http://insomnia.ac/commentary/death_comes_to_us_all/
I want this thread to be about cool independent (i.e. non-profit) gaming websites that are dead, dying, or that have recently wisen from the gwave. In the couple of weeks since I wrote this little article, two of the sites I mentioned have been showing signs of life, which could very well not be a coincidence, seeing as they had previously been dead for a couple of years. Marco is apparently in the process of setting up a fresh installation of WordPress (is all the old stuff going to be wiped? -- not that there was much mind you, but still, I was fond of what there was):
http://www.dontpressstart.com/
and jiji has made a couple of updates to his linklog (see upper right corner of the frontpage):
http://www.namakoteam.com/
Meanwhile, as noted in the Postback thread, Recap seems to be in the process of installing a (lol, Japanese) version of WordPress:
http://postback.geedorah.com/
His forums seem to be gone, which, if true, would really be a crime against (videogame) humanity!
Meanwhile, IC is still dead, save for that one recent news snippet which I passed on to them (and which Recap passed on to me, neither of us receiving a link back for our effort, but what the hell -- it won't be the first nor the last tactless affront that we've had to put up with from the IC crowd).
I think it is a good idea to make a little bit of noise about these sites that we like and enjoy visiting. People often don't understand this, especially those who've never created anything in their lives; but a few encouraging words from a stranger can go a long way towards sustaining one's -- often ultimately futile -- creative efforts. Let the artists say what they will: deep down, the real reason any of us do anything that is not directly related to survival or domination is to share it with like-minded people (and ultimately dominate them, lol, but that's another story). The modest displays of gratitude and respect with which one's audience repays one for the effort one has put into something, is the real reward for him who does anything not out of "want, hunger, or else some form of greed", as Schopenhauer put it, but out of love for the subject.