Doom and Gloomers

[Elaini]

I think about every year there's someone in IMVU site who comes and starts saying "IMVU is dying soon, abandon ship, abandon ship!!!" It's about as frequent as the predictions about the apocalypse, though some of them are only saying it because the rules prevented them have what they wanted.

But despite all that and the bad or pointless changes from the staff, IMVU keeps running year after year as one cornerstone of the metaverse genre along with Active Worlds and Second Life. AV first started in 1995, SL in 2003 and IMVU in 2004.

The people close to me remind me all the time though: "Keep withdrawing the money you earned from IMVU to your bank account, you just never know what's going to happen." I can't say that it's a bad advice.

Anyway, how do you see all this?

[ChocolateCookie]

I personally think that phenomenon of there always being people that think that IMVU is dying mainly comes from the constantly changing user base. I've been through this myself, I almost never chat with anyone anymore, but I know that a site like this isn't going to suddenly die. Most likely, it will slowly become less and less popular and gradually die out or change into something completely different.

When people first join, the site seems new and exciting with so much to do and so many cool people to talk to. People are eager to be social and try the site out so they make a lot of friends right of the bat, often with other people that just recently joined and are just as eager to make new international friends. But as years go by, the site is no longer as new and exciting to the older users. They often have a set group of friends and habits on the site, for example some people really like the pulse and some love being in chat rooms. And when IMVU makes changes that has an effect on some of those habits like redesign pulse, it is natural for people to be upset by it. They are used to things working a certain way and having a certain set of rules and changing that can easily ruin the experience, even if the change might bring some improvements. Not saying that IMVU always makes good changes but people on average don't like change very much.

In addition to that, the people they met years ago are slowly moving away from the site, and making new friends later is nowhere near as easy and fun as it was when they first started. New users are annoying because they are excited about trivial stuff and older users aren't always that eager to talk. Plus, meeting people from different cultures is no longer as interesting as it was at first because you've already met some of them.

So as the user's circle of friends grows smaller and smaller and the user being constantly frustrated with how much the site and the trends on the site are changing, it is going to seem like the site is dying, because it is dying for them. The site and the people they fell in love with are gone, and in many cases, they will soon be gone as well.

[Elaini]

You do have some good points, there... though I do count as an old user and prefer to see the brighter sides of things if any, to remain as adaptable as possible, even if I also moan about changes at times. That's why I haven't really left from IMVU completely.

But the new Salesforce Discussions are actually the reason why I'm active in PP and still plan to be. They are but a toy compared to the real format of forums. What I see in Discussions is a feeble attempt of taking the format of mobile IM and the calling it proper discussion boards. And the staff is very stubborn on keeping them, too.

I am getting the impression every so often that the new staff just doesn't have a clue on how things have worked - that many of the users are actually have more knowledge than them.

[DianaDeMysterieux]

I doubt that IMUV is going die anytime soon.

However, I do agree that when one is new to the site, yeah it's exciting and fresh, but stay there long enough and many of those new users begin to see all the flaws that we've come know and have seen for ourselves. I actually don't have an issue talking to new users, sadly the problem is that a some of the new users come with poor attitudes such as being hostile, immature and/or just want to sit and park and don't actually want to talk.

As for the Discussion boards, I think IMVU ended up taking a few steps back. The Salesforce format is not even close new and innovative, I'm sure it's probably mobile friendly, but I seriously doubt anyone is using their mobile to check out the Discussion boards.

[Elaini]

The Salesforce format is not even close new and innovative, I'm sure it's probably mobile friendly, but I seriously doubt anyone is using their mobile to check out the Discussion boards.

Actually it looks worse on the mobile... the side bar on the left is still there taking room but it's squashed, and the thread titles are pushed over the avatar images, making it look really messy, barely readable. PP forums however look very nice on the mobile too...

[DianaDeMysterieux]

The Salesforce format is not even close new and innovative, I'm sure it's probably mobile friendly, but I seriously doubt anyone is using their mobile to check out the Discussion boards.

