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I'm feppie64, the webmaster of the Dutch fansite Lunagang

Lunagang was actually founded as a clan by two class mates of me almost 10 years ago, because they wanted some fun. They created a forum on a website which offered free bulletin boards, but I thought I could make a better website. Within a few days, a website was created on a free host.

I quickly realized that we needed something to distinguish ourselves from the competition in order to attract members. At that time years ago, there where little fansites in Dutch. I started writing guides and this indeed attracted members. Our clan flourished, but due inactivity of my classmates, I quickly became the only clan leader. After a year we needed a very strict policy for new members. We couldn't accept every member, because the clan would grew to large. To answer the demand of help of the visitors who only used our guides, we created a second forum. This forum quickly became more important than the clan. The clan is now closed and we are fully changed into a fan site for quite some years now.

20-Dec-2013 18:42:37

Some really interesting stories here , really awesome how a Clan site such as yours Feppie64 can slowly turn into a Fansite over time . Making small changes really can effect how the future of the website will be .

Well I am glad that the decisions you made help you create a amazing and awesome Fansite for RuneScape .

~DieHunted

DieHunted

23-Dec-2013 23:42:20

mmmm.... I'v always wanted to make some sort of website and I'v always loved Runescape ever since I started playing it so I guess I thought it would be fun to make a fansite and give something back to the community.

After thinking about it for a long time and playing what other games Jagex have released (FunOrb, War of Legends etc) I kind of thought about how those games 'lack' fansites and stuff unlike Runescape which is where my little journey really started I guess.

Two of my friends on FunOrb were already trying to make a FunOrb clan which is coming along ok considering the situation over there so I decided to purchase a domain name and make a website using Webs.

After a while I moved our RS section to it's own website and that's basically where I'm at now I'm trying to work on a FunOrb section on our original site to try and bring the community together while working on a RS site. All this with a 'global' forums in the future with more staff and a community I really hope to bring the community together on a variety of Jagex games.

Well yeah that's just my little story and dream if it makes sense lol

01-Feb-2014 23:31:10

I was contacted by an old friend in game about 3 or 4 days ago to come check out and join his new fansite called RuneMechanics. I did, and I enjoyed the old site layout. I began posting on some things on the forums, and came across a place where we could apply for a staff position.

I asked another old friend of mine in game about one of the positions, and she gave me some information on it. I then had a message in my message center on RuneMechanics from my friend who introduced me to the site asking me more about what I wanted to know in regards to the position. After a few questions, I decided to give it a go, and I'm now on the Social Media team in charge of the Twitter account. Feel free to follow it.

Mötley Crüe

16-Feb-2014 19:22:46

I guess I shall make a post ...

The idea for RuneMechanics started years ago between myself and our (now) Lead Developer, Dom. We thought it out and made the website and forums and started to get things setup for content and members. However, real life took over both Dom and myself and the then RuneMechanics died off before it even became public.

Fast forward a few years to around November 2013, I had just recently started to play RS after taking some time off, I was talking to my good friend Raaf about how there really weren't too many OSRS focused fansites. We joked about making one and talked about details but sort of laughed it off. But a week or so after that I noticed Dom online in RS. After not talking with him since years prior we chatted each other up and I brought up the subject of RuneMechanics again and how Raaf and I joked around about reviving it. Oddly enough, Dom thought it was a good idea and he'd be willing to help out.

So Raaf and I thought about it for a few and finally decided that we'd do it! We were going to revive the Fansite RuneMechanics. We brought Dom on as our Lead Developer and then also contacted Jones about helping out. She was thrilled at the idea and became our Graphic Designer and our Community Moderator Leader.

The 4 of us started to gather and work out all details of RM. I bought the domain name, put it up on my servers and Dom got to work designing. Our website/forum design (Old School Runescape nostalgia ) is actually a story of its own, so I'll save that for a later day . But we all worked and worked and (finally) got the design down. We had then brought in Selental as our Content Team Leader. Between Selental and Raaf we had a decent amount of content appearing. Shortly after the beginning on 2014; Dom, Jones, Raaf and myself made the decision to open RM to the public.

And thus RuneMechanics was born .
Feel free to check us out online or on Twitter; @RuneMechanics or @RM_Travis "I have never trained a skill.Please, no1 steal that for a signature!" - Twillow

17-Feb-2014 07:56:16

Some really amazing stories and a fantastic read to learn why people joined in the Fansite world and what got him here .

Look forward to reading more and more keep up the posts everyone .

~DieHunted

DieHunted

17-Feb-2014 08:36:53

Travis has pretty much summed up my story for me, so there's nothing that I could add. Although I would like to say that I enjoyed reading your stories!

17-Feb-2014 14:22:34

Here's a little about us...

My wife and I actually met at a RuneScape Fan-Site. I am an 8 year vet of RS, but only have a single 99... She has a max-cape

Anyway, we met IRL, dated, got married, and bought a house together here in the USA. Remembering the fun we used to have on a fan-site, we decided to start our own. Hence www.runetime.com came to life 3 months ago.

We wanted to build a community site, where people could feel safe, and interact with others who enjoy RuneScape. I look at the big two or three sites, and see so much amazing content, that I think it will take years to reach that scale. So, I wanted to focus on adding as many features as we could that make us stand out quickly. We have a radio station, as I think that really builds an interactive, fun, community. We have some (almost!) unique features (like the radio can take requests when no DJ is on air, a members map, a clan-blog, etc.) and we are slowly building the "standard" features which I feel are important but will take time to complete (quest guides, item database, etc).

Things I have learned:

- I am amazed how much you can add to a website with almost NO programming or HTML skills! If you check us out, I think our site does look pretty cool, and it used almost no programming.

- I am amazed how some individuals can grow and mature and take such an active role. This shows people's ability to adapt and how important initiative can be.

- Everything takes time... and you have to accept this and adapt.

- Staff will quit. Members will get bored. Some may become disruptive. This is all natural, and something you have to roll with, not against. In my mind it makes the whole thing more fun!

That's all my thoughts for now!

23-May-2014 15:49:59

09-Sep-2014 14:56:50