Halo Creativity and Halo 5 - An Unknown Reaction

[RogerDodger]

So I was browsing around the various Halo-related forums and figured I'd stop by Forgehub (it seems like the whole "HaloEvolved" concept is ditched). This is the thread that catalyzed this discussion. Here are some important excepts of the discussion:

"The Halo franchise is in the gutter and whether or not it will recover remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: this site cannot be dependent on just one game." -- oVI

"Your previous Audience was Halo forgers. That got small. Naturally, we try to stick with what we know, but will extending our reach like Xforgery did help? Maybe the need to is extend not games, but subject. Maybe not only in-game console editors should be represented at Forgehub." -- xAudienceofone

"I gather that the ultimate question is... to invest in Halo, or to invest in creative content. I vote to invest in creative content. CC has always been on the fringe, but Halo 4 is a really, really bad game. FH has thrived in the fringe, and creativity from the users isn't going away. God only knows where Halo is going." -- Indie Anthias

"I strongly recommend to never fully give up on Halo. I'm sure Halo 5 will be a better game than its precessor, and I'm sure that with a better game comes better forge, and that more forgers will enter the field as well, resulting - hopefully - in more activity on forums focussed on forging too, such as ForgeHub." -- REMkings

Some of you may be thinking, "Why should I care about Forgehub?". Reading the above posts, I think the context of Forgehub's predicament is a mirror of the entire Halo community with regard to the looming uncertainty of our future. Creativity and innovation have the utmost importance in our culture - without them, we have little reason to return time and time again. Although there is a spectrum of various opinions on the matter, I think that we can synthesize them into several positions:

• It is 343i's duty to restore Halo, and their actions dictate the outcome. Either Halo 5 will revitalize the creative community, or it will fail like its predecessor. If they want a stellar game, they can make it (or maybe they have proven they can't). Those who are in accord with this perspective have been encouraged to present 343i with their grievances, in hopes that they will be rectified come H5. However, it's really a waiting game until it's released.
• Halo is a fish in the ocean when it comes to games -- therefore, the conflict is external. In its inception, Halo didn't have to compete with titles like CoD, BF, FarCry, the list goes on. Its Forge mode was also unique for consoles, but the integration of creative modes into other games and raised awareness to PC's long-standing creative features, have dulled Halo's edge in this aspect. Will Halo be the "shark" that takes a bite out of its competitors, or will it be eaten up?
• The conflict in Halo is internal, and that's why it appears that we are fragmented at times. "United we stand - divided we fall". Is the civil war disrupting our creativity? It may very well be that if we were united in a common perspective for the game, our civilization could have flourished rather than been stunted by divide.
• Creativity transcends games, but the sphere of gaming is pointing towards an under-appreciation for community-based development. As noble of a cause as it is, people create in hopes that their content be used and recognized. Some innovate for level design, others like to create visual art, or maybe they'd like to tell a story. They have few ties to the loyalty behind a game, and simply look for the best medium. If Halo wants to cater to this population, they need to treat them as a unit of their own. It would likely be in their best interest to do so.

These interrelate a good deal, but people weigh each subject differently.
What do you think?

 

[mrgreenwithagun]

It is my view that h4 forging is dead and that any community still meeting at a web site should not try to grow in size but grow instead as friends. This would in turn prepare for an expansion of forging population with h5. I shared this with them but the new management has other ideas obviously. I am not certain what his motivations are but I tried to point out a healthy community starts as friends and then grows. That is how fh started. I think hc is reflecting my approach more than not and should just wait for h5 as it is doing now. I think the approach of expanding to other games only works when the vast majority of the friends are into it so that the core or driving glue that holds the community together doesn't fracture.

 

[RogerDodger]

I think the approach of expanding to other games only works when the vast majority of the friends are into it so that the core or driving glue that holds the community together doesn't fracture.

