There are hundreds of videogame "fan sites" on the Web, run by ambitious and dedicated enthusiasts who devote free time (sometimes as much as 40 hours per week) to uploading new screenshots and wallpapers, moderating forums, scouring the Internet for fresh content and tweaking Web layouts. Their only reward, in many cases, is the knowledge that they're sharing their passion for a particular videogame or franchise with other fans around the world.

Fan sites straddle a middle ground between traditional news outlets and videogame corporations, and game companies are quick to acknowledge the important contribution of fan sites and the uniquely "biased" perspective they offer the gaming community.

"There is something way more convincing about a fan site's reporting of news than a site that is obviously created by corporate interests," says Jay Watamaniuk, Community Manager at Edmonton-based game studio BioWare. "The fan site may be biased because [it's run by] fans, but I'm willing to bet that information is less censored and crafted. That sort of angle is something we simply cannot produce since we are the company involved … we are still 'The Man' to some fans."

Prince of Persia Legacy (http://poplegacy.planets.gamespy.com) is a typical example of a thriving fan site. Maintained for the past six years by Zain Alvi, a 20-year-old student from New Jersey, the site is a source of information for Prince of Persia games going back to the early 1990s, with resources including box images, screenshots, interviews, story scripts and interviews.

Alvi is able to host his site for free through Gamespy, which provides Web templates, bandwidth, and various editing tools to Webmasters in exchange for showing ads.

Natasha Postolovski is able to run her Elder Scrolls fan site, Beyond Oblivion (http://elderscrolls.blogspot.com) , at no cost as well because she takes advantage of free images and site hosting services at Blogger.com, TinyPic.com and Photobucket.com.

"Most of the information I put on the site comes from close reading of interviews, previews, and developer quotes," says Postolovski. "The official forums are also a great place to find information."

Ryan Kubasa says being Japanese has been a big advantage in helping him maintain his Dragon Quest 8 fan site, DragonQuest8.org (http://dragonquest8.org), because his aunt is able to send him the official Japanese strategy guides, which he then scans and uses on the site months before the same information is available in North America.

Although fan sites are run on a volunteer basis and make little or no actual revenue, there are still perks. Many game companies recognize the role fan sites play in nurturing the sense of community around a particular game, and afford them special privileges, like sending them press releases and exclusive content, or even sponsoring them to attend events like the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).

Certain publishers have begun making it even easier for fan sites to get started by releasing official "fan site kits" that contain a selection of exclusive images, desktop wallpapers, game screenshots, banners and in some cases interviews and Web graphics.

Aaron Kaufman, Community Manager for Electronic Arts: Los Angeles, says his company holds regular "community summits" to invite fan site Webmasters to the studio for exclusive previews of games and the opportunity to interact face-to-face with developers.
"For example," Kaufman explains, "when we put on our community summit for The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, we invited 25 of the top community leaders from around the world for a three-day exclusive experience at EALA." Invitees were given a behind the scenes look at the creation process and a chance to play demos and interact with game developers. "We even gave them a chance to create their best "death animation" sound effect, with the best voice being put in the game -- that was hilarious!"

Last year, as Webmaster of Prince of Persia: Legacy, Alvi was invited to Montreal for a tour of Ubisoft's studio and an interview with the producer of Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, Ben Mattes. The interview was, of course, uploaded to the site.
 
 

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