“You’re Shutting Us Down?”
“Interactivity” became a buzzword when Web designers understood that they could entice a viewer to react to something that they created on a Website. Polls, chats, events, and other activities opened worlds of entertainment and opportunities for viewers and designers. They also opened many a can of worms during the 1990s, and mistakes often provided the training ground and ground rules for interactive practices.
Just before the turn of the century, books informed Web designers and business owners that they could make a mint online if they could build and maintain an online community. At that same time, many folks rode flush on the dot.com wave, and virtual communities became the lynch-pin in businesses like AOL, in magazine sites such as Utne and The Well, and in gaming sites such as “Myst.” Suddenly, in 2000, two things happened that challenged the concept of virtual communities.
First, Amy Jo Kim came along with her book, “Community Building on the Web.” Amy’s credentials include a BS in Experimental Psych from UC San Diego and a Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience. She worked at Sun Microsystems before she wrote her 352-page manual on how to manage organic human issues – not the profit-making venue – of an online community. Then, almost simultaneously, the dot.com bubble burst, and Amy’s book suffered in the fallout. But, her book wasn’t alone – many virtual communities dissolved as business owners realized that community members refused to spare a dime to support what they considered a free “perk.”
One such failure occurred at the Myst community. At that time, I worked for Mattel’s Gaming Division as a writer, but I was hired through a subcontractor who was a huge Myst fan. He had built an online community for other Myst fans out of his own pocket. This site wasn’t officially connected to Myst the game, although the site owner knew the creators of Myst fairly well, and visa versa. The owners at Cyan (now known as CyanWorld) refused to take on the community site even though Cyan’s owners approved of its top-notch design and a huge following (about 3,000 active members).
When the dot.com bust occurred, Mattel shortly thereafter sold its gaming division to UbiSoft and discharged almost half the employees and just as many projects. My cush job went down the drain as the subcontractor lost his contracts. Accordingly, this person couldn’t possibly afford to keep up such a huge and active site just for the love of it. Ironically, although the Cyan owners profited from this community, they refused to take on the task. After two months worth of refusals to pay a minor monthly/yearly membership fee to stay “live,” the regulars at the Myst community site whined that the subcontractor was “shutting US down.”
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.