Can we possibly have a new PC Gaming sub forum for technical problems?

[Frag Maniac]

I noticed the majority of threads in the PC Gaming forum anymore are people having performance or settings issues. It's gotten to the point where it literally squashes out any social discussion of PC Gaming. Can we perhaps get a Performance and Technical Trouble sub forum for PC Gaming to divert them there?

It doesn't happen on other forums nearly as much as here, Gaming forums mostly contain chat about actual games and gaming. A sub forum devoted to Performance and Technical issues with games might even get such questions answered quicker, as many like me whom are looking for social discussion instead may be steered away by them.

I have no problem with people asking for help troubleshooting gaming performance issues, and have helped many of them myself, but often times it's more related to their system than the games themselves. There needs to be a proper place for such threads so they don't take away from social gaming discussion.

 

[kerberos_20]

you mean this one?

PC Gaming

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Colif]

Gaming forums mostly contain chat about actual games and gaming. A sub forum devoted to Performance and Technical issues with games might even get such questions answered quicker, as many like me whom are looking for social discussion instead may be steered away by them.

You mean like this?

Desktop Hardware

Use this subforum to discuss all your Desktop PC gaming hardware needs!

forums.pcgamer.com

or

Game Troubleshooting

Need help troubleshooting a game issue? This is the spot!

forums.pcgamer.com

either or, we sort of didn't decide which goes where

 

[Metal Messiah.]

Your idea actually makes sense. I was sort of wondering a similar sub-forum feature like a Gaming Hub. or the one which you have described, ''Performance and Technical Trouble sub forum for PC Gaming''. Having a separate Gaming and game related only discussion, solely focusing on PC games make a lot of sense.

Thanks to @Colif for the PCgamer forum link, and this particular forum does a separate sub-forum, like "General Gaming", and "Game Troubleshooting" categories.

https://forums.pcgamer.com/categories/pc-gaming-discussions.4/

PS: That's why I made a separate thread based solely on Gaming discussion and gaming news.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...genre-general-game-discussion-thread.3508398/

 

[Colif]

Frag is on both sites already. I wasn't telling him anything he didn't know.

Some of the users there don't like it when i link questions to here, as they see it driving people away, but they both Future forums, and you might see familiar faces over there sometimes.

It is a reasonable idea but I don't know if it would happen. Depends on demand.

 

[Frag Maniac]

you mean this one?

PC Gaming

forums.tomshardware.com

No, like I said, a sub forum within that forum.

@Colif,
While I can appreciate that there may be such forums for these types of problems, the fact remains that the PC Gaming forum still seems to be the place many users post such problems, and I don't typically see mods diverting them to those other forums, or even making them aware of those other forums for future reference.

I understand this is likely due to some not knowing where to post them, or maybe even thinking they'll get more exposure on PC Gaming, but at some point this continued use of PC Gaming as a dumping ground for these other threads needs to be addressed better than just having those other forums with many either not knowing about them, or feeling they don't have to use them.

Conversely, I even got a thread I posted in PC Gaming showing 2 new games coming with trailers of each, moved to the Opinions and Experiences forum. I responded saying there are numerous active threads of such sort both Metal Messiah and I have made in the PC Gaming forum, that DON'T get moved, but got no explanation or response at all.

So needless to say much of what's happening in PC Gaming these days makes little sense to someone interested mainly in PC Gaming discussion, vs PC Gaming problems.

 

[Colif]

Performance and Technical Trouble sub forum for PC Gaming to divert them there?

I do see the PC Gaming here is rather general, it could perhaps do with some separation (note, me agreeing doesn't signal it will happen) as its a catch all for all sorts of problems, technical and game related. If it were up to me to make them, I would... and a few others.. but all we can do is see if admin notice idea

performance would be a nice place to dump all the "I can't get 10k fps in CSGO" posts I guess.

Problem with technical is currently you probably find those scattered all over forums, as many of the problems can be fixed or put into other categories. Unless its a specific game problem, hardware seems to be well covered here already.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I do see the PC Gaming here is rather general, it could perhaps do with some separation (note, me agreeing doesn't signal it will happen) as its a catch all for all sorts of problems, technical and game related. If it were up to me to make them, I would... and a few others.. but all we can do is see if admin notice idea

performance would be a nice place to dump all the "I can't get 10k fps in CSGO" posts I guess.

Problem with technical is currently you probably find those scattered all over forums, as many of the problems can be fixed or put into other categories. Unless its a specific game problem, hardware seems to be well covered here already.

Would it perhaps help if I PM the PC Gaming Admin directly about this? It's really making me less interested in participating in that forum anymore, and I could see how it might be affecting others the same. Whom IS the PC Gaming Admin btw?

Oh, and by Technical I meant specifically technical problems related to gaming, like flickering or other things unrelated to raw FPS performance. What's shocking to me is a LOT of these posts are not really people with potato PCs. Many of them have better spec than me, it's just that they seem a bit inexperienced at dealing with such problems, or have some sort of software they're using that is causing problems. I have to think that a lot of them know full well they could be posting such problems in forums designed specifically for such things, but figure they'll get better exposure in PC Gaming. Little do they seem to know, the more oversaturated such a forum gets with topics that conflict with actually socially discussing PC Gaming, there's a potential to get less response, not more.

 

[Colif]

we don't as such have a PC Gaming admin but if I mention @CParsons he will notice this thread.

 

[Frag Maniac]

we don't as such have a PC Gaming admin but if I mention @CParsons he will notice this thread.

OK, thanks Colif.

 

[CParsons]

So we're effectively looking for a 'Game Troubleshooting' forum like on PCG here on Tom's? @Colif @Frag Maniac

 

[Metal Messiah.]

Yeah, I think the OP meant a similar thing. A separate sub-forum like a 'Game Troubleshooting' category/hub.

 

[Colif]

That is the way I read it, but I let him answer

 

[Frag Maniac]

I was referring more specifically to a sub forum within PC Gaming, as I said above, like Gaming Performance and Technical Issues. I should also mention that I feel a big part of the reason you don't see the PC Gaming board on PC Gamer Forums flooded with mostly game performance threads is they label their PC Gaming forum PC Gaming Discussions. Why that isn't done here is beyond me. There's literally no indication there are separate forums for PC Gaming Discussion and PC Gaming Performance Issues. This is why I feel most dump their PC Gaming Performance Problems threads in PC Gaming, because it's labeled so vaguely they assume that's where they're supposed to go.

I should also state though that if it WERE labeled PC Gaming Discussions, the more apropos way to make a PC Gaming Performance Issues forum would be along side it, vs within it. Neither should really be sub forums because they both have equal merit and use. To be honest, most days when I login here, I don't bother posting or responding because there are usually no active social gaming discussions in PC Gaming. It's only when Metal Messiah or a few others post topics about new games coming out, their experiences with certain games, or other social discussion about games that I take part. There are ALWAYS active gaming discussion threads at PC Gamer though, and often at least half a dozen notifications of threads I'm following.