Amazon's Bold Move: Closing New World and Lost Ark Forums for Discord Servers

Amazon has recently decided to close the forums for its popular MMO games, New World and Lost Ark, and transition the community engagement to Discord servers. However, this move has been met with strong opposition from the gaming communities, questioning the effectiveness of Discord as a suitable replacement for forums. This article delves into the reasons behind the decision and the concerns raised by the players.

Amazon justified the decision to close the forums in favor of Discord by highlighting the platform's features, functionality, and accessibility for players. By focusing on Discord as the primary engagement platform, Amazon aims to provide a central and easily accessible platform for players to engage with the game and its developers. To this end, the New World and Lost Ark forums will be disabled from May 1st, with the forums remaining accessible for an unspecified time so users can save their content.

However, many players have expressed their dissatisfaction and concerns about this change. They argue that Discord servers and forums serve different purposes, and Discord's chat-based interface is not suitable for in-depth discussions, feedback, or searching for specific information. While Discord is a popular choice for gamers to engage in small talk and one-liners, forums provide a more organized and searchable platform for deeper discussions and analysis, with better formatting tools and more thoughtful posting.

Moreover, players are worried about navigating the vast quantity of information that will be posted on the Discord servers, fearing that it will become disorganized and messy. Discord's real-time chat nature poses the risk of losing essential feedback and discussions within minutes, making it potentially challenging to maintain engaging and meaningful conversations.

In conclusion, while Amazon's decision to close the forums for New World and Lost Ark may be seen as a step towards embracing modern communication platforms, it is essential to consider whether Discord is the best substitute for forums. It is crucial to acknowledge the different purposes each platform serves and weigh the pros and cons before implementing such changes.

Fortunately, players can still engage in forum-like discussions through other channels such as Reddit and Steam, although losing the native forums is undeniably disappointing. The closure of New World and Lost Ark forums represents a critical point of reflection for both the gaming industry and the gaming communities, questioning whether newer means of communication are always more suitable than the tried and tested alternatives.