There is a lot that comes with moderation a forum. Especially one that is focused on a MMO game, not to mention all the other single player game websites there are. If your feeling up to it a community forum is a good way to build on-line/in-game relationships with others and a great way to make a name for yourself in-game and on the internet. The only problem is knowing the proper etiquette when moderating these gaming forums. I will you many a tip and more to start you on your way to moderating your own community/guild forum. Though there are a lot of pointers I can give you most of the time you have to play it by ear and really make decisions on the spot about some topics.

When your forum starts to get going a lot of different people with different views are going to be making different threads and posting to numerous topics. Sometimes, people disagree about things, and that’s ok! They might even get a little riled up about defending their views on something, and that’s ok too! Some disputes are good to have. Namely the ones where people are debating about something game related. What the best stats are for a certain character, or who has the better armor (whatever). These things are ok to debate about and you shouldn’t really have to delete any posts (unless someone gets out of hand). They actually will help your forum get noticed and used because more people will want to post on the topic and maybe by chance someone with the same interests may link to your forum from another site. Even though there are a bunch of benefits related to a good debate, there are some people who ruin it all. These are the people you have to watch and possibly delete posts and threads from.

There are a few things that should not be allowed to happen in a forum of any kind, let alone one that is focused on an MMO or game. No one should be allowed to call another member of the forum any type of name. Name calling leads to a thread that is just one immature comment after another waiting to pull your whole forum and everyone in it down. Delete these threads or posts and warn the members invloved to behave themselves or they will be released from the forum or possibly community. Hopefully this will keep them in line. The next thing that should not be seen in an MMO is any topics relating to religion or politics. That isn’t what the forum is for and it shouldn’t ever be a topic for discussion. These kinds of topics start debates which lead into fights and it isn’t productive in any way. Delete delete delete. The last thing that you should not allow to happen on your

forum is for threads to be overrun by someone who is a “know-it-all”. Although having a member that is knowledgeable about topic is a plus he/she should not be able to think that they are the authority on everyone’s questions. Also these types of people usually spam up the forum a bit by reiterating their thoughts over and over.

Remembering these few rules will help you start off moderating like a pro. As I said before, you can try and live by these rules but moderation is really a job of judgement. Trust your instincts and if you think its offensive or not productive, pull it. You might have one person mad at you but a ton of really happy members who didn’t want to be bothered with that. Always remember that your members are why your forum is up and working and to not take them for granted nor to to control them too much. A forum is like a bowl of jello, flexible and able to be molded, and should be treated accordingly. For more information on video game web design check us out at DreamCo Design – Video Game Web Design. For more information on other types of web design take a look at DreamCo Design – Web Design.