darkSpyro

"Back in my day-"

It is honestly sad to see how slow this site has become. I spent a lot of my middle school and high school years checking out the news, participating in Role Plays, polls, fanfictions, and just enjoying talking about this game series. I have good and bad memories ties to this site, but nothing extreme, just a cringy hero complex, trying to be right all the time, trying to be the main character in stories that weren't my own... But I made some good friends... Many have left my life, both for their own lives and for my own absences. My absence was triggered mostly by my lack of on the go access, moving from a Windows phone to a Samsung Galaxy device (for some reason, the Galaxy devices just could not connect to this site, and I cannot figure out why), on top of my slowly degrading mental health.

I remember pieces of all the stories I was a part of, some of the drama between users, and some of the genuine fun that could be had for a forum, non-live chat service. My high school actually blocked this site at one point, probably because they noticed the network traffic was directed at a non-educational platform, lol. Anyway: I've grown a lot because of my experiences here. Though I really don't have a way to show it.

I think I spent too much time in the Role Play section, though. I'm sure there were a lot of good Fanfictions being posted, really in-depth topics, both about Spyro games and not. Much like a lot of things I interact with, I only see as much as I look for, and I don't tend to look around a whole lot. I've missed out on so much with all the fandoms I consider myself a part of due to life and/or lack of funds. Regardless, I still look back on this site as a positive thing in my life, even if it got a lot of drama around the Skylanders days.

Anyone else been here for a while want to just talk about whatever you want? Being back on feels like I walked into a ghost town, a once bright and active community now feels like empty streets and boarded up businesses.

In a Legoshi internal monolog style.

Apparently my guest book was locked. Well it is unlocked now. I don't think I should clear it, I've got nothing to hide. Did a quick reread of the messages, had some good friends in there, and some people who thought they could do whatever they wanted, lol.

I've thought about this site almost every day, if not every other day. To sit down and read everything would take literal years. From dark52's guides, through news and updates, canceled games, fan projects, fanfictions, long term role plays, the plethora of off-topic subjects... This site really use to feel alive. I was here before Skylanders, and I was here when forum categories slowed to a single new topic every few weeks... then months... and now, things as far back as 2015 are still on the first page in most of the categories.

What was the downfall? Where did it all fall apart? I'm seeing names I remember as respected figures on this site have recent activity in as late as 2022. Was it the lack of new official Spyro content? Was it the loss of interest in the series? Did people just stop caring when nothing new was announced for years? I understand people grow up and move on, I cannot fault anyone for that, it's just life.

I still cannot help but look back and reflect on my interactions with the people here, both as a member and the short time that I was a mod/hunter. This site was a big part of my life, in 2010 to 2018... maybe earlier than that, like 2016... I don't know, it is all a blur... but there were good times. I know I alone won't be able to revitalize the site or get people to return... it is, however, hard to see it like this...

where there is hope for spyro 4, there is. hope for darkspyro

...

...i tell myself as i sob into my pillow

also the newest influx of guests to this site as of earlier this month is insane and they're probably all bots

Somehow I do not doubt that. The amount of false popularity people can build up by assigning mass levels of bots to do certain tasks, such as view or listen to uploads, is out of hand. I saw a post earlier that talked about an account on spotify that posted only AI generated content and then had thousands upon thousands of bots "listening" to their content to generate them a lot of money.

even if a new spyro gets released and everyone loves it the forum is probably never coming back because of OFCOM.

Forums are dead unless it's for leaks

I can understand that. Especially with the numerous other platforms things are discussed on. Still, it would be nice to see this place have a bit more life back in it. Wishful thinking, I know, but there is no harm in such thoughts.

All things must come to an end, eventually. I only hope the friends I made here are doing well, even if they do not see me as a friend, it does not make me desire less for them.

I joined in 2009 bc I'd always read and printed the walthroughs, and I genuinely think it was one of the most formative experiences of my life lol. I was 10 and there were quite a lot of us about the same age, which is kind of mad to think about now. It was the first time I'd been able to talk to a lot of people who shared my biggest interest, and I had my fair share of drama and being a dumb child but it toughened me up

I also got into art a lot (which didn't last bc I have no skil lol) and it generally tested my creativity being on here, coming up with ideas for our own Spyro games, doing fan art competitions and commissions (for free bc we were all so young lol), writing fan fics (that I never got past the first chapter ), role playing. I loved this site and often think about the people I was friends with on here who haven't been on in well over a decade.

I'll always love Spyro, I spend a lot of time in the speedrun community these days. He's not always the forefront of my mind but the games have been by far my longest running interest and hobby, and I wouldn't be anywhere without Spyro. Even if I've not played it much recently.

It's a shame forums and other dedicated sites aren't really in use as much now. Social media might be more convenient but this was much better for community imo and I wish in some ways we could go back 10-15 years and leave the internet as it was then. It's sad seeing so few people online now when it was a staple part of my day back then and we all spent so much time here. Grateful to Dark52 for making it in the first place and keeping it up tho.

I don't think everything internet related would be better regressed to a set era, as technology can only move forward, it's how humans got to making computers in the first place, but I understand the intent. Capturing an era of the internet and making it remain relevant and wanted beyond its years. Probably not an accurate depiction of what you meant, though. Either way: Again, most of my memories with this site is the role play section. I didn't get into art until MLP:FIM blew up in 2012-2013. Despite my username, I have only drawn Spyro like twice in art class, oof. I have drawn my own characters, though, such as Lucien (the avatar is Lucien, but that piece was not my work, it was a gift from a former friend), Elyria, Alexander, Salem, and Ballistic.

While I am not expecting a crowd, I am writing to an old fanfiction here. I am also not expecting to really post it anywhere else, so yeah it is pretty much a DarkSpyro exclusive story. I'll admit, the beginning is kinda rough, it was started in 2015, I was not as competent a writer as I am now. Not to say I am any genius or novel level author, just that I have greatly improved over the years. If anyone wanted to ask me about that or simply give me some feedback, that'd be most welcomed.

Honestly a lot of Discord servers I've been in, or still am in, are just as much a ghost town if not more so. I had wanted to start an RP server with friends from here a while back, back when I had less access to the site on the go (which is when I did most of my site browsing/RP writing), but the ones who did join ended up kind of complaining that DS was still a viable platform to RP on, despite my issues with connectivity (I actually brought this issue up with my instructor the other day. He actually sat down with me to try and figure something out... We couldn't find anything solid, it is just something with how Samsung Galaxy series devices used cellular connections, and there was no fix, because even my Galaxy Tab had the same error prompt any time I tried to get on here. It wasn't just the browser itself, I tried Chrome as well, and it would load just fine if I was connected to wifi. I tried to bring this problem up in the past, but no one seemed to care.) So the server was quickly closed because no one would post or respond to RP ideas. I have since lost all contact with those people... the ones I considered friends for years, just dropped out of my life.