Through my exploits on a few forums, I've noticed a trend. In 2005, I started attending a small forum called XenoLegacy, a forum dedicated to a series of video games called Xenosaga, which is a different story entirely. However, when the series ceased production, the forum began to change. No longer would members talk about the video game series as much, but more emphasis was placed upon information about the members themselves, such as what their thoughts were at the time, what they thought of each other, etc. As the relationships grew closer, many wished to meet in the real world, which some did. It went from an exact focus to something more broad in a short amount of time. Threads asking for each other's Facebook and Myspace accounts were even created. As a small group, a lot of the members started to yearn for real world interaction, something that could not be replaced with forums.
Today, XenoLegacy barely gets any traffic. People have moved on, friended the people they liked on the forum on other social networking websites. Now, there is a new forum to attract the Xenosaga fans, an interesting placed called Godsibb, but it too is emphasizing less and less on the Xenosaga games and more on the individuals that compose the forum as the site becomes older. This group of people, later breaking down into smaller groups of friends, would not have been possible without a platform for all of them to meet. And I, too, would not have become friends with so many people without it.
-Tyler Trosper
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