Open letter to the Dreamcast scene (attention: 100% emo)

I start this kind of topic because I am a bit uncomfortable with the current situation within the scene and see that the single websites and supporters, such as DCEmulation, DCEmu.co.uk, Consolevision, Dreamcast-Scene and others drift slowly apart and it seems to me that the scene becomes smaller and smaller.

I feel this way because Dreamcast-Scene was founded as a database where everyone can submit and edit articles which are Dreamcast related. We put a lot of energy in this project, participated at games conventions and demoscene events in the past and present (we're going to be at the DemoZone demoparty in the Netherlands this month and -maybe- have a booth at the Games Convention this year again) and even opened a bureau in Munich this month (see our press release and photos) to centralize our energies.

Still I have the feeling that nobody really cares from outside. 90% of the articles on DCS are done by me (which doesn't mean that I want to stick a knife in the back of DCS' forum members and supporters; you all are great and I thank you a lot!) and it seems that we can't motivate people to participate in this idea like on Wikipedia for example.

So what's the thing I want to say? I'd like to see people more active in what they are doing and because of that I want to help out on DCEmulation, DCEmu.co.uk and others as well, to get the scene back together the way it was and everyone helps others out.

So what are your opinions on this case?

i actually forget about dreamcast-scene some times, but i do post there and i have added a few (very few)things to the data base... i been meaning to add more, but i keep forgetting.

really now DCemulation and dcemu.co.uk are the 2 biggest, consolevision (great site) forum wise is dead. don't forget Dcevo, there a good we group there. Boob.co.uk is dead.

when i get broadband a home (soon) i will most likly will be adding more to dreamcast-scene. i have always been a supporter of u Max/freeze

Thanks a lot for your words here. :)

The main cause is not that I am sad with not having enought visitors on DCS; it goes beyond it, has to do more with the scene itself, and it would be very sad to see to break apart. The downfall of Consolevision and Boob is a pity and unfortunately also a sign that something is going wrong in the overall view.

Max - I can't really disagree with you. The biggest problem I see right now - and it has been a problem on and off for the life of the scene, as far as I can tell - is that there are too many big egos among the people running the sites. The greatest thing about this scene is the relatively small size of the coders'/devvers' egos. However, they are eclipsed by the people working as admins, webmasters, etc. of a lot of the sites.

At the moment, the biggest problem appears to be DCEmulation (although, it, I believe, is still also the biggest site). There is a lot of dissention among the staff, and there is a lot of discontent toward other sites among the staff. It is causing a schism in the scene similar to the original schism between CV and DCEmu.

The smaller sites still seem to be going strong, and doing well, though, so don't lose hope. DCEvo is doing better right now than it has ever done in the past. We have more active participation than ever before, we have more visitors than ever before, and our downloads are through the roof. DCHelp (a part of the DC Evo network), is also bigger and more popular than ever before (although, it's still a fairly small site with only a handful of visitors each day - that's still a whole lot more than we used to get). Consolevision, although the forums are dead, is still doing quite well.

The problem I see, which once again sort of goes back to egos, is that everyone seems to want to start their own sites, rather than contributing to existing sites. When I started DCHelp (it began as DCStuff), I did so because DCEmulation and CV weren't really ever being updated, and their tutorials were hopelessly out of date (which, in a lot of cases, they still are). I couldn't really get through to the webmasters (I didn't really know MetaFox at the time, so I can't blame CV, but DCEmulation was a blackhole), and I wanted to get that stuff out there. Once I started to get friendlier with the scene, I joined ranks with DCEvolution, and we tried to bring the two sites (plus the DCKB) together as one unit.

Unfortunately, I don't see a feasible way to bring the bigger sites together (MetaFox tried a while ago, by suggesting a single set of forums for all of the big sites, and was pretty well shot down). However, the smaller sites (if there are any of us left, besides DC-Scene and the DCEvo network) can bond together and work toward achieving the sense of community that's been lacking in this scene for so long.

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is that everyone seems to want to start their own sites

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You absoluty right.

I agree to everybody here.

The only thing i can say now's a small idea : What do you think about a central website, like the french DC-Top but for the whole scene ? With a language classement, for example ?

Because - don't be hurt, Max - I didn't know DCS very well. I'll add to my bookmarks right now.

I agree too. The efforts must be concentrated in one or two sites that can handle a lot of activity, without egos, only good people and sceners.

i think dreamcast-scene could be (should be? ) the center of the the scene, it already has a multi language database of info

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i think dreamcast-scene could be (should be? ) the center of the the scene, it already has a multi language database of info

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You right, and the website title is adapted :)

I concur that the Dreamcast-Scene website should be the hub location due to it's already set up for multinationalism website viewing capabilites in the language department.

It would be nice to have a site that links to and from gamefaqs.com and gamespot.com and devcast.dcemulation.com plus the other forums and bor mod sites and dreamcast supplier sites. All things relating Dreamcast linked together as a happy family. Kind of nudge the different communities together, which might insight a riot or actually do some good by inspiring others to contribute the scene. The larger the scene grows the more viable it becomes to produce for. As an end result giving stronger showings in new games and software utilites to run on a dreamcast. Which is a win for me... I suck it all up in the vacum of cyber space and spit it out onto my consol, for some good old fashion fun...

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Originally Posted by curt_grymala

the smaller sites (if there are any of us left, besides DC-Scene and the DCEvo network) can bond together and work toward achieving the sense of community that's been lacking in this scene for so long.

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I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having wet dreams about this for a long time!