Do you have suggestions to increase activity on Gametabs?

[hashel]

Hey guys!

Wanted to start this topic to gather some opinions about how to increase the community life on gametabs.
Now that the website has been stabilized and that we do not fear the spam bots ruining the server again

For now, @Avaruussaha is dealing with the original tune contest, which is a long Gametabs tradition, and he is doing a great job at it, and we are trying to share it outside to bring some new people.

I also hope with the "old tab submission" system back that more ppl will start to make tabs again.

If some of you make recordings, even if it's not top quality, don't hesitate to submit those too to make that section live and leave comments and ratings on other people's entries =)

We do have a facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/gametabs.net/) that i mostly use to advertise the contests and the Pixel Mixers album release (for the ones who do not know, Pixel Mixers is a VGM community that was created with bunch of gametabs members when we had to "move away" because of the website being down all the time).
So maybe if you have some nice idea of how i could use the FB page to motivate more ppl to join or participate to Gametabs community life, let me know

Once upon a time i started organizing VGM Tribute albums on here, it worked kinda well (we did FFVII, Zelda, NES, Boss Battle Themes and FFVIII). I do not feel like doing it again (cause i already do it for Pixel Mixers) but if someone would like to do it, and try to make a new "Gametabs Tribute Album" i'll do my best to help!

We also had Cover/Arrangements contests every month at some point, with a different theme, that could be an idea!

I'm also open to any other proposition.

We do not have a twitter account, might be worth to try to create one, we could use it to share the new tabs and some news, what do you think?

Anyway, hope that some of you will have some cool ideas =)

[BigHeadClan]

Aye I hear ya, I've been swamped in real life the past 10-12 months, was really hoping to sit down and spend some more time with guitar and the site. Alas car accident in March has me in the red and I'm working 60 hours on a week just to keep the lights on and my skinny butt fed. lol

I've been name dropping the site and Pixel mixers as a way to try and direct some traffic here.
Perhaps we see about incorporating a guitar pro, or Midi section to help attract others.

[hashel]

What do you mean? We already use guitar pro files in the tabs (some of us)

[BigHeadClan]

I mean to have a dedicated section for GP formatted arrangements, the only way you know about GP songs being included in the tabs is if you download them which I imagine relatively few people actually do.

It also doesn't appear on any google searches if your specifically looking for Guitar Pro format songs.

[hashel]

Oops that's already beyond my skill levels and i'm sure there might be simpler things to do 1st

[BigHeadClan]

Hah it's actually not too bad to do the work I suggested but yeah that would be something
on the gametabs website itself that would need to happen.

If any other idea's come to mind I'll let ya know.

[Choogly]

Hey there hash, I know I should get a recording up sometime soon, even if it isn't so amazing. I love this site and wish it was more active - it's literally been a daily or near daily part of my life for the last 10 years. I can't begin to convey how much time, enjoyment, and emotional release I've gotten from the tabs posted here.

I think part of it is that a lot of the main tabbing crew have grown up, and have less free time.

[hashel]

Thanks for sharing those nice words!

And we need to light the tabbing flame in the heart of the new generation

[hashel]

And still in the idea of a gametabs 2.0 i made a twitter page to share the new tabs, recordings, articles, contests etc
https://twitter.com/Gametabs2

[hslesperance]

I think part of it is that a lot of the main tabbing crew have grown up, and have less free time.

Also, most of the well known songs from the games we grew up with have been tabbed already. Newer games (in general, not always) don't focus so much on melodic songs that are good for solo guitar. I wonder how many younger guitarists who check out this site are looking for songs from modern games or if they discover older soundtracks from this site they otherwise might not have heard.

Not as much forum discussion as there had been in the past, but I think the main site is still used frequently. The site's alexa rank is higher than ever actually. Hard to say, but I think daily tab views are similar to how they have always been https://www.gametabs.net/stats?order=daycount&sort=desc

[hashel]

If you want few example of the traffic on the website:
- 2018-07-12 => 16,750 views
- 2018-07-11 => 15,256 views

I can't compare with "in the past" but that seems good to me!
The problem is that the forum system is a bit "old school" (that's why i tried to make a Gametabs Discord, but it's not really active either).
So maybe by highlighting better some activities, or launching new activities on the website we could make some of the usual "lurkers" be more active on the forum.

Also gametabs is not only about solo guitar, there are bass tabs and electric guitar tabs too, which would fit some newer game pretty good too.

