Halo.Bungie.Org
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Also known as HBO, this website was created in 1999 by Claude Errera (psuedonym "Louis Wu") and "Wirehead" as a fansite for the Xbox game Halo: Combat Evolved, then called "Blam!", at the time for the Apple Macintosh computer, designed by Bungie Studios. Since then it has grown to be one of the most popular Halo fansites on the internet. The site joined a growing collection of websites sharing the Bungie.org webspace, whose basic tenets include the strict avoidance of the inclusion in the site of any form of web-based advertising. These guidelines are in place to ensure that visitors to any bungie.org site should find the website free from extraneous links and references to subject matter unrelated to the game in question. This provides a more enjoyable experience on-site and reflects the 'player immersion' ideas to which Bungie Studios themselves subscribe.
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[edit] Community
The community involved in HBO is large, and some members' involvement has continued for several years. Many HBO "regulars" have been fans of Bungie ever since the release of Marathon, in 1994. HBO contains a number of useful sections: the Halo Story Page (or HSP) containing a great deal of speculation, literary discussion, and resources pertaining to the developing plot of the Halo series; an ever-growing Art Section with a large number (nearly 1,600 pieces as of December 2006) of submitted pieces created using materials ranging from MS Paint to Charcoal; pages of Fan Fiction; and archives of reviews and previews of the games Halo and Halo 2.
[edit] Charitable acts
HBO has used its notability to conduct several fund raisers for various causes. The most recent effort raised money for Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, as HBO took part in a massive effort by the Halo community to raise money, primarily through selling collectible items through the Blow Me Away eBay auctions. These auctions raised just under $11,000 for the relief effort. Members of the community also chipped in through personal means, including HBO Forerunner member "BoneKin" who held a charity Xbox live night which resulted in a donation of $139. His contribution was mentioned in an article by the San Antonio Express-News.
[edit] Media coverage
In 2003, Doug Radcliffe contacted HBO to request fan submissions for inclusion in the Sybex Official Halo PC Strategy Guide. Inclusions that made the final cut included personal stories from longtime members and how Bungie had become a part of their life, as well as tips and tricks from forum users.
Microsoft's Xbox website, Xbox.com interviewed HBO webmaster Louis Wu on how the site would respond to the release of Halo 2.
[edit] One One Se7en
One One Se7en is a webcomic hosted at HBO. Written by an HBO regular named Stuntmutt, the comic involves the adventures of a crudely drawn Master Chief, the majority of them taking up merely three simple panels. Regular characters include all those seen in Halo 1 and 2 - Cortana, Sergeant Johnson, Elites, Grunts and many others - and, far more rarely, characters from other successful game franchises not of Bungie Studios' devising (like Samus Aran, Gordon Freeman, or Yoda). Never meant to be taken seriously, One One Se7en always revolves around a simple pun, usually in-jokes from Halo or other popular entertainment media. The comic is released in varying degrees of regularity as the artist isn't necessarily bound to a specific schedule, although it has become an almost daily feature. Many of its jokes are also time-sensitive, relating to specific incidences known to the fan community, so older jokes may make little sense even to long-time fans, without proper context.
[edit] Fan created video submissions
Halo.Bungie.Org also frequently hosts video's created by their community. Most of the video's submitted are gameplay montages and Red vs. Blue-like machinima. Due to the large influx of user created video's after the release of Halo 2, the HBO Movie Peer Review Rating System(MPRRS)[1] was introduced, so peer reviewers can view and vote on which movies have enough merit to be posted on the main page and granted hosting on HBO servers. The currently highest rated movie on the MPRRS is a tie between "Gladiator Evolved," by Andras Ostrom, and "Talking Smack Over Xbox Live: An Educational Film," by fireborn2043.
Recently the MPRRS was shut down due to abuse of the system by compromised reviewers. Currently Louis Wu has stated that the system will remain closed until a proper solution can be implemented.
[edit] Fan fiction
Halo.Bungie.Org has an extensive Fan Fiction section with 6,825 total pieces as of the 23rd of September, 2006. [2] The forum boasts a total of 868 registered users as of the 29th of October, 2006.
The fanfiction on HBO is a strong community, with many prominent members. Due to issues with original reviewing system, where an abusive or spam review could be left and not easily cleaned up, a new site was created. Now the reviews are hosted on HBOFF. A dedicated team of moderators keep the site free of spam and promote the technique they prefer, often known as The Code.
Originally, authors were listed on the front page along with their update (example), as of April 2004 a batch update on a Friday simply notifies users that new stories are present. This was to avoid clutter on the front page of HBO.
Many controversies have plagued the fanfiction section, regardless of internal problems or poor image at times, there are still many worthwhile pieces present.
[edit] Clan HBO
Halo 2, the sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, shipped with an extensive online multiplayer feature that incorporated the new community tools introduced by Xbox Live 3.0. This new interface included the ability to create player run 'Clans', composed of a collection of players with a permanent association. 5 official HBO clans were created, each roughly corresponding to a different timezone to avoid the day/night conflict typical of trans-continental gaming. The 5 clans were named: HBO Helljumpers, HBO Forerunners, HBO Spartans, HBO Sentinels, HBO Lekgolos. HBO Lekgolos was able to play Bungie in a Humpday Challenge on May 5, 2005. In Summer, 2005, the HBO Sentinels and HBO Lekgolos were shutdown due to inactivity. The HBO Lekgolos were reactivated in early December 2005 after a reunion of former clan members. Only one original founder was missing.
A splinter clan cropped up in June of 2005 under the name of "Team Schooly D", named after the founder, "Schooly D". Although it is not necessarily affiliated with HBO, Schooly D has recruited key HBO members, moderators and long time groupies of the web site, including HBO's webmaster, Louis Wu. The current roster can be found here.
In September 2005, Goatrope, a long time member of the HBO community, created his own clan for no other reason than to remedy a glitch in Xbox Live's system where a player's matchmaking level would not appear if the player was not in a clan. Upon much consideration he decided upon the interesting moniker of 'Goatrope Arms.' This name comes directly from a battlecry/cheer used by flash legend BOLL when referring to the clan founder, Goatrope. The clan lay rather dormant until early 2006 where the recruitment of more members began. Enigmatic posts were made on the HBO forum, arousing interest and the roster has since increased. Contrary to popular belief, Goatrope Arms is not in direct competition with any of the other HBO clans and they do not advocate clan rivalries.
[edit] IRC channel
HBO created its first IRC channel in February 2004, on HomeLAN servers. Months later, the channel operators became fed up with server troubles and migrated to Subnova, a closely related Bungie fansite. In 2005, irc.bungie.org was created as a backup to Subnova while the server went under maintenance. Disputes between administration led to permanent relocation, however, and the #hbo channel still resides at IBO today.
IBO currently hosts the official channels of several community sites. In addition there are smaller channels in IBO that are not affiliated with any community site such as #TEHEYES!.
For more information on IBO, or to connect to the server through the Java IRC Client, visit the main site here: http://ibo.bungie.org/
