Halo Machinima Population Dwindling?

There are still people making Halo machinima, and hoping to continue in doing so. I think the fact of the matter is that it may be harder to find these new Halo machinimas, as they may be on relatively smaller channels when compared to big names like BPS and Knightmarefilmz. There is also a good number of directors who want to continue to use Reach for machinima, myself included. It’s a pretty old game now, but the functionality hasn’t changed. It’s become increasingly more difficult to make Halo machinima on the recent Halo titles, whether it be an issue with the theater, joining games in progress, weapon lowering issues, no elites. I have plans for more Halo machinima, and I hope others who do as well get noticed.

I personally think it’s a mixture of the decline of Halo games’ capability of Machinima (And enjoyment), and the length of time it’s been since Halo machinima’s were first being created.

Hopefully the introduction of large scale machinima’s that try to keep away from Halo’s storyline (Those that don’t reference vehicles, weapons and people by those in the Halo series) might do better.

I think it’s important to first and foremost acknowledge that halo machinima has always been in a state of change with each generation. The Halo 2 generation had a smaller overall audience but more people partaking in machinima, mostly centered around HaloGrid/HollywoodHalo and around the idea of machinima “clans” and not stand alone teams. With more people partaking in machinima, I would argue it had a stronger foundation and core and was more sustainable.

Then Halo 3 and Machinima.com swept in for the next generation, with people like digitalph33r in the forefront. And they brought in a whole new generation of machinima makers. Though there was less of a central forums/community and this era often focused on the director and individual instead of the group. Also, Machinima.com allowed machinima creators to obtain an even wider and more mainstream audience than may have been previously possible.

I would argue that from Halo Reach onward, BPS has really been the dominant force in machinima. And the fact that BPS has dominated long after the peak of Halo Reach is incredibly impressive.

However, I feel that with the lack a central forums and community, it has created an unsustainable community. People who watch machinima but don’t make machinima are going to be much more wishy washy and less dedicated to the medium. If we want machinima to ever be what it once was, it needs a more central place to grow. In Halo 2, that was on HaloGrid. In Halo 3 and onwards, that was through Machinima.com. Now, Machinima.com could really care very little about Halo Machinima, and thus, we are abandoned without food or water.

So someone has to step in and take leadership. BPS is easily the most qualified as of now, as far as being active and having the needed audience. But I think it has to be a proactive choice. I think a more complex forums could be a huge thing, with active community leaders who create conversations to partake in. On that forums should be regular contests and content. And the group should be embraced over the individual.

Kind of vague suggestions, but those are my immediate thoughts. I don’t think all hope is lost, I just think someone has to step in and bring in the next era. Though obviously that isn’t easy as machinima is probably last on 343’s list of important things.

Don’t forget the fact that the Halo population itself is dwindling. For some reason I cannot fathom, people are constantly hating on Halos 4 and 5. Yes, Halo 4 has issues, and Halo 5 was released incomplete, but they’re not horrible. Outside of the campaign, Halo 3 was infinitely worse, so I don’t understand why this is, but it is what it is. People are leaving Halo for other games, most often Minecraft and (blecch) Call of Duty. With regards to that… really Halo players have been spoiled by Bungie. Bungie did what we wanted, fixed things promptly, etc. So when we encounter a company that is A. Less experienced and B. More of a “modern company”, i.e. they do stupid stuff like COD does, we act like the spoiled brats we are. And that’s why Halo is dying, which is why Halo machinima is dying. Meanwhile, other games are only growing more popular, mainly because either their fanbase has always expected crappy games that they can manipulate (like COD) or their creator has only created the one blockbuster game in that series and haven’t even worked on any spin offs (like MC). But we, who really have been spoiled by Bungie, and who are for some reason still loyal to them even after they screwed us over with Activision and Destiny, and cannot move on to new Halo games, are leaving. You cannot have successful machinima without players to watch and make it.

Unfortunately, while I agree most people are not really interested in the Human-Covenant War, the problem is not related to story. It’s more that people either aren’t aware or just don’t care. Sometimes it’s just people who used to love machinima, but have given up Halo, and now feel it’s painful to watch.