News: Editorial: Decline of Fan Sites

[bpostal]

There's one thing fan sites can do that corporate run sites can't. Foster the tight knit communities that have grown up amongst dedicated fan sites such as PSU.
As a poor analogy, Command Center is great! It's awesome to see the devs take such an active role in giving us info and feedback to our feedback but it can't replace AGN. I can't put it in words, the closest I can get is to rehash Interplay's adage: By gamers, for gamers.

[maradine]

Originally Posted by Striker KOJ

Which is funny, because that is exactly how the other thread got out of control.

Isn't text fun? Who needs tone, inflection and body language...

Webcams for everyone! Wait . . .

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by Rahabib

I love Planetside Universe, but I am still not sure what you are are asking us to do. Its just a lament for days of yore. Well I kinda miss newspapers - but is it really the public's fault that the way people receive information has changed?

What I am getting from this article is that you are worried your role in the community is unimportant - so let me talk you off the bridge for a moment .

My article is just general observations on Fan Sites over the past 10+ years I've been running them. Nothing more and nothing less.

I have no fear about what will happen to PSU moreso a concern for the dying age of other fansites coming around.

[Rahabib]

Originally Posted by Hamma

My article is just general observations on Fan Sites over the past 10+ years I've been running them. Nothing more and nothing less.

I have no fear about what will happen to PSU moreso a concern for the dying age of other fansites coming around.

good to hear. except the part of fansites dieing.

[Babyfark McGeez]

I hate twitter and i only use facebook to keep in touch with friends i cannot meet otherwise.

Forums are imo still the best way to get together for a specific topic, and since the official forum is a hostile cesspit (like pretty much any official game forum) i use this one instead.

Unofficial game forums won't die out, i'm fairly certain on that. And if they do, i still won't use twitter.

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Babyfark McGeez

I hate twitter and i only use facebook to keep in touch with friends i cannot meet otherwise.

Forums are imo still the best way to get together for a specific topic, and since the official forum is a hostile cesspit (like pretty much any official game forum) i use this one instead.

Unofficial game forums won't die out, i'm fairly certain on that. And if they do, i still won't use twitter.

That's what I like to see. Good man!

[Rahabib]

Originally Posted by Babyfark McGeez

I hate twitter and i only use facebook to keep in touch with friends i cannot meet otherwise.

Forums are imo still the best way to get together for a specific topic, and since the official forum is a hostile cesspit (like pretty much any official game forum) i use this one instead.

Unofficial game forums won't die out, i'm fairly certain on that. And if they do, i still won't use twitter.

lol. I only use twitter and facebook because my work requires me to (I am a media and marketing manager). Personally I hate twitter and facebook. I didnt have an facebook account until just a few months ago, and I refuse to use it for personal use (not even my wife is added to it). I cant stand redit and the official forums suck - so if its not here, I wont see it. Twitter I follow because I have to have it up anyway. I have no followers and dont care if I ever get any.

Viva la forums!

[Mox]

Twitter, FB and Co. offer no real content and no real discussion. Just some words with no depth. It will never be a proper substitute for a forum.

[SixShooter]

Originally Posted by bpostal

As a poor analogy, Command Center is great! It's awesome to see the devs take such an active role in giving us info and feedback to our feedback but it can't replace AGN.

So true!!

Great write up Hamma.

[Anderz]

I think the decline of fan sits is partly related to the decline of mod tools.

It used to be that fan sites were the primary news outlets for community based projects, such as full conversion mods. But without many games shipping with mod tools, that's died off.

Still, community created video content has thrived in recent years, and I honestly think PSU could do more to highlight that side of the community.

[Mordelicius]

Game fan sites will remain relevant as long as there are:

- Long term MMOs
- Moddable games

I just visited an old game fansite I used to frequent that's been around since 1999. Because of the modding community and the longevity of the gaming series, I was shocked to see 260+ guests viewing alone aside from the members logged in.

As for the current importance of PSU, it may not get as much exclusives as newer corporate channels but it's influence on the development of PS2 is much stronger. I can't picture the state of PS2 without the input from this community's forum.

Anyway, the internet just keeps reinventing itself. When the granddaddy of internet hub, AOL, died, its personalized hub facet eventually reincarnated to Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. The news/content aggregation portion reformed into Digg and Reddit. While Google is still Google after it killed all those search engines .

So, basically if one is looking for stuff in the internet, people used to find them off AOL (channels, message board, chat, im), digging through Yahoo or using the pre-Google-dominated search engines. Now, that the old guard has imploded everything is blooming in their own specialized niche universe.

Before the social networking explosion, there basically are three gaming sites: Fan sites, Official sites then Review sites. Now, if one is looking for "Planetside 2", PSU may get a alot of hit from Google or maybe a crosslink from Twitter. Before, the fan sites, review sites and official sites share links feeding off each other's traffic. Now, social networking is basically undercutting much of the middle-man large fansites in terms of propagating information.

Also, the smaller fan sites simply recrystallized into blogs or twitter pages, while the bigger sites are still around due to two thing I've mentioned above: MMOs and Modding.

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Anderz

I think the decline of fan sits is partly related to the decline of mod tools.

It used to be that fan sites were the primary news outlets for community based projects, such as full conversion mods. But without many games shipping with mod tools, that's died off.

Still, community created video content has thrived in recent years, and I honestly think PSU could do more to highlight that side of the community.

Good point. Nothing improves the longevity of a community or a game more so than modding.

[Assist]

Originally Posted by ChipMHazard

I was kinda hoping for a subtle "wink wink, nudge nudge" to developers all over the wide world to stop flipping using Twitter!!

AGREEEEEEEEEEEEED
I hate having to go to Twitter to figure out big news for shit.

Hamma, you're dead on with social media taking over. I don't think it's a good thing either. I see why developers use Twitter, Facebook, etc, but they should be doing what SoE attempts to do and use their fans sites. Twitter certainly has its uses, but I think NEWS worthy stuff should be laid out on forums and fansites. I see some of the dev's at SoE do it right when they link to a story on a website where they made a post. That's how you build a community. Twitter is NOT a fan community, and personally I feel the same way about Reddit, it's a great place to put a link to a reliable website and that's all.
It's similar to what mass media and the internet has done to Newspapers. How many people do you see read a Newspaper anymore? People go to websites that stream headlines and then sort through to what they want to read. I know I do, without fark.com I don't think I'd know what happened in the world.

The problem is that the fansite lifetime is not based on the fans themselves but the product they're a fan of. If that company doesn't recognize the fansite then they're irrelevant. The company decides whether or not their fans stick around and I think with the last bitch-fest from certain people it gives good reason to worry about the appeal of PSU. I came to this site originally because I saw a developer posting here. It made me think that this is a place that developers read so when I come up with asinine ideas they may possibly read them. The problem is some people weren't educated with the great films in history:

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Assist

<snip>

Well written and I whole'heartedly agree.

[Micro]

Originally Posted by ChipMHazard

Aye, informative if not also sad. But time stops for no man and the world is ever changing... blah blah blah, yadi yadi yada, etc. etc. etc. and so on. But darn it I'll just end up a bitter middle aged man who spends most of time screaming "Back in my day we didn't use birds or books with human faces to communicate!".

That ^