 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
| Pojo's Yu-Gi-Oh! news, tips, strategies and more! | |||||
|
|
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
|
Card Game Featured Writers Releases + Spoilers Anime Video Games Other
Magic
This Space |
 |
Baneful's Column
The year is 2014. And there's
not a better time to thank Mr. Pojo himself for not only
starting this place up but continuing to maintain it over
the years, regardless of whatever happens. Pojo's YGO
section was launched in 2002 and I've been reading it since
2004. It's been 12 years since it was launched and 10 years
since I first visited it. For better or worse, it feels like
an entirely different place than it was years ago. Yet,
while many other websites were rapidly changing, Pojo
preserved its sameness. There's certainly a legacy to be
had, but what kind of legacy exactly?
Us as Writers
What kind of legacy? Questions
like this matter. This is what I want to pursue with my
column and shortly after I started it up, I realized that
simply posting deck lists and commenting on prevailing
contemporary metagame strategies was just not what I wanted
to do. I wanted to give deeper, grander and more timeless
commentary on the game. If someone will be reading this
column in 2016 or even 2020, they might be unable to relate
to or care about what particular cards were popular right
now.
If I came here months before, I
would've wrote about the Elemental Dragon monsters and how
absurdly overpowered they were. And now, with many of their
key cards banned or limited, that article would've lacked
relevance. Instead it would be more interesting to comment
on the overall nature of powerful decks. Perhaps comparisons
between Elemental Dragon and Chaos Goat Control era or the
Dark Armed Dragon era could be made, for example.
Although the Pojo message
boards have been really active, the main website itself has
declined in activity. The Card of the Day staff is
consistent as always, and I'm thankful for that, but many of
the staff writers are gone. Deathjester, Pook, Jaelove, and
Ryoga among many others I used to read on a weekly basis
have stopped writing (or at least for now). 2004 to 2007 was
the golden era, but in recent years there has been less
staff writing in Pojo than ever. And much of the staff
writing over the past few years that did go on were attempts
to promote blogs or Youtube channels, and I can't help but
feel that we're (as Pojo) capable of being much more than
just that.
To be painfully honest (the
only way I know how to be), being a writer for Pojo doesn't
feel the same as it might have been had I applied for it 5
or 6 years ago. There is a massive empty void to be felt.
Surely, that includes the old writers who have left. Being a
writer on Pojo just doesn't carry the same weight it did
years ago. Had I been a capable writer in 2006, I have
little doubt in my mind that I would have a moderate degree
of Yu-Gi-Oh! fame. I would have had a dozen people at a
booster set Sneak Peek as if I was the guy on Pojo and if
they could have a duel with me. But with the role of a Pojo
writer shrunk, it also gives the few of us that are left a
lot of room and freedom to fill that void.
A Wonderful Relic
Evident in Pojo's web design,
it was cutting-edge for 2002 and now it feels dated. It's
consists mostly of images, links and text – no flash, java
or anything modern. In the Yu-Gi-Oh section, there's spoiler
lists of older sets that haven't been updated much at all
and there's even an old poll from years 8+ years back asking
users their favorite YGO video game. And I wouldn't have it
any other way! Many of these blogs and social network
websites reek of a sterile clean minimalist vibe that works
well in context of what they're trying to do, but just isn't
the same as what we have going on here.
Pojo is essentially a relic, in
a good sense. It's a wonderful nerd-museum that continues to
update the content, but keeps it's style the same. As the
internet evolves, people may think that whatever is popular
for the time has been the way it always was, though the look
of Twitter and Facebook may become dated too, let's say when
more computers have powerful processors to handle more data
intensive layouts. It's important to have websites like Pojo
to preserve the past. But also, it still remains here to
make just a little bit more history. Like the Great Wall of
China, it can be a historic monument that can be fortified
further.
Maybe the average joe will
think "hey, this guy is taking this whole Pojo legacy thing
a bit too seriously". Maybe so. But, I'm sure some people on
here share my nerdy passion toward a website that
accompanied a chapters of our lives. All I know is that I've
been knee-deep in my nerdy passion toward YGO for many
years. It would be insane to stop now.
Pojo 2014
So, I'm trying to start a Pojo
2014 movement to try and get the website more activity to
help get it up back to what it was. Or to keep up with the
trend of the new social networking era, we can call it
#Pojo2014 whether it gets tweets on Twitter or not. I've
been contacting some of the older writers, and maybe I'll
inspire some people to come back or new writers to ask for
their own featured section.
Whether this movement succeeds
or not, it's at least worth trying. Whether it attracts a
lot of new users or it just keeps it's old fan base, Pojo is
still an important website. Whether it gets a lot of
activity again or it's a small little close-knit community,
Pojo is still an important website. Things will play out the
way they're meant to.
So, whatever the result, here's
to a strong #Pojo2014
Contact:
banefulscolumn@gmail.com
Contact:
banefulscolumn@gmail.com
|
|||
|
Copyright© 1998-2012 pojo.com This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site. |
|||||
