MechScape World Compared to RuneVault

  Some individuals might consider all websites to be the same or very similar. It is really quite different. Let me take two websites that I have participated actively with for over a year. RuneVault.net, which goes by the abbreviation RV, for an example, is a fansite for a game called RuneScape which has been out for many years. Then you have MechScapeWorld.com, which goes by the abbreviation MSW, that is also a fansite but for a game called MechScape which is not released yet. Both games are produced by the same company named Jagex.

At first glance you might be lead to believe that they are very similar. In most cases they are, but that is when you look at things in a general sense. They are both fan based websites on games that are made by Jagex. When you look at it more closely you see that one of the games, MechScape, has not been released yet. Even further you see that because of this you have RV, which is based off of RuneScape, has an overwhelming wealth of information that they have for the game. MSW has almost no information in comparison since MechScape has not been released.

Looking at the websites themselves you can easily tell that the appearance becomes something that is very different and similar at the same time. Visually, RV takes a dark green style theme that is used to give as much information as possible but still trying to achieve readability of the website.  MSW takes a salmon colored theme that is rather large and bulky. The font size is large and there is plenty of space where more information could easily be added if there was more.  Again, this difference is from the differences of how much information they have available to them but looking deeper into the website content management system you see something that is similar or in this case the same. Both websites are powered by Word Press, which is blogging software, and Invision Power Boards, which is a discussion board.

Invision Power Boards is the community side of both websites. It is a board that contains many forums set aside for general topics of discussion for the community to discuss. At first glance again you might think the communities would be similar overall but that is quite not the case. While the discussions might be specifically geared towards two different games in a similar way such as discussing what they want, do not like and so on. You see that MSW is very formal but RV is very informal.

The people that make up RV are entirely different from MSW except me who actively participates as a staff of both. Some of these people are staff of the website which makes up most of the main website content for each website. All the staff on both websites are required to do a certain amount of work contributing to the continually growing website. Closer you see that RV expects its staff to complete articles once a week and MSW does a post that is one a week as well. The difference between this is independent work and group work.

The leaders and owners of these two communities are very different. At first glance they appear to be complete opposites in almost every way. The leader of RuneVault was always Cody, who founded the website and continues working on it. On the other hand you have MSW which was founded by Josh who does not run it anymore. It was handed to Jon then taken back to Josh who then eventually sold it to Laura who is our present head administrator at MSW. They both work to the best of their abilities to improve their website and try to keep everyone in the community as positive and socially sound as possible. The experience between the two amount to about the same but their approaches different.

Laura’s leadership has always been somewhat like a dictator democracy. She leads strongly and acts in the best interest of the website regardless but gives the staff and sometimes the community options to choose from. She would consider ideas from others but generally she does not. Cody’s leadership is almost the exact opposite where I would call it an open republic. The community decides what is best for itself and Cody acts accordingly. He is always searching for ideas from the community and even outside sources at times. Even though both lead in practically opposite fashions they stick to one goal and that is to do the best they can to make their website the best it can be.

Overall the two website are unique in their way. RuneVault models itself after a smaller community who is very tightly knit together and stable. The leadership position has not changed at all over a long period of time and it has continued to be a loyal fansite to RuneScape. MechScape World is quite new in comparisons but is destined to grow at an alarming rate where it could possibly harm the website.  It is rather new in standards to RuneVault, an infant that grows explosively.