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I’ve also felt this experience when it comes to content creation for games. I missed the modding communities in the late 90s/early 00s that had a sense of plac
by eswat 8y ago
I’ve also felt this experience when it comes to content creation for games.
I missed the modding communities in the late 90s/early 00s that had a sense of place and community. Things tended to gravitate around their IRC channels and those of the actual game. Was great to develop relationships online with not only the modders but the people developing the games.
As an example, Epic Games were super-accessible back in the Unreal Tournament 99/2003/2004 days to chat with on IRC and not just about modding or stuff related to their products. There were also some game servers where you know certain employees made it their haunt.
But now everything is hyper-optimized so both Epic and customers waste the least amount of time talking to each other to solve a problem. It definitely feels more like you’re talking to a corporation than engaging with a community of creators now.
- Aco- 8y agoYou mention UT99/2003/2004, did you play competitively by chance? I miss the good old days of gaming, clans, ladders, forums & IRC. If it weren't for UT's modding & hacking community I wouldn't have got in to this industry. A lot of people I know have similar stories.
- eswat 8y agoNope I wasn’t part of the competitive scene. I was just an active participant in some of the fansite communities (BeyondUnreal, Planet Unreal) and the various mods like The Third Reich and Red Orchestra. The only artifact of that era I still carry is still hanging around the neotokyo IRC channel after 15 years. Like you said, the modding community helped a lot of people get in this industry. I wonder if it’s still the same now that it’s less about modding/hacking a game with a group of people and more about contributing content piecemeal (Elder Scrolls/Fallout) or working on an actual game from nearly scratch.