- Legends of Zelda: Where It's Been, Where It's Going
- Thoughts on Zelda GC
- Interview with TSA
- Rauru's Return interviews Max Nichols (lord-of-shadow)
- Zelda Webmaster Roundtable
Written by davogones
June 11, 2004
Lately I've seen my role in the Zelda community changing, so I feel it would be appropriate to go through my whole history, in order to explain where I am right now and where I plan to take this web site.
Six years ago, when I first started playing Zelda, I was very curious about the story, and I really wanted answers to my questions. So I played all the Zelda games I could get my hands on, and started researching. One of the storyline resources I found was Zelda Headquarters. They had answers, but I wasn't satisfied with all of them. So I decided to make a web site. The web site was intended to be a way to teach myself the Zelda storyline. As I researched and thought about Zelda, I would post my results on the web site. I hoped that, in the process of teaching myself about Zelda, I would help other confused Zelda fans as well.
At first, my attitude was always that of a newcomer. I always assumed that everyone else knew more about Zelda than I did. For a while that was true, and I had much to learn. But as I kept expanding the site, and talking on my forums, I began to find that I knew more about Zelda than anyone else. That was a pretty fun experience, like being king of the hill for a while.
Then, as my site grew bigger and more popular, more Zelda fans came in, many of them equal to me in Zelda knowledge and in intelligence. They challenged my theories and opinions, forcing me to re-evaluate everything. Eventually, I came to realize that it was naive to think that I alone could discover the "true" storyline. So I became a skeptic, arguing only for possible timelines, not for the timeline.
In my first few years of college, I had a fairly large amount of free time, and I used it to continue researching Zelda and building my web site's content. However, I began pouring more energy into getting the facts on my web site (in the form of quote faqs and such), rather than writing interpretations and theories (in the form of articles). This is partly because taking philosophy classes in college diverted energies which could have been devoted to more article writing. Paradoxically, while my philosophical education sharpened my mind and my ideas, making me better equipped to analyze Zelda and write more articles, I stopped writing articles altogether.
The lack of article-writing was, and still is, symptomatic of a new attitude toward the subject. I could see that, no matter how well-researched, any article I could write would be flawed, misunderstood, and incomplete. The more I thought and wrote about these issues, the more I realized that it would take a book to do justice to them. Indeed, my canon article, which I worked on for many months, turned into a 25 page dissertation, way too much for any casual visitor to my site to digest. Too short an article, and everyone will tear it apart and accuse me of "forgetting" or "leaving out" things. Too long, and the article will become unreadable. It is difficult to reach a compromise between completeness and brevity, especially when rabid Zelda fans are waiting to tear it apart. :-D
I have also found that, while I myself am satisfied concerning the answers to many issues, I do not have enough time or energy to communicate these answers by writing something on the site. There is so much I could add to the site, but I can't seem to find time anymore. School is getting more and more difficult and time-consuming. In the summer I always have jobs and internships. In my free time, I'm so burned out and tired that all I want to do is watch something, or hang out with friends. Over the years, I have picked up so many hobbies that I can't possibly keep up with all of them. I have books that I want to read, subjects that I want to study, languages that I want to learn. I also want to keep in touch with my friends and have some semblance of a life. All this translates into far less time available for running the site than in years past.
I am also starting to get interested in the Zelda fan community as a whole, as opposed to being solely concerned with the Zelda storyline. With this in mind, I have been lending my time and support to building the Zelda Alliance. I am also helping to run a server, which hosts many Zelda web sites.
Running a web site is not all fun and games, as any webmaster should know. A lot of tedious work is involved, both in keeping the site updated and responding to e-mails. The tedious work has to get done, otherwise you get a reputation for not responding to e-mails, not updating anything, etc. Lately, I've found that all I have time to do is the tedious work. My site has grown so big that the little tedious details take too much of my time.
Therefore, to help me regain my sanity, I have decided that I will be accepting official staff members. Previously, it was a matter of pride to be the sole author of my own web site. This changed as I began accepting submittals from people, and even let people write encyclopedia entries. I have decided that I do not need to personally handle every aspect of the web site. I am not the only one capable of adding links or images or what have you. What I want to do is concentrate on my area of interest, the storyline.
What does this mean for Legends of Zelda? It means you'll be getting the same great content and service, but hopefully more quickly and more reliably. Khuffie and I are going to work on making things automated and such, making things easier to update. I hope that, if I don't have to focus on mundane details, I can get around to writing (or finishing) more of the cool stuff that I've been putting off for so long. I have several articles that I still have not finished. I have storyline FAQs and encyclopedia entries to write.
Just in case anyone is worried, I do not want to resign from the Zelda scene. Things are just starting to get interesting. I have met many great people, who know a lot about Zelda and are able to think clearly about many issues. I have much to say and do before I quit and move on to bigger and better things. When I start a job, I finish it, no matter how long it takes. So you haven't seen the last of me yet. :-) Thanks everyone for your patience and understanding.
