- Your fansite must be in a completed state before it can be added to the fansite program.
- Your fansite must provide a short introduction to Aion on its main page.
- Your fansite must be made for and dedicated to Aion explicitly, and have a dedicated domian or subdomain.
- Your fansite must be easily navigable and have an appealing design.
- Your fansite must be more than a blog.
Now first off, I have to give full credit to Thulf from Impetusium for first filling me in on this (so go visit his blog xD). I was going to hold out on talking about this until the third episode of the podcast, but honestly I just can't sit around and watch this continue.
NCSoft, this is ludicrous. There, I said it. Do you have no respect for bloggers at all? I don't mean to sound pompus, but most of the blogs on my blogroll are more active than your "official fansites" and have more up to date news and information. No offense, but most of your official fansites are nothing more than carbon copies of your newsfeed with a forum attached to it. Granted some of them, like Aionsource, are legitimate fansites and should be treated as such. However, to say that my blog isn't worthy of being an offical fansite solely because it is a blog and I don't have a big ol' "Hey this is what Aion is, as if you didn't already know that from the other 1,000 generic introductions about the game!" post, I find seriously insulting.
One of the great things WAR has going for it is its community. There, blogs are treated as equals in comparison to fansites such as Warhammer Alliance. An organization based on cross promotion, the WCPI, was formed. Mythic employees, such as Paul Barnett, even commented on them in videos or made references to them in interviews. To say that blogs aren't equal to fansites seriously isn't cool. Oh, and just for the record, Multiplaying, a multiplatform gaming fansite, has better information about Aion then most of your "official fansites".
The ball is in your court NCSoft. I can live without being an official fansite, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. I mean for god's sake, you use Twitter as a primary means of communication. The least you could do is link a few blogs. So, to the reader, what's your take on this?
Posts
I know. It is sad to know we can't be included as a fan site. I am trying to get a ACPI or a Blogging Carnival started for the Aion bloggers. I posted it in the Chitchat forum on Aion Source forums.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about starting up an ACPI, but I didn't want to directly rip off of Warhammer's Community.
ReplyDeleteBesides, most blogs and podcasts are already cross promoting.
I agree - I don't only have a blog, however I also don't have a generic : Aion spectacular graphics blah blah blurb on my front page - so therefore I do not qualify. I don't feel I need to qualify - people will listen or not listen to the podcast as they feel fit, but that being said - I do resent the fact that I can't be counted as a fan site.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention some of the GREAT blogs out there that deserve it far more than some of the actual fan sites.
/rant off
*hugs*
I think the reason behind their decision is that there are way too many blogs going around, and they are trying to thin down the sites out there.
ReplyDeleteAren't fansites places where fans can gather to find different info and discuss the game together on a forum, or post different articles?
A blog only allows a few people to contribute articles while forcing the rest to discuss said articles in the comments section.
That being said, I agree that some blogs are so good they are better than many fansites. Fansites nowadays are very lackluster.