Actually it looks worse on the mobile... the side bar on the left is still there taking room but it's squashed, and the thread titles are pushed over the avatar images, making it look really messy, barely readable. PP forums however look very nice on the mobile too...

HAHA!

Just goes to show that the PhpBB works well on the mobile then.

Another thing that users have discovered and IMVU with all their trying to be 'mobile-friendly' could have left the Forums as were.

[ChocolateCookie]

The Salesforce format is not even close new and innovative, I'm sure it's probably mobile friendly, but I seriously doubt anyone is using their mobile to check out the Discussion boards.

Actually it looks worse on the mobile... the side bar on the left is still there taking room but it's squashed, and the thread titles are pushed over the avatar images, making it look really messy, barely readable. PP forums however look very nice on the mobile too...

Yeah, I actually almost always use a mobile browser (tablet) when browsing these forums and the same as true with the IMVU forums. Writing this post on mobile right now, and it is much better on mobile than the new IMVU forums are.

[SqkyC]

ChocolateCookie has some good points - the newness wears off and that is true anywhere.

I think with Imvu though it's more (speaking for myself) the lack of transparency and the seeming disregard for the user base that would *really* like to know just what is going on with the site, y'know. They have a virtual *treasure trove* of good suggestions and ideas from users over the years, and what do they do? Ignore it. Eventually erase it. Heh. Can't be bothered.

I'm thinking the salesforce format is more about mining of and sales of personal data than making a useful format for user discussion. I cannot prove that of course, but it does make sense.

New users download the app... play around a bit... spend their free promos and whatever credits they get then leave. How can a site make money just from selling credits and services when this is what's happening? User retention has never been their focus (although some of us stick around anyway). What else do they have to sell? If they ARE making plenty of money from sales of credits and services we'll never know about it because... they never talk.

The new management is clearly making the site into something else but won't tell us what. That leaves us long time users guessing.

Ya, changes come everywhere and it's not always bad... it would be nice to not feel so in the dark about them though.
Changes made in the dark make me suspicious and paranoid.

I'm not abandoning ship. I have too much natural curiosity about what will they do next.

I am, however, cautious about participating actively with a group of folks who clearly have no regard for my (or other customer) input. I have other things I can go do.

[Notorious Chicka]

when IMVU dies...we can still meet here

[Seige]

I agree with how things are feeling, a lot of My long time friends on IMVU have left and moved on to other sites and so there is a small group to talk to these days, trying to meet new people on IMVU is harder than it was 5, 8, 10 years ago, everyone wanted to know each other, these days people stick with their clicks and don't really venture out into other rooms any more, the new users don't get familiar with the TOS and wind up getting booted from rooms. The adventure to explore Rooms has kind of died because it's hard to find something that isn't over done. (Dance clubs, stripe clubs, bikers clubs...clubs, clubs, clubs) Not much variety any more ( oh did I forget furry clubs? Sorrrryyyy ) But yes the new users do become annoying to the older users because the older ones are set in their ways and the new users think the older users are snobs (I have actually been called that.) I don't do private chats these days and the new users seem to think Private is all that matters and they will tell you that... But I have seen a decline in the Older users because they are getting tired of not having anything to do or they are just bored with it all and are going to other places like Steam...

[Elaini]

I have Steam too, and I know at least one IMVUer who has settled there much better (and Second Life), so she's barely seen in IMVU anymore.

Also the latest YouTube videos for IMVU don't look too encouraging. It's nearly always stereotyping, noobs, gangstas and trolling, things I stopped caring about long time ago.

[BraydenFinn]

I've been here 11 years and I'm not so sure IMVU is dissolving but it's not what it used to be and we aren't going in a positive direction, IMO. That poor excuse for forums really broke everything and it's harder than ever to know what's actually going on. Anyhow, I think they need to redirect their efforts to the original client and if they insist on Next, use a different team, but don't destroy what worked so well. All the things they've changed and removed since 2006 is a travesty. They sure know how to kill creativity.