[The Geek]

Decrease in general chatter does make sense, but I would wager that is symptomatic of forums not being the easiest avenue for general chatter any more. Twitter and FB are far better at that sort of thing, but they suck at discussions (especially niche).

So - I guess it makes sense that if your ratio of banter to niche content is heavy on the chatter side, then you will be adversely affected by the rise of better outlets for that. My site hasn't been hindered - we've grown (but we've always been niche content driven).

Funny thing about FB is that you have to already be a friend of someone before you can discuss anything with them and Twitter only lends itself primarily as a one-way 140 character shoutbox and the only people that can listen have to already be following you!

Now, gaming forums are a saturated "niche" area and sadly a dime a dozen. Seems like the key sticking power are in community "factions". I really don't know what the answer for that type of site is however I would be far less worried about FB and Twitter and more worried about some of the other "big boys" that operate forum discussions, reviews, etc... I would find/create a USP/angle and just stick to it.