Starmen.net Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Starmen.net is a large fansite for the game EarthBound, celebrating the RPG games Mother (unofficial name: EarthBound 0), EarthBound, the yet to be released Mother 3 (unofficial name: EarthBound 2), and the fighting games Super Smash Bros and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
History
Starmen.Net found its beginnings as the personal website of Reid Young (reidman). His small site was known as "You Are Now EarthBound," and it began in 1998, just 3 years after the United States release of EarthBound. It was a simple fan site, and over time it attracted a few returning visitors. The biggest supporter in the beginning was EBounding, who submitted numerous fanfics and guides to the humble little website. The establishment grew when Clyde "Man-D" Tomato contacted Reid, then 16, about expanding their site. With the help of a man who preferred to be called "Buzz Buzz," the little fansite grew into a somewhat larger fansite in a short period of time. It had become a new Internet resource - EarthBound.Net.
Buzz Buzz handled the domain, and served as the figurehead founder. reidman and Tomato worked on many site designs, and many new features came to be. The most prominent of these was probably the message forum. With the popularity of EarthBound and the recent release of Super Smash Brothers, in which Ness, the main character of EarthBound, makes an appearance, the site attracted more and more visitors, and the forum gave returning visitors a place to talk and socialize. It was the beginning of the real EB.Net "community" outside of IRC. With all the new visitors, the demand and need for new and updated content grew. To keep visitors happy and make their site even better, reidman and Tomato gradually "hired" a staff of volunteers to create content and maintain the site, which had grown in popularity quite quickly.
The site thrived for a few years. Aside from some drama on the message boards, the community came even closer together, and the site became even greater thanks to the work of reidman, Xodnizel, and countless others, including all the staff members and submitters. But in 2001, there was a bit of a fracas involving the domain name. Buzz Buzz, now known as TwinPinesMall, claimed that reidman and Tomato had turned EB.Net into their own "personal glorification site" and seized the domain name to build his own EarthBound.Net. After a bit more commotion, reidman and the others decided to move to a new location on the Internet. After a bit of remodeling, their site was ready to emerge again, this time as "Starmen.Net".
Starmen.Net has gone through a few facelifts, and has received a huge surge of new visitors. Their message board is now (as of March 2004) home to thousands of members, and they've formed a tight-knit community.
Starmen.Net's devotion to their fanbase has been astounding, and many people can attest to that, including Nintendo of America, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and EarthBound creator Shigesato Itoi, to name a few. They've had a few petitions over the years, the most memorable being the one petitioning Nintendo to pick up the forgotten Mother 3 (EarthBound 2) and develop it for the Nintendo GameCube. This petition received over 30,000 signatures from fans in America and Japan, over the Internet and in handwritten form. Four copies of the 600-page petition were bound and sent to Nintendo of America, Nintendo of Japan, Popular gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly, and Shigesato Itoi, coupled with an Art Album full of years of fan art and music. The petition generated quite a buzz around the EarthBound and Nintendo fanbase.
The fans at Starmen.Net have also demonstrated their devotion in numerous other efforts, including writing letters to Nintendo, sending an abundance of letters enclosed in EarthBound-themed envelopes to Nintendo Power Magazine, and calling Nintendo of America via telephone to express their sincere interest in the EarthBound series.
One non-EarthBound influence the Starmen.net community has is the semi-famous "This is Our House" movie, referenced to in "Whose Line is it Anyway".
The website has been criticized by some fans of the game for being far too community-driven, and not an accurate resource for actual information on the games it purports to cover. For example, while the site has a vast array of fan art, fan fiction and other fan-created work, actual strategy and information on the games takes up significantly less space. This fact has been acknowledged by the site's administrators, and explains' the site's present slogan "Get Back in the Game," a plea for the site's community to return the focus of Starmen.net to the Earthbound games themselves.
Starmen.Net is home to many departments and sections, some of which include:
Criticism
Starmen.net Sections
EarthBound Zero
Information on the prequel to EarthBound, which was never released in America. This game was unknown for a long while, until it was discovered and knowledge of it spread across the Internet. Many EarthBound fans discovered this unknown game long after beating the first. EarthBound
The principal department and main focus of Starmen.Net. Through the years, this section has grown to include every EarthBound-related material imaginable, such as original images, fan-created music, and helpful tips and tricks, as well as a plethora of fan-written walkthroughs and guides for the game. EarthBound 64
Information concerning the much-hyped Nintendo 64 sequel to EarthBound, which never saw the light of day.Mother 1+2
A helpful section containing information and guides for the Japan-only release of Mother 1+2, which combines EarthBound Zero and EarthBound in a single Game Boy Advance game. Super Smash Bros. & SSB Melee
Two departments devoted to the Nintendo fighting game series, Super Smash Brothers, in which Ness makes an appearance as a playable character, and which contain several EarthBound references. Fan Art & Fan Comics
Beautiful art and comics crafted by masterful fans of EarthBound. Starmen.Net is home to thousands of pieces, all based upon EarthBound. Flukes
A unique section of the site where special images have been created with EarthBound sprites and backgrounds, among other things, in order to be funny or interesting.Fanfics & Poems
The literature departments. The Fanfics department is home to many fan-created fictional stories based on EarthBound. The Poems section is oriented more towards poems and songs. Fan Games & Fan Apps
Software creations for entertainment or educational purposes. Many game creators have attempted to extend the experience of EarthBound with their own games, or have made original games with an EarthBound theme. Articles & Mailbag
The articles section is updated regularly and features hundreds of articles based on EarthBound, be they analysis, expectations, or simple thoughts. Mailbag is a chance for readers to interact and voice their opinions on various weekly subjects.