And sometimes ppl just want to know the notes of the main melody, not especially a full arrangement

[hashel]

Like a thing we COULD do is someday pick "that hype game of the moment" and we start to make few tabs for it.

It could even be a monthly thing, a kind of contest or challenge... Example:

"Monthly Tabs Challenge: July 2018 - Celeste"
And we encourage ppl in the forum to make tabs from the Celeste (a pretty cool indie game) OST, either bass tabs, solo guitar tabs, metal version tab, just the main melody tab... And at the end of the month we could elect the "best tab".

Ofc there would be no "prizes" except " hey congrats, you rock". Or maybe the winner can pick the game (has to be a recent game, like, from the past 365 days) for the next month as a reward?

Just throwing ideas X)

[hslesperance]

And sometimes ppl just want to know the notes of the main melody, not especially a full arrangement

Sorry, that's what I meant by solo guitar, something with a distinct, playable melody, not necessarily a solo acoustic arrangement. Nearly any song from games in the 80's and most of the 90's had a clear melody throughout, but some modern games have more ambient pieces that don't translate well to guitar.

The monthly challenge is an alright idea, just not sure how much activity it would get, could try it out.

[hashel]

Yeah Gametabs ppl are not famous for being active or super motivated X)
But i'd say, if we had to try, a good game to start with would be Octopath Traveller!
Old school 2D RPG by Square, with a superb OST and there is a big hype around it.

Now i don't want to launch something and see it remain an empty topic X)

[BigHeadClan]

Hmm I'd agree that the community growing older and the music behind video games making things a bit harder as a whole,
but being a full time adult is 100% the reason why I haven't been writing/recording. (Not that I did a whole lot to begin with).

Google Trends also shows that the people actually looking for video game tabs has been on the decline since the end of 2015. Not massively mind you but it could also be that interest has shifter to other genre's.

[Choogly]

I'd agree that most of the well-known songs have been tabbed already, but there are still some great untabbed pieces even from the N64 era. Banjo Kazooie and Tooie come to mind. There are contemporary games - not to mention animes - that have very tabbable songs. That well will never run dry. You make a strong point about atmospheric pieces, regardless.

I have to come out and say, I think the site redesign has made the website less intuitive, more complicated, and less appealing to use. I more or less predicted that when changes were announced. It feels like I basically have to jump between two websites rather than just one, making me much less motivated to participate at all.

I hope a new generation of tabbers crops up - there's still so much out there. In any case, it's always amazing to see a tab from one of the OGs.

Perhaps we could broaden the scope of what is acceptable to submit - I'd love to play tabs from movies or TV shows, and the threads where those tabs are posted seem to be well liked.

[hashel]

Well tbh i want to stay in the "GAMEtabs" spirit, it's already opened to Anime... MAYBE animation would be ok? Like Princess Mononke, Disney stuff? Idk.

But do you think having that kind of "themed" month around a game motivate some ppl to make tabs?
Or they'd just not care, idk x)

[laoise]

Yeah sure, I’d be up for having a themed month around a game.

Not exactly a competition but what about something where everyone votes for the ‘Tabber of the Month’ or ‘Tab of the Month’ where the winner is featured on the main site with a link to their tabs? That would probably motivate more people to make tabs if they get some kind of ‘prize’ out of it.

I wouldn’t mind getting involved with the Gametabs Tribute Album if it gets brought back, but I wouldn’t want to organise it lol.

[hashel]

Well you'd be welcome in the Pixel mixers albums that i organize tho mwahahaha!

But yeah i like that idea of "game of the month tab challenge whatever".
Idk what you mean by "featured on the main site" as all the tabs are on it (for a certain amount of time).
You maybe meant an article?
But what i'll definitely it's highlight the tab and previous tabs by that member on the gametabs social medias: Discord, Facebook, Twitter, with links to his profile and tab.

And the winner is allowed, if he wants, to pick the theme of the next month (as long as it's a kinda recent game, okay let's say not older than 2015)?

[BigHeadClan]

Hmm I like that Idea Hashel, it will help push people to newer content (although I think 2006) and later is just fine,
2015 seems far to recent for my blood... but mostly because I've not really played many games the past 3 years. lol

Witcher 3 has been sitting on my desk in the packing for almost a year and a half because I dare not start it
else I'm committed to at least a 90 hour game. lol