Are LLMs Reducing Forum Activity? My Observations & Questions

[Aardwolf]

I wasn't sure in which section I should have created this thread, so I picked Off-Topic.

How often do you use LLM services for help in either GUI scripting, Lua, etc?
Does the emergence of such technology make you post less on forums or Discord? It surely made me post/read less on forums. Even though I can get responses fairly fast on either Discord or forums, the instant answers from so-called AI somehow feel more handy (but are often less reliable in the end).

Obviously, it has issues like hallucinations, and sometimes the time you need to spend to fix the stuff it spews out makes the whole endeavour less favourable in the end. But sometimes it comes pretty handy as well.
I'm not sure if it will improve much over time, because in my view that whole LLM boom is at a late stage of and s-curve pattern, meaning it won't improve exponentially as it used to over the next few years. I have no opinion on the AGI concept so far, but it's a whole different topic on its own.

Do you think forums have been less active in the last ~2 years because of that? Personally, I have no idea, as I've been kinda "away" for some time.
But when you look at cases like Stack Overflow, it is evident that the coding community there basically went to its all-time low since its inception (https://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/1926661#graph).

Our community seem to be way more resistant to that technology, since it has more features (like the Resources section), and I can see people enjoy their time here, and they are not using the website to simply get their problem solved, just like the majority of Stack Overflow members did, I can imagine.

 

[khopesh]

Well, the future is AI, it's like any other tool in its time. I think we could create a Markdown in .PDF with everything important related to triggers from the forum, at least in the GUI, and make for to attach in ChatGPT questions, so that them can give more accurate answers

 

[deepstrasz]

WEHZ is still going daily, not sure what exact part of the site is being lowered in activity.

 

[Gismo359]

Imo, lower site activity will be caused by the popularity of the game more than anything else. Less wc3 players means less players for your map and less motivation to make maps. Also, over the years real game engines have become easier to use and have partially displaced wc3's custom map niche, which is kind of like an almost finished strategy game engine from the point of view of the map maker - low bar to start off, but with a high ceiling as well. But I'm sure AI has had an effect as well, especially with the younger map makers.

Over the years, most other communities have either moved here or faded away. It's kind of sad looking at the old lists of affiliated websites/communities and seeing either dead links or forums with sub 10 posts a year.

That being said, I'm always pleasantly surprised to see how active this forum is to this day. It's not quite what it used to be, but for a 20+ year old site about a 20+ year old game? I'd say the hive is doing pretty well - Ralle, Archian and the community as a whole have done a phenomenal job at keeping this place active.

 

[Deleted member 207880]

Discord has also greatly influenced the decrease in site activity, since instead of posting here, they write there. Although the "Staff" considers the official Hive Discord channel as an extension of the website.

AI (ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, despite its limitations and difficulties, is making it seem like a human is programming for me in Unity. I'm having fun with the project even though it's still a shit.

Claw – Google Drive

drive.google.com

Recreating Captain Claw for learning and nostalgia.

Hive is a special community that has managed to attract many talented people, both amateur and professional, who have enabled the site to deliver various great and excellent assets and projects. In addition to sharing knowledge and learning, they are friendly to people with questions.

I feel that the Warcraft 3 World Editor is obsolete because of its limitations. Even though it made history in the past as a very diverse game with various map types such as AoS, Arena, TD, RTS, RPG, etc. Inspirations drawn from this editor to create independent games like Dota 2, Element TD, Legion TD.

These are some of the motives why Hive is still alive more than 20 years later.