The Decline of Avatar Forum Sites and the Nostalgia Around Them
 

A lot of us grew up on the internet. A lot of us, in our late 20s-mid 30s grew up during the height of the popularity of Avatar Sites. From the still somehow semi-alive Gaiaonline to the now defunct Ernya, Solia and even Roliana, Syndrone and many others. They were our escapes, our means of socializing before the rise of mainstream Social Media and even now a lot of us, myself included, hold a lot of nostalgia for them.

So that begs the question, are they truly dead, and how long until Trisphee, which even now isn't always active, or even Gaia have to close their doors?

With how things are now, is there any feasible way of saving them? I'd love to see a reemergence of them, see Gaia live up to what it was, maybe even see this site start to thrive.

Its a pipe dream but sometimes its hard to let go of the things you cherished so much. I wish I had been more active here for sure.

The topic has definitely been brought up recently on here. However Trisphee as of right now has no plans of shutting down. :)

i'd say advertizing pays a big role in that sort of thing, but i'm no marketing guy.

I remember being asked once on another forum site the main reason why most folks left and ways to get folks back. The main reason most have left mainly is due to the site not really being updated in.. about four years?
Gaia's success is mainly due to being able to offer their customers variety of options besides just forums. They hold contests, meet ups, have towns where folks can meet their friends and hang out, ZOmg.. Other forum sites had pets you could raise by clicks..
Also have spoken to past members who have said it's difficult to come back due to the loss of Glitch. I know on websites such as Subeta, you can have the account of a deceased member turned into a memorial account where the username can never be giving to another user so maybe doing something similar to that so folks will know even through she is gone, she is still remembered.

Other than that, I don't know what else to really say. It's basically like MMOs, I have seen tons of them shut down cause the player base is older folks who grow up playing Maple Story, etc where the game stops updating and eventually the player base moves on to something new or pass away, have had a friend speak about some players that had passed on. Eventually something new will take the place of Social Media, if by that time, Trump, Putin and Little Rocket Man haven't started WW3..

aye, yeah. i've noticed that there's been virtually no avatar contests since glitch died, which is through no fault of her own or anyone else's fault, i'm just guessing that the person that used to do those either no longer feels like doing them or is on an extended hiatus.

i could theoretically start that up until the person that originally did the avi contests comes back, but at the same time, i don't have a lot of items to give.

Yeah the avi contests were fun. I loved seeing all the entries and creative avis. :3

Probably wouldn't be hard to pixel and get items approved for an avatar contest or event but it's getting folks to come back. Probably a lot of old members who knew Glitch may take longer to eventually return, which can't blame them.

Now, I don't want folks to say I'm being cold here but I don't remember ever talking to Glitch through possible I did and while I'm sad to learn she passed away, her passing literally has no effect if I continue on the site or not. And going to be honest, even if I did know her, I would still log on and celebrate the place she worked hard for, not keep away. As I quote what my cousin said during a family member's funeral - the person is at rest now and they would want us to celebrate their life and remember the good memories, even if right now, those memories are painful to us, this is what they would want. For us to be happy they have passed over and not to wallow in their passing. Yes, it will hurt. I still feel sadness on June 20th each year cause two people who passed away the same year, both had birthdays that day.. and they passed away literally a month of each other as well but I end up going and putting flowers on the one grave, sadly for Jenni, I can't cause she was buried in the US and I have no idea if her father buried her in Dorchester where we lived growing up or in his county. Otherwise, I would find the perfect baby blue horse figurine and stick it on her grave, lol.. everytime I see horses here, it reminds me of her and I smile, esp if walking and the horses come over to the fence and I'm like, Jenni, did you come back as a horse? through I am sure she's probably taken Hell over by now, we always said when she passed, she would come the ruler of it.. lol.. was always our little in joke.

I would say focus on getting new members to stay and eventually older members will return. Even if it's something simple like a Trisphee July Event or work up to hosting an event for Labor Day at the end of August/September or even a small Trisphee Art/Avatar contest hosted by multiple folks.

