User Warned: Please don't make reaction threads
Hey all,
Most of you are probably aware, thanks to the warning up there, that ERA is no longer owned by a solo member of the community and was sold for 4.5M$ to MOBA Network by Cerium. Which, understandably after this deed, seemingly ran off with the money to never return again, for obvious reasons.
However, I do believe there is a serious conversation to be had about the current state of ERA. The above thread exposed a lot of dirt and I believe transparency for all is important. Cerium painted MOBA Network as a 'better fit' for this place, but it is to believe that this 'better fit' was simply because they had the highest offer on the table. There is more to read into this whole thing than 'new owner' and the apparently reassuring OP from Cerium, which by appearances was looking to sell ASAP.
Here is the statement from MOBA about the acquisition.
This forum was originally supposed to be built under the ideal that it was by the community, for the community. As a place where minorities could feel safe to participate in. It wasn't supposed to be under a single ownership in order to avoid something similar to what brought this place to be, or the situation that's happening right now. In the vein of keeping that spirit, I'll let the community itself explain the below bullet point through their contributions in the acquisition thread. Our new owner is now a profit chasing entity, which also pretty much goes against every left-leaning values this forum was carrying through this elaborate facade.
-We're now essentially associated with forums supporting alt-right/anti-trans rhetorics.
Now, a lot of the staff is currently under high pressure and tries its best to damage control the events in the acquisition thread. One important thing I'd say is to not hold any grudge against the mods as most seemed to be unaware of the situation, if there are good-willed people in all this story, it's them, they worked their asses off for years and won't see a single cent of this transaction. I noticed that it is said that ultimately, MOBA shouldn't affect this place, it's values and how it operates right now. However permit me to have a reasonable doubt when all their websites have sections similar to the below, also a lot more ease-of-access options.
One other thing to underline would be that the original word choice for ERA Gold/Clear was that the contributions were 'to keep the lights on' when in fact Cerium was cashing in 700K$ a year before selling. If you're still a participant in this scheme, I suggest perhaps reconsidering.
I think I laid out enough, if I'm missing anything important, do not hesitate to contribute here and I'll be glad to update the OP.
How do you feel about all of this? As for myself I'd be hypocritical not to say that I feel gross and feel like we've all been had in this massive, enormous grift. Transparency is important and this is the result of years of miscommunication. I believe that this won't fly for a lot of you out there and that these details are important for everyone to be aware of. Ultimately I really hope that this place doesn't change, but by looking at similar events elsewhere and all of the above details, it seems like a tall order.
If these details makes you want to quit this community, there are lots of growing and interesting communities out there.
May I also plug RetroGameBoard for the retro gaming enthusiasts.
TL;DR
Most of you are probably aware, thanks to the warning up there, that ERA is no longer owned by a solo member of the community and was sold for 4.5M$ to MOBA Network by Cerium. Which, understandably after this deed, seemingly ran off with the money to never return again, for obvious reasons.
ResetEra Ownership Update
Hello everyone! We're coming up on our 4th anniversary this month and I almost can't believe it's been that long. It feels like we got started yesterday. It feels like we've been doing this forever. Two years ago I stepped down as General Manager and I've tried to leave the day-to-day management...
www.resetera.com
However, I do believe there is a serious conversation to be had about the current state of ERA. The above thread exposed a lot of dirt and I believe transparency for all is important. Cerium painted MOBA Network as a 'better fit' for this place, but it is to believe that this 'better fit' was simply because they had the highest offer on the table. There is more to read into this whole thing than 'new owner' and the apparently reassuring OP from Cerium, which by appearances was looking to sell ASAP.
Here is the statement from MOBA about the acquisition.
M.O.B.A. Network has today acquired ResetEra.com, one of the world's largest gaming forum and community brands, which has great growth potential. With the acquisition, M.O.B.A. Network's portfolio expands its reach globally with approximately 60 million page views per month.
ResetEra.com was founded in 2017 and has grown rapidly with a committed audience. Sales in the last twelve months (up to and including 31 August) amounted to approximately USD 700,000 with an EBITDA margin of approximately 80%. The purchase price amounts to USD 4.55 million and will be paid in cash in two tranches, where USD 3.55 million has been paid upon closing, and USD 1 million will be paid by 31 December 2021.
