Is N Dead?

[FOCH]

Do we still have a good community here? I used to love hanging around here every day, but it seems like nothing is happening anymore with N. All the greats have left, and NUMA's looking like more of the same old ideas. (STILL no newer version for PC(Not complaining but I just thought there would be one by six years later)) Is anyone here from the 06'-07' times? Back then the forums were a blast. Do these times compare?

[Kablizzy]

People are still around, but the community got *so* good that most of us have actual, physical relationships with one another. I live with blue_tetris now and have regular phone conversations with people like GamingWolf and Jiggerjaw. sidke and I are in frequent contact, I speak to maximo and his wife on a regular basis; Sendy and Kashkin are good friends of mine, and my last girlfriend and my current girlfriend are both from here. So, it's not so much that the community is dead, it's just achieved transcendence. So now, when we "visit the community", it's through Phone first, and then Vent, and then IRC, and then it trickles down from there to a rare forum visit.

[Pheidippides]

Pheidi pretends to know what's going on in this community in three, two, one.

I see what Blizz is saying, but I feel like that only really happened for the '04-'05 crowd. They were like the graduating class in a private school, which is to say there weren't many of them, and everybody knows everybody really well. The '06-'08 crowd was like a small high school, where you know almost everyone kinda well and walk away with a few solid friendships, and more recent classes (so to speak) have become like a bigass regional school. That is, they're all awash in a slurry of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and keeping track of them is impossible. They also like pogs, or whatever the kids are into these days.

Sex, pogs, and rock and roll aside, the simile kinda holds. The original cool kids are slowly graduating, and they either move on to bigger and better -- or just different -- things (Blizz & Co.) or turn into the washed-up alums who come home from college every weekend to visit (me). The new cool kids (who never seem as cool through the Nostalgia Filter but, like the original cool kids, are marked by a handful of individuals who really do show promise) will suffer the same fate in a few years. The cycle's been in place from the very beginning, when Blizz told us "It's your Legacy" and passed the torch. But when Legacy passed the torch, only a few people were even around who were tenured enough to give it a second thought. As generations grow, the transitions are more widely observed, and probably more pronounced because there are more people on the old side to complain about it and, on the young side, to defend it.

In a different simile, every transition is like the Mid-Life Crisis for the generation who resists it. I won't speak for all the '06ers, but I feel like I've been in that Mid-Life Crisis for about the past year or so. As you can see from Blizz's post, the Legacy generation is past that, and enjoying the ripeness of old age.

In a perfect world, this post might have some coherence. Might.

[Kablizzy]

...Huh. Should I post the "It's Your Legacy" thing again? :P

[otters~1]

Pheidi pretends to know what's going on in this community in three, two, one.

I see what Blizz is saying, but I feel like that only really happened for the '04-'05 crowd. They were like the graduating class in a private school, which is to say there weren't many of them, and everybody knows everybody really well. The '06-'08 crowd was like a small high school, where you know almost everyone kinda well and walk away with a few solid friendships, and more recent classes (so to speak) have become like a bigass regional school. That is, they're all awash in a slurry of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and keeping track of them is impossible. They also like pogs, or whatever the kids are into these days.

Sex, pogs, and rock and roll aside, the simile kinda holds. The original cool kids are slowly graduating, and they either move on to bigger and better -- or just different -- things (Blizz & Co.) or turn into the washed-up alums who come home from college every weekend to visit (me). The new cool kids (who never seem as cool through the Nostalgia Filter but, like the original cool kids, are marked by a handful of individuals who really do show promise) will suffer the same fate in a few years. The cycle's been in place from the very beginning, when Blizz told us "It's your Legacy" and passed the torch. But when Legacy passed the torch, only a few people were even around who were tenured enough to give it a second thought. As generations grow, the transitions are more widely observed, and probably more pronounced because there are more people on the old side to complain about it and, on the young side, to defend it.

In a different simile, every transition is like the Mid-Life Crisis for the generation who resists it. I won't speak for all the '06ers, but I feel like I've been in that Mid-Life Crisis for about the past year or so. As you can see from Blizz's post, the Legacy generation is past that, and enjoying the ripeness of old age.

In a perfect world, this post might have some coherence. Might.

And Pheidippides sweeps the post of the year honors for what seems like the fiftieth time.

As for the OP, the answer is clearly no. NUMA is going strong -- almost to what, 250000 maps? Something. A quick glance at #n shows me 30-odd idling users, which is a rather large amount for a server that was originally dedicated to a game that came out seven years ago. And what Blizz said is true -- we talk more on Facebook or by text or whatever than we do anywhere else.

