Fansites
I can sometimes suffer from FOMO when big new releases hit the zeitgeist. This happened recently when the Oblivion remaster had a very telegraphed shadow drop. I didn't pick it up for a number of reasons, but it did make me want to go back and experience the Elder Scrolls game I spent the least time with. To scratch that itch I fired up the original in all of its bloom-y glory.
Because I'm just messing around with the game and don't have any intention of beating it, I hopped online to look up some walkthroughs to maximize my time with the game. Imagine my surprise when the first one I found used frames and had almost no pictures, a telltale sign of an older website when hosting space was at a premium.
tesguides.com is packed with information. There are guides for TES 2-4 and Neverwinter Nights as well as a personal blog that was updated 4 years ago. The guides all cover character creation and a lot of the side quests. It's clearly a passion project that evidently got put on the back burner. As a busy adult I can only imagine the great plans that were interrupted by things like work and family. Even so, there are thousands of words written about these games, and the website is organized very well. There are even blog-style reflection pieces which are a lot of fun to read.
I think this is a good example of what the typical fansite was in the early 2000s. Someone with a love for the game spent time and other resources to create something helpful for the community. The October 2004 issue of EGM* had this to say about fansites:
Ignoring the awful gamer-media cringe ("flattened butt"), I think this is a helpful piece and shows how popular these sites were becoming. It was something anyone could do and there was a real chance hundreds of people would visit the site. Even 20 years later when a remaster of Oblivion renews interest in the game.
I imagine a lot of these sites have disappeared over the years. It's hard to update them, paying for hosting still costs money, and large groups often fall to infighting and bickering. Still, exploring TES Guides and a handful of others has been a great way to spend an afternoon.
To put on my psych teacher hat, these communities are a type of group polarization. People who consider themselves a fan of a sports team can find themselves becoming even bigger fans after joining a local watch group. When someone joined they may not know many players' names or much history, but by being a member of the group they begin to learn those things and their fandom deepens.
The same thing happens in these fansites. People who enjoy a game like Fallout can hop on No Mutants Allowed for a walkthrough and then start perusing the forum. They learn more about the game, backstory of the production, easter eggs they may have missed, and before long they're writing trainers or making the sequels that were cancelled by the publishers. We typically think of polarization as a bad thing (and it really can be), but being a part of the group can increase enjoyment of a game significantly.
*You can find this and thousands of other magazines at the VGHM Archive.