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Site History

Spore was announced on March 11th 2005 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco by Will Wright, creator of The Sims series and SimCity. Word of the new game spread throughout the gaming industry and gathered an enormous number of fans due to the demonstration presented by Wright at the GDC which showed off Spore in what was believed to be at the time, a near finished form. About two and a half weeks later, Planet Spore was created on March 28th 2005, on the same day as SnootySpore, our site's closest affiliate. In the following months Spore fansites began to pop up all over the Internet and the game's hype began. Spore was officially put on the map at E3 2006 where it gathered no less than three awards: Best Original Game, Best Simulation Game and Best PC Game, despite having no confirmed release date at the time.

Over the years Planet Spore underwent many changes, re-designs, struggles and unfortunate moments of emptiness. Spore news began to slow down and became less frequent, bar the odd article on major gaming sites such as GameSpot. As the game's release date was pushed back further and further whilst the EA and Maxis team worked frantically on perfecting it, many Spore sites began to shut down and Webmasters became less enthusiastic about the game. It's hype died down especially throughout the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007. At the end of 2007 the tentative release date of "Q1 2008" was still the official word and the gaming community began to hope that this time we would finally see the game hit store shelves. Whilst Planet Spore had a good few months with the same news article at the top of the main page day after day, I personally never gave up on the game in the hope that the wait would be worth it.

Planet Spore's main strength has changed a great many times over the years. At first we were the number one source for Spore news and multimedia and the site does, at the time of writing, contain no less than 387 Spore screenshots as well as almost a dozen videos. As personal commitments and something many site visitors believe Webmasters not to be a part of, "real life", began to get hectic, I was forced to focus less on the site and more on other matters. Despite this I still made time for the site and updated it as often as possible. When education became the main factor, Planet Spore had no choice but to rely on its community to support it and keep it as a top ranking Spore fansite. Currently, the site's main strength would be its small, but active and friendly community. In my personal opinion the site's community is probably the most welcoming and supportive out of most of the Spore fansites out there.

As a result of the, admittedly unforeseen, change of the site's focus, Planet Spore's main aim has now changed from what it was at the start. We do not strive to be an enormous database of fans where forums are populated constantly by floods of guests or members, new topics and polls appearing every hour and thousands of hits per day. Rather it is a place where any Spore fan, old or new, can come, be welcomed into part of a homely and comforting community, enjoy and relax in discussions of the game, and share theories, hopes and ideas. At the same time they can browse multimedia of the game, including screenshots, videos and articles. The site also updates with Spore news fairly often provided any new news is considered "important" (a term I use loosely) enough to be posted.

Currently my vision for the future of Planet Spore would be to see its active and friendly community grow, provided it does not lose its calm atmosphere. I also hope that its multimedia bank can be updated with some more recent items to show off the game in its current form. And of course, as Spore's final release date approaches, I believe the site will be updated with news more frequently. Once Spore is released the site will contain downloads of members' creations and I hope to build and launch an entire separate area of the site focused entirely on the community, work on which has already begun.

I would now also like to take the time to thank a number of people and groups of people who have helped Planet Spore reach where it is now. Firstly, to EA, Maxis and Will Wright himself for imagining and developing a game which I believe will change the field of gaming for many years to come.
Secondly, I'd like to thank my friends who have stuck with me throughout the site's development helping me in many different ways, whether it's testing the site, giving opinions on re-designs or simply sitting up till four in the morning to keep me company whilst I fix the forums (something long-time Planet Spore members will know has happened more than once).
I have been lucky in that both of the schools I have been to in the past three years have been supportive of the site and realised that it has a personal advantage for me in that it will definitely help me in University applications. One of the re-designs was submitted as my final piece for my GCSE Art Graphics course. As well as this, Planet Spore's 2008 re-design has been entirely documented in a portfolio which I will be using as a tool to help me get offers from University and ultimately fulfil my desire to study Computer Games Programming. For this, I'd like to thank all of the staff at both of my schools who helped me get the site to where it is now.
Next I'd like to thank all the visitors to the site who check the news, view the screenshots and videos and read the articles. All of you have helped me keep my motivation simply by continuing to make the hit counter at the top of the page increase day by day.
Lastly, the most important thank you goes out to the forum members. Some have been here for years, others for only a few weeks. However, all of you have kept the site's reputation of a welcoming and friendly community and in turn allowed Planet Spore to reach its true aim. A special separate mention is to the moderators of the forum who have over the years done a terrific job of maintaining the forums when I am not able to. I greatly appreciate all the help and effort you put into your job and I owe you all so much.

And also, I thank you yourself. Firstly for taking the time to read this entire site history and secondly for visiting the site itself. If you're a first time visitor, I urge you to take a look around and browse the forum. If it seems like your type of site, then do register and join what is probably the most fun discussion of Spore you'll find. The site's been up for three years and it's here to stay for a great deal more.

Sash
Webmaster of Planet Spore

Written on 14th January 2008 (between 00:30 and 01:45 in the morning mind you...)