[heatwave]

If you're wondering what's going on with the next version of N, check out Metanet's blog.

And Pheidippides sweeps the post of the year honors for what seems like the fiftieth time.

My thoughts exactly.

[Pheidippides]

And Pheidippides sweeps the post of the year honors for what seems like the fiftieth time.

My thoughts exactly.

What? I'm not even sure whether I was arguing for or against N being dead. I mean, if we're talking (whether it's wrong or not) about the ninja himself, he's dead. Like, /really/ dead. As for the community, I guess it's alive for anyone who wants it to be. It's your Legacy.

Also, Blizz, I'd love a repost of the "It's Your Legacy" speech. Hear hear. :)

[Kablizzy]

It's Your Legacy
Matt
These days, it seems like everyone around the community wants to be "a part" of something that already exists, something that is already established. Everyone naturally wants to be a part of what’s cool and popular, but if you look at the folk who are in those positions already, we are the ones who have pioneered things around the forum. We’re the ones who have made the rules for what’s cool and popular. And, of course, all of the mods here are kind of "big" personalities, and we all have our claims to fame, but if you think about it, this... cabal, of sorts, that we've put together... we've formed for the sole purpose of bettering the community. The Legacy Team began as just a map-pack group, and look at the impacts it's had on the community.

But my point is that you don't have to be a maximo or a Dave or an Arachnid with some huge ballzerko idea to blow everyone from their seats. Any contribution helps. I respect anyone who has put on and finished a contest here, all of the RPGs that have gone down, the projects and ideas, we're all a part of the same community, and no one gets left behind. That’s why this community is as awesome as it is – We all look out for each other. I mean, even those people around here who may disagree with some of the decisions that I make – If I saw anyone drowning, whether it be Dave or McP or Limer, I’d dive in just the same for each and every person.

So, something that bugs me a bit; Dave and LV and KA put on InsomNicon last week. And 10 people showed up to do it. Out of, what, 5000 members? Granted, most are inactive, but where were you guys then? The IRC is free, and we always love to have more people there on a regular basis. I mean, Hell, I didn't even plan on participating because of my schedule, but I jumped on IRC, and I saw what fun everyone was having - The atmosphere, the camaraderie, and I said, "Hell, why not?"

I mean, InsomNicon, as tiny as it was, had a monstrous impact upon me - Personally, I can't wait for the next one to come about, because, while I was sitting in the IRC channel, and sitting on Vent, every time Dave and LV and KA would go into the private channel to grade, or to discuss the next round, or every time a spectator would come into #InsomNicon, it was just a party atmosphere. When that clock hit on the hour, everyone frenzied. We all laughed, we all groaned, some dropped out, some rejoiced. But that's what it's all about.

I mean, even when we did the Hall of Fame last year - About half way in, we had 4 votes in. Four!! No one took any initiative to vote or participate, so what'd we do? We started a carpet-bombing campaign. We hit up the IRC topic, and we started PMing people to get their votes in. And y'know? 92% of our total votes came *from* that campaign.

But hey, Webhosting comes cheaply. The N Wiki needs a Hell of a lot of work. We need collaborators for upcoming Legacy projects. We need some of these subforums to get more active. The TMMLT was a fantastic idea, and I'd like to see that go again once this one is through with stricter guidelines, and I'm sure that sketch is gonna need help with that. What ever happened to the NEHS? Do we have any artists in the community that feel unrecognized? Did everyone notice how misplaced_squid jumped into the community and wowed everyone with his 3d animation? I'm about to piss myself right now, just thinking about how cool that's gonna be.

Maybe someone should take up Ninja Skyboat Racing Xtreme. What a freakin' cool concept that was. Maybe someone should collab a gigantic webcomic to rival The Real N. mascote went and compiled an entire program so that people could enjoy The Real N offline, and conveniently.

Beyond that, Web Riddler is almost dead. So are Suki's religious Debate forums. Taking up the reigns at either of those places would be a big step to helping the sites that we're connected to.

There hasn't been a good highscoring contest in a while. It doesn't have to have the NTTS logo to be successful. Perhaps something that returns to the roots of the NTTS would be groovy. Same with Nedcon. The best seasons of that are long past, but that doesn't mean that something old can't resurface from the ashes, y'know?

I was telling KA and LV this evening, that I see a new Golden Age of Metanet coming, and soon. We have a stronger community now than we've ever had; Numa leadership may be changing; The Real N is flourishing, every day, people like LimiterRelease and that squid-dude are exploding onto the scene with a vengeance, and old-timers like TDL and Suki have returned.

