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This is brilliant, thank you all so far. I've known for a while we have underutilised sections and its a cyclical thing really. We really removed things over time to make it simplistic and then I added new features on top over time to keep the place fresh and worth coming back to it. This feedback really helps work out where we can potentially remove certain areas off the main focus when they don't seem to be being used and try and circulate more key features. I think I've always been clear on one principle that has to stay for FG to work for me and that's the website being our main HOME. WhatsApp is chill and great for connecting, as is Discord, but its not personable as this place as is viewed as 'your place', not standardised bland group chats. One thing is for sure, I need to pick Announcements again, which are similar to what Welchy picks up around what's on. It was essentially a notification system of telling you all there's some new shit this week, go and check it out. It was just something that takes a while to get used to doing because everything requires time. Time around work, life, home, kids, etc. We can all make time though, if we want stuff to work. And I'd love to try yet another way of getting more people involved, I won't stop trying different ways to ask people if they want to get in on the FG act - just note that's its not the first I've asked everyone so its on everyone to recognise that a little more stepping up to the plate is all that's needed for FG to grow and flourish. So with that in mind, whilst I take some thought on some changes, let this be the place for the first way to gather interest on who would love to be involved in this stuff. Even if its just one small part of FG, it all counts. Remember, there's many things where people can immediately add value by just going into that section and creating or interacting with it. Quizzes, for example, ANYONE can create one if you are an FGer. I have also linked very many medals and achievements for interacting with this type of stuff, including responding to Events so it all counts, especially if you can see a nice shiny medal on your FG profile. Please keep the feedback coming in here everyone - its great we've had 4 comments above but more feedback and dialogue in here between us all will really help get things going at FG 👊

The whole weekend of football was a delight to watch, maybe with the exception of the Man City game. Incredible cup ties, and what the FA Cup is supposed to be all about. For any neutral watching football for the first time, that was pinnacle football drama at its best. Fair play to all the ones that got through too. Every winner felt like they did enough in my eyes to win their cup ties.

FA Cup Quarter Finals were pretty insane this weekend - Wolves 2-3 Coventry, Man City 2-0 Newcastle (yawn) Jammy Chelsea 4-2 Leicester and Man Utd 4-3 Liverpool. Really enjoyed watching all those games minus the City one which I comfortably ignored.

Episode 89 is LIVE!!! We talk about Daggerheart, the new TTRPG system by the folks at Critical Role, Adrian's new column about gaming history, and and Xbox contest for a working and non-working system. Check it out.

BigFry also did a vid with lots of feedback

Some of the folk making this used to be devs at Bohemia, i.e. they worked on Arma and DayZ, which is a plus for me. It's looking like it's going to be a great game, can't wait to get a go on it. One of the annoyances with Tarkov is extraction camping, it's not massively prevalent in my experience, only on a couple of maps where there are only a few extractions available...but looks like that's almost totally negated in this game.

I like Drewski's reactions, he never glosses over the bad bits.

Goes to the same boozer as Southgate 😂

How the fuck is Hendo in that england squad?? 😂😂😂

Apparently the devs of 7 days to die are going to release a new early access game, where 5 people play in pvp as 4 survivors vs 1 zombie hive master 7 Days Blood Moons on Steam STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM 7 Days Blood Moons is a 4v1 fight to the death. Survivors fortify bases and scavenge for materials in their plight against the relentless horde...

Very interesting, nice share John! @Tar-Eruntalion 4v1 games have got some traction with Friday the 13th type games in the past so being on PC is probably the best place they'll get that. Not sure how they'll manage matchmaking though as thats not been their bag before. I just wish they'd push out a ton of RPG, quest shaping elements in the main 7 Days game as the sandbox makes the game worth playing, just needs a little more depth.

