We've all taken quite a bit of time out (especially me - you might have noticed!) and I've decided it's probably about time to do something. Because, you know, after a while, you tend to miss it all.
I think it's fair to say that, since the gradual demise of DS Central (which finally ended with the server falling off a cliff or something... twice), things haven't gone too well:
ByteSized Gaming (R.I.P.) Aimed to effectively continue where DS Central left off, but expanding coverage to include the the then recently launched PSP (and a couple of other systems no one cared about enough to actually, well, cover...), but ran into the exact same problems as the ailing DS Central did in its final days, namely:
- Too few people to keep up with all the news, etc
- Posting news and screenshots and such is repetitive
- Admin centre not nearly as intuitive or user friendly as it could be, adding to the pain
- Low visitor numbers made it difficult to attract new writers
So we packed it in because, basically, the small number of us who were still contributing regularly just couldn't keep up.
Run! Jump! Shoot! (R.I.P.) OK, so it's still online. So is ByteSized Gaming, actually. That's not the point, though.
RJS was created as a more "relaxed" project. The idea was that we dumped the parts of its predecessors that had caused us so much stress and switched to a more, in theory, "content-oriented" approach, with the idea being that, since we'd decided we couldn't compete in the "new" stakes, we'd write fascinating features and articles instead. In theory...
That turned out to be much harder in practice than it sounded. Coming up with non-cliché things to write about is
HARD - perhaps impossible, since I don't think we managed it even once. In addition, the lack of regular updates and, well,
relevance meant interest slipped further and further into the abyss. Welcome to the abyss.
And now... There's no use in being a quitter. If at first you don't succeed, try again. Eventually something will take off.
Perhaps the "ByteSized Gaming" niche in portable coverage still exists if we do it well? That raises the question: how?
I'm sure there are a few ideas floating around here and I have some of my own. I'll expand on this more later, but for now, one big point to think about:
- The traditional content model, used right from the beginnings of GBA Central is that every area except for the forum was updated solely by the staff. That is, a few people did "everything," and anyone else who wanted to contribute would have to make a fairly big commitment. Is it time to change?