I can feel the air when I come to the forum, it's very reminiscent of the early days, what you guys all call "The Golden Age" of Metanet. This is precisely the time where leaders come out - This is where old fogies like me kinda fade into the background, and where the newer guys take the spotlight. This is your community, fellas, and it's precisely what you make of it. BWD's mp3 station was a brainstorm and a half, and I know the rest of you can either come up with something, or revive something that has since been forgotten.

Hell, get together with the 8 biggest people on the forum, and do something up huge. Split the cost of a website, and... I dunno, do what you can do with it. Talk to one of us, we're more than happy to help (And, of late, we've been getting bombarded with requests for X, Y, and Z). Get together with 8 *random* people on the forum, and do something. Start a fansite for N. Host N art somewhere. Go take a ceramics class, and sculpt a little, Grey-clay Ninja. Heck, make a whole collage. Make the collage out of Legos. If I hadn't given mine away, I'd totally do that shit. That'd rock some faces in. Plan something for Robotology; Legacy already has three or four things planned for when it hits. Hell, even something so small as logging into Questionswap, and asking "Have you heard about Metanet, or their Popular freeware game, N?" does the trick.

What I'm getting at, is when you feel lost, and feel like you don't have a place, that's precisely the time to *carve* yourself a place. That’s one thing I learned about myself, just before I joined the forums, and that was this notion of confidence. Why am I where I am? Why am I one of the most influential people on the Internet? Because I know that I can be. I've had random visions lately about being President of the United States, and as much as it frightened me, I got this funky enlightened transcendent thing where, in my mind, that shit was *possible*, man. How crazy does that seem now? Fuggin' insane. But at the time, it was just a hand's width away. And a lot of you are a lot younger than I am, and you've got nothing but time to make a name for yourselves. Hell, if I'd have had access to the Internet 13 years ago, I'd own everything by now. I'd be buying and selling chunks of the Internets for 100% profit, and Ted Turner would be my personal chamber-maid. So now is your time, guys. Every last one of you.

[otters~1]

We need another InsomNicon. This summer, anyone?

[乳头的早餐谷物]

The forums are concerningly quiet, but M&R still seem to think they're going to release a new version of N this year, so I wouldn't write this community off just yet.

And we're definitely due for an InsomNicon.

[Kablizzy]

Oddly enough, most of the old crew has been congregating often on Vent. LV and I have been woefully absent.

[Slayr]

What is this InsomNicon you speak of?

[Spawn of Yanni]

Stay up with us all night and do fun competition-type things!

[Kablizzy]

Stay up with us all night and do fun competition-type things!

ALL NIGHT FOR THREE STRAIGHT NIGHTS.

[capt_weasle]

I have to say, this is really strange for me. First off, I rarely venture below the "PC & Console Gaming" part of this forum. Because I'm one of the people here who haven't touched N in years (damn, it's been a long time since I've played), I don't visit this part of the forum and thus don't recognize half of the names here. It's both strange and heart warming to see that there is still a dedicated community following N, especially since the rest of the forum is becoming, well... let's just say that the bots seem so bored by us they've resorted to posting in other bots' threads. While I feel this place is slowly becoming a ghost town, I feel that I can't say it's not my fault for it. I really have no idea what everyone else in this forum thinks of me, partly because I'm not around much. I've never tried too hard to fit in, and I hardly participate in any projects. Hell, I hadn't even known about NReality until like a year after it came out. Part of me feels guilty about not being very active in the forums, but I never really felt heavily invested in the community anyway. Though I've been here since '07, the only time I really take the spotlight is Christmas Eve when I post my poem. Anyway, I'm not sure why I'm rambling on about that. The point is, a lot is happening in this community - and echoing what others have said - you just have to look beyond the forums to see it. That's something I never really thought about until now. Perhaps I'll be on IRC a bit more.

[b3njamin]

07 - I am

[ska]

N has evolved to a point where the community surrounding it is just as vital as the game itself. Without the highscorers, numa, and people on IRC/forums, there isn't really a whole lot happening with the game itself. Sure, NReality was a big advance, but it's still 3.5 years old...

[smort]

Coming back after 2 or 3 years, I can say it's still very much alive. Sure, people have come and gone, but most of the regulars on IRC are still there. After 3 years! That tells me this community will always have at least a few dedicated members.

[golf]

ska, don't tell me NReality has been out for 3.5 years... I like my delusion that its only been 2 at the most.