- Shai Hulud
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- Exalted Mythic Member
With B.B. gone, the passion of Bungie.net has lessened.
Posted by: Banshee Barron
I've seeing a lot of jargon going on over the years when it comes to matters such as these. A lot of these "patriotic" terms get thrown around like confetti at a new years eve party; when their definitions are nebulous and without meaning. We talk about this damn "Council" all of the time like we expect everyone to know how it's supposed to work; when no one really does. The emperer does't have any clothes. And no one wants to be the guy who says, "Hey, wait a second, that guy's naked!" and speared for not being "patriotic" or "in the know".
So, the idea is to have 12ish people going about and being councilors. Wow that's great. What the hell do they do? I'll point out some possibilities: writing news stories about The 7th Column. Ah, another ambigous idea. It again sound great but let's actually examine it. Here's Bungie's definition of the 7th Column, first of all.
As Bungie's official fanclub and Underground Army, the 7th Column is at the heart of the Bungie fan community. With thousands and thousands of members across the world, the Column provides a central meeting place for Bungie fans of all ages.
When Bungie.net re-launched in November of 2001, the Column was born as a place for Bungie fans to carve their own personal niche into our rapidly growing Community. Anyone could create their own "club" complete with a private forum, a news system, custom databases and an events calendar. The Column gave our fans a home of their own and would become a great meeting point for players interested in forming clans, finding LAN parties and talking shop about Halo and beyond. The online features of the Column itself were created as a gift for our fans, "to thank them for being so loyal", says Max Hoberman, former Bungie Community Lead (and current Halo 2 Multiplayer Lead). While membership in the Column is free and open to everyone, there is one catch: "We want our 7th Column members to help us take over the world."
Fast forward to today and the Column is a different beast than it originally was. Coming off the huge success of Halo and nearing the release of Halo 2, the Bungie Community is bigger and stronger than ever and as a result, the old Bungie.net website had to be retired to make way for something more powerful. In April of 2004, the "new hotness" was launched, bringing Bungie.net back to the cutting edge and providing a base from which we could grow and keep up with the flood of traffic. Now the 7th Column is finally ready to make a grand return and take advantage of the new technologies so once again our fans have a place to call their own. While the look has changed and a few of the features have been modified, the heart and soul of the Column lives on, stronger than ever.
They'd be writing about The Chapters; which is all the 7th Column really is. Yeah, I know they are an underground army, and want to take over the world, yada yada, insert arbitrary jargon here than no one thinks about. It's just the chapters. Let's be realists here. Now, think about what they'd be writing about chapterwise, eh?
...
Yeah, I can't think of anything either. We could do a chapter of the week, but that doesn't have enough substance to do, say, a two page weekly report on the status of 7th Column. Even then, there isn't a lot of extermely pressing and interesting events in people's respective chapters. I'm sorry, there's just not. We'd end up with things such as "well, thursday Johnny and Billy got into a flame war and Billy used his cunning to win." Who cares? And then, even if Bungie even did decide to do something of this nature; it would only take ONE person to write these reports. That's it. Not 12, not 14, not 17. One person.
Another idea that I've seen thrown around is that The Council would vote to make 7th Column Decisions. This idea flew right under people's logic radar like a B-2 stealth bomber. What decisions? Achronos runs the site, and has professionals working under him who already make these decisons. Again, it sounds good to say, but has no substance, just like the other possible Council idea.
Ah, then there's the one where the council would set up 7th Column contests to promote activity. Again, one person could do this, we don't need a dozen or more.
The Emperor has no clothes.
There's no substance. The idea of a 7th Column Council is a shell with no core. What began as a kindhearted idea has evolved into a heaping helping of nothing. The 7th Column Council idea serves no practical purpose other than being a conduit for peoples' deep seated need to feel like they are worth something more than they really are. Even when seen in the grand scale of eternity they know they aren't worth much more than dust in the wind: there's always that hope that, maybe, just maybe, they'll make a difference. When, in reality, they're just making themselves feel that they are needed.
I've always held to the simple truth that lies that we tell others aren't the destructive ones. It's the lies that we tell ourselves that really take a toll.
[/rant]
I see no pressing need for a 7th Column Council.
Well, those are the words regarding this issue that I've been looking for over the past 2 years.
I would honestly love to be able to say that a 7th Column Council would have a point. That I'd like to be a part of it... I just can't.
I've been here for years. I've seen what I like to call the slow decline of actual personality on the forums. And with this decline, it seeps into the private chapters, no matter how hard one tries to prevent it. Chapters that were made to simulate the experience of the very old Undergrounds and Septagons have fallen into stagnation, or changed completely with an influx of new members. Because of this, no one really knows each other that well anymore, and what seems like a good idea is only half-listened to. The heart and soul of the Column died with the birth of Halo 2. It's not something I like to say, but it's what I feel, and is why my presence on these forums has been quite lacking of late.
I'm not saying the idea of a 7th Column Council is a bad one. I just think it'll be pointless. Ideas will come out of it, yes... but will they really come to fruition? I doubt it. If a 7th Column Council is made, it'll just be a smaller Septagon, and with that, it'll have even less of an impact.
I don't think the 7th Column will ever return. It's not some phoenix that will rise from its own ashes.
My advice is to try something new. Something fresh that no one has seen. Let the dead stay dead. It died because it simply couldn't serve it's purpose anymore.
[Edited on 7/31/2006]