hi all..
i have been reading this site for a good while and although i agree with a lot of the issues raised in this thread i feel i should give my two cents.
personally I’m a dipper. I drop into the site every few days and check out the recent posts and read any info that’s been submitted but i don’t get involved with forum posts as such. I have just finished a course in programming including flash/action-script. java, html etc and am now a class room assistant helping to teach these languages.
Yes, i agree that the site would benefit from expansion in some areas but lets not get carried away with the Irish angle. It is true that there are a lot of software houses and developers based in Ireland and that the number is growing but the majority of these are service/call centers and can really only be attached to the games arena by default. The small amount of successful developers within Eire are focusing on either mobile or browser based gaming and as such this reduces the options regarding articles and posts about dev.
Maybe a more structured developers areas regarding programming languages and software use (art etc) would benefit the readers. Maybe this site could help grow Ireland’s games growth by informing and helping the readers learn and grow and get together to make and showcase games.
The games jam is a great idea and although i missed the last one in dublin i shall definitely be attending the next.
all in all there is a vast wealth of experience on this site, by sharing and nurturing this experience maybe we can build some games of our own to propel both the site and the industry here in Ireland.