Website offline and future of PU

[TrainerX]

I understand this is hard for some (myself included), because we've been through a lot. The easy way out would be to let the site continue as a Pokemon community. We'd just remove all the MMO related pages and forum boards. Then we'd assign some new Admins who're going to advertise and run the site.

What I read in your replies is that the new pokemon-universe.com could focus on General pokemon chit chat, role playing and the balance server. It would probably not attract the big crowd, but just the people who are interested in RPing or playing competitive pokemon.

Might not be much, but atleast the site will not go away.

Hopefully somebody with enough free time and dedication will take over and get things up and running. Despite the fact that PU gets 100 unique visitors a day, it's been dead for quite a long time now. Changing up things on the forum might stir up some activity, but that alone isn't going to be enough. I doubt many of the old members are going to return, so whoever takes over will probably need to think of a few ways to attract new members.

I think a big problem is that forums don't seem to be very popular anymore(Although, there are definitely at least a few exceptions. Maybe they haven't died out as much as I think they have; I haven't really been keeping an eye out for active forums.) Sites like Reddit have become extremely popular, and that seems to be one of the go-to options for most people who are looking for an online community. I think people are probably more likely to look for a Pokemon-related subreddit or something than to do search for a Pokemon forum. I think some self-advertising of some sort will probably be required.

Don't get me wrong though, I think it's possible to make this place active again; it's just going to need a lot of work and dedication.

[Flynt]

Hopefully somebody with enough free time and dedication will take over and get things up and running. Despite the fact that PU gets 100 unique visitors a day, it's been dead for quite a long time now. Changing up things on the forum might stir up some activity, but that alone isn't going to be enough. I doubt many of the old members are going to return, so whoever takes over will probably need to think of a few ways to attract new members.

I think a big problem is that forums don't seem to be very popular anymore(Although, there are definitely at least a few exceptions. Maybe they haven't died out as much as I think they have; I haven't really been keeping an eye out for active forums.) Sites like Reddit have become extremely popular, and that seems to be one of the go-to options for most people who are looking for an online community. I think people are probably more likely to look for a Pokemon-related subreddit or something than to do search for a Pokemon forum. I think some self-advertising of some sort will probably be required.

Don't get me wrong though, I think it's possible to make this place active again; it's just going to need a lot of work and dedication.

If we had "dedication", the game would have been released by now.

[The-Blades-slave]

Hopefully somebody with enough free time and dedication will take over and get things up and running. Despite the fact that PU gets 100 unique visitors a day, it's been dead for quite a long time now. Changing up things on the forum might stir up some activity, but that alone isn't going to be enough. I doubt many of the old members are going to return, so whoever takes over will probably need to think of a few ways to attract new members.

I think a big problem is that forums don't seem to be very popular anymore(Although, there are definitely at least a few exceptions. Maybe they haven't died out as much as I think they have; I haven't really been keeping an eye out for active forums.) Sites like Reddit have become extremely popular, and that seems to be one of the go-to options for most people who are looking for an online community. I think people are probably more likely to look for a Pokemon-related subreddit or something than to do search for a Pokemon forum. I think some self-advertising of some sort will probably be required.

Don't get me wrong though, I think it's possible to make this place active again; it's just going to need a lot of work and dedication.

This pretty much expresses my opinion on the matter. I'd be willing to help in any way possible, but my time is more limited than it used to be and in the end, I'm just a moderator for the roleplaying section. My experience running a site is limited to that, and even then, by the time I took over for Jerry they weren't nearly as active. I can think of a few ideas on things we could do, however.

1.) Roloc, if I understood correctly, said he would be willing to put a Pokemon Online server up. If we could get that up and running, that was enough to keep the forums alive for a while. It gave us something to converse about in the random chats, and it made it easier to check up on each other. If we could actually get enough people interested, we could possibly organize some form of tournament like we used to do. Hell, we could probably even offer rewards; I don't have a 3DS anymore at the moment, but once I get one, I'd be willing to farm/give away shinies as prizes.

2.) Get rid of the MMO part of the site. Half the reason people leave is they get on, see it's advertising a game, and then see it's not out. They either leave after that, or look around to see how long it's going to take. When they see the latest topics, they abandon it because there's going to be no game— if we clarify the game is no longer in the works and that this is just a forum for Pokemon, it might get some people to stick around. Not sure, but it's an idea.

If we had "dedication", the game would have been released by now.

We had dedication, from what I understand. A large majority of the game was done, but this was just a hobby in the end. To my knowledge, a lot of the people who worked on the game were semi-experienced people (ex. Mr. Dark and Urmel) who actually went on to get full-time jobs with what they were doing, and didn't want to come home and work after that. Even more, several problems were encountered and when you lose a bunch of the work you did for free, you lose motivation.

[Flynt]

This pretty much expresses my opinion on the matter. I'd be willing to help in any way possible, but my time is more limited than it used to be and in the end, I'm just a moderator for the roleplaying section. My experience running a site is limited to that, and even then, by the time I took over for Jerry they weren't nearly as active. I can think of a few ideas on things we could do, however.

1.) Roloc, if I understood correctly, said he would be willing to put a Pokemon Online server up. If we could get that up and running, that was enough to keep the forums alive for a while. It gave us something to converse about in the random chats, and it made it easier to check up on each other. If we could actually get enough people interested, we could possibly organize some form of tournament like we used to do. Hell, we could probably even offer rewards; I don't have a 3DS anymore at the moment, but once I get one, I'd be willing to farm/give away shinies as prizes.

