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I’m glad to be back with an editorial after some time away. College
has been busy for me, and now that finals are over I have enough time
to write about something that has been on my mind for a while now.
No one can deny that the Internet has done wonders for society. It
has changed the way we think, the way we communicate, the way we spend
our time, the way we do business, and so much more. These benefits
apply to everyone, of course, but some of the most significant and
poignant changes have been for gamers and game culture. We play
Internet-based games, we form communities to talk about games, and we
have a much more direct line to the creators and publishers of games.
That sounds like a wonderful opportunity that we should use with
extreme care and potential. However, the nature of the Internet is such
that anyone can form any kind of site or community they want, and
rather than a coherent organization of fanbases and groups who might
actually be able to impact the industry in a big way, we get a number
of smaller, disjointed communities who sometimes take stabs here and
there but overall are too small to make any significant impact.
There are a number of reasons for this. Many of these sites and
organizations have existed for quite some time now, beginning when the
Internet was a different place. One ambitious fan is likely not to know
another, so it’s natural that two sites would spring up completely
independently. Furthermore, the specific topic within video games that
a site may be created to center around, will likely be different than
another site’s. So naturally, one would want to create a site which
brings together like-minded people who are interested in the same
substratum, as it were, of gaming culture. Finally, because it is not
that difficult to create a new site, someone can easily do so to fill a
perceived niche, even if said niche has been filled several times
already.
I never understand why fans want to create sites which are
essentially duplicates of one another. RPGamer is a site dedicated to
the discussion and news-breaking of video game RPGs. However, that
description also neatly fits RPGGazette, Vanish/Doom, RPGCodex, RPGDot,
and surely others. Open it up to Tabletop RPGs and the list expands
into RPGNews, GameWyrd, RPGnet and more. Now, imagine if all these
sites were to band together into one megasite. There would be more than
enough people to cover all the news and update the backlog of
information lacking on the many, many existing RPGs already. All the
fans would come to the same place, and networking opportunities would
go through the roof. And this megasite would be readily established as
the authoritative fansite for RPGs. Barring that, I really don’t
understand why administrators of these sites don’t work together to
share ideas and information. These sites have no reason to be in
competition with one another.
In addition to working with sites which happen to fit squarely into
your particular purpose, I don’t think it would be such a bad idea to
network with sites and organizations that aren’t fully within one
particular videogame substratum. Such an idea may initially strike people
as odd. “We do our thing, they do their thing, what’s the problem?”
Well, it’s not so much a problem as it is a series of lost
opportunities. This is a chance to network with other fans from other
sites who you may not know otherwise. And I would caution anyone
against becoming so rooted in their own particular substratum that they
become intolerant to any videogame-related site which may be doing
something different. We all fall under the common denominator of people
who loves games. For example, RPGamer is a site focused on RPGs, but
any dedicated gamer worth his salt will love the music from these
games. This is evidence by the “Sound Test” feature of RPGamer. So why
not strike up an alliance with OCRemix? The same argument can be used
to extend to webcomics (like 8 Bit theater), fansites (Chrono
Compendium), and the like. Unlike the previous suggestion, I am not
suggesting that these sites band together. Differences in the substrata
would indeed prevent this. But I can’t discern a reason as to why
affiliations and cooperation could not be extended where appropriate,
so that fans from one know that the others exist and can take advantage
of those resources.
Conventions are a great way for fans to meet up, connect, and learn
about who else is out there. Unfortunately, they suffer the same
problem as the sites themselves and are completely disconnected from
one another. I made personal connections at MAGFest, but we also
have Genericon, ROFLCon, Penny Arcade Expo, TooManyGames, the
heavy-hitting Otakon, and more. Trying to bring these together would
obviously be impossible owing to the differing times and places, but
again, the idea of a network and cogency between these cons can only
serve to unify the fan community and, consequently, give it a stronger
voice.
There is a final piece to this, and I fear that it may be the
hardest obstacle to surmount of all. Quite frankly, some people have a
huge superiority complex over other sites. These people assume most, if not all, other
sites are garbage and refuse to have anything to do with them. Not only is
this attitude usually quite ignorant, it is counterproductive to
learning and improvement. So give other sites the benefit of the doubt
and odds are you will find something interesting that is relevant to
the site you frequent.
Webcomics are actually a good example of networking and
communicating, as I know that the authors of Questionable Content,
XKCD, and Dinosaur Comics all communicate regularly. That is a
microcosmic example of what I think the fan community should be about.
Another example are old movies on Newgrounds based off the 8 Bit
Theater comic strips. They were put together by some members of the
OCRemix IRC channel. Just with that, three different well-known
Internet sites were involved in a fan collaboration. But everyone needs
to come out of their ivory tower and, rather than asking why they
should work with and affiliate with other sites, they ought to ask why
they shouldn’t. More projects can occur, more industry officials will
take note, infighting will stop, and fans can take the Internet and use
it as the communicative tool it always had the potential to be.
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