ResetEra.com's revenue is generated through ads and member subscriptions. M.O.B.A. Network sees significant opportunities to increase advertising revenue through a higher share of direct sales, implementation of new ad formats, and a long-term product development strategy. M.O.B.A. Network, therefore, estimates that ResetEra.com can grow sales significantly in 2022 while maintaining an EBITDA margin.
With ResetEra.com, M.O.B.A. Network gets a strong, global community brand and access to a very active discussion forum with over 45 million forum posts and about 55,000 members. The discussion topics on ResetEra.com are broad and cover all kinds of games and platforms such as consoles, PC, and mobile games, which expands the M.O.B.A. Network's position in the gaming industry. ResetEra.com's core values are "inclusivity and diversity," and the community sets high demands for approving membership. The core values and the high membership requirements are also essential to M.O.B.A. Network.
The operational team that runs ResetEra will continue to moderate and engage with the community and work with M.O.B.A. Network on future product development.
"We are very excited and proud to welcome ResetEra.com - one of the world's largest gaming forum and community brands - to our growing number of brands," said Björn Mannerqvist, CEO of M.O.B.A. Network. "ResetEra.com has great growth potential, and we see significant opportunities to develop ResetEra.com, continue to grow traffic flows, improve the sales development and extract synergies within the M.O.B.A. Group."
"ResetEra.com is another step in our strategy to grow through acquisitions and create more relevant communities with attractive, growing target groups that many companies want to expose themselves to," said Björn Mannerqvist.
This forum was originally supposed to be built under the ideal that it was by the community, for the community. As a place where minorities could feel safe to participate in. It wasn't supposed to be under a single ownership in order to avoid something similar to what brought this place to be, or the situation that's happening right now. In the vein of keeping that spirit, I'll let the community itself explain the below bullet point through their contributions in the acquisition thread. Our new owner is now a profit chasing entity, which also pretty much goes against every left-leaning values this forum was carrying through this elaborate facade.
-We're now essentially associated with forums supporting alt-right/anti-trans rhetorics.
The "clear best fit" right here, obviously.
It sure was reassuring to look into a thread made last year on one of our new sister sites, MMO Champion, only to find this fun little moderation message:
Pelagos and trans representation in Shadowlands
So with Shadowlands World of Warcraft is getting our first transgender character. Pelagos, a Kyrian soulbind, is a transman after having presented as female during his mortal life. I think it's great that WoW is finally getting it's first trans character and I'm glad the developers took time...www.mmo-champion.com
Of course, that wasn't before four pages with charming, unmoderated posts like
Threads about genders are forbidden on this forum.
Being heteresexual is statistically normal.
*insert rant about forced diversity here*
I didn't see any Blizzposts about heterosexual males and by that I mean actually saying that the male character decided to be male and heterosexual. So yeah, the Pelagos case really feels forced.
There's another thread, on the same topic, on the same forum, with even more awful responses, including the trash OP itself, but i'm not posting any quotes from this one here. All I got out of it was more confirmation that trans identities are a "forbidden topic" over there; great sign!
Any post regarding sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity or women's rights to bodily autonomy is regardless of context considered a "forbidden topic" on an equal level with posting graphic violence gore images and is encouraged to be reported immediately for moderation.
** Off-Topic Forum Rules ** PLEASE READ
Off-Topic Forum Rules IMPORTANT: The rules described in this post are an addendum to the normal ruleset, and are specifically made for this section. WHEN MAKING A THREAD... If it's a World of Warcraft related thread, please use the appropriate World of Warcraft Forum. We now have a...www.mmo-champion.com
"clear best fit"
Nothing has changed except that our new partner forums allow topics like
andIs it Time for Pre - SJW Legacy Servers?
