Tuesday, November 18, 2003

   Otaku History?

Since these Otaku history discussions seem to be so popular, I thought I'd write one of my own. I enjoy reading other people's take on OB's history as well...it's interesting. I don't know how much post-v2 members know about my history with theOtaku.com. It's kind of interesting though, especially as I look back on it. The way that I first became involved at all was really by chance. I had applied to write articles for a site called Absolute Sega; a site that Justin Blessing used to run. It was a pretty fantastic site, too -- sites like SegaDojo had mentioned it and so on. Of course, SegaDojo has its own history too; it was one of the founders of CloudChaser, which then became what is now known as XenGamers.com. But anyway, I digress. It was my application to Absolute Sega that really got the ball rolling. But not long after I applied (and was accepted), I heard that the site was due to be taken over. Absolute Sega was to be taken over by none other than theOtaku.com. I guess "taken over" is the wrong term -- "merged" is a better term. I guess Justin and Adam both decided that they could do something mutually beneficial at the time. As it turns out, the merger came at a time that might be considered theOtaku.com's peak, in terms of content. Back then, we had both anime and gaming sites. Absolute Zelda was out there in full force, and Absolute GameBoy had been running for quite a while already (since 1999). Absolute GameBoy was really where it all started though; theOtaku.com grew out of that site. AGB was really successful. I don't think that theOtaku.com would necessarily have become so large of its own accord. AGB became a big feature of it, as well as the much newer Pokemon and Digimon sites. So, when I began to write for Absolute Sega (as part of theOtaku.com), it turned out that I completed maybe two articles before things rapidly changed again. Justin had become tired of covering Sega. Dreamcast was really looking like it was going to fade away and all the hype was centered around the Xbox unveiling. So, we changed the site to "Absolute Xbox". It was Absolute Xbox that gave me so many important starts. I wrote so many articles for that site -- mostly previews, and some editorials. At that time, we had quite a lot of writers. It was exciting and it was new and it felt very fresh. I was really enjoying it. Justin was incredibly supportive and he encouraged me in everything that I did. It was around this time that I registered at theOtaku.com Forums. Back then (during v1), the URL was theOtaku.com/forums. In other words, there was no such things as "OtakuBoards", as it is known today. Though, you might consider theOtaku.com Forums as "v2" rather than v1...if you include the very first AGB Forums. But they weren't particularly large or busy, so, I guess theOtaku.com Forums is where the history books start. ~_^ Despite the fact that I was registered, I personally didn't spend much time on the forums. At that time, I found them to be pretty boring; I preferred using AIM and I wanted to stick to writing. In some ways, I was more like Adam; I didn't have much activity on the forums and I spent most of my time with site updates. It wasn't long before things changed a great deal. In early 2001, Adam decided to move theOtaku.com Forums to their own server and URL. This is considered to be the move between v1 and v2. At last, "OtakuBoards" was born. It was a far more impressive beast in v2 form -- larger, broader and more visually impressive. We also had the very latest UBB software installed. You know, back when it was cool. It was also at this time when I launched my own site within theOtaku.com -- Absolute GameCube. While we had some fun with it (Clay, Adam and myself focused on all the writing), it really wasn't easy to push forward. The main reason was simply that we knew nothing about GameCube at that point. We'd seen the 2000 tech demo stuff, but really, there wasn't a lot to cover for a while. Even after E3, all we could do was write a few previews and features. Really, we'd launched the site a bit too early and without enough resources. Still, I had fun. I spent a lot of time working with Clay Jones, who did some fantastic comics for our GameBoy section. How I miss those comics. I will never forget that little purple goo character (though I forget his name...it's on the tip of my tongue, if you remind me I'll love you forever). The little goo character was Clay's own creation. And he was a regular feature in the comics. I remember one comic where he called Nintendo of America and offered them an idea for a video game. Some representative yelled at him through the phone and he put it down, with an incredibly hilarious look on his face. It was great; I wish I still had that one. Clay also did cartoony versions of Adam and myself. If you go to theOtaku.com now, you will actually see the little cartoon Adam...that's the one that Clay originally drew. He did a picture of me with spikey hair (when it was spikey), but I don't have it anymore. I wish I did. Clay is one of the staff who I miss the most. I wish he was still around. We had some fantastic conversations and we had so much fun with theOtaku. I'll miss his enthusiasm and happiness; I think he could cheer anyone up. There was also Frank, who apparently disappeared off the face of the Earth at some point. I wonder what he's doing now. Anyway...the bottom line is that in some ways, I was more active with theOtaku.com then than I am now. In fact, I'm kind of amazed to still be around after all this time. When Absolute GameCube was in its prime (and when it actually did receive letters from readers), I became an Administrator at OtakuBoards. It's important to