Another reason I think most new members won't stay is cause it is daunting joining somewhere and everyone literally knows everyone and keeps to their little cliques. I got lucky on here I found rpgers that I eventually came friends with and we moved to other sites, etc together and chatted offsite. I also came friends with folks outside the group and with MMOs, I just lucky the guild I ended up merging with, ended up being the group I went with to new games. Even my ingame husband was from that group and while most have left whom I have ways of contacting off of the game via FB if needed, I have grown closer to someone I probably would never if everyone still hung on the game and even made friends outside of the guild. Probably helps no one else wanted leader and I was made it so I get to chat to anyone that has issues, lol but most of us share the same friends, it's just I probably have some my guildmates probably wouldn't choose for their friendlist.. lol..

But getting to the point, create maybe a hangout just for newbies to the site where they can get help with maybe toward their first avatar, have a place to get to know folks and help them get settled into the community - if they like art, help them get an art shop up and running, or if a rpger, right now the site is a little too dead for anyone to really run a successful rpg but they can discuss ideas and get something in the works.

It's really the small things, not saying start pumping out monthly items like Gaia, etc but start small with maybe trying to get something set up with new items for an event, even if it's pushed back and turned into an User ran Halloween event and focus on stuff to get newer players wanting to be part of the community.

I think Glitches passing was before I signed up, but I'm sorry to hear of their passing.

Wow I lost track fast, sorry about that. Maybe pulling in new users could help, but it would involve patience and effort for all the remaining users, since everything feels so tight knit.

I believe she passed away in 2020? Or from what I gathering via the messages on her profile. But again, I stopped logging on around 2017 due to not running in to my ex which when share the same group of friends, is bound to happen and well, lets say, another reason was how my ex acted after the split. I can't say I witnessed the event, just heard about it via a mutual friend - they think the split was the reason and that I did the right thing with ending things. If I ran into her today, I would still be civil but I don't think we could go back to being friends and know most of my friend group outside of Trisph don't want anything to do with her.

Yes, on some sites, you have folks that get partnered up with newbies and help them get settled into the site, meet new folks, etc. It's not easy and at one time, we all were newbies once ourselves. Can't remember exactly how I met Nikko, etc, just happened we all clicked with each other and eventually more folks came into the group. Remember meeting Hero and bringing him into the friend group, probably wouldn't of happened if we didn't become friends first.

But yea, basically if any new members want to chat with me, I won't bite, etc. I'm not active as much on the forums but I do include other places to reach me offsite minus Gaia.. I am hoping they will be changing my username to an unactive one but so far, nothing back from Gaia Support, lol. But if folks want to reach me there, Cloighi.. it's the Gaelic of Chloe. Only thing I don't give out is my digits cause most folks are the USA and I'm the UK so texting or calling folks is off the table and to be honest, I'm not much of a phone talker unless I have known someone for years.

Sign of the times I guess. I miss Menewsha, but if I didn't do what I did and leave I'd never work on what I want to work on with my life.

Voltra did alright for a while, as new avatar sites normally start out doing. I'm sure their events are busy, but not much else.

They also banned a power user so the people that normally don't talk to each other, don't talk to each other even less now. Making the activity even lower.

Re.color for it's flaws have some of the most active forums I've posted on of late. At least in the general chat and rp sections anyway. In the others parts its like screaming into the void.

Wait Re.Color is still up? Huh. IDK Why I thought it was gone. Is Menewsha still up?

I never tried Voltra. But it sucks that people talk less and less now with the power user gone.

Also ah, it sounds like a lot has happened to you Chloe.

I'm not new but I'm not exactly old either, i think I joined, chatted a bit and then RL took me, but I'm also free to chat.

Menewsha's still up, but it's badly broken (can't use multipose items, can't make new acciunts, can't preview items in the shops, the games no longer work, etc) and it's been pretty much fully abandoned by the staff.

I go on Voltra but I mostly lurk. Though it appears the site is down right now. :0

Use to be on Menewsha years ago.. Roliana, Eryna.. probably half of my rl friends had no clue what an avatar site was, most of them weren't little nerds like me. I remember being a girl and into video games/internet wasn't a girl thing.

Then again, most forums sites didn't come popular till I was in my 20s. I did light rpging via Yahoo Groups but eventually folks went to other places so I ended up coming to avatar sites.

