Articles & Editorials: A Tenacious Community

Ever since media has developed into multiple forms of communication, being that of instant messengers, websites, television, games, and more recently, social networking, we’ve all seen how people continue to develop their way of speaking to each other and expressing themselves. Falling under these different online communities is the world of the gamer. And with that, every gamer almost always falls under a community of their own.

After leaving the Command & Conquer community for a few years, I returned to see that, despite lower member counts, there is still a very large number of dedicated gamers who support the game I’ve grown to know and love for many years of my own life. There are still multiple active mod teams for every C&C game. There are still new websites being created to support new aspects of the game. There are still patches being developed for even the oldest C&C games. There are comics. There are videos. My personal stop motions… Endless content for a game with an unknown future.

Even those who are angry with the new direction of C&C are still dedicated fans. I’ve seen those love every game, to those who merely dislike only Tiberium Twilight, all the way to people who dislike every game developed under EA’s command. But you know why that isn’t a problem? Look at EA’s facebook page. Look at their forums. There’s still people actively voicing even their negative opinions about games released YEARS ago. That just tells me that there’s people so interested in the C&C saga, that even if they’re bitter and have negative feelings, they still, deep down inside, want to see it grow and develop into something more and more great as time goes on.

Despite some of the huge C&C sites dissappearing, and a number of smaller ones coming and going, the C&C gamer is still a tenacious one. Games have lost official update support and playing multiplayer has taken a completely different approach that essentially REQUIRES looking up a new process online, and yet, the games are still being played, people are still making comments on forums and EA’s own facebook page, and people are still asking when the next game is going to come out. I’ve even seen suggestions for new universes on EA’s official C&C forums. And though I’m not much for watching other people’s gameplay, it interests me to see new replay videos being posted on a regular basis for almost every C&C game that is out there, even Tiberium Twilight (though it may be less often).

So if you’re reading this, it probably means you’re a C&C fan. This is for you. Whether you like or hate C&C, or you like or hate EA, you’re still around, and you’re still a part of the journey of the development of a game that has been in play since the dawn of RTS. You’re a part of a dedicated bunch of gamers who (hopefully) love and cherish at least the idea of a future in C&C. I hope to see you around the community for a long time to come, and I hope to enjoy the games along with you in the future.

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