let's try dividing Stepmania chart trends into eras

[moches]

Inspired by the art unit we're doing in English class and the recent release of Stepmania Nostalgia Pack...

thinking of some names for each era might be a good idea, too.

Arch0wl's History of Stepmania PRE-KBMP, very good resource

As far as I know...

Prekeyboard Era

Difficulty Renaissance I
-BMR releases V and Gravity, sparking keyboard play for the first time

Keyboard I
-First "explicit" keyboard file w/ FotB

Index I/Packism (the beginnings of index; I guess both CKMPs fall here)
-Release of Yanah's Club divides index and one-hand communities
-The release of KBMP (and the beginning of packs, thanks Icy!)
-Slow trend towards technical files (led by Toph, according to Arch)

Index II (PPPera files)


Difficulty Renaissance II

Hyperelitism (around SMGpack2)
-SMGpack2 was, by far, one of the most controversial releases in (recent) Stepmania history. The sudden transition from the PPP-style files which were technical but still relatively clean to the 100% technicality-centric files of SMG2 took the community by storm.
-A huge debate occured about what made a good file: whether it had to be fun to hit, technically accurate, or just representative of the music.
-The release of SMG Community Revival Pack only worsened the split; critical "advanced" and amateur stepartists tangled themselves into a huge DRAMAFEST regarding whether the elites' harsh criticism was valid or even deserved.
-Elites argued that the harsh conditioning was something EVERY successful artist had to go through, while amateurs (and several community members) argued that this conditioning was driving newbies away from the game.
-Who's right? Who really knows. But elitism would reign for a long time yet; arguably it's still prevalent in the community TODAY.

Expressionism (2008)
-RFpack and ODIpack2 are released, both critically acclaimed
-Technicality takes a backseat to playability as a whole
-FFR Community Pack is released, reception mixed but npv/Puppet are both recognized positively. also introduces a load of new artists that will play a big part in the next few years of Stepmania.

Mine Renaissance (early 2009)
-The release of DCP (formerly RFpack2)
-Mines had been used before this era (sometimes to great effect: see Tora's Bowser Castle) but never to the extent that they were used in DCP.
-Huge backlash from players and stepartists alike; can be seen as either a subset of Expressionism or its own movement
-Meanwhile, in a still-minor sector of the Stepmania community...

Xoonism (early 2009 - mid-2010)
-Because f*ck you, that's why!
-Bluexoon had been making keyboard packs as early as 2008, but the beginning of the Xoon Mini Packs can be seen as the beginning of this movement.
-Elitism still exists, but generally more diverse files were made and played (much more lenient standards than...well, everything from SMG2 to DCP, really).....
-Leading to the belief that nothing should matter in a file than its fun factor. Not everybody agreed, but this idea would be crucial to opening the doors to new stepartists who weren't megaprodigies once again
-I'm still not sure what effects this had on the community at large; as I recall it was a much happier time for most. Compare the release thread for Xoon 3 with the thread for SMGCRP, and the discussion is much more open-minded, civil, and friendly.
-Xoon 4 was the peak of this movement
-Sadly died out with Bluexoon, but Xoonism would greatly influence the next big step in stepcharting history.

Expressionism II (late 2009 - late 2010)
-Sort of a return to square one, as Rebirth took control of the Xoon 5 project and more traditional quality standards were reimplemented
-Xoon 5 is still the best-regarded of all of the Xoon projects, so maybe it worked.
-Actually, this movement can be seen as the reconciliation of Xoonism and elitism. There were still traces of hierarchy (this was circa the creation of the LIGHT CHANCELLORS) but as a whole there were many, many more chances for stepartists of all forms to chip in. Is there any other era when two projects as different as LCP2 and the Community Keyboard Megapack 4 could come out...and both be generally well-received among the community?
-Furthermore, ideas about stepping had grown much, much wider, so even the elitist factions were much more diverse, thanks to the efforts of one Dude named Gundam

Diversity Revival (2011)
-


if people add more to this it can be awesome and a great history reference for new players!