Haha, let's just say.. the relationship was an interesting one and leave it at that. I don't know if she still logs on here and don't want to start anything through it's been five years now so possible it's all water under the bridge. if she decides she wants to reach out to me, then yea. But I am sure she's like me, wants to keep the distance.

Probably most folks only spoke to the power user to get stuff. It happens on most games, you have one person everyone wants to befriend, lol. Personally the reason why I keep away from power users, if they want to chat and are decent, then cool. but most of them act if their better than most users.

no clue who the power user on that site was.

i currently work for this site and pantheon online, pantheon online is fine with me working for tris as long as i don't break the agreements on either site.

my bf also works here, he does art stuff too. den's also around with item design.

i have reportedly scared the everloving shit out of espy by doing the art stuff on a mobile phone.

*chuckles* I'm sure probably more than just doing art on a mobile would scare the shit out of her. If rpging back in the day with me and Natsu didn't scare anyone *pretty sure her character only interacted with my bat shit insane OC and not the ice queen/prefer nature ones* then can't see how doing art on a mobile can top that.

but yea, I remember years ago, folks said not to draw art via laptop mouse yet I booted up Gimp and put that laptop mouse to work. Now when I feel like drawing, if I don't want to set up a tablet, I just do the mouse/Gimp set up.

Never have worked for an avatar site, mainly cause I don't really pixel.. my last attempt at that was back during my digimon rpg days and boy, those OCs turned out scary.. and usually I try to save writing for rpg ideas.. through if an idea is needed for a setting/story for an event, then yea, feel free to pick my brain.. it's twisted enough from all the horror movies/stories I read/watch. But yea, can't see many of them not minding folks working for different sites, gotta earn living somehow.

about the only site i can't actually work for currently is voltra due to an exclusivity agreement instated by pantheon online. which i'm pretty much fine with, since i don't actually get paid in anything except RLC. last time it was bc they needed the money to keep the servers running and keep a backup portion of money just in case, so i outright said no to being paid.

also i'm p sure espy uses they/them? i haven't really checked with them for some time now bc i haven't seen them around very much.

It's not necessarily that she doesn't feel like doing it -- I believe Glitch supplied most, if not all, of the prizes. And yes, they/them.

oh, yeah, that makes sense.

i can theoretically supply prizes but the items are still going through revision / review atm.

at the very least, avatar contests would provide an incentive for users to change avatars from time to time, and for items that aren't commonly used to get some form of use.

Most companies are like that, when I worked as a Newbie Guide for Odins Quest, we got paid in currency which was fine with me.

Ah, sorry about that, Espy. I just always thought you were a female so she/her. It's confusing with most folks these days unless they say otherwise.

Then again, I tell folks use whatever - her/she, he/him, they/them. Not gonna hurt my feelings one bit. Maybe cause I honestly not even sure what my gender really is? lol, born female but was really raised liking male things which for the 80s/90s, a girl playing with trucks or liking Voltron or TMNT was probably considered weird by most parents but my folks didn't give two rat asses. If I wanted a fking hot wheels, they bought me the hot wheels, if I wanted a Barbie, I got a Barbie.

Mean being trans, etc was considered huge nos back then. I remember in 2000s, a really good friend came to me and said she was bi. I was like, cool, I'm totally fine with that. Doesn't make her any less of a person cause she likes both males/females, had another friend admit it as well after being a gifted a valentine duck on Habbo which was actually pretty cute till he started using all the ducks to scare our other friend and I had to remove all the ducks and throw his back at him. XD fun times..

Only problem for me, really, I gave almost all my items to my ex to get art so I kind of don't have a really huge invo anymore and I don't think she would give them back now, lol. And I don't really want to pester staff since pretty sure since I gave her the items of my own free will *she didn't log on and take them, etc*, there's probably nothing that can be done so really, I'm kind of stuck with this avatar unless lots of items get released which is another thing that probably will need addressed since lots of items are now on inactive accounts which means most older items will be high in demand.

aye, yeah. i think there was something about potentially recoloring some more recent event items (possibly from 2020, at the very least), though if the ones that are currently going through review do make it in for an event, they're always available to be used whenever.

think there's a backlog of items in review, pretty much just need to wait for it to get done. ik the person that's supposed to do the item review stuff isn't feeling great. i can't say much more than that due to privacy concerns. they've definitely posted abt it in a thread before, though -- i don't want any blame assigned to them and i do not speak in any official capacity considering i just do the art and none of the tech stuff or mod stuff, haha.

