State of the NAFtion

[Gaixo]

If the NAF were no longer associated with GW, would there be any reason to keep the NAF forum distinct from the TFF forum? It seems that the focus on non-GW manufacturers is the only real difference between this site and the NAF forum. If GW are out of the picture, perhaps they could merge.

[sann0638]

If the NAF were no longer associated with GW, would there be any reason to keep the NAF forum distinct from the TFF forum? It seems that the focus on non-GW manufacturers is the only real difference between this site and the NAF forum. If GW are out of the picture, perhaps they could merge.

Interesting idea.

[Oly1987]

One thing that I would really like to see is the ability to submit rosters for tournaments through the site using STARS or other such tools.

that is a genius idea. Imagine all the time saved first thing in the morning when you dont have to check everyones roster as they come through the door

[Lychanthrope]

As I reread my post I realized that I kind of beat around the bush, so here it is in plain English, if it were not for the NAF website I probably would not be a BB player today. I am not saying it could not be improved, most things can be, but in hindsite, it was the most useful place I found. Thanks.

[sann0638]

That's cool. Imagine what would happen if the coach locator could be upgraded and combined with something like elyoukey's map! Now that would be a reason for being a NAF member, as if you aren't you don't get found and don't get to play!

I remember some sort of widget before about gamers where you registered and wrote which games you play. Anyone else remember that?

[sann0638]

This may or may not be helpful, but every now and again I'm going to summarise the constructive ideas people have come up with:

Various people mentioned league ranking as a thing, but I can't see this being viable as it is untrackable and too open to be house-ruled.

There are people on both sides as to whether a freebie figure is a good thing.

Elyoukey makes good points about the path for development of the website:
"also the coach locator could be enhanced, i may be the only one, but i would enjoy knowing where i can find a BB coach during my hollidays far away from where i live (i do a trip to new york end of july). Kind of a BBFacebook.
There are a blast of ideas we could use the website for, but what ithink is required is
1-a person in charge to focus the ideas about the website
2-a reactive developper which can work on it almost full time (making modifications here and there is not enough, i think this website need a full revamp)
3-a good communication about what is ongoing what will be done and when."

There is a clear feeling that communication from the NAF about what is happening to the website needs to be clearer, especially if the website is going to be the main draw.

TheDoc mentions about NAF coming up when you search for Blood Bowl - this would be lovely, but very difficult to achieve I think?

And antipixi has an idea he has mentioned before, which would be very popular.
"One thing that I would really like to see is the ability to submit rosters for tournaments through the site using STARS or other such tools."

[Kikurasis]

I'd go a step further, and say that "Score" were to be eliminated and have the NAF have an equivalent webapp built into the website. That way, you could easily set up a tournament on the NAF, results would be input real-time (and be viewable), and you would have multiple checks in the app dealing with coach name validation, game record validations, etc. Build in an RSS generator that would broadcast results from a tournament as they are entered, etc.

There are *SO* many things that website *could* be. The problem I see is that even if you took all the dues from a full year (not counting ANY other expenses), the NAF couldn't afford a developer full-time. Just that simple.

[Shteve0]

The biggest thing, aside from offering tourney rankings and downloadable resources, is the new blood thing. We've talked about demo gaming at conventions and tournaments, but there are simpler steps even than that.

1) Make the NAF page more of a resource for non members, including full use of the forum. Only paid members can vote in polls. That'll give NAF a broader appeal and a bigger marketing base.

2) Explain what blood bowl is on the front page, and why it's awesome (in 30 words or less). Make some demo videos for setting up for kick offs, caging, throwing a team mate... post one up weekly or monthly, make a feature of it, open a youtube channel. Have contributors write articles on how to play each race. Sponsor a podcast. Reach out!

3) Remember those "make poverty history" bands? Let's have one of those to promote blood bowl (via the NAF) for members wear as a signature in non-blood bowl forums.

4) Make a newsletter about coming events, circulate it to members and non-members; reach out to BBtactics, FUMBBL, TFF, wherever you can and circulate to their mailing lists too.

