VGNZWTFOMG!!!!!!! The VGNZ Infringement.

We all remember (or do we?) a big little site by the name of VideoGames New Zealand. It featured regular News, Articles, Reviews, and even had the odd competition. Not to mention the full featured forums with a decent amount of articulate gaming members. When I came across the site in 2002 I was hooked For here seemed to be a haven of Kiwi individuals who just so happened to like gaming.

Cool.

So cool in fact the when I posted in the Forums: ‘There are no bloody SEGA articles in the Retro section’ that one of the moderators offered me to posts some Sega goodness on the site.

So I posted a few (read FEW) reviews and the like. But wasn’t really into it, I could put the blame on two things…. A 9800 PRO and Far Cry. But I was still Reading and posting on the forums and Reading the more than half decent articles.

Still cool.

Not so cool is that VGNZ over the last year has not seen much attention. Blame that on one thing: HAXORZZZ!!!!111!!!

Not so cool.

Around or before this time I decided to just stray away from contributing. Mainly because I wanted to work on my own projects.

So with the forums down. And me doing my own thing. I hardly came back. Just popped back in now and then and see what’s up. Which, I have to say has not been much since the forums had been down for quite a while.

Until… One day (a few weeks back if I recall) I heard that the forum was back to normal and things were on track for the resurrection of my interest in the site. I had been out of action for a while. Why not log back on a see what’s going on?
So I do and see that things are a bit slow, which is to be expected when the forums were out for as long as it was. I poke around and then decide to post something relating to what caused me to drop interest:



With the other thread asking where our other members have gone. It got me thinking.

I hadn't really disappeared.

I would more so call it lurking for something better which was caused by a few things:

1) My interest in games just waned. Even now I have trouble getting excited. (I’m sure you guys can help on that)

2) The whole life thing. Girl friend, work, other commitments etc.

OK now I have that out of the way I am going to come out with my can of worms:

4) The forums had been the only saving grace for a long time. Due to mainly it’s members. The articles on VGNZ were top notch and…….. Well there was no ‘and’.

5) VGNZ had a lot of ‘current affairs’ throughout the last year or so. But with that aside I think that my personal disappointment can be put on two things. One was the VGNZ 2.0 that never came. The other was the problems with forums since they were hacked.

I was a somewhat lethargic contributor as a staff member; as were a lot of others. All I can say on my part is that I sometimes wondered if it was all worth while actually contributing. There just seemed a lack of drive or ambition. As hippie and wimpy as sounds, I think that the ‘X’ factor somewhat faded away.

And hell look at NZGAMER I use to think that they were some nifty little community site that was inferior to VGNZ. I’m afraid I can not that any longer. Love em or lump em NZGAMER has competitions, ads (I saw one In my mobile magazine recently) a news letter etc. The bottom line is there is just more happening. Something which I would love to see happen for this place.


Well I decided to be blunt…. Really blunt. But I thought If I got some of the things I was thinking said and done…. Instead of lurking around, then it can only help.

What I would like to see would be a few projects and to build up momentum, but how I am not so sure…..

So what would you guys like to do/see happen?



I head off, whiz past my articles and notice they are still there gathering dust:


No wait. My name is not Raja.

That's right boys and girls. Leave the staff at VGNZ and your articles get owned by the man. Although I am a bit pissed. What really shocked me was that nearly everyone
who are now ex-staff have now got the honour of being called Raja. Even the moderator who offered me a position on the staff has had his work stripped off him.

This is not cool. Not cool at all. It is one thing to copy and paste an article from a 3rd party source... So long as you CREDIT THE PERSON WHO WROTE IT. It is quite another thing to claim somthing as your own. This is the unritten rule of the internet.
/. does
gamespot does
digg does
in fact nearly everyone does except videogames.co.nz

So remember boys and girls. If you want orignal, informative and interesting content.Make sure that the authors name is not Raja.