Putting the "U" in Improvement and Other Suspicious Mumbo Jumbo
Way back in a time of Star Wars, Y2K, and the Melissa virus- that is, 1999- a modest site dedicated to a fairly unknown little cRPG launched. That site was, as far as the general public knows, Earthbound.Net. Sure, it may not have had a correctly capitalized name (the B, dagnabbit!), and it may not have had a lot of fanfare, but it grew into one of the largest fansites on the World Wide Web with a great community and its own fair share of drama. Now, half a year after Starmen.Net launched its new design, this is one of the best websites on the 'Net. Yet it can still be improved. How, you ask? Well, I say Starmen.Net can be improved through the games, through community service, and through simple innovation.
First off and most obviously, Starmen.Net has formed around a metaphorical heart that Nintendo and Itoi have forged for us- the Mother series. To put it quite frankly, there has been no novelty from this direction for one simple reason. That would be a severe lack of Mother 3. However, we as a site can improvise. After all, judging by the polls, only half of us have played through and beaten Mother 1. I know it seems somewhat inferior compared to the game we all know and love- EarthBound- but come on, it was from an earlier age. What’s more, it’s in the same series and came from the same mind. So why don’t we revere it in the same way? I encourage everybody to at least go and beat Mother. That’s only a start, though. I mean, we don’t have nearly as many Mother fan works as EB fan stuff. So go out and give your Mother the respect she deserves.
Secondly: community service. Basically, improve the community. Many of us do this every day by posting intelligently on the forums. But that is not enough. Every one of us should help out with the community- because it has really been what has kept the site alive through all these years. And let me tell you, it is a truly great community. So, how can every one of us improve the community? It’s really quite simple: be kind and polite, contribute to the site, and help people out when you can. Yeah, I know this sounds like an ABC afterschool special, but hear me out. Especially on the contributions. Being a staffer, I know how it feels when everybody neglects your section. Please please please get out there and submit whatever you can- even if it’s terrible.
Finally, we come to the simplest one: novelty and innovation. Remember way back when things like PK Hack and Project: Mr. Sparkle were around? No? Well, a more recent example would be the Mother 3 petition. What do all these have in common? Well, they were all big undertakings that shook the site, and occasionally the whole Internet. Plus, they were exciting and new. There hasn’t too much big stuff like that on the site lately- why not? I know that reid and Mato and all those people have been very busy, but I know for a fact there are plenty of able staffers about. Heaven knows they’ve hadn’t had enough staff work to update with. And even the smaller contests: the only ones currently being updated are Regular Trivia and somewhat Theories. So why not more new things and events and such?
To reiterate, it seems to me that the site is based off of the Mother series, the community, and fun new exciting things. I sincerely hope every day for the site to improve in these regards. So, Starmen.Net, keep on trucking. Or something like that.
Way back in a time of Star Wars, Y2K, and the Melissa virus- that is, 1999- a modest site dedicated to a fairly unknown little cRPG launched. That site was, as far as the general public knows, Earthbound.Net. Sure, it may not have had a correctly capitalized name (the B, dagnabbit!), and it may not have had a lot of fanfare, but it grew into one of the largest fansites on the World Wide Web with a great community and its own fair share of drama. Now, half a year after Starmen.Net launched its new design, this is one of the best websites on the 'Net. Yet it can still be improved. How, you ask? Well, I say Starmen.Net can be improved through the games, through community service, and through simple innovation.
First off and most obviously, Starmen.Net has formed around a metaphorical heart that Nintendo and Itoi have forged for us- the Mother series. To put it quite frankly, there has been no novelty from this direction for one simple reason. That would be a severe lack of Mother 3. However, we as a site can improvise. After all, judging by the polls, only half of us have played through and beaten Mother 1. I know it seems somewhat inferior compared to the game we all know and love- EarthBound- but come on, it was from an earlier age. What’s more, it’s in the same series and came from the same mind. So why don’t we revere it in the same way? I encourage everybody to at least go and beat Mother. That’s only a start, though. I mean, we don’t have nearly as many Mother fan works as EB fan stuff. So go out and give your Mother the respect she deserves.
Secondly: community service. Basically, improve the community. Many of us do this every day by posting intelligently on the forums. But that is not enough. Every one of us should help out with the community- because it has really been what has kept the site alive through all these years. And let me tell you, it is a truly great community. So, how can every one of us improve the community? It’s really quite simple: be kind and polite, contribute to the site, and help people out when you can. Yeah, I know this sounds like an ABC afterschool special, but hear me out. Especially on the contributions. Being a staffer, I know how it feels when everybody neglects your section. Please please please get out there and submit whatever you can- even if it’s terrible.
Finally, we come to the simplest one: novelty and innovation. Remember way back when things like PK Hack and Project: Mr. Sparkle were around? No? Well, a more recent example would be the Mother 3 petition. What do all these have in common? Well, they were all big undertakings that shook the site, and occasionally the whole Internet. Plus, they were exciting and new. There hasn’t too much big stuff like that on the site lately- why not? I know that reid and Mato and all those people have been very busy, but I know for a fact there are plenty of able staffers about. Heaven knows they’ve hadn’t had enough staff work to update with. And even the smaller contests: the only ones currently being updated are Regular Trivia and somewhat Theories. So why not more new things and events and such?
To reiterate, it seems to me that the site is based off of the Mother series, the community, and fun new exciting things. I sincerely hope every day for the site to improve in these regards. So, Starmen.Net, keep on trucking. Or something like that.
