[b]The 7th Column, The Community, It's Guy, and The Lack There Of[/b] [i]Let me begin by saying what follows is not my rant, but as I agree with most of it I believe it should be posted. If I am wrong for this then I will recieve my just 'reward' but it must be said. I will not reveal the identity of said ranter for his own privacy reasons. Enjoy! *note: This was written before the announcement of the new Bungie.net*[/i] Part 1: You asked for this. Here goes. :3 Let me commence by stating that the problem with the Bungie.net community is deep rooted. I don’t like to blame the web team with any scathing conviction because they have provided the site that, at least formerly, hosted a really good community. However, SketchFactor apparently gave up even before the “upgraded” column was implemented – he was after all the Community Guy whose responsibilities, theoretically, included the interaction with the good persons of the Seventh Column. I was never around too long before the change so I have no grounds on which to argue that he was ever actively involved, but the fact of that matter is that when I and some of my friends submitted our chapters for approval (as was the former custom), he accepted them. The spotlight, too, had been fairly frequently updated. I understand that there are slightly higher concerns than a thriving community of well-mannered, Bungie-loving individuals – the professional needs for a sleek site with job offers and interaction with Halo 2, for example. It’d be ignorant in the extreme to pretend said necessities do not exist. But how many times have we been told that Bungie.net is not a business site – it’s a community site? The answer, should you wonder, is very often indeed. I’ll be up front and admit that some of the things done with the site are amazing, not least the full integration of the various modules as one easy-to-navigate conglomeration. I’ve always liked the forums as they, in my opinion at least, look the part, and are so very easy to use. There’s no unnecessary formatting; you just hit reply or new topic, type what you want, and hit submit. Nothing could be simpler. Since I’d never used a forum before that time, it was the perfect way to get started. Also engaging was the Seventh Column. An invite from a prominent founder via Private Message introduced me to it, and it was excellent: lots of databases and plenty of room for personalisation and creativity, plus scope for organising chapter-wide events. This little communities thrived as one and interacted with one another publicly, also, where great friendships were made and inter-chapter events established. In fact, that was the purpose of the 7th Column Community Page, which died at about the same time as the Spotlight and news. Priorities seem to be wrong, also. I refuse to believe that a search feature – and repeat threads will surface, especially in the absence of constant new discussion material and in the presence of the ridiculous “don’t dig up old threads” regulation – is more crucial to a community site than the community itself. Surely resources would have been better spent on the 7th Column in one way or another. And so many empty promises. Nobody expects miracles, but when fanfests, an updated column, more interaction from Bungie and a community that has official support are pledged, it’s saddening when they are not fulfilled, and more so when they simply fade away without even a “no, that’s not going to happen”. I wouldn’t will them all to attend massive fan gatherings, because, let’s face it, no other game developers do, but the fact that it’s happened before and future events were promised makes it that little bit worse. I’d much rather see a fantastic Halo 3 than direct community interaction, as I’m sure we all would, but surely the purpose of a site for the community and Bungie’s having of a community team is to interact with their fans? But Bungie is just the core, the very heart of a system composed of many more organs, blood, bones and flesh. [Edited on 3/13/2007]