-davogones
June 11, 2004
Lately I've seen my role in the Zelda community changing, so I feel it would be appropriate to go through my whole history, in order to explain where I am right now and where I plan to take this web site.
Six years ago, when I first started playing Zelda, I was very curious about the story, and I really wanted answers to my questions. So I played all the Zelda games I could get my hands on, and started researching. One of the storyline resources I found was Zelda Headquarters. They had answers, but I wasn't satisfied with all of them. So I decided to make a web site. The web site was intended to be a way to teach myself the Zelda storyline. As I researched and thought about Zelda, I would post my results on the web site. I hoped that, in the process of teaching myself about Zelda, I would help other confused Zelda fans as well.
At first, my attitude was always that of a newcomer. I always assumed that everyone else knew more about Zelda than I did. For a while that was true, and I had much to learn. But as I kept expanding the site, and talking on my forums, I began to find that I knew more about Zelda than anyone else. That was a pretty fun experience, like being king of the hill for a while.
Then, as my site grew bigger and more popular, more Zelda fans came in, many of them equal to me in Zelda knowledge and in intelligence. They challenged my theories and opinions, forcing me to re-evaluate everything. Eventually, I came to realize that it was naive to think that I alone could discover the "true" storyline. So I became a skeptic, arguing only for possible timelines, not for the timeline.
In my first few years of college, I had a fairly large amount of free time, and I used it to continue researching Zelda and building my web site's content. However, I began pouring more energy into getting the facts on my web site (in the form of quote faqs and such), rather than writing interpretations and theories (in the form of articles). This is partly because taking philosophy classes in college diverted energies which could have been devoted to more article writing. Paradoxically, while my philosophical education sharpened my mind and my ideas, making me better equipped to analyze Zelda and write more articles, I stopped writing articles altogether.
The lack of article-writing was, and still is, symptomatic of a new attitude toward the subject. I could see that, no matter how well-researched, any article I could write would be flawed, misunderstood, and incomplete. The more I thought and wrote about these issues, the more I realized that it would take a book to do justice to them. Indeed, my canon article, which I worked on for many months, turned into a 25 page dissertation, way too much for any casual visitor to my site to digest. Too short an article, and everyone will tear it apart and accuse me of "forgetting" or "leaving out" things. Too long, and the article will become unreadable. It is difficult to reach a compromise between completeness and brevity, especially when rabid Zelda fans are waiting to tear it apart. :-D
I have also found that, while I myself am satisfied concerning the answers to many issues, I do not have enough time or energy to communicate these answers by writing something on the site. There is so much I could add to the site, but I can't seem to find time anymore. School is getting more and more difficult and time-consuming. In the summer I always have jobs and internships. In my free time, I'm so burned out and tired that all I want to do is watch something, or hang out with friends. Over the years, I have picked up so many hobbies that I can't possibly keep up with all of them. I have books that I want to read, subjects that I want to study, languages that I want to learn. I also want to keep in touch with my friends and have some semblance of a life. All this translates into far less time available for running the site than in years past.
I am also starting to get interested in the Zelda fan community as a whole, as opposed to being solely concerned with the Zelda storyline. With this in mind, I have been lending my time and support to building the Zelda Alliance. I am also helping to run a server, which hosts many Zelda web sites.
Running a web site is not all fun and games, as any webmaster should know. A lot of tedious work is involved, both in keeping the site updated and responding to e-mails. The tedious work has to get done, otherwise you get a reputation for not responding to e-mails, not updating anything, etc. Lately, I've found that all I have time to do is the tedious work. My site has grown so big that the little tedious details take too much of my time.
Therefore, to help me regain my sanity, I have decided that I will be accepting official staff members. Previously, it was a matter of pride to be the sole author of my own web site. This changed as I began accepting submittals from people, and even let people write encyclopedia entries. I have decided that I do not need to personally handle every aspect of the web site. I am not the only one capable of adding links or images or what have you. What I want to do is concentrate on my area of interest, the storyline.
What does this mean for Legends of Zelda? It means you'll be getting the same great content and service, but hopefully more quickly and more reliably. Khuffie and I are going to work on making things automated and such, making things easier to update. I hope that, if I don't have to focus on mundane details, I can get around to writing (or finishing) more of the cool stuff that I've been putting off for so long. I have several articles that I still have not finished. I have storyline FAQs and encyclopedia entries to write.
Just in case anyone is worried, I do not want to resign from the Zelda scene. Things are just starting to get interesting. I have met many great people, who know a lot about Zelda and are able to think clearly about many issues. I have much to say and do before I quit and move on to bigger and better things. When I start a job, I finish it, no matter how long it takes. So you haven't seen the last of me yet. :-) Thanks everyone for your patience and understanding.
-davogones
Subscribe to RSS