Asking this as we approach Cataclysm levels of content removal: Would you play on legacy servers that still had all the things Afrasiabi put into the game as well as all the old 2004-2021 content put in before the "fruit bowl" incident? Or should WoW split into two pieces? One for...www.mmo-champion.com
andPelagos the trans
VG24/7 Interview with Johnny Cash and Ely Cannon The WoW community is very diverse, and Shadowlands has strived to introduce characters that are diverse as well, such as Pelagos being the Shadowlands version of a trans character. transvestite community must be really happy. i guess wow is...www.mmo-champion.com
the same people own this place now. but sure, nothing will change >>".Pelagos and trans representation in Shadowlands
So with Shadowlands World of Warcraft is getting our first transgender character. Pelagos, a Kyrian soulbind, is a transman after having presented as female during his mortal life. I think it's great that WoW is finally getting it's first trans character and I'm glad the developers took time...www.mmo-champion.com
And another https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/866196-**-Off-Topic-Forum-Rules-**-PLEASE-READ just read the forbidden topics section lol
Now, a lot of the staff is currently under high pressure and tries its best to damage control the events in the acquisition thread. One important thing I'd say is to not hold any grudge against the mods as most seemed to be unaware of the situation, if there are good-willed people in all this story, it's them, they worked their asses off for years and won't see a single cent of this transaction. I noticed that it is said that ultimately, MOBA shouldn't affect this place, it's values and how it operates right now. However permit me to have a reasonable doubt when all their websites have sections similar to the below, also a lot more ease-of-access options.
Hopefully this shit won't be plastered at the bottom of every page here like on all the other sites run / acquired by this network.
(screencaps from two seperate sites)
So, after looking around at some of the other sites in the moba network I think there's probably a few changes to the user experience that we can maybe look forward to:
- Affiliate links on the bottom of every page
This seems the most obvious considering they're on all of the network sites footers and the company themselves stated their desire to "grow traffic flows" and "extract synergies" between sites. Bjorn also spent much of his career in the SEO field so I'm sure setting up backlinks will be an early priority.
Given the problematic nature of many of these sites this creates a number of issues and a conflict with many of the communities ideals. It would be strange to impose a news or discussion boycott on Hogwarts Legacy for example while every page contains a link to MMO-Champion which considers any discussion of trans identity as a "forbidden topic". Similarly many of these sister sites are dedicated fan forums for Activision Blizzard properties.
All of these sites are loaded with ads and many of which are the more intrusive kind such as auto playing videos. I'm not sure how reliable the blocked elements counter on adblock is but it shows 20-30 elements blocked on the homepage for Era compared to 80-110 on all of hearthpwn, mmo-champion and mtg salvation.
- More obtrusive and aggressive advertising
Even using adblock doesn't entirely fix the problem as the advert space which has to be manually clicked to remove on each page load will just hold the empty unremovable bar obstructing the page view if blocked.
More disruptive ads gives a great inventive for removal and these sites seem big on their premium options, also including cosmetic badges so everyone can see who the premium users are on the forum!
- Era Clear being pushed harder
All of these sites are designed to be easy to sign up to and quick to make your first post offering registration using social accounts. Something very incompatible with the current Resetera model of private e-mail registration only. It's a difficult sell to believe this would continue at a time when traffic is falling and those leaving seem to outnumber those joining.
- Easier registration
More members means more posts for ads to exist on and more potential subscriptions being sold. They are a business after all.
One other thing to underline would be that the original word choice for ERA Gold/Clear was that the contributions were 'to keep the lights on' when in fact Cerium was cashing in 700K$ a year before selling. If you're still a participant in this scheme, I suggest perhaps reconsidering.
I think I laid out enough, if I'm missing anything important, do not hesitate to contribute here and I'll be glad to update the OP.
How do you feel about all of this? As for myself I'd be hypocritical not to say that I feel gross and feel like we've all been had in this massive, enormous grift. Transparency is important and this is the result of years of miscommunication. I believe that this won't fly for a lot of you out there and that these details are important for everyone to be aware of. Ultimately I really hope that this place doesn't change, but by looking at similar events elsewhere and all of the above details, it seems like a tall order.
If these details makes you want to quit this community, there are lots of growing and interesting communities out there.
I will delete if its against TOS.
installbaseforum for Japan Sales/Sales
Xboxera for Xbox
famiboards for Nintendo
Not sure about others but i will only join a few and lurks in the others lol.
Sony is still on ERA lol
May I also plug RetroGameBoard for the retro gaming enthusiasts.
Retro Game Boards
RGB - The boards are retro, the conversation is fresh, and the video games are timeless.
www.retrogameboards.com
TL;DR