Absolutely flawless, especially for a live performance.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided FREE on Epic until the 21st! Also Hearts of Iron 4 are giving away 3 paid expansions for FREE on Steam Save 100% on Expansion - Hearts of Iron IV: Waking the Tiger on Steam STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM This expansion adds new gameplay options for all players, and has a special focus on the Asian front of the deadliest war in human history. Save 100% on Expansion - Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor on Steam STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM Death or Dishonor is a new Country Pack for Hearts of Iron IV, and expands upon players’ ability to experience history’s greatest conflict from any point of view. Save 100% on Expansion - Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory on Steam STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM Join the Dominions as they step up to the challenge of defending the motherland for King and Country in Together for Victory, the first major expansion for Hearts of Iron IV, the critically acclaimed strategy...

New update has dropped, think there's some youtuber hands-on gameplay coming this weekend too

I'm overall pretty happy with how things are, but I do agree with Luseth. Some areas are not being used as much. Maybe due to interest or general knowledge of existence. Maybe trim some fat, keep the majority of what we have tho. I think the "Your Picks" for cod maps and guns isn't really worthwhile. It was a good idea, but we can easily discuss such things in topics or vote on polls. I think that we could get shot of it. I do admire the work and effort of especially Lee, that he puts in here. If anyone has geniuene good ideas for things to add, I think we should look at what can we rid of first. But the current layout, features etc we have are really good. It's something that has improved on vastly over time.

As a newer member to the site, I would say the main thing I notice is that there seems to be a lot of underused features. I wonder if there could be an easier way to keep up to date with what’s going on in the community without having to go through all the different tabs and forums? Could we have a ‘features’ or ‘what’s on’ page, which highlights the main events going on. The page could show the next and upcoming FG events, a hot topic from the forums, latest videos being uploaded, new quiz posted etc etc. It wouldn’t even have to be the most recent posts and not everything posted needs to be featured, but if there is a forum post that you or any moderators here think is worthy of being ‘front page news’. Essentially a place that just makes it easier for members to see what is going on. I often forget to look at the events tab and don’t even know until this post that there was a quiz tab!! I quite like @Luseth idea of having certain members being responsible for certain areas too.

I somewhat agree with @Luseth, less is more sometimes. Which is probably why the WhatsApp and Discord chats do so well. Easy to use and takes no effort whatsoever. The forum is a good example of this on the website. I think unless it benefits people they’re not going to use it, a good example of this is the events… it takes so much effort to get people to click one button because it does nothing for them. I, as most others probably do, use FG as an archive and large discussions space. If you want to create more movement it needs to be a tool to either create discussion (competing with WhatsApp) or create/share content like videos or games/quizzes/competitions.

Honestly, there is probably too much? Maybe condense it a little and make some of the things more of a feature i.e. if you were to keep quizes, do them more regularly? Or alternatively see if we can get some FG members to take ownership of certain areas? I.e. Someone running prediction league or someone who might be keen enough to regularly add quizes? I haven't put anything next to everything but have put a little reply next to a lot of them 🙂 Forums - Fine as they are, generally I just read the new topics and see if there is anything new for me to respond to. Articles - Honestly, I'm not sure of the purpose of this area? Is it just an FG article or can it be an article on anything? I.e. review of a game etc? Blog - I did not know there was one? Might be good to do this whether it's the summary of upcoming events like your whatsapp posts you were doing or sessions that have been done the week before. Videos - I don't think anything need's to change here Quizzes - Just need's more of them, see note above maybe about ownership. Events - Trying my best to keep on top of adding them but need people to engage more sometimes 🙂 Once one or two reply to an event others then follow Predictions - Fine, I just found it difficult to find time to sit down and put them in sometimes. Merch - I don't suppose you could get a hoody sorted with a zip down the middle could you? I do like the white one's but I find general hoodies a little restrictive (I know it's a personal preference thing) Achievements / Medals - Good as they are. Memberships - I keep meaning to resub, will sort it out later this month. Game Hubs - Not sure what these were? Guides and Tips - This is one of those areas that unless people ask for a guide nothing will probably get posted. It's also maybe too restrictive in that it's got the 6 games and it's not obvious where to post guides related to other games? History - Apparently FG has no history since 2013 😛 Raffles - We need more of these, unnanounced so it encourages people to check the site more regularly.