It's not about recoloring past items.

Eventually going to run into supply and demand where past items will be wanted by new users. Every website has it, I remember trying to track past items down and it being a nightmare.

Well, as said, don't need to rush to get items or an event up. Focus on getting the site up to scratch for starters. I don't mind aiding with new games, etc. I'm learning to build games via HTML, Python and Phaser. Actually trying to build a little game about a mouse trying to avoid cats while collecting cheese but yea, I don't mind volunteering in that department or story writing/ideas for an event.

Mind shall warn, as soon as my PVG comes through, I will be undergoing training for a new job so not sure what hours I will have. XD

Actually found more than I thought I had left in my invo. Might move some stuff to old Dawnie and give her a better outfit since I don't think I will be changing this avatar that much. Just small tweaks if I find something that looks better on it.

The contests surely motivated me to use items I don't normally use. xD

aye, yeah, but it means people can have something that's similar to a past item while still being a bit different. of course, this runs into the issue of potential elitism, though i've never seen that sort of behaviour on the site.

i got really lucky with getting some past items from the item exchange. there's not a lot of that stuff in there, unfortunately, which makes getting it hard, plus the amount of crane game items in there makes it difficult to get anything that isn't a crane game item.

once i get the entirety of the shop catalogue into my inventory via legit means (i mean by earning aurum and buying it), i'm definitely planning to chuck any expensive and spare shop items i can buy into it as a surprise. :P

if you want to apply for the coding team, i think you'd have to contact either toho or coda on that front, i'm pretty sure one of them handles applications for that. idk if you'll get accepted, but it'd be nice to get some more games up on the site tbh.

Both of us handle them together.

I use to donate back when I worked so got most of my items that way through, now I try to earn aurum to get it. Sometimes wish we had a small market feature.

And yea, I have tons of crane items but also seem to see spares of past event items.

Think was mentioned they weren't looking to hire anyone else at the moment and it would be only if needed. I have a 1st class degree and Masters in Computer Games Designing so yea, just would be nice to have some small projects on the side for my portfolio since actually going into full time caring, so will be getting qualifications in that as well since creating games can be very expensive - asset wise.

aye, yeah, figured you both would handle it together since the both of you do the code.

dappervolk's pretty much fallen right off the curve in terms of playerbase. i don't see many people on pantheon online at all, and voltra seems to be the only other active avi site other than gaia. i think everskies still exists, and is definitely still active, but i'm not touching that one with a ten-foot pole, and i'm not touching recolor.me either.

I know Zantarni.com is still somewhat active.

Other than that, think the rest of the sites I use to go on are gone. Oh, Subeta.org kind of has an avatar side to it. I really don't do much avatar wise there, my main focus is usually my hoard of pets..

reason why i haven't made an account on zantarni is bc of the lack of https. they're still doing stuff on there, as evidenced by premium item releases.

Oh dear.. would of thought Blaze would of changed that. *coughs, is it bad I'm fb friends with the owner of the site..*

but I haven't logged on there for years.

Probably glanced at Voltra ages ago but decided I wasn't joining anywhere else. It's daunting enough trying to find my way around Gaia after years of hiatus. Surprised I found my way around Neopets cause I have quite a bad memory at times but kid you not, I can go to like Irvine, Kilmarnock, Paisley or Glasgow and literally don't need to ask for directions, I'm off like a tracking beacon to where I need to go.

I'm shocked Menewsha's up at all at this point. Voltra was down when I checked as well but I think it's just temporary.

I haven't heard of pantheon before. Also i know plenty of artists who work from phones/tablets. Its not something I can do, I need a big workspace, but there are some talented artists who do it. my S/O is one of them lol.

I need a drawing tablet and a big screen i can look it, those screened tablets are a dream but they cost so much...