understand that during this time, OtakuBoards had a decentralized staff system. That is, there was really nobody in charge. Of course, Adam ran things. But because he wasn't always directly involved with the boards, the Administrators were the group who held all the power. And, back then, there were many Administrators. I think at our peak we had eight or something along those lines. Frank was one, as was Hbomb. Frank and Hbomb were both popular guys. I looked up to them, even though I had relatively little contact with them. I was doing my own thing, so to speak. In particular, most of my time was focused on the Nintendo forum, setting up discussions based on AG articles. I'm not even sure why I became an Administrator in the first place. Nobody from the boards appointed me; it was Adam who did it. I think it was mostly related to the concept of linking our gaming sites with the boards a little more...maybe Adam wanted me to have the ability to set things up in that way. I don't really remember the specifics, to be honest. In any case, that was the beginning. It wasn't long before v2 was torn apart, quite literally, by a group of members. One of them (Shinji) had managed to get Adam's password. I think I actually scolded Adam for not being careful enough about his passwords. Not least because the results created headaches for me. But I shouldn't really complain -- the end result was far more positive than negative. Without that incident, we would not have what we have today. I don't think we'd be as lucky as we are now, honestly. The reason that the situation became uncontrollable was because the password was given to so many people. Once one person became an Adminstrator, he would then make everyone an Administrator. And, unfortunately, most people took it upon themselves to fool around. They posted junk in people's signatures, they "impersonated" others, they deleted and banned other Administrators...it was an enormous mess. At that time, there was only one option; to shut down the site entirely. It was Justin (not Blessing, but our OB Justin) and kuja who helped me take control again. It's kind of ironic that kuja ended up being a complete pain in the butt subsequently...but at the time, he was very committed. So I shut down OtakuBoards for good. It was a complete and utter mess. There was no way that Adam or I could have cleaned it up and restored everything to the way it was before. It just wasn't going to happen. At that time, it looked like OtakuBoards would cease to exist. In other words, there were no immediate plans to bring it back. I think it was very much a case of thinking "No, it's too much trouble...better to just let it die." But Adam is too committed to let that happen. So what did he do? He went out and purchased a shiny, brand new Virtual Bulletin. He set it all up for us...and we re-opened, in v3 format. Of course, we had to start from scratch. We had no members, no nothing. In some ways, it was good. Truly committed members came flooding back; everyone was so pleased that the site was back online. And everyone was excited about the all-new software, too. It was great. I was very proud of Adam's efforts and I felt a renewed sense of commitment toward the site myself. The "v2 incident" prompted several changes. For one, Adam decided very firmly that we were not going to have many Administrators. It was considered to be a security risk that we weren't prepared to take. For a short while, Adam was the only Administrator. But I think it became evident that, as he continue to focus his work on theOtaku.com, someone was needed to run OtakuBoards itself, as a stand-alone site. And it happened to be me. The reason it was me wasn't particularly groundbreaking or eath-shattering. I was the person who was around...I'd dealt with the problems on v2 and I was still there. Some of our other Administrators had either left, were inactive or weren't as involved with theOtaku.com as I was. So I think at the time, I was really the only person Adam knew who he felt comfortable with. I'm thankful for that. So, I became the Administrator of v3. I gathered a group of trusted Super Moderators around me, in an attempt to basically re-build what we'd lost. I was literally re-building the staff at that time, too. Some people (like Nerdsy), were not afforded their old positions. But there was really no specific reason for that; it was just because at the time, we were all very frazzled. Adam basically re-hired those who he had known/remembered from v2...it was a somewhat rushed atmosphere. So I think it just happened that some missed out as a result of the running around. But it wasn't intentional or anything like that. That's the best way I can explain it, anyway. So, v3 was a big test for me. While I'd worked on theOtaku.com primarily for some time, I had really never focused my attention on the boards so much. And now, I was the sole individual responsible for running the entire thing. It was somewhat intimidating, but I felt comfortable with the people around me. Out of all the staff who have ever worked for me, I think Sephiroth stands out the most. He was my biggest and closest supporter during v3/v4. He supported me when it seemed like few were. And he was always someone who I felt I could talk to. So, I will always be grateful to Sephiroth for his support and encouragement. He always worked hard and was always so committed. Anyway...that's basically a summary of my history with the site up until the start of v3. I don't want to write any more now, because I might bore everyone even further. But I know that some of you are interested, at least. If you liked this post, I might write more next time. ^_^

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