#AC_Talks - On Decline of the #ArmoredCore Community 1 Year Later

This AC Talks is a follow up to one I did back in February (and one in July) talking about the state of the Armored Core community. I would recommend if you haven't already to view both of them for full context. Links can be found below.



On Growth and Growing Pains in the AC Community (19th Feb 2017)

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1spkr3f



Armored Core Talks #2 - State of the Community (18th Jul 2017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVuPJOscf7E



For a while, 2017 looked like the year that the Armored Core community got back on its feet. Things were looking up for once, with people actively engaging with one another, activity increasing slowly, and many folks doing their part to support the scene, particularly in creating content. All we needed was time to just keep on going and survive.



Unfortunately, if you've been in this community long enough you know that when something good happens, it only lingers for so long before the cold, hard reality sets it, and things just go back to the way they were.



So where are we in comparison with one year ago, in March of 2018?







1. Activity and community hangouts

Activity currently is at an increasingly depressing low. Few people are interested in talking about Armored Core, and fewer even to play it. There are small pockets of people who group together, but their general effect on the overall community is negligible. At this point most stuff seems like shitposts or memes, or if you're lucky just the occasional fancy artwork. There have been few to no tournaments or events for over a year now. There is currently no one who is proactively taking charge or doing anything.



Few people have bothered to take advantage of the advances that have been made with stuff like the PPSSPP emulator. There are no groups that currently use its much begged for (by the community) netplay feature. I suspect that most people use it just to play the old games and nothing else.



The Facebook Group has suffered a lot from the internal drama that resulted from the moderation team and Dave and his inner circle. That combined with the limited post rule put a damper in activity, and it has become more and more rare that people have posted anything. Before, it was hard for an hour to past without a person posting something. Now, you're lucky if you get a handful in a day. People also seem more reluctant to comment on anything, as even the regulars rarely post much, except when there are heated arguments. The tentative inter-generational truce seems to be gone too. Most people post or comment from one or two gens and that's about it. I've also noticed a small but notable increase in the 5th Gen haters.



Forums are pretty much across the board dead. Gamefaqs is the same too. It's sad that what was once the cornerstone of the community is now just an empty husk of its former self.



Twitter is still mainly the domain of the JP community.



Reddit is very, very, very slowly growing, but its attitude is still the same as the rest of the community, and can be summed up in a comment made a while ago: "I lurk, not post."

It seems mainly to be used for asking questions. Recently it's been about posting memes.



I've recently joined Discord again, and my full thoughts and notes will be included in the video AC Talks coming in July, but really it hasn't changed. There isn't much room for newer people and productive discussion is rare or without enough context. Again, it's mainly just vets hanging out. There doesn't feel like there potential for growth or to go further than it already is.







2. Content Creation

Content Creation (CC for short) has dropped off alot, but is still there. The main problem is that it's almost exclusively gameplay footage. There isn't a lot of higher end stuff.



Buster TBM still seems to be one of the few remaining bastions of activity, and is still one of the largest and most active AC personalities still in the CC scene. Overall he's experienced slow but consistent growth on his channel, although I'm concerned as to how how long it can last. He's noted on his Twitter that some of his AC content is not getting the same views as previously, which may mean he's starting to hit that invisible ceiling of interest and growth. The fact that he's relatively isolated to just YT in comparison with most AC people may be exacerbating it. Unless you know his content existed, you wouldn't know about it or be able to find it unless you look closely. I think that may explain why I haven't really seen his content posted on Reddit, the FB group, or even talked about much anymore outside of his channel.



Dave (moodydata) cancelled LR and disconnected himself with most of the AC community save for a handful of folks. Apparently he's working on "Project R," but is very on and off about it. His social media stuff is mainly just him playing non-AC games now.



There are a handful of other Content Creators around, but they receive significantly less views and recognition; most get under 50 views on average. They are also mainly focused on videos and are on Youtube. There is very little content creation of any other type.



YoungmasterDX and Siphon Rayzar does a combination of 4th and 3rd Gen Stuff.

Royal Angel does purely 3rd gen PPSSPP stuff.

Eternalinventor is still doing his playthrough and archiving of every single mission in the Armored Core games.

Coffee Potato does his Armored Core Formula Front commentary and AI battles.

Claes Angelo started up again posting more ACVD videos of matches and UNACs.



Most other people who create Armored Core content come and go, rarely lasting more than a few months, if even that.





Conclusion

The AC community has never been in good condition for the past ten years or so. But things are still getting worse. We are currently on the slow and painful road, not to recovery, but to nothingness. Not enough people are active, games still have too few players, and content is still not getting enough exposure. And the only way we can solve these issues is to keep grinding and pushing.



But the community has lost its interest in putting in effort, and most have given up. Those that haven't are still waiting for an AC6. But most people seem to forget that no amount of miracles will change the fact that sooner or later, we will have to face these problems that plague the Armored Core community. New AC game or not.



Is there any hope for AC and its playerbase? It's hard to say at this point. Only time will tell.



-FromCheng

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