[PsYcHoZeRoSk8eR]

Golden Era
Everything Else

[icontrolyourworld]

Arch0wl wrote a pretty detailed timeline of Stepmania from 2001-2005. If you're interested check here:
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...07&postcount=1

SM .95, and 1.65 era
2001 to 2002- what is stepmania?
-noob using the bar to pass max 300, I have 12 greats (rage face)

dwi era
2003- SM 3.0 The new stepmania is AWESOME
2004- SM 3.9 releases a billion new installs

Index era
2005- stepmania 3.9 as we know it is released and becomes popular
-First keyboard megapack (KBMP) released
-Packs start getting made
-Community Keyboard pack 1, and 2 released
-Keyboard collaboration II release

Spread era
2006- More packs get made
-Arch0wl's AAA quasar 1.5 vid is finally posted on youtube
-Spread becomes more accepted
-Community Keyboard pack 3 released
-Keyboard Collaboration III released
-Puritanical Penis Pack 1 released

Godly Stepmania players era
2007-
-KBMP1.5 released
-Puritanical Penis Pack 2 released
-ODI pack 1 released
-SMGpack 1 Released january
-SMGpack 2 Released july
-Reach, Thaor, Nima skull**** stepmania
-"You're BS" begins

Decline begins
2008- Lots of good simfilers quit, lots of good players quit
-ODI pack 2 released
-Hard Songs Megapacks begin
-FFR Community Megapack 1 released

Art simfiles
2009-
-Hey guys, let's REALLY sync all the files making everything have rainbow notes and hard to impossible to AAAA, this is a great idea! stepmania definitely won't be dead next year because of this grand decision in how we should make simfiles.
-Dark Chancellors pack released
-ffr goes down (december 21st) for 10 months
-6arrow (aka solo) tries to come into play
-KBO
-Dragons Fury
-Other small forums

"Stepmania is dead"
2010-
-lots of people quit because they don't have a community to play with
-ffr comes back October 9th
-stepmania is really dead at this point
-December 23- Flash Flash Revolution Community Pack 3 released

Now.
2011- A few packs are made, namely Nuclear Blast 3, FFR Community Pack Summer 2011 Released, Stepmania Nostalgia, and DJ roars BMIIDX 17 Sirius Megapack
-This era is embarrasing as a whole, not much is accomplished, and everyone really good quits.

Forgive me if I'm missing anything, or if anything is out of order. This is stepmania how I understand it haha
If you want me to add something in just say so

[moches]

I've modified the later bits of this to the best of my ability. This is how I see the history of Stepmania (I've been an active member since around the beginning of 2007), but I need your help in order to really make this something that represents everybody in the community. That means you too, lurker.

Still thinking of better names for each movement, but these will have to do for now.

Also: anybody want to do an entry for Dadaism/midare?

[Arch0wl]

Looking at the 2008-2010 decline, I think the biggest factors are:

- less of a centralized community, more of a cluster**** of choices. Less standardization, less simfile access (no database), less hubs of activity.

- arcades were on the decline before, but they really really started dying when the Wii came out, and Stepmania's popularity was tied in part to DDR's. the DDR community pretty much died in 2009, and that hurt Stepmania a bunch.

- we've started scraping the skill ceiling for 4key, and SM doesn't have an easy transition between key modes which is the natural evolution from 4key. cezium has stated that this is a possibility after SM5 final, but right now we still don't have it. we need to move beyond 4key, but not everyone is ready.

- simfile criteria started getting more esoteric, which naturally made a stronger barrier for new charters. the charting scene was most active when the sole criterion was "goes to the music relatively well" and it's dwindled since. right now, I have no idea how the **** someone would get into charting. there are something like 10-20 people who have files on KBO, and the current batch system's strictness has started to rival that of KBO's. the average person's chance of getting any sort of file on the game is like 0.00001% -- anyone who charts for FFR or KBO at this point is a niche of a niche of a niche. it's worse than art-related academia, and the people who propagate this system the most get really self-righteous about it and assert their criteria as universals.

- this isn't the most important factor, but I think it did matter: the ODI Attitude (not the website/community itself, these are two very different things) caused something of a brain drain for an influential segment of the stepmania elites. when you got really good at being the Ultimate FFR Guy, they shifted the hierarchy to something entirely different. instead of sm scores, you should be competing over benchpressing, and you're a loser if you don't. that sort of thing. this attitude was attractive to everyone who has been even semi-competitive about SM, because it allows you to instantly dismiss the person right above you by saying SM is for nerds or whatever. so instead, the people who are really good at this game feel like it's not cool to care about SM and start ditching the community.

Yet in spite of all this, if you look at the numbers, FFR is about as active as it was in 2004. Considering that it's a lot harder to build a game up from no activity to 2004 than from 2004 to 2007, I don't think it's fair to rule out FFR as dead. The game was hit pretty hard from being down for an entire year.

[Keisha_Fabo]

Remember back when people had to gather a bunch of released single files to even have enough for a pack?

