Inventive Shrines

Talk with others about anything shrine-related, be it presentation, content or something else.
Destinie
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Inventive Shrines

Post by Destinie »

Has anyone ever seen or created a shrine that is "inventive" or different? Something that strays away from the current "norm"? When I say norm, it seems that [for me] shrines are a collection of media, information, and thoughts of a character/topic.

Have you ever thought about trying something completely different? How would you approach it? What would you do in terms of content? Do you think there's a lot of different things one could do?

For example, when making a Pokemon shrine it's hard to feel like you're not just rewriting content from a page in Bulbapedia. So what can you do? What would you write about? I think it would be fun to see some pages about personal experiences, fun stories, things that are unique in comparison to pure information. I saw some shrines that have "strategy" pages, which I thought were really unique, and wanted to adopt something like that when creating a shrine.

What are your thoughts?
Crystal
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by Crystal »

Does my Song of Storms shrine count? xD (Maybe not for how you expressed the "norm", but I still like to think it is unique lol.)

Well, something I try and do, especially in the case of Pokemon shrines, is I try and add some of my own personal thoughts and feelings into it so it doesn't completely feel like something you'd find on a Wiki page. I know for some things that could be tough, but that's where I like to add in extra things like a strategy page, and perhaps some other odds and ends (like the clones section I added to Lyn), as that would be something unique to my own experiences.

(I just got up so that's all I can think of right now. *fail*)
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Todd
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by Todd »

When I make sites, I like to have a basics section with the information that could likely be found on Wikipedia, as I feel it's important to introduce the series and character. The focus of my sites are on my perception of the character, though. I think this because of this. I back everything up with fact, of course, but without my opinions, I feel my shrines would be no more than Wikipedia articles.

As far as unique set-ups, I think Breathe Drew, my Drew Barrymore site, is my most unique site. It covers my favorite Drew Barrymore character as well as Drew Barrymore as an actress, and it'll eventually cover more of her characters when I get around to working on this site more.

Some unique sections I've included on my sites are "strategy" pages for the video game shrines, discussing how I use the character I've shrined, and possibly discussing other ways to use him, "merchandise" pages, with pictures of things I own related to that character, and "exploration" sections, where I explore different aspects of the character or series through articles.
dubiousdisc
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by dubiousdisc »

There was the sadly defunct Kokuyo Project that read more or less like an illustrated book; I'd say that was the most creative fansite I've ever seen. It makes me want to try that approach :D and it could even use the fact that it's a website and be all animated and cool.

As far as my projects go, I do always try to be all hipster and underground I guess 8P What I mostly try to do is make it so every site is tailored to what I want to write about the character at hand. Sometimes it fits perfectly into the classic fansite structures, other times it doesn't and I have to invent something else. It comes pretty naturally with different subjects.

I do think there's a lot of things that haven't been tried yet, especially since the technologies that can be used in websites change and evolve. Remember how back in the day just having ROLLOVER BUTTONS was a wow thing? XD Now we can have videos and animations and whatever you want, and who is to say that they should just be used as part of the layout and not as content?

As far as Pokémon is concerned, I do agree that there's just so much you can write that hasn't been done yet, but I think it has mostly to do with the immense fan coverage of said fandom. I'd say that the most creative section I have in mine is about their design inspirations, but that's also because both Sneasel and Sableye aren't too obvious in terms of that and I had actual things to write about them. Also once upon a time my Sneasel site used to have a page about the Sneasels trained by other people, which I removed because I thought it was silly but now I realize that it was cute, screw me.
Mikari
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by Mikari »

The perception and opinion of the writer can add originality to a shrine as it is unique. I've also seen other details that can make sites original. I remember seeing a final fantasy site where the layout was like a map and each part was linked to pages with information related to what happened there dividing the sections by place rather than the usual personality etc pages but I don't think it's online anymore. There's also Stay Strong http://www.piratesboard.net/ss/ which has epic hero character studies developing the shrine through the journey.
Varen
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by Varen »

I'll be honest, as much as I love shrines that attempt to break the norm, it is rather difficult. For one, it's hard to break out of one's comfort zone, and for two, it's just hard to think creative, especially if you aren't creative in the first place. My opinion is that while it's good to try something novel, I wouldn't hold against anyone for sticking to what they do best. After all, people have many reasons to make fansites. I just like to write my thoughts aloud - the route to getting there isn't important to me.
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Destinie
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by Destinie »

dubiousdisc wrote: I do think there's a lot of things that haven't been tried yet, especially since the technologies that can be used in websites change and evolve. Remember how back in the day just having ROLLOVER BUTTONS was a wow thing? XD Now we can have videos and animations and whatever you want, and who is to say that they should just be used as part of the layout and not as content?
OMG I remember when I thought that was the coolest thing since sliced bread! I used roll-overs on everyyyyttthiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnng. And the falling petals/snowflakes/feathers thing.

But I like what you said about videos and animations. What if someone explored in doing a video instead of a written essay to do analysis on a character? What if your entire shrine was made out of videos? That would actually be kind of cool because it could be like a book on tape! You could listen to your favorite shrines will you're doing something else, like designing or surfing the web.

HMM!
dubiousdisc
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by dubiousdisc »

That would be an awesome idea that no one has tried as far as I know. Or even, one could make a site that has interactive puzzles and games that would display content only when solved. Something I want to make at some point (probably with one of my Quake pages) is to have the information about the character's outfit and design be displayed by hovering their body parts as if you were viewing their blueprints, for example.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO EXPLORE!!!
Destinie
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by Destinie »

I TOTALLY WANTED TO DO THE PUZZLE/GAME THING! I had that planned for a shrine to Blaine (that I may do...eventually!) But I was planning on having different riddles and once you solved the riddle it would take you to the sections with content. (And I was planning on doing the riddles from the anime so one could watch the episode to get the answers.)

The blueprint idea is really sweet! I'd like to see that! :D
dubiousdisc
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Re: Inventive Shrines

Post by dubiousdisc »

If you ever do make that site...please, I want to see that! :D
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