a while that there should be a main games forum with universal games, and subforums for iPhone only and iPad only.
     
  4. defred34

    defred34 Well-Known Member

    Aug 27, 2012
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    ^This.

    Having a main forum for universal games makes much sense because I'd reckon >85% of games on the Appstore are universal. Then have two subforums - for iPhone games and for iPad games only respectively.

    If a game has both SD and HD versions, it is to be posted on the Universal thread, but clearly marked with [SD/HD].

    Time to refresh the forums anyway. This is running on an ancient version of vBulletin too. A lot of the forums seem to emphasize iPhone/iPod Touch as well, leaving the iPad in the cold because when the forums were set up, the iPad was not present.
     
  5. DemonJim

    DemonJim Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2010
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    #5 DemonJim, Oct 15, 2012
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2012
    Glad to see there are people with me on this! :)

    If merging ia unfeasible or TA don't like the idea, I suggest at least the forums are renamed to reflect what they are for, so:

    "iPhone and iPod touch Games" could be renamed to something like:
    "iPhone iPod touch and Universal Games", or just:
    "iOS App Store Games"​

    And "iPad Games" renamed to:
    "iPad-Only Games", or
    "iPad Exclusive Games"​

    This iPad forum renaming of course presumes there are new forum rules that say all SD/HD-split apps go in the main "iOS Games" forum. This way all games only ever have one game thread each.
     
  6. bladko

    bladko Well-Known Member

    Jul 6, 2012
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    why not option to show or post particular new thread automatically in the second forum ?

    there are still many apps for one platform
     
  7. Mirkwood

    Mirkwood Well-Known Member

    Sep 30, 2012
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    Completely agree.

    I only play iPad games, and it took me weeks to realize that there was so much universal game discussion happening in the iphone/touch forum.

    Should also merge the "upcoming" forums to be "upcoming iOS"
     
  8. lord-sam

    lord-sam Well-Known Member

    Feb 25, 2009
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    Yeah, honestly, since I got my iPad in March, I've probably looked at the ipad games section twice! I just naturally gravitate toward the iPhone section.
     
  9. Well, that is true for me too, but you know what? If all universal games were put into the ipad section, and the iphone section was iphone only, I would never look at the iphone section. Cause I never buy iphone only apps anymore.

    But I would be for just one forum having notes in the threads to indicate what they were. Currently the ipad section is unfairly neglected, but who knows maybe it will change in the future.
     
  10. Wikilix

    Wikilix Well-Known Member

    Nov 20, 2011
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    I'd love if iPhone/iPod Touch Games & iPad games merged into one category under the name iOS Games & Upcoming iOS games
     
  11. Allanon

    Allanon Well-Known Member

    Dec 10, 2011
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    I concur, merge all iOS games into one forum
     
  12. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    I'm glad its split the way it is at the moment. I have an ipad but i'm not keen on ipad only games so i tend to stay with the iphone/ipod touch games section.

    I wouldnt want them merged, works well as it is
     
  13. Royce

    Royce Well-Known Member

    Mar 22, 2011
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    What about my proposal? Universal apps in the main forum, and iPhone and iPad only in their own respective subforums? You wouldn't see iPad only (or iPhone one which I can't imagine any iPad owner being interested in :p ).
     
  14. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

    Dec 4, 2010
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    I think merging the two is a good idea. Maybe there'd be a way to designate the device limitations by labelling games with an icon. With devices like iPad Mini and longer iPod/iPhone 5 it further blurs the line between hardware.
     
  15. Echoseven

    Echoseven Moderator
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    Jul 19, 2011
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    You know, after a lot of thought, I think it's fine the way it is. We have a main forum for iPhone and Universal games, and a separate one for the iPad. I don't really see a reason to combine the two, since it would lead to a whole lot of confusion over iPad-only games. I KNOW there will be many posts saying "iPad only? Awwww" on most of the iPad threads.

    As it is, games that have separate HD/SD versions, the SD is mentioned in the first post, with the HD version linked right next to it. (or that's the convention I try to follow). This way the discussion still stays in the one thread.

    As for the Upcoming, that's a bit of a mess at the moment with some developers posting games in both forums. If anything, I would fully support a merger of the Upcoming iPad and iPhone forums, but leaving the iPhone and iPad Games as they are is the better solution, imo.
     
  16. Royce

    Royce Well-Known Member

    Mar 22, 2011
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    That's why iPad only games wouldn't go there. They'd go in an iPad only subforum. The current system is broken and confusing. There is an iPad games forum, but over 90% of game's that run natively on iPad are in a forum called iPhone and iPod touch games. People are always misposting for this reason, creating multiple threads for universal games, etc.
     
  17. arn

    arn Administrator
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    it's not a bad idea given the number of universal games.

    there may be a system that will help, like thread prefixes

    arn
     
  18. RaptorF35

    RaptorF35 Well-Known Member

    Feb 10, 2010
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    Or, if it's possible, you could duplicate the universal games in both spots, and leave the iPad/iPhone games where they are.
     
  19. DemonJim

    DemonJim Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2010
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    Great stuff renaming the Game Developer forums (even better than what I suggested as of course it also includes Mac App Store devs)

    Have to say though that "iPad and iPad mini Games" is a bit superfluous as an iPad mini is just an iPad so it should just be "iPad Games". Mainly because we don't call the other one "iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S and... Games"!

    I would really like the main forum title to include the word "Universal" though as this was the sole reason for starting this thread - the main point was many iPad owners who aren't fully familiar with TA won't ever look in the iPhone/iPod forum and so will miss out on loads of Universal app thread goodness. (OR of course, better still, the forums could just both be merged... ;) )
     
  20. Greyskull

    Greyskull Well-Known Member

    Dec 13, 2009
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    Well, I've downloaded ipad apps that have later been converted to be Universal.

    So I do like seeing what is new on the iPad.
     

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