[moches]

Originally Posted by Arch0wl

- simfile criteria started getting more esoteric, which naturally made a stronger barrier for new charters. the charting scene was most active when the sole criterion was "goes to the music relatively well" and it's dwindled since. right now, I have no idea how the **** someone would get into charting. there are something like 10-20 people who have files on KBO, and the current batch system's strictness has started to rival that of KBO's. the average person's chance of getting any sort of file on the game is like 0.00001% -- anyone who charts for FFR or KBO at this point is a niche of a niche of a niche. it's worse than art-related academia, and the people who propagate this system the most get really self-righteous about it and assert their criteria as universals.

This is a debatable point. I think it's definitely true that the sudden JUMP in standards that occurred around late 2007 (SMGpack2) really alienated a lot of people, and then the next few packs after that were all propagating this ridiculous standard that people had to aspire to. Looking at the past few years, though, I'd say that that trend has slowly reversed: many more prominent steppers have stepped up in the era of Xoon/Light Chancellors than have in, say, the stretch of time from RFpack to DCP:


2009-2010: Gundam, Don, Detri, Roar, Wine, Scylaax, who_cares, Ferrari, rog, leonid, NTM, Baq, Rebound, Kory, Sargon, Ophi, me, I'm still missing a few probably

2008: Kommisar, Torrent, Puppet, behanjc, amy, cetaka

Even though the community has dwindled quite a bit from its heyday, I think the general environment here is much more welcoming/peaceful, and a lot of that is to thank for the new influx of stepartists that have come in the past few years. So I gotta disagree with that point somewhat.

[Reincarnate]

I think DDR died after Supernova came out. DDR Extreme will, in my mind, forever be the last decent point in the DDR era. There was also a high point (in rhythm gaming in general) when ITG was making its advent, and I feel like everything's been on the decline ever since ITG was canned. There seems to be a huge correlation between the activity of the unofficial communities and the activity/success of the official iterations.

---

Re: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...07&postcount=1

This, this, this, and more this.

I always feel a certain sense of loneliness when I think about DDR/FFR/SM rhythm gaming history because it seems like so few people in the community now were around back then. It also makes me feel a bit pathetic on that same note -- for many of those old-timers, DDR/SM was maybe a 3-4 year hobby and they've since moved on. For some reason, I haven't yet even after a decade.

People like BMR had such a huge influence over things and it's unfortunate that so few now remember him.

[Arch0wl]

You only "move on" if you think it's something that is inherently immature or if you feel like it's no longer "you." I mean, do you ever "move on" from, say, chess? Or piano? Most people just say they quit.

I used to mix drinks slash ghetto bartend for company a lot. I don't anymore, at least not often. I didn't "move on", I just stopped doing it.

---

And yeah, I agree with you Rubix -- there's an enormous necessity for an "official" metric, which is why I mentioned the lack of centralization. SM, if it's to ever get back on its feet, needs more official metrics.

[Reincarnate]

I guess "quitting" would be a better way to phrase it, but the question still stands. For whatever reason, most people get bored with what the game has to offer after a certain point and they drop it. I'm not exactly sure what's kept me going when the community has always been in a state of recycling and my skill level hasn't increased all that much over the past five years (I had gotten better but not so much that I've ever surprised myself, unlike the first five years). What's kept you involved?

In terms of chart trends, I'm not even sure if charts have been the reason, either. Oldschool charts were fun because they went to the music decently well. Current charts do this too, but I feel like things are generally overstepped to a point of exhaustion. I enjoy files that make me feel like I'm "playing" the song (which is why I love VC/FMO-level files the most). There's a certain musical rhythm you can feel in the steps. Hyperglutted files that have a ton of steps just make me feel like I'm gnashing my fingers against the keyboard and I don't get that same sense of musical utility.

[moches]

For me, it's definitely the community and the music. Stepmania has had so much influence on my music taste and how I perceive music it's not even funny.

The community definitely cycles a lot, but there are always a few old-timers who stick around...they really make this game rewarding for me.

And part of it, especially if you're a stepper, is just the habit of it. I've had countless times where I've listened to a song and the steps just came together in my head...it's something that's ingrained into my mentality now, not something that I can just turn on and off like a switch.

[Arch0wl]

moches nailed it. SM permanently altered the way I saw music. I'm not sure if this is because I hadn't taken any music classes before playing Stepmania, but I can't help but see any song I hear through a quasi-Stepmania lens.