2.) Get rid of the MMO part of the site. Half the reason people leave is they get on, see it's advertising a game, and then see it's not out. They either leave after that, or look around to see how long it's going to take. When they see the latest topics, they abandon it because there's going to be no game— if we clarify the game is no longer in the works and that this is just a forum for Pokemon, it might get some people to stick around. Not sure, but it's an idea.

We had dedication, from what I understand. A large majority of the game was done, but this was just a hobby in the end. To my knowledge, a lot of the people who worked on the game were semi-experienced people (ex. Mr. Dark and Urmel) who actually went on to get full-time jobs with what they were doing, and didn't want to come home and work after that. Even more, several problems were encountered and when you lose a bunch of the work you did for free, you lose motivation.

1. If a large majority of the game is done, why not release a beta version and give rewards like rare shinys for submitting character designs and maps. The beta doesn't have to include too many maps. Just a way way for players to battle would be fine for now. Then we won't have to remove mmo part of the website
2.If a beta version can't be released then, like you said, a pokemon online server would be more than enough to keep the forums alive. I'll be online most of the time.
PU has given me a lot. I learned so many new things and got to meet you all through pu.Pu is the reason i don't use legendaries and stealth rock.I learned the abc of competitive battling from pu. If there is anything i can do for pu, just let me know. I'll be more than happy to help.

[Yume Tsuki]

I am not sure if we can satisfy people with what we have right now as a beta. A bunch of things had been scrapped to try over but then got laid down to work on later.

[Flynt]

I am not sure if we can satisfy people with what we have right now as a beta. A bunch of things had been scrapped to try over but then got laid down to work on later.

Then our best bet would be to put a PO server up (For now).Btw what do you think should we remove the mmo section completely or should we keep a thread to invite more pixel artists (for future)?

[Yume Tsuki]

I would say raising a bigger community would do good. And to do that, we might wanna make more kinds of departments based on Pokémon so people can discuss over the different things they do Pokémon related. So we can make a section for the official games, the manga's, the trading card game, etc. And to keep those sections active is a second. So best is to have a bunch of people whom like a certain part of a department and are specialized in it in some way. Let's say, we have someone who is really active in the Pokémon Trading card game section and pretty much keeps up to date to that kind of stuff because he or she is very into this. Maybe they can write articles or set up a discussion about how good the cards are and such. Even host tournaments over there.

As for recruitment, I would leave that out for now. First thing we need to do is get this forum back alive again. After that, we can think over if we want to revive the MMO project until we got a living community going on again. Because yes, we have a lot of viewers, but they mostly indeed just check if the game is already running. Because people check out this site because it is referring that there is a game in the making. The art department is as good as dead right now. But if we can get it going again after we set up a community I might be able to host Art contests to keep things circulating over there.

[Roloc]

I'd love to do that with a competitive battling section on the forum. I am always up to date on everything competitive related.

[TrainerX]

Half the reason people leave is they get on, see it's advertising a game, and then see it's not out. They either leave after that, or look around to see how long it's going to take. When they see the latest topics, they abandon it because there's going to be no game— if we clarify the game is no longer in the works and that this is just a forum for Pokemon, it might get some people to stick around. Not sure, but it's an idea.

I think this is spot-on.

I would say raising a bigger community would do good. And to do that, we might wanna make more kinds of departments based on Pokémon so people can discuss over the different things they do Pokémon related. So we can make a section for the official games, the manga's, the trading card game, etc. And to keep those sections active is a second. So best is to have a bunch of people whom like a certain part of a department and are specialized in it in some way. Let's say, we have someone who is really active in the Pokémon Trading card game section and pretty much keeps up to date to that kind of stuff because he or she is very into this. Maybe they can write articles or set up a discussion about how good the cards are and such. Even host tournaments over there.

As for recruitment, I would leave that out for now. First thing we need to do is get this forum back alive again. After that, we can think over if we want to revive the MMO project until we got a living community going on again. Because yes, we have a lot of viewers, but they mostly indeed just check if the game is already running. Because people check out this site because it is referring that there is a game in the making. The art department is as good as dead right now. But if we can get it going again after we set up a community I might be able to host Art contests to keep things circulating over there.

This is a good idea. The most difficult part is going to be finding people with the time and dedication to get things going and keep the forum from dying again.

I would help out if I could, but not only do I not have a lot of free time, I'm not anywhere near as interested in Pokemon as I used to be. If the forum got going again, I might show up once every couple of days and post in off-topic subforums or hang around in the irc channel, but I doubt I'll ever be consistently active here.

[Miss Wednesday]

I'd love to do that with a competitive battling section on the forum. I am always up to date on everything competitive related.

I would also love that, I haven't battled in a long time on the server.

[Flynt]

I would also love that, I haven't battled in a long time on the server.

Same here. I would also love that (I'm not good at battling though)

[Miss Wednesday]

Same here. I would also love that (I'm not good at battling though)

Yes you are lol

[Yume Tsuki]

Well then, we need to re-arrange the forum a bit to fill in every department. c:

[Pokemaster MAC]

Man... it's been too dang long since I last was here. I volunteered to help a few years back, but I got depressed over the loss of my guinea pig, and then immediately sucked into a new job, and have been there for awhile... I used to come here so often and had some fights, some battles and met some incredible people... (coughcoughRolocandWednesday) and I feel bad that I wasn't able to contribute more. Also kinda sad to see it come to this!

[Miss Wednesday]

Man... it's been too dang long since I last was here. I volunteered to help a few years back, but I got depressed over the loss of my guinea pig, and then immediately sucked into a new job, and have been there for awhile... I used to come here so often and had some fights, some battles and met some incredible people... (coughcoughRolocandWednesday) and I feel bad that I wasn't able to contribute more. Also kinda sad to see it come to this!