I share in your perspective here. FH and its administrators are vastly different from the ones we have here, and I think ours are much more intent on maintaining the sovereignty of Halo. Our website can't just change on a whim to accommodate other games, and it will likely never do that.

However, I think H4's forging community isn't dead. It's sure as heck weak, but the dedicated content creators can use this opportunity to polish their skills and continue to create fantastic maps. As they say, nothing is every made in vain from an artistic perspective - we can learn from everything.

 

[Insane54]

Here's the thing: not everyone can be IGN. When you hit a site, it's typically either a "niche group" or a "general everything" site -- in HaloCustoms' case, we're a niche forum. I see a lot of communities stretching their fanbase extremely widely, thinking that they're "hitting a new market". The truth about it is that as you stretch your focus, your community gets more and more divided, no matter how you frame it. If you have a big enough fanbase to handle that, that's great. HaloCustoms is one of the biggest Halo sites out there and I don't think we can handle more than the niche that we've already given ourselves. Becoming "generally Halo" (or even worse, "generally creative stuff") means that you split up a group of people that are probably mostly here because they've made friends, and unless you really believe that you can maintain those connections, it'll destroy your community.

I strongly believe that our biggest asset is the community that makes us what we are. When you guys make friends with each other and that gives you a reason to forge or a reason to continue playing Halo, that's why HaloCustoms was made. The point isn't to "grab as many people as possible", it's to collect the right people and bring them into a melting pot of explosions and fun. So, keep on HaloCustoms-ing, community, even if you're not into Halo 4 as much as you were before. A game is just a game -- the fact that we play Halo isn't what makes this a great community. It's the people you meet that will affect your life and be something you'll remember. Since we've all come here over the Halo common interest, that's where our 'interface' to connect like-minded individuals lies. If we were to move away from that, we would be breaking those friendships and those connections, breaking things that matter a whole lot more than "CoD vs. Halo".

 

[mrgreenwithagun]

Correct about friends ...

For a site to diverge and succeed the divergent disciplines must be driven by common passion to establish roots. That is difficult since most can be passionate about only one game. They may enjoy many games nut what do they sink their time into?

If the site diverges from the original passion like reaching perfection did then the base loses interest and looks for a more focused community.

I hate to say it but watching the way FH has tried to evolve itself it resembles a solution looking for a problem.

 

[Insane54]

Agreed. I actually really like the guys at ForgeHub and everything, I just think their direction is... misguided, for lack of a better word. Anyway, the point of the thread wasn't to talk about what ForgeHub is doing wrong.

Halo 4 is a AAA game. It continues to hold high online numbers compared to most other games, and like all games (yes, even previous Halo titles, believe it or not), it has a hype, some community sticks around for a while and slowly dies out until the next one. Halo's community is no more fragmented than it was in the Halo 2, Halo 3, or Reach days, so I don't think that's a concern. In addition, Halo 4 sold just a tick under the record selling title, Halo 3, making it a very good seller as well. I highly doubt Halo 5 will sell badly, so I wouldn't worry that "Halo's going to be discontinued". The concern in my eyes is that the game's online activity has decreased more than most previous titles. That is, while Halo 3's activity dipped really low once say CoD came out, I don't recall it ever being quite as low as Halo 4's current activity is. Will the activity come back for the next game? Of course it will. But why did it go down so low (again remember this is comparatively to other titles)? I don't think this is a matter of custom options, I think it's that people want constant numerical upgrades, coupled with a game that makes you think "I should have won that fight" every time. Also, something Halo 4 seems to be missing is the "glory moment" that makes people play CoD games over and over and over. I think 343 Industries has all the right pieces in place, and they definitely have the right talent on their team, but a lot depends on how far they go. If they're able to rewrite the engine and they're able to give us a game that again puts the adrenaline back into the game, we could have the best game in the series coming up. If not, I doubt it'll be much better than the last.

TLDR: I don't think the issue with Halo 4's activity is Forge or Customs, it's a lack of player involvement in the game experience itself.

