Before I start, I have made this thread that no one seeks any quarrel with anyone. I have created this thread, to unite the forums for the last time before the door is shut on Tuesday. before anyone goes typing, I request we should all aside the grudges we have and make this wholesome, for a momentous, and in ways, sad occasion. Right, let’s begin. After the shocking announcements from DTG, I thought, as the general discussion thread is coming to a close. I would like to say goodbye after Tuesday. first off, I would like to thank Train Sim Society for his formal video discussing the issue and situation, working alongside him to deliver him insights into the chaos that erupted from dovetail’s announcement this week has been an honour. I would like to thank the CMs over at DTG, who, despite the companies issues, have been the backbone of the company, and spokespeople, I think you all are the greatest link and when Tuesday rolls around the corner, I think we will begin to miss them, for trying their best at their jobs. All the flack we have given them, are not aimed at the them personally, and I believe they are great human beings at the end of the day. I would like to thank the right honourable member OldVern who is one of the most respected, strong and most prominent figures on the forums. thank you for your great service. But, this does not concern DTGs issues. This is about saying goodbye to something i have grown my childhood on. When I joined the forums back in 2020, I was 13 years old. I was still a child and I was fresh out of Year 8 at school. I remember coming home from school, and talking about Train Sim World on these forums and communicating with others, even if I was a BIT misjudged and unhinged. today, in 2026, I am still probably the youngest member of the forums, at just 19 years old. Which definitely dwarfs some of the elderly here (pun intended) I have completed 4 years of school, 3 years of college and now I’m about to get a job living as an independent adult. I must say, the forums were the most chaotic, but also the most fun and interesting place, I’ve ever been to on the internet. it’s been a wild ride for all of us, through good times and bad. Through excitement to disappointment. And whilst all of us definitely didn’t share the same opinions, and we were all fighting like married couples (no offence to any of the elderly here) I think we’ve all had some brilliant times together. My highlight has got to be the Thomas showcase, what a bizarre and interesting story that was, a blue tank engine, becoming one of the most controversial DLCs in the games history, that is one that I’ll definitely not forget. I think we all fought hard for what we stood for, and that is something that should ALWAYS be commemorated, we were all passionate about the game, since day one back in 2017. I think, as we end towards our time on the forums, we have all come to respect each other and have good relationships. One thing I might add though, is that the forums at least lasted 4x longer than a certain someone from Downing Street, which I think we all know who that is! What we all stood for, was a game that could be made better, and that was ALL of our end goals. And whilst our views weren’t successful, we certainly had a good shot at it. It has been a massive pleasure, to take part in the journey of this game, here. We may or may not meet again, some place else but just in case; I wish everyone on these forums good luck, and I wish everyone has a safe rest of their lives, knowing, I will never have to argue with an elderly person on the internet, ever again (no offence) 9 years of memories, arguments, laughs, outrage, joy, hype and extremely old age pensioner jokes (again, no offence!) and nearly 7 iterations of the game. 9 years, fulfilled. for Tuesday, it is a goodbye from me, for the last time.
absolutely, people on discord will have a go at us for wanting GD to stay open but the wider attention can only be a good thing exactly the same for me. my current account is relatively new, i couldn’t log into my old one but i’ve been on here since tsw2020 as well and the advice and conversations ive had on here have been invaluable this. whilst the forums have become bitterly divided on many occasions in the last few months, we’ve all come together to make our feelings clear. despite our differences, the vast majority of people on here are clearly decent members of society who’ve contributed so much over the last decade sorry to break it to you but i beat you by a number of months, i won’t be turning 19 until december, but i'm glad that i’m not alone in being a gen z user of the forums if we don’t bump into each other again then best of luck- we’ll both need it, it’s a tough world out there
It would be so awesome if TSC had its own forums section on their website. :'( Much love to you, mate!
My account is just one year old and this week I got the 1000 messages reward. It's very sad, I was almost daily on here, joining discussions, asking question and helping others when possible. Without the General Discussion part, there is not much left and I'm really gonna miss the discussions.
Keep up the hope guys - apparently they are considering changing the initial plan - more on the announcement thread
I may have beaten you to that title I totally agree with you though, this has been an amazing community to discuss my hobby with, for 4 years, but have playing the game since tsw2020 console version released. Bye to you, all the best.
Watch who you call elderly there youngster … I won’t be 70 till next week. Seriously, it has been a great ride, I hope they come to their senses, but if not we will find another way to start a new community
i’m not getting my hopes up, as a community we still have to treat the situation as GD is definitely going. if we shut up at the first hint of good news, that could certainly damage how inclined dtg feel to give us what we want
I'd let DTG put their cards on the table first from the announcement today and them recognising the complete resentment from the community from this decision... It's to early in the day for me to throw my hat in completely, just yet. It feels like we are at a negotiating point with them and I wouldn't want to waste that opportunity by abandoning ship right now. If General Discussion stays because of the communities protests then great... But if it doesn't, not all is lost and there is quite a strong probability that Emmy_MAN may be setting up a new train sim forum so we can all be fired out of the DTG space ship airlock, land on a new virtual planet and populate a new forum with our railway veg ways! But let's just see what's on offer first before doing anything drastic. We've got some really strong members of the forum batting for our team and advocating for General Discussions survival. I am myself going to do my absolute best (behind the keyboard!) to try and also advocate diplomatically for GDs survival. As the end result would be worth it if we can save it.
It’s not going to be saved at the 11th hour, it’s out of the hands of DTG. This isn’t just about the death of forums, there are more serious issues afoot within DTG. It’s been a fun 7 or 8 years and I truly hope that everyone connected with the game the absolute best. We are losing a community but others are losing far more
Well, I for one plan on sticking around and having wide-ranging troll-less discussions on Feedback, Announcements, Troubleshooting and Suggestions. If that doesn’t pan out then I’ll probably just forget to come back one day, and that’ll be that.
Don’t think it’s goodbye, even assuming no last minute reprieve (visions of the guy being strapped to the electric chair and shouting, “The Governor’s going to call…”), there will still be a need to contribute to the Feedback for any purchases we might make or bugs which suddenly arise on existing content. And some of us will definitely be probing what can and can’t be discussed in those feedback threads, too.
So beautiful to see why change is needed. Topic number 80 about the same point. If something is no longer considered relevant, we just open another one because then it stands out more or something… But that is exactly the reason why DTG wants to close the general discussion section! You’re giving DTG exactly the argument they’re going to use. Topic number 80 doesn’t change anything about your arguments those have been chewed out by now and are crystal clear. I’m not saying whether you’re right or wrong, but it absolutely doesn’t work in your favor to open yet another topic with the same argument and the same people writing the exact same things as in the other 79 threads.
So it’s time to say goodbye. I’m not likely to join Discord, so let me say goodbye to everyone here. I apologise to anyone whom my posts may have upset or offended. Thank you for your help, thank you for your helpful advice, and thank you for the always interesting discussions. A special thank you to the Firefly Simulations team, who, at the very end of my TSW adventure, gave me what I’d been asking for for nine years. You’re the best! And the Medway Valley line rules! All the best to you all, and good luck to the Dovetail Games team.
