The Importance of Forum for Community: Sipwell

Hey guys, here is part of Sipwell's utmost wisdom: an article on The Importance of Forums. Have a pleasant read.


For some of you the forum is an obscure and probably useless place. You came to this game to play football/soccer rather than to write messages in a forum. You can do that everywhere online, so why here?

Perhaps the forum is, in your opinion, not the most important place, yet it has a certain importance in relation to community building and socialization of users. Statistics show that people who are fairly active in the forum have a tendency not to cheat, hardly get banned and have a friendly, supportive or even joyful attitude in the game, the public and private chat. The logic behind it is fairly easy: if you are solely interested in playing the game, you don’t necessarily feel part of the community. You are focussed on winning games, winning RP and winning cups. You may have some friends who share the same goals yet those friendships are hazardous and cursory: you compete with each other (winning is again the core) or you found a clan together (winning is again the core). Browsing some clan forums – where administrators are not represented – taught me that communication is limited and linked to the ultimate goal: winning. Who your clan brothers are, what they feel/think/do, is basically not your concern: “I am here to play a game, not to foster friendship”

Entering the forum, replying to messages, engaging in the community all develop a sense of common identity. You form part of a group; you share some feelings/ideas/… People who are part of a group tend not to betray their group, either out of peer pressure – the community expects you to behave well – either out of a sort of honour – you uphold the values of your community. In every case you can say that sharing a common history – a fun action in the forum, like the daily quizzes or a crazy Marx Brother activity for example – leads to a shared future and a shared belonging. Why would I cheat on my brother? Why should I cheat on my friend? This or that user – even if I don’t know him personally – is part of the community I belong to too. Even in confrontations with the bad seeds of this game – cheaters, offensive players who are swearing, insulting… - their reaction will be moderate: they will send a report to pf_admin or inform the nearest admin about what happened. No need to retaliate, no need to start swearing.

Being part of a community also makes you responsible for the good functioning of that community. Standing outside that community makes you individualistic and selfish: an eye for an eye. If he swears, I swear back. If he cheats, I cheat back.

So, what you, as a Forum user can do, is guide people to this great part of the game. If they have a question, never hesitate to tell them "You know, you should try and go to the Forums, maybe there is an answer for you there." Try and develop the community, be a builder and maybe people will do just like you. Share , and you will enjoy tons more!