 

[Juanez Sanchez]

IMO Halo is an old game franchise and all franchises popularity wanes as time goes by. The gaming public has seen everything from the Halo series by now. Bungies additions of aa's and 343's ordnance drops were merely an attempt to catch up to gameplay features seen in other franchises that were becoming more popular than halo.
Also IMO, Halo 4 is a good game. I love playing customs and forging with my friends, to the extent that i dont spend time on any other game.

There is a certain hardcore type of fanbase attracted to websites like this one that bemoan every aspect of Halo4, denouncing it as the deathblow to the franchise.
IMO once again, its just cos its an old franchise. You can stick new characters in tv shows and they still get cancelled. You can produce sequels to blockbuster films and they still cancel them. People will always get sick of a franchise whatever genre it is- the Halo franchise's pinnacle was Halo3, even though IMO Halo4 functions more fluidly sometimes. I will play whatever halo game is released next, and be sure to enjoy it for the customs and forging above all else.

 

[Sgt x Slaphead]

The population is tiny. I play with people in matchmaking that I met in a custom game the other day. What we have is a cosy little community. Because so many have given up with Halo it means the people left are the ones that really care and that is why the relatively small community we have on Halocustoms is a great one. On this site it is easy to get involved with some great custom games, share your maps, have some fantastic discussion in the forums or talk crap in the shoutbox. This site is truly special.

Like many people I enjoyed Halo but most people I knew quickly lost interest. I still saw potential in custom games. I had a passion for designing maps but there was no motivation in a game that felt dead. Then I was introduced to Halocustoms. This site brings together the otherwise separated people who still cared about Halo. Discussion. Maps. Customs. These are the things Halocustoms really focuses in on with no need to expand beyond that because it already does such a good job of keeping us together. These elements and social experiences combined allow us to improve our lobbies and map designs. So many great experiences happened because of Halocustoms and it is the contributions from the community that keep it all alive. Many of us are Forgers and we continue to inspire each other and really raise the bar for the future. I cant wait to see what designs we came up with by the release of Halo 5 and beyond. With good maps come great customs. Custom games get better, maps improve, people make new friends and that is something this community should be proud of.

The community may be small but it sure as hell isn't dead!

What we should do is focus on maintaining those great social experiences and continue to explore hidden potentials within Halo. By the time the next big title comes out and those numbers rise. It will be the existing communities like Halocustoms that will really stand out as dedicated and true members of the Halo community. For the forgers out there we will also have some epic map designs already down in the launch phase of the next game which is always a good thing.

 

[ShockBolt21]

I still refuse to believe that the community members, thinking with a logical mindset, consciously decided, with evidence, that Halo 4 is inferior to its predecessors. I simply do not see how that is possible. Therefore I believe that the conflict is external, and the community lost members to newer games such as Battlefield 3, Far Cry, etc. that were more advanced than Halo. In the past, Call of Duty was the only game large enough to really compete with the Halo series. However, there are many more options now than there were back in the day. Additionally, the gaming industry in general seems to be advancing faster than the Halo series, and it has simply fallen behind.

From what I heard, 343 seems to be trying to close the gap between Halo and the rest of the games in terms of technology and quality- it's trying modernize the Halo series. The community in general seems to neglect this possibility, and instead wants to see Halo 5 as just a beefed up, improved, and polished version of Halo 4 or Halo 3. There are multiple flaws with the community's approach- Halo would still be behind other modern and future games, and because of this it would not draw players from other communities or other games, keeping the Halo population minimal. Also, the game would feel too similar to past Halo games, making it unable to hold players' interests for much longer. This is why I have faith in 343 to get Halo 5 right- they will improve and revolutionize the Halo series, acting upon possibilities that the community did not recognize. I hope 343 continues on this approach, and I hope that they do not listen to the community, as their vision of Halo's future is extremely flawed.