The future of Gamesmasterlive...

[DenjinAkira]

Hey guys, I don't know about all of you but miss the old site in a big way. Props obviously to this minor rebirth here at gamesmasterliveforum.com. But I wanted to throw out a question to those that are still here, and that's to ask whether or not there is still a place for a games master retrospective website?

The original site had quite a bit of content, detailing the 7 series, some interviews and other titbits that I loved coming back to and reading from time to time. The magazine scans that just began were also a nice touch for those who at the time didn't have any issues at all. The multitude of topics in the forums regarding the show and what else was always entertaining , though I was never much of a poster I was a big reader.

I'd personally like to contribute what I can if enough other people had the time and resources to really give the place a big overhaul and remake a hub for all things nostalgic and games-master.

I myself am a retro enthusiast with a big love of Digitizer, Cv+G as well as games-master (though I do play modern games also). I own GM magazine issues 1-35 and every TV episode (from the old site) and have a knack and passion for writing, this year I'm putting the finishing touches to my fourth novel with the aim of sending it out to publishers and or agents. I've also written for on-line magazines in the past.

So any ideas? Comments?

[Exoddus]

The old place was kinda dead but had a hardcore fan base. Even members of the Games Master crew like Rik Henderson had an account on there. It gave that site more creditability. The guy who owned it was a complete moron though. I offered to send him a couple of quid every month or so (the site was costing him £6/month). Members on this very forum were willing to take it over. But he'd rather kill it than see it passed over to someone else. It was a selfish act. Which is almost impossible to recover from.

It would take time and a lot of work to get this place popular. It needs actual webpages with things like interviews and reviews, comments and trivia etc. About each season of Games Master. Then lots and lots of advertising.

People will sign up just to get the old episodes of Games Master (problem is none of the links work!). Retro gaming isn't quite “old” enough if you know what I mean. In 30 years time when the gaming industry is even bigger than it is now. People will look back at things like the Games Master program and the magazines as building blocks of the industry. As we are not there yet. Games Master seems irrelevant now but that will change with time.

That's my opinion anyway!

[Cyber-Hazuki]

Its difficult building a community, especially a retro games community, and not being an official Gamesmaster website doesn't really help either. Retro gaming is massive today but there are already some well established sites that have been on the go for ages and I believe that coupled with the lack of authenticity can be a major turn off for potential newcomers. (sure they're happy to leech episodes, magazine scans etc)

I said it before, I think loosing the Gamesmaster name is the way to go, perhaps building a new original retro and current gen community, but with a main focus on the former of the two, to me it seems the only way to get any real credibility.

Only being a message board is difficult too, perhaps a homepage with reviews, news, staff blogs etc.

Personally, I think the Gamesmaster TV series has passed its sweet spot, I think the nostalgia part of it was strong in the past 10 years but I feel thats come to an end, I don't see it being popular again in the long term future

[Krib2501]

I don't know if the nostalgia has past. I for one still love it. I know it's a little sad but I do sometimes like to grab a beer and watch a few old Gamesmaster episodes to feel the nostalgia and I don't think it will ever pass.

I do however agree that maybe going all retro would be a good idea and feature more than just Gamesmaster. Although I have to admit, I don't think there was anything to better it. Perhaps adding newer material such as Video Gaiden would be a good idea? Although not considered vintage yet as far as I know it's discontinued and I'm sure will be a considered a vintage classic in years to come.

I'm new here so I'm not sure what the best route would be. Just a few thoughts.

[Cyber-Hazuki]

I actually uploaded all of Video Gaiden and Consolevania to the old website but the original owner lost the content due to a server hack/crash or something.

[DenjinAkira]

Well I have a few ideas, but like I said before, the possibility depends on other resources. My initial idea stems from a community based site rather than one owned by the one guy who puts all the work in. Though point out if I'm wrong, but was not all of the work on the front page of Gmlive before by the owner?

Anyway I'll run through what I've come up with. Feel free to critique, rant, rave or shoot down.

1: Episode and Series guide.
-This is what I consider to be the most important aspect of my idea. A series by series, episode by episode run down of Gamesmaster from beginning to end. I'd like to include an opinionated review of each episode by the someone from the core team of fans who'd be running the whole site (and or its content), and comments sections for discussion, agreement or anger.

2: Actual Episodes.
-How to go about this is questionable for me as I type. I remember some previous systems the original site used forcing so many posts on users and I get the impression that came from wanting community effort as a trade in for the hard work put in finding, ripping and encoding the episodes. Which I think is perfectly acceptable.
-However I do wonder if the episodes would be a good way to lure in users and readers into the community. I for one like talking, and talking about things I love. It's why I'm here right now and I know for a fact that not everybody has friends who are obsessive enough to come to a Gamesmaster dedicated web page to find other fans and just chat. So maybe just YouTube links? I don't know what the small print situation with the rights to the episodes actually is but the whole concept is up for much discussion with plenty of groundwork to make.

3: Game spotlights.
-This would come from the above section. Specific games that are featured in the show can then be reviewed by another reviewer, with a similar comments section for other users to converse in.