Also, for me it's that there are still a lot of frontiers to be explored in SM. 6-key hasn't even come close to being mastered like 4key has, much less 7-key, and even less 8-key.

[XxMidigamixX]

I don't know much about Dadaism/Midare era that's mainly the era where the dump packs/files started to rise (especially with midare's packs 1-5) I'm not sure what year they were released but all I know that at first, dumps were placed at a near-impossible but now it has leveled down to technical/expressionism dumps that could be up to level with a hard, regular kb file.
Packs that were released during that period: The Midare packs, the Minitaka pack, Rebound's Vibrajacking packs (and his dump collection) and probably some other dump pack that I can't seem to recall.
Prominent stepartists during that era: Midare, Minion, Cetaka, not sure about others but that's all I know for now...

Another era: The OD era (the era where japanime files made its name on the SM community)
Started out as mere weaboos until around OD4 (which I think Nick [lyricalnick] started out) when they became more acceptable to the SM community. They also release other types of mix besides japanime. But eventually everybody but Niko, Tweety, and someone else I forgot, quit SM and has become the japanime of ODI. Oh, did I mention the controversial QED rose up during that era in OD5.
Packs that was released during that era: Anything that had OD in it.
Prominent stepartiost: Nick, aloola, basically anyone who is not QED

Theories:
Kil theory
color note theory
mine theory
jack theory

Other packs that weren't mentioned:
VGMP 1-3
Subjectivemanias pack
UEMP (sip)
G-pop's touhou pad packs
Cetaka's technical dump piano pack
PMOE
IIDX 17: SIRIUS Megapack
BMCP 1-5 (6 is in progress)
the beginner solo packs (both patashu's and xaio's)
Leonid's Single Songs Pack
-any more that I forgot to mention-

EDIT: Also the solo packs that Arch is working on (such as the simfile tourney for KBO and the Chrono Trigger Anthology)

[Reincarnate]

Ungh it's such a curse though. Most catchy songs I listen to seem to auto-translate into steps in my head.

[ddr_f4n]

Originally Posted by XxMidigamixX

Other packs that weren't mentioned:
G-pop's touhou pad packs

I don't think my pack is really popular for being good. It's popular for being a TOUHOU PAD pack, which a lot of the touhou community enjoys playing stepmania on pad. Really, I rarely see people play my Oni charts on pad though. At most I see them play Heavy. (part of it being that ITG2 is dying, so most go back to DDR than anything).

I was actually surprised at the response and popularity I got from the 3rd pack though. I thought it'd be dead from responses by then, but I was wrong. So making a fourth is looking like a good idea. Of course, I just make them because it's a nice hobby of two things I like put together.

Of course, I actually got a personal "stepmania" project being worked on that's gonna be more advanced than just a simple pad pack or even WinDEU's Hate You series.

[XxMidigamixX]

Originally Posted by ddr_f4n

I don't think my pack is really popular for being good. It's popular for being a TOUHOU PAD pack, which a lot of the touhou community enjoys playing stepmania on pad. Really, I rarely see people play my Oni charts on pad though. At most I see them play Heavy. (part of it being that ITG2 is dying, so most go back to DDR than anything).

I was actually surprised at the response and popularity I got from the 3rd pack though. I thought it'd be dead from responses by then, but I was wrong. So making a fourth is looking like a good idea. Of course, I just make them because it's a nice hobby of two things I like put together.

Of course, I actually got a personal "stepmania" project being worked on that's gonna be more advanced than just a simple pad pack or even WinDEU's Hate You series.

Well, even minor packs contribute to the growth of SM imo. at this time, anything could contribute to the game since we're in basic need of sims and packs to cater to every crowd. But that's me hehehe.

[FFR4EVA_00]

in the beginning there was nothing
and then someone said, "let there be stepmania"
and there was stepmania
nothing much has changed

btw i think someone will find it funny that the "release date" for stepmania on wikipedia is the one for 3.9

[TheNoSoMan]

I found it coincidental that I'm reading the history of Stepmania and at the same time a biblical interpretation of the ITG community at another forum.

[Duplica]

Originally Posted by Reincarnate

Ungh it's such a curse though. Most catchy songs I listen to seem to auto-translate into steps in my head.

this so much hahaha

[XxMidigamixX]

Originally Posted by TheNoSoMan

I found it coincidental that I'm reading the history of Stepmania and at the same time a biblical interpretation of the ITG community at another forum.

What? Has rythm gaming gone religious ?_? *sike* Anyhow, I would figure out if there was another era that went on but I'm not too sure myself.