How to make LANThrax useful again

love that idea some kind of forum or something 

That is just one idea. I was hoping you guys could suggest something.

How about popular team-play games right now? I happen to play league of legends, and anyone ready for its appeal to one day perhaps get a maltese team up and running against the challengers in european countries is always appealing to me.

Some might think of Dota2 and I'm pretty sure that these games are here to stay for a long while.

What's the LANThrax website going to do about it? It's not like we can host a game server like we used to do for CoD2.

Well, it could organize the trajectory of players to be able to compete more interestingly.

Things which come to mind:

1) a retro-gaming section with browser playable retro/vintage games. Most classic arcade games no longer have any copyright restrictions.

2) A platform for students following gaming courses at MCAST & University, to showcase their games. I know that there are other international sites for this, but it always pays to get more local exposure and recognition, in order to be able to get an extra push in foreign markets.

Personally, I would also consider a cheap yet efficient promotional campaign, by means of catchy/witty advertising (fliers, posters etc.), especially at and around places mainly frequented by teens and adolescents (educational institutions, places of entertainment, shopping/fashion outlets).

Hope this helps.

At the top of my head I can only think of two ways to get more traffic into the website. The first one is a short term solution, were the site would get increased traffic for a few weeks hoping that some of that traffic will remain active whilst the second option is nothing tangible, but it might be of benefit to think about.

1. Organise a LAN Party: Lanthrax haven't hosted a LAN Party in ages. Since this is a gaming website, we must give the gamers what they want, and right now LAN Parties are scarce. Forget trying to be original and focus on the mainstream (League of Legends), and organise a LAN Party in Gozo. As far I know, there haven't been a LAN in Gozo for years and organising one there would have the excitement factor as people love to travel. Lanthrax.com can be then used for the LAN discussions - potential participants would have to sign-up to have their say, and this would create arguments and thus more traffic.

2. CONTROVERSY SELLS. If you are trying to find something to attract visitors to the website, try to think of something that users would find controversial. I remember Lanthrax being an opinion forum were members used to express their feelings about everything and not just gaming on this website. Gaming is still very much alive in Malta, however Maltese gamers seemed to have moved from PC gaming and more toward console gaming. As implied above, if traffic is the goal, go with the mainstream.I know that Lanthrax have always been a PC-oriented community, but times have changed and we would need to adapt to keep up.

And I loved hearing from you again! :)

What about a Drivers section?

What kind of drivers?

like there is on www.guru3d.com

Why re-invent the wheel? I think it would need to be something that is not offered by anyone else, such as something specific for Maltese.

I think old gamers like me get old, and free time decreases. Most of them hardly play anymore. You need to find whats new. Provide services for new popular games like this website used to. Provide tournament creation and server hosting. Try to attract to best teams and others will follow.

And also, was this website intended to be an online community for gamers or something else? 

The way I saw wa sto bring together gamers and to facilitate the organization of LAN Parties (through promotions and discussions). With the advent of online gaming, LAN parties started losing their appeal. The people who tasted the thrill of attending a LAN party have now, as you said, outgrown the hobby.

i hope you got my message

i wish i could come here more often but being held back by 500 internal eror

I got the message, but in order to help you I need to know where and under which circumstances the error happens.

I think the problem with LANThrax is that it failed to adapt to newer things after online gamers were finding comfort in Facebook. The period where Facebook started to become more and more dominant in every online social interaction, is the same period where LANThrax forums starting dying (obviously) - but this should of been an indicator & warning to LANThrax that it should of started to adapt to that something new that could of kept  it afloat, and possibly open new doors..  

For example, one thing that comes to mind that could of grown into something larger, is the Market Place, (which was still very active even after general forum inacitivity), so in that stage where the demand for sharing and asking questions related to gaming was met by Facebook groups etc. -  LANThrax could of adjusted to  focus more on the market place, which who knows what that could of grown/led to..

Obviously this isn't something that I, or any member at LANThax saw coming - but it is simply an observation 

Just wanted to say good job to Osprey for the sweet new update.