I used to draw with a mouse but now I can't lol.

shrugs. you might be able to bother her abt it, but i don't know her personally so it'd be weird for me to come up to her and be like 'i was thinking of getting an account here but there's no https'.

also voltra is up now.

Yes this is a big reason I kinda been MIA with it and a bunch of my regular people who entered it all vanished so I had few entries sometimes but I've been soo broke and can't buy runes for the prize between feeding my 4 turtles that eat like pigs supporting and old truck with parts and gas and now recently MY SPARE TIRE WAS STOLEN FROM THE BACK OF MY TRUCK and then my cellphone went out so I'm like dang I can't afford a SPARE or a new phone atm Idk what to do about my money situation but I hop on here to lurk and check on people sometimes but I can start up the contests again if we get enough interest...... also if we get events going again I'm down for helping with that too I was going to be a mod/events coordinator on Glitches avi site so I gladly take on helping here instead

lemme know if you need some extra cash, yeah? i have a bit to spare.

i need to hardcore farm aurum and any event items we get released, then. (pensive emoji) -- expect me to be more active on the site. and if you have any ideas for items and stuff you wanna see in events, lemme know in the item request thread that i've set up. i'd prefer not to use glitch's thread bc that was her thread, y'know?

i think you'll have to apply with either toho or gallagher for a mod position, last time i got around to checking. probably best to ask toho.

I'll try to be m ore active as well!

And I'll try not to lurk.

It was me. lol. I did a "bad thing" and gave them my opinion to often about how sloppy their item adders are. Also the color schemes of a lot of their items were just gross.

Then there were the pedo body pillows I mentioned in passing in a thread during an event. That's when I got banned. No warning or anything.

Who puts a kid on a body pillow? They do. Those things are kinda well known for weebs wacking it to the chars on them. A bad match.

I Also called some of their staff members snakes for abandoning Menewsha. There is a mod that posted an announcement Basically the last announcement ever posted on Mene (big paraphrasing here) "Mene is in dire straights, but this site looks like it'll be good." When in the TOS it says NO ADVERTISING. Also several users have Voltra under there avatars.

That ish would have got them banned back in the day. You were only meant to chat about other sites in the designated thread for it.

They pretty much took it over from the inside to cut competition.

Gosh what else did they say I did that prolly got me banned. They said the felt threatened by my spell work and thought journal... like really? I didn't even mention any names or specifics. And I needed to vent.

Horrible attitudes on them.

~

That's cool they let you work on both. I've been offered multiple positions like that, but I prefer to give my all to one.

I was a mod/pixelist on both Kinsaki and Menewsha (under Nephila with out the 8s)

Think everyone is feeling the pinch these days. I'm lucky if the funds I get are enough to last two weeks which is why happy to finally have full time work, just hoping can stay on benefits till the company pays me training, etc which is only two months after I start then I can say bye bye to the endless hours of having to apply for every shit job out there, 99 percent were jobs I didn't even want.

Well, I'm sure probably most of the mods have left besides Gal?

Right now, prizes don't have to be anything huge like runes, etc. Was kind of thinking of putting an art contest together, really want some new art of my one OC, kind of picture her similar to my avatar with the crazy Killer Jeff smile and a scythe dripping blood.. *coughs* just it never looks as I imagine when I try to sketch her, usually it's trying to find the perfect little smirk or the right hair style for references where Chloe, besides the style of clothing, her expression/hair is quite easy esp when updating her after five years, lol. Dunno why Noelle has to be difficult one to draw.

but till the site gets more active, probably doing simple contests would be better like avatars, etc. I still need to get the items in the shop for runes.. I don't have any of the 2018 items.

Where is the item request thread at? Chloe demands some frogs friends for her avatar, the giraffe is too cute and fluffy through... :} can we get an update with options of having a ripped up version of it?

*blink* ... I'm still here?

wasn't sure if you were a mod or an artist, etc.

then again, don't think have seen Gal active since I returned this time around. Usually catch her on at least once.

first time seeing the llama in the claw machine. have a few of the Giraffes and tons of the kitties cause every time I see one, I'm like.. must save the kitty...

gal uses they/them atm.

-- was that voltra or menewsha?