Article 13, Microtransactions, A Fangame Graveyard and the End of an Era.
For the longest time the internet has been a wild west in which many have claimed it could not be tamed. The ferocious nature's was less a warning and more a case of wishful thinking. Nothing, no matter how great or how strong, will remain the same or last forever. The internet is great big connection between millions of computers, servers and smart devices, but that's not what most of us mean when we describe the internet. We mean something a bit deeper than what is surface level.
Every new medium begins without any major rules or overly cautious limitations. The internet was the former, a platform with a lack of understanding of it's capabilities by mostly everyone. Web forums gave people new opportunities to discuss their favourite games, and eventually these discussions lead to various romhacks and fan games. Many of those fan gamesads their way to websites like newgrounds which hosted flash games and animation. Flash animations on websites like the aformentioned newgrounds brought cartoons a new freedom that was unheard of prior to the internet. Various people took the online animation idea to it's natural end with YouTube. Various other websites like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr all popped up with their own unique hat to throw into the ring. Eventually these sites fell into major success, some being bought out by big companies others becoming their own giant company.
Companies, they run everything. There's no two ways about it, and every company either reacts to each other or interacts with each other. When the climate was calm, no one really thought much of the internet. To the outside world that hadn't dug that deep, the internet at it's best was cat videos and mild memes, and at it's worst it was research. No company could have predicted the internet would one day play a giant role in any real world event.
The 2016 US Election and Brexit were two major elections that happened within months of each other. These elections both had something in common, the internet was a major tool for swaying voters and assisting in communication of knowledge. For once I'm several years, TV companies weren't holding a major hand in swaying voters. In an attempt to regain control, many TV personalities jumped ship to online platforms and some companies even made deals with websites like YouTube to promote their content. In the process, many things were lost in translation.
What would have been small YouTube dramas before the election became hit pieces for TV companies that were betting on the internet being a fad in the post election internet. Any opportunity to slow down or control the internet was siezed, and in the process a lot of what made the internet great was lost. YouTube has become afraid to promote content that has swear words, any remotely controversial topic or anything that isn't generally okay for the average 2 year old. Twitter made it nearly impossible to post without providing any real world verification. Facebook blatently and arbitrarily censors politicla content they consider to be "fake news". Tumblr banned research from their website, despite the website basically being known for this. Companies like Nintendo and Activision have shot down fangames and romhacks in the chaos, because any content that would usually fire up an angry mob about this immoral behavior has been silenced. To top it off, a law passed by an over seasulti national union will dictate what can and can't see seen on the internet, and it will most likely be implemented by websites world wide in an attempt to remain relevant. The era of a free and open internet is over.
With every sunrise comes a sunset, and this is no different. It won't last forever either, every sunset also leads to a sunrise. The internet we knew will likely never be the same again, and there is nothing that can be done to change that. If any of these websites die a larger corporation will just buy them out and polish them up to TV or News Article Standards. But maybe one day another platform will replace the internet, as the internet is replacing TV and various forms of communication. Until then, I'd like to thank the internet for what it was while it lasted, it was fun.
