eXplorminate is shutting down

[Huw the Poo]

Sucks to see such apathy in this thread. eXplorminate in its prime was bloody good at what it did, and they had a number of decent, exclusive interviews with game designers too. This is a loss to the gaming journalism landscape.

[bbmike]

It started off being pretty good but things went off the rails. I prefer to get my 4x information from Martok now. 

[ojsdad]

Make it the official 4x wing of ACD. 

[thecommandtent]

I prefer to get my 4x information from Martok now. 

This 

[Martok]

Thanks, guys.  I try my best.   


It's just that a very significant percentage -- if not an outright majority -- of that 4x news you guys enjoy getting from me, I myself extract from Explorminate in some form or another.  Whether it's their forums, Discord channel, Reddit sub, podcasts, articles, etc., they've ultimately served as the source for a *lot* my info over the last several years. 

If Rob were to end up shutting down the site, and/or selling it to someone else, it's hard to predict how that would effect ease of access to news & information regarding 4x games.  It would almost certainly become at least somewhat more difficult, although to what degree is more than I'd care to guess. 



Personally, I mourn this development, even if I did see it coming -- and I can't blame him for finally throwing in the towel (assuming he really does so this time).  Some may not care about the site's decline/demise, but the truth is, the genre would be a poorer place without it. 

I'll be the first to admit that Rob hasn't always been my favorite person, but I've always had a great deal of respect for him.  I've genuinely admired everything he's managed to accomplish with Explorminate, even if it didn't necessarily match some of the dreams & ambitions he had for it. 

Whatever you might say about the guy, he's always had a level of energy, motivation, and overall enthusiasm for 4x games that few others could surpass.  His presence -- and stewardship of the community he worked so long and so hard to help build -- will be missed, whether we fully realize it or not. 

[Martok]

Well for whatever it's worth, it appears the site will continue on after all... 




The results of a recent poll (which you can still participate in) show that apparently a lot of folks still rate the main website itself as the most important aspect of Explorminate's operations.  Towards that end, Rob started a modest GoFundMe campaign for paying authors, upgrading site infrastructure & hardware, etc.  As of yesterday (Friday), the campaign hit its initial goal. 


While I realize this is in large measure good news, I find myself oddly indifferent to it.  While I appreciate the various articles that occasionally still get published, I long ago stopped checking out the main site for reviews, interviews, etc.  I barely listen to the podcasts (I'm just not much of a podcast person), and only on occasion do I check out their various YouTube videos.  I'm glad Rob & co. will be able to continue their work in those areas, but I've not paid much attention to them for a long time now. 

My main focus these days are the Steam forum group, plus the Discord channel -- and I use the latter mostly for news, rather than conversation/discussion (although it can be good for that as well).  I find it at least a little surprising that they're apparently the two parts of Explorminate the community deemed least important to them, but so long as they remain ongoing concerns, I am content. 

[Martok]

Sounds like the site is getting revamped & reorganized: 


https://explorminate.co/a-new-beginning/




It'll be interesting to see where things go from here.  Personally, I feel like this is only prolonging the inevitable, as I suspect that long-term, Rob is still going to run into burnout issues (even if he does get help with the writing). 

Better to let the main site simply fade/die, so long as the Steam and Discord groups remain active.  The former requires regular upkeep and contributions (articles, podcasts, etc.) for it to be a worthwhile endeavor; the latter two cost nothing to maintain, and only requires people participating in discussions as they always have. 

Who knows, though?  Maybe I'll be proven wrong, and the site will end up being an ongoing concern for years still, despite my predictions.  I won't be sad if that ends up being the case.