- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I don't know that things are dying. I'd say evolving. When the Xbox first came out, Halo was really the only thing on it. It really was a console that wasn't was much for kids as the PS2 or the GC. People like us had our LAN parties, and were much in love with all things Bungie. Heck, even the times before Halo 1 bungie.net was an entirely different beast than it is today.
The XBL feature of newer games pushed the console into a more glamorous light, and it became cooler for the younger folks to have. Before H2, people really didn't focus on XBL gaming like they do now. Counter Assault wasn't nearrly as big on the console as it was on the PC. Rainbow6 3 gave us a glimpse of what was coming, but it was still dwarfed by the online tidal wave that H2 caused.
Tidal wave seems like a good metaphore for what has happened. Not only on XBL, but on Bungie.net as well. So many people rushed in to this community that it kinda overflowed with pointless posts, ignorant fanboys, and groups. Any idiot with an internet connection and H2 could now try to create the best group to be in at the 7th Column. Now, as the tide ebbs back to the sea, it takes with it seasoned groups, estranged gamers, and people that just don't get what it meant to be a part of something really cool. It's not dying, just a cleansing. As one of the mods said (and I'm impressed to see so many in one thread, thanks guys) it's a cycle of the community. Many groups will go, many will stay, and there are more that have yet to exist. Personally, I find it hard to find a topic that's worth reading and following in just about any of the forums, and there seems to be an oversaturation of groups.
Now, you're probably looking at the date under my name and thinking about how I'm just a newb that jumped on the band wagon, but I've been around since the Marathon days, just in the shadows. I made multiplayer maps for Marathon Infinity and I didn't even have people to play with. I played Myth and Myth II, as well as Oni. I was constantly reading everything I could find, asking The Soul my questions, thinking that the world was going to end and that I'd never get to play Halo when MS bought Bungie, and then finding out that everything is better than I could have hoped it would be.
I might not visit the forums every day or have groups that I frequent here, but I still return here for all my news (even when all of it was a line of bs, like the April 1st posts), and scan the forums for the occasional gem. I've found a home away from home, a place that's like the family that so many felt they had through bungie.net.
Perhaps after the tide settles back to its normal patterns, so shall the groups of the 7th Column.