The Forgotten Establishments

 

Authors Note: This post was made during a time of distraught between two forums and when many designers began to walk away from Northern Skies among the download controversy. This is my opinion about the " download community " and older forums that stressed less of the entire " download " nature of the community.

This blog post was made back in April of 2012 on Northern Skies and Zoo Tycoon Volcano

In this day and age in the so called " community " ,many forums have been forgotten. Forums that modern community members don't even know about or would disregard as outdated. Even forums that poured the concrete for the foundation of the community and the designing breakthroughs. It is an unfortunate truth that goes by everyday.

With today's forums, only a few stand alive, Northern Skies being the most active. But the question is, how did they get to that status? They could not have done it by themselves without the ideas and people branching off of several forums that were once popular themselves, including ones that bear on.

What is saddening, is that these former forums are not talked about or even brought up to the table, as partners, friends or even a given a thank you! But instead people just migrate to what appeals to them the most, and that is what is of stressed high demand: Downloads.

But was this community founded on the ideas of " Downloads " ?, clearly if it was we would be called the " Download Community " (which we could say that is the case today) rather then the " Zoo Tycoon Community ". And the truth is, it's not. But why?

Forums in the past found it unappealing that the main focus of the community revolved around " Downloads " and the game itself because they knew it would become boring and repetitive after a while, so they experimented with other methods to socialize and expand cultural and educative awareness due to the high rate of international members joining into the community. But it wasn't because of the " Downloads ", it was because they wanted to have fun!

I usually like to use Zoo Tek Phoenix as a prime example of originality of the community. Not only did they supplied downloads and great designing tutorials to help inspire curious newcomer designers but they also knew that in order to continue to be popular and diverse, they needed more diverse sections for everybody to enjoy.

Zoo Tek Phoenix was one of the first forums to host a arcade for gaming, the first site to have a special forum where staff from other forums can come to discuss inter site issues and to have an Ambassador Program themselves and for staff to discuss forum news going on in the community. They also wanted to expand the knowledge of animals and there habits to a younger audience that may not even get to learn at a first hand
by having there own zoologist Professor Paul and his Nature Encyclopedia!. They also encourage creativity and culture diversity by having special seasonal events based on different cultures, the list can go on on how superior there system of fun is compared to ours.

But sadly, they are not the most popular forum (activity wise), but they are a pure legend and a prime example of a real element of the community, along with many of the forums you see listed on the top of each page you go to on ZTV that have given there time and effort to make this community what it was.* Unfortunately that spirit is diminishing with the inflation of downloads and lack of community spirit coming from some forums. We should reflect on these legends.