Keeping the Creatures Community Alive
The updated C1 lemon certainly had its day in the spotlight, which turned into a week! Summertime fun and my birthday kept me away from Creatures for a short time, yet it gave me some time to reflect. I constantly receive wonderful messages from people who have taken the time to thank me for keeping Creatures alive. Of course, I turn right back around and send the thanks to everyone who shares my love of the games! It’s been so long since the initial release that Creatures can now appeal to several generations of gamers. Yet it’s sad to see that so many sites have been lost over the years. Even these adorable images were hiding away in archives!
I was saddened by the recent retirement of Designer Genes, as well as Kezune’s decision to leave the community. I wish her all the best and hope that she will eventually return, if the time is ever right! Yet this is not the first time someone has had a negative experience with a particular Creatures site. What we seem to have lost over the years are all of the small sites and individual content. Although it is useful to have a central location for certain aspects, it’s become increasingly clear that not everyone is welcome in the biggest part of the community. It’s a sticky situation, since many Creatures players can only be contacted through this particular site. I don’t mean to jump on a soapbox or point any fingers, but the behavior of certain staff members is extremely detrimental to the Creatures community. What motivates many of us to play are the interactions we share with others. Chase someone out of the community, and that can ruin Creatures for that person. I know, because this happened to me. I lost all interest in playing because I was reminded of how poorly I was treated. Thankfully, I focused my efforts on Discover Albia and rediscovered my love of the game through the comments!
Where does this leave us? We’re in a slightly precarious situation. Creatures is not as young and exciting as it once was, and it’s important to welcome all players into the community. Everyone makes mistakes, and I hope that the few individuals behind these negative experiences understand that their personal motivations are harming the community. All in all, I simply want everyone to get along and enjoy Creatures! The love and passion we have for the games are unparalleled. I appreciate everything that this community has accomplished, and I thank each person who has made Creatures what it is today. Let’s make sure that we have many more decades of Creatures fun to share with every player, new and old!
Images Credited to Gameware Europe
At least it looks like all of the GOG.com editions of the Creatures series have been updated to work on Windows 10, so that’s something.
That’s actually the subject of my next post, Malkin: We’re thinking along the same lines! It’s interesting that the games still aren’t listed as compatible with Windows 8 (except Creatures Village) but this is good news for the games as we move into the next version of Windows!
Amazing, a community of about 15 and we still managed to organize some drama? XD Well, at least it shows there’s still energy in us!
Would anyone be interested in reviving Creaturetopia? The site is still there, it just badly needs updating and spam prevention. And you’re allowed to say swear words. I think. I don’t actually remember. Maybe not. ANYWAY,
Treesprite evidently doesn’t have the time right now to do the admin work, and I don’t have the know-how, but if there’s interest in reviving that forum and no one can do the admin work, I think there’s a friend I could hire to deal with it.
Or we could liven up the subreddit!
Replaced that one particular word to keep things G-rated here. It’s not so much the ability to post any sort of content: I think the issue is that there are some moderators who treat members differently, and can do all sorts of editing/deleting without ever having a log of that activity.
I do miss Creaturetopia, though! I’m not sure how to get in touch with Treesprite, although I do have some knowledge of PHP and phpBB. I was actually thinking the other day of looking into creating a new Creatures forum… But bringing back an old favorite is likely a much better idea!
The Reddit page for Creatures does need some more love. I moderate it and keep meaning to spruce it up, yet I always forget. Oh dear! Maybe if there’s a burst of activity, things can get back on track and the conversation about Creatures can start back up. Great idea: Liven away!
*pokes shyly* may I have access? I can try to put together some decoration. I did the CSS here: https://www.reddit.com/r/datlof/ which is basically just a banner and side image cobbled toghether from tutorials, but it’s a start!
Feel free to contact me on Reddit! I was in the process of working on something to spruce things up, but go figure that I’m out of the loop. We can talk some more over there, though, and hopefully get things going again!
It’s a real shame that Kezune felt the need to retire, I had no idea so much was going on behind the scenes. I’ve found Creatures Caves to be a generally welcoming website, although I have seen a few questionable things that have gone on a few times.
It saddens me when someone leaves the community for any reason, but this situation could have been avoided. I agree that most areas of the Creatures community are very welcoming, though! It’s just that the questionable things you mention seem to be more common, and nothing is being done to ensure that the same things don’t happen again. The good news is that stepping away from that environment can be a very positive experience, while still allowing someone to enjoy Creatures and interacting with other players!