: I used to be here as a lurker all the way back in 2004, and finally got to
: posting here in early 2005. While I'm far from being a part of this site's
: "old guard", I've been around long enough to remember much of
: what this place was like. Now I'm well into being an adult and not quite
: the same Halo fan that I used to be for that brief late teenage period in
: the mid-2000s, but COVID-19 had me coming back here to get a sense of some
: of that old nostalgia, those old good times in the middle of so much
: mayhem.

: I can't complain. I had the privilege of being around when Rockslider said
: goodbye and had the chance to say hello to folks I hadn't chatted with in
: the better part of a decade.

: However, I can't help but worry. Even after the launch of Halo Infinite this
: place has started to feel more and more like a mausoleum, far more so than
: the older Marathon Story Forums. None of the old-timers seem to pop back
: in these days, if only to say hi, and I worry that this place might not
: last much longer. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and being foolish about all
: this, and that this place will last a long time in one form or the other.

: Claude, if you're still around and paying attention to this place, I want to
: say thank you. This site gave me solace during a particularly miserable
: time in my late teens, and I'm genuinely grateful for everything you've
: put into this place.

I guess Captain Spark and Snipe already said it. Halo is just dead.
The original Halo games (and the novels too) had a sort of magic to them, but that was over a decade ago. After a decade of 343i failing to capture that magic, and largely refusing to even try to capture that magic, the community has largely moved on.

It's not fun to discuss where the books are going and how subtle hints in the books will play out later, because the books largely don't matter.

It's not fun to speculate where the games are going, because the story arc of the games can switch fast enough to whiplash the fans. Reach didn't fall like it did in the books! Now the Forerunner are returning! Now Cortana is back from the dead! Now the Banished are contenders on a galactic scale. And all the while we're trying to flesh out the Master Chief and give him character, but he gets less interesting with each installment. After Infinite, I just don't give a flying fuck. I don't. And the Edgar-suit mockery that's in the Halo TV show is even less interesting.

I hate to be so negative, but the non-event that was Halo: Infinite and the trainwreck that is the Halo TV show has really got me down. After the end of Halo 3, there was so much potential. And they chose to focus on genetic destiny and the Master Chief's character?