Space Sim Portal

DamonCourt

DamonCourt

Spaceman
Hi People,

A member of another space-sim forum recommended I post here, so this is my first post. I am a long time fan of space sims, especially the space trading variety.

Regretfully I did not experience many of the Wing Commander games, except for Privateer 2 which is one of my favorite space traders!

This post is intended for embers of the space sim community at large. I hope it is not inappropriate to post here, but it seems the best place.

I recently stumbled upon Stargamer.net, a portal for space sims.
A while ago they put out the call for articles, so I wrote in and offered to write a few for their site (as promotion for my own space sim project: Freehauler).
I got an answer back from the site developer saying that the owners had moved on and they'd soon be shutting the site down.

Clearly space sims are in a deep recession right now. Which I feel is a sad state as I have been playing space sims since an early age, starting with my BBC Micro version of Elite back in the 80's!

Perhaps if space sims were ever to see a revival, it would help if Joe Public knew what one is.
It's getting to the stage where the new generation of game player hasn't ever experienced a traditional space sim.

Therefore I propose that this portal is a good thing to keep running, to maybe kiss some life into our terminally ill genre or at least to serve as an educational experience for the younger masses.

Would like to hear your thoughts and also like to know if there is anyone with basic web (or writing) skills who'd be interested in helping to maintain the site. I have already offered to do what I can, but my time is very limited.

The guy I'm in correspondence with said if someone were interested he'd consider polishing up the site and letting someone else take over.


Damon
 
This has actually been mentioned a few times. But don't listen to a word I say if you want a revival (look up my first post.);)
 
I don't follow you here. I'm looking for volunteers to help maintain a space sim website, not to assist in piracy.
 
The fact that the StarGamer site never really developed a community following probably means you're idea is doomed from the start.

However, I'm willing to donate webspace to you, and a limited amount of technical expertise based on my time availability. If you'd like to get in touch with me, send me a PM via the forums and I'll send you my email address.
 
The fact that the StarGamer site never really developed a community following probably means you're idea is doomed from the start.
Click to expand...

Not saying your wrong.
But I'm curious as to *WHY* it never developed a following...

Was it due to lack of marketing?
Did the site just not offer anything that isn't already common knowledge?
Or something else?
 
Well first off, I'm not sure how much marketing you could do, exactly. Secondly, the space game market is so thin right now, it's hard to find reliable news. Lastly, most of the content on sites like that (And like this) is user driven, and stargamer never really accepted it's users.

Like you I tried to contact them multiple times, with news and information, and a willingness to help them develop, and I never got a single response. Their lack of community involvement is a problem.
 
Yes, community building is essentially to so specific a genre site... on the same side of the same coin, coming up with the correct editorial voices is necessary. The fact of the matter is that 'strictly professional' doesn't work for a fan site - you need to inspire, support, anger, provoke, etc. your readers in a way that Gamespot or Happy Puppy or whatever the kids use today aren't allowed to do.

The bigger problem with these sites, though (and there have been a number, over the years - ATFW remains my favorite because it got the editorial voice right) is that there's not really a single "space game" fandom. People are more dedicated to franchises and not broad concepts -- we share very little audience with TheLancersReactor, for instance.

With that in mind, a space sim-centered site needs to be several things which StarGamer was not:

* A hub hub. It needs to work out strategic partnerships with the likes of TLR, Hard-Light and even us to allow things like respectable content sharing, dual-promotion, etc.

* A resource. I want my 'space game' site to have a database where I can read all about... space games. Editorials and press releases and news collected from other sites are great, but they're very easy to make vegetables on your space sim burger... you need to cook the meat up properly with a core that lets me look up all kinds of interesting things, like the box art to 'Star Crusader' or who developed 'Mantis.'

... and it needs a strong mission statement. Space games? What's a space game? A game set in space? A game where you fly a space fighter? A game where you use a joystick? What does this site consider space games, why is that important and what resources can you provide me relating to them. Something as simple as an 'upcoming games' list on the front page would go a long way to defining what sounds like an impossibly broad concept.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
* A resource. I want my 'space game' site to have a database where I can read all about... space games. Editorials and press releases and news collected from other sites are great, but they're very easy to make vegetables on your space sim burger... you need to cook the meat up properly with a core that lets me look up all kinds of interesting things, like the box art to 'Star Crusader' or who developed 'Mantis.'
Click to expand...

I think this right here is what makes the CIC so great. People like LOAF and Chris Reid and Joe? Who runs the Origin Museum are actually working hard and spending money to track down things - things that can be thrown up on the news page, art that can be used in a series of connected news posts, old internal memo documents that show the shaping of the video games the site is built around.

That, more then anything, is the great thing about CIC, I think. Even though there's no new material, there's constantly new things most of us have never seen before being added, and for a franchise that until Arena was all but dead, that's no small feat.
 
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