[sbarre]

Was this your first introduction to NeoGAF or other gaming boards? It's pretty depressing isn't it?

It's the primary reason I stopped frequenting video game communities.. Which is a shame because I've been a gamer all my life, and I wish there was a vibrant (and large) community for intelligent discussion like Hacker News but that was game focused.. I'm sure there is somewhere, but I haven't found it..

[ChrisClark]

You could try the highly moderated http://reddit.com/r/Games community. It was started in reaction to the horrible posts on /r/gaming.

They even post warnings on threads that real /r/all where people not subscribed to /r/Gaming will see it and come in to comment.

There is also /r/linux_gaming which will have better discussions on the Linux aspect of Valve's new developments.

But it's not perfect. Just one of the better options.

[sbarre]

I found /r/Games last year sometime, and you're right it's actually quite good so far...

[acous]

rockpapershotgun.com might be worth a look too.

[lectrick]

There is also http://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/

[ekianjo]

I knew Neogaf but did not really check it very often.

> and I wish there was a vibrant (and large) community for intelligent discussion like Hacker News

I was thinking the exact same thing ! We really should try to do something about that. Interested?

[simias]

The problem is that certain topics cater to a certain demographic. Hacking and start ups are not primary concerns of the teenage crowd on the web. Video games now...

What this means is that if you plan to have a somewhat "grown up" community you'll have to find a way to raise the bar somehow.

[footpath]

Honestly, I do think that NeoGAF is one of the better video game forums out there, given that registration is strictly restricted to school, work, and ISP email addresses[0]. But even so, you still have wade through many unproductive one-liners to find a post of modicum importance. And as far as I have heard, NeoGAF is frequently visited by game journalists and developers alike, so the bar is already pretty high.

Some people have tried making more mature gaming communities, such as the owner of Insomnia who enforces a very strict posting guideline[1] and requires a paid subscription in order to participate[2], but I feel that these types of communities are often too restrictive in the types of content they can provide, often limiting themselves to specific discussions on higher level game mechanics of specific genres, and, as a result, lack the diversity found in forums like NeoGAF.

[0]http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390708 [1]http://insomnia.ac/commentary/posting_guidelines/ [2]http://culture.vg/subscribe.html

[warfangle]

Invite only, gmail beta style.

[simias]

Heh, I guess that could work, but then it's about who to invite!

[Tiktaalik]

Neogaf I think almost certainly has the highest quality of discussion in the games space, but you won't notice it on a newsy sort of topic like this because the high level of noise.

The site attracts a lot of developers, game journalists and industry people and you'll find discussion of niche topics that will rarely if ever appear on Reddit. For example there's a weekly Japanese sales thread that has been going on for years where Japanese sales trends are exhaustingly examined.

[ekianjo]

Japanese sales trends are... boring. Monster Hunter xxx, Project Diva zzz... most of the top hits in Japan are utterly boring games, and there's not much to learn from that. Especially since the Japan market is unlike any other out there.

[nekopa]

It may take a while, but have you thought about starting one yourself like lobste.rs did? I think the code for HN is available somewhere(an older version at least) then just troll the gamer sites and give invites to those who contribute well to discussions.

[sbarre]

Honestly: I would love to do something like that, I just don't have the time and energy to tackle that kind of thing.

[hnal943]

I'm partial to the Idle Thumbs boards... http://www.idlethumbs.net

[lectrick]

Check out http://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/