Non of this is revolutionary, but the NAF right now is a closed shop, focussed on member retention instead of new member engagement. If the deal is attractive to new membership, you're likely to retain old membership; go too far towards naval-gazing and the membership will dwindle.

[Darkson]

4) Make a newsletter about coming events, circulate it to members and non-members; reach out to BBtactics, FUMBBL, TFF, wherever you can and circulate to their mailing lists too.

I believe there's a legal issue with this - it took long enough for the NAF to get the right wording for members to be able to opt-in or -out of the mailing list, not sure where they'd stand on using outside lists!

[Shteve0]

Cool, fair enough. My list is in priority order; I appreciate that the ideas get increasingly ropey as it progresses!

[Olaf the Stout]

The biggest thing, aside from offering tourney rankings and downloadable resources, is the new blood thing. We've talked about demo gaming at conventions and tournaments, but there are simpler steps even than that.

1) Make the NAF page more of a resource for non members, including full use of the forum. Only paid members can vote in polls. That'll give NAF a broader appeal and a bigger marketing base.

2) Explain what blood bowl is on the front page, and why it's awesome (in 30 words or less). Make some demo videos for setting up for kick offs, caging, throwing a team mate... post one up weekly or monthly, make a feature of it, open a youtube channel. Have contributors write articles on how to play each race. Sponsor a podcast. Reach out!

3) Remember those "make poverty history" bands? Let's have one of those to promote blood bowl (via the NAF) for members wear as a signature in non-blood bowl forums.

4) Make a newsletter about coming events, circulate it to members and non-members; reach out to BBtactics, FUMBBL, TFF, wherever you can and circulate to their mailing lists too.

Non of this is revolutionary, but the NAF right now is a closed shop, focussed on member retention instead of new member engagement. If the deal is attractive to new membership, you're likely to retain old membership; go too far towards naval-gazing and the membership will dwindle.

I like these ideas.

I agree that the NAF should put some effort towards increasing the number of people playing BB, which should also help to increase the number of NAF members.

Olaf the Stout

[sann0638]

Good points Shtev0:
#1 goes to the heart of what "member" and "non-member" means, and that's got to be a committee driven decision otherwise we are all just navel-gazing.
#2 is great, and should be one of the easier ones to sort out.
#3 is a bit silly
#4 is a bit tricky, the NAF newsletter is actually free to access to all at the moment, and after a month or so is put out there on Twitter, FB, etc. Should NAF just produce this stuff without worrying about member/non-member access? I don't know. See #1 above.

Excellent constructive stuff though!

[nonumber]

I think the idea that "the NAF and GW are no longer connected" is a little naive. Blood Bowl is Granny's legal property, I'm sure there are many circumstances in which we must still tread lightly and so this new era is perhaps not the boundless field of possibility some are seeing it as. Although that's just my gut feeling, I could be wrong.

The ultimate goal of the NAF should be to connect as many Blood Bowl players across the globe as humanly possible. It should be website #1 for Blood Bowl. Merge the forums, track the leagues, make membership itself free and just sell a limited edition dice set every year or something.

[Darkson]

I think the idea that "the NAF and GW are no longer connected" is a little naive. Blood Bowl is Granny's legal property, I'm sure there are many circumstances in which we must still tread lightly and so this new era is perhaps not the boundless field of possibility some are seeing it as. Although that's just my gut feeling, I could be wrong.

And you may be right, but that's part of the problem, there's no transparency, despite it being a major part of the last election.
For example, a replacement for the Block dice. Perhaps the is some legal reason why the NAF cannot do it's own Block dice or it's own figure, but because no-one "in the know" says anything we can only speculate, and that increases the frustration. Not asking for full legal disclosure (I'm not Pako!), but even something as simple as "no, we aren't allowed to do that" or "we can, but we can't afford that" or "we could".

It's the whole ongoing system of silence that I don't understand (which has gone for years unfortunately).

[phil78]

Just curious regarding the point about TFF having more discussions than the NAF Forum, does any one know if the non-English forums are having similar discussions.
I only ask as most of the people posting regularly seem to be UK, AUS NZ or US based.