4: Magazine Scans.
-Another potentially touchy subject with the episodes too because of the effort scanning magazines requires and the lack of reward for doing so. Again, having a place to chat and talk about issues would give me the incentive to scan my own personal collection. For me at least half of my love for all things Gamesmaster comes from the magazine, right from issue 1. The opinions, the writers and style, even the look of the magazine and how the content and said style changed over the years.

5: Interviews and such.
-The old site had them, though I don't know how they came about.

The above list is what I came up with just today. I'm sure there's potential for other ideas, and I see that some of you guys have already mentioned a more neutral Retro theme rather than Gamesmaster itself. Thing is there's a lot of that out there already, Retro Gamer Magazine has a pretty good community running right over there... As Cyber Hazuki has said and I concur.

Another point I'd like to make is that I often find Forum's to be impenetrable at times. Having one is important, but with my ideas for comments on actual Episodes, Staff game reviews and magazine issues perhaps sharing opinions and reading others will be easier for newbies and old hands alike.

Anyway I've said enough, though I do have more to say I don't want to create walls of text for people to ignore. I appreciate everything that has been said so far so thanks guys!

[SeeNoEvil]

I'm happy to let other users take the lead rather than being a heavy handed controlling webmaster. We could have other pages or a front-end website to the forum as the original site, although within limits. This is currently hosted on my own webspace for my Evil Dead website which comes out of my own pocket, 100MB or so would be fine, but hundreds or thousands of megs and I'd be a little pressed for space, plus a different .com domain would also cost too, the existing gamesmasterliveforum.com expires on the 28th of September 2012.

4: Magazine Scans.
-Another potentially touchy subject with the episodes too because of the effort scanning magazines requires and the lack of reward for doing so. Again, having a place to chat and talk about issues would give me the incentive to scan my own personal collection. For me at least half of my love for all things Gamesmaster comes from the magazine, right from issue 1. The opinions, the writers and style, even the look of the magazine and how the content and said style changed over the years.

Anyway, just wanted to add, I've just bought an A3 scanner, which would be perfect for scanning Gamesmaster magazines which are a little over A4 size?

[Exoddus]

Yeah they are a little over A4. I have issues 1-48 (missing 26). I tried to scan in a copy but it kept cutting parts out. I don't want to start editing 200+ pages to get everything on a page.

I was going to buy a new scanner just for the Games Master magazines but this place is so dead it doesn't feel worth the time and effort.

If we had a better site with webpages and download links on the actual webpage (as well as the forums). I would buy a scanner and scan in all the magazines. I could then upload them to the website so everyone could read them.

I also have the Games Master Live guide/program. The one you got if you went to the Games Master event they had in Birmingham I think. It's A4 size. So I will try and scan in tomorrow and hope my scanner can get a full scan of the pages.

[DenjinAkira]

Well I say now I have zero ability with html, of course there are plenty of sites out there with web-builders and what not. I've messed about with Wix myself with the aim of creating a page for my novel eventually. I could have a go at importing graphics from the magazines into the builder and such if nobody is willing/has the ability to build websites from scratch. Money is not an issue either, I'm more than willing to donate funds for hosting. If we all spared a little each then that immediately calms the problems of before...

. This is currently hosted on my own webspace for my Evil Dead website which comes out of my own pocket, 100MB or so would be fine, but hundreds or thousands of megs and I'd be a little pressed for space, plus a different .com domain would also cost too, the existing gamesmasterliveforum.com expires on the 28th of September 2012.

If you were willing to do that that that'd be great dude! Like I said before I'm willing to write articles/blogs and what the hell ever to thicken the content and I'd love some of the other guys to contribute too. Though size of individual pages I know nothing about.

Regarding Gamesmaster interest, I still watch the episodes semi regularly and what not. First and foremost my reasoning for wanting to give another site a go is for my own passion and sense of fun. I like writing! I like reading! I love sharing!

I do however agree that maybe going all retro would be a good idea and feature more than just Gamesmaster. Although I have to admit, I don't think there was anything to better it. Perhaps adding newer material such as Video Gaiden would be a good idea? Although not considered vintage yet as far as I know it's discontinued and I'm sure will be a considered a vintage classic in years to come.

I was thinking a similar thing regarding content, new and around the same time. I loved Digitizer from channel 4 teletex, late 90's Cv+g and have a fair amount of other magazines, scanned and in physical form. I don't know about everyone else, (considering Gamesmaster comes from the era) but what about a 90's gaming motif? I know a little about gaming before but most of my knowledge and love comes from 16bit consoles and onwards...

[Exoddus]

I agree 100% with DenjinAkira. If we gave a little bit of money to the owner of the website each month. We could get a good thing going. I'm not great with building webpages either. I done work on webpages in the past, but that was along time ago. Building a better place should be a community thing. We should have every trusted member on here made an admin to the website. Everyone could then work together.

Going through the members list. I would give admin to the following people:


SeeNoEvil
HAD0KEN
K1ngarth3r
kungfukid
Moondog
Exoddus
Cyber-Hazuki
gazereths
Xenepp
DenjinAkira

There are probably others so I apologize if I've missed anyone out!