01-24-2018, 02:23 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-01-2018, 05:35 PM by Pedigree.
Edit Reason: Marking as WIP, because this is a suggestion we will address when lumaSMS is released.
)
(First, let me preface this by saying no, a rebrand is not what I'm suggesting. Not now, at least. More of a transitional approach to the future of MFGG)
In the 15+ years that this site has existed, many other fangaming websites have come and gone. In fact, even prior to MFGG's existence there at least more than a few fangame websites devoted to making amateur parodies/tributes to your favourite big name franchises; it's no secret that MFGG wasn't the first ever and it wasn't the last.
"wasn't the last". Perhaps this doesn't ring as true as it once did, but it isn't technically true yet. Yet. I'm afraid there isn't any fear-mongering here, just a sad truth of the new internet age. Many of the staples of the fangame community have died out. ZFGN has an entirely infamous existence, popping in and out multiple times in the last couple of years. Kirby's Rainbow Resort is a dead wasteland with a forum that was abandoned by its moderation. The only other source of fangaming still fairly active on the internet today would be the Sonic community, of all things. Sonic Retro is fairly thriving, and as far as I can tell SFGHQ is somehow still chugging along with a pretty fair community (fair considering niche websites don't get nearly as much traffic as they once did, MFGG included).
So what does this mean for other fangames? Well, I personally think it would be in MFGG's best interest to finally expand to allow other Nintendo properties to be submitted on the main site. You can still be Mario Fan Games Galaxy (the same way TV Tropes is still TV Tropes while covering far more than just television nowadays, for example), but I do think it's finally time to open the gates and let people submit more than just Mario fangames and resources. Think about the potential content growth from this: you'd get a huge amount of people who normally had no interest in making Mario fangames suddenly having a website and community who are now interested in their Zelda engine tech demo or their attempt to do a top-down F-Zero racer, or maybe even a long-awaited fanmade Ice Climbers 2! The possibilities are honestly endless from this. That isn't to say you could never thrive on just Mario alone - the plumber will keep going strong, just as a desire to make fan content will. But you would greatly benefit from allowing Nintendo content as a whole; the entire community would, really.
In closing, this would be a very easy thing to implement. I think that's important to take note of, too. It's all as simple as updating your guidelines, announcing it and adding some short-term categories while you work on adding more in the near future. I think it's a great idea and could future-proof MFGG for quite some time!
In the 15+ years that this site has existed, many other fangaming websites have come and gone. In fact, even prior to MFGG's existence there at least more than a few fangame websites devoted to making amateur parodies/tributes to your favourite big name franchises; it's no secret that MFGG wasn't the first ever and it wasn't the last.
"wasn't the last". Perhaps this doesn't ring as true as it once did, but it isn't technically true yet. Yet. I'm afraid there isn't any fear-mongering here, just a sad truth of the new internet age. Many of the staples of the fangame community have died out. ZFGN has an entirely infamous existence, popping in and out multiple times in the last couple of years. Kirby's Rainbow Resort is a dead wasteland with a forum that was abandoned by its moderation. The only other source of fangaming still fairly active on the internet today would be the Sonic community, of all things. Sonic Retro is fairly thriving, and as far as I can tell SFGHQ is somehow still chugging along with a pretty fair community (fair considering niche websites don't get nearly as much traffic as they once did, MFGG included).
So what does this mean for other fangames? Well, I personally think it would be in MFGG's best interest to finally expand to allow other Nintendo properties to be submitted on the main site. You can still be Mario Fan Games Galaxy (the same way TV Tropes is still TV Tropes while covering far more than just television nowadays, for example), but I do think it's finally time to open the gates and let people submit more than just Mario fangames and resources. Think about the potential content growth from this: you'd get a huge amount of people who normally had no interest in making Mario fangames suddenly having a website and community who are now interested in their Zelda engine tech demo or their attempt to do a top-down F-Zero racer, or maybe even a long-awaited fanmade Ice Climbers 2! The possibilities are honestly endless from this. That isn't to say you could never thrive on just Mario alone - the plumber will keep going strong, just as a desire to make fan content will. But you would greatly benefit from allowing Nintendo content as a whole; the entire community would, really.
In closing, this would be a very easy thing to implement. I think that's important to take note of, too. It's all as simple as updating your guidelines, announcing it and adding some short-term categories while you work on adding more in the near future. I think it's a great idea and could future-proof MFGG for quite some time!