Is NodeBB actually a good fit for a gaming forum these days?

[tahirmehmoodkhokhar@community.nodebb.org]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been thinking about setting up a small gaming forum and came across NodeBB. I like how modern and lightweight it looks compared to older forum platforms, but I’m not sure how well it really works in practice for gaming communities.

Most gamers I know mostly use Discord now, so I’m wondering if it’s even worth starting a traditional forum at this point. My idea was to have a place for more structured discussions like game guides, updates, and long-term threads that don’t get lost like they do in chat.

If anyone here has experience using NodeBB for something gaming-related:

Does it stay active, or is it hard to keep people engaged?
Any features or plugins that made a big difference?
Did you face any issues early on that I should be aware of?

Just trying to understand if I’m heading in the right direction before I invest time into this. Would appreciate any honest opinions.

[anchorite@community.nodebb.org]

Since you mention game guides, I’ll say that a traditional forum is a far better fit than Discord. The problem is convincing everyone else of that fact. Every open source project or software package seems to use Discord for its help “forums” now, but Discord wasn’t designed for cumulative, searchable, long-term discussions.

To give a personal anecdote, I was trying to follow BlenderGuru’s donut tutorial, and was stuck on something or other. Of course, BlenderGuru has a Discord, and there’s a channel specifically for questions about his donut tutorial. I ask my question, and it flies off the top of the screen like a barrel going over Niagara Falls, never to be seen again.

Since you don’t specify what game, I’m assuming you’re looking to start a general gaming forum. That’s probably a smarter bet than dedicating a forum to a single game, and so a much smaller pool of potential forum members. Most people may need some convincing to join a traditional forum after years of Reddit, Discord, and Facebook. You could perhaps lean into the traditional forum angle, trying to attract people nostalgic for slower, more long lasting, and personal style of communication offered by forums.

If you have the admin skills and don’t expect a lot of concurrent users, a VPS is cheap, so the risk is low. I’d say go for it anyway.

[julian@community.nodebb.org]

@tahirmehmoodkhokhar forums have a long history of being paired with gaming. Many of the top AAA gaming companies have (or had) forums.

Discord has supplanted them but it provides a far inferior experience compared to a forum.