Hello! My name is Shizhong, How are you all? Today I’m here to talk about the episode community. Everyone here is allowed and free to share any opinion they have which I doubt because I know this topic will flop but if this somehow gets reach then let’s talk about it lmao that was lame. I’ll start.
Anyone remembers when episode was literallysoooooo famous in like 2017-2019 then everything went downhill in the late 2019 when all of a sudden many episode fans/players/writers/creators just left I personally think it was because of the strict change of guidelines in like 2018 or 19 in like may-august idk… And soon after 2020 came atleast 60% of the episode community was gone. Even me, I had left the community for like a year and came back just to see the community’s downfall in action which is very sad because my whole childhood was based on episode. But when I went to the episode forum, everything seemed normal, everyone replied to threads as soon as they were created but as I’ve returned here again, I don’t see that anymore. Threads which are a week old don’t have any replies or anything. If only episode listened to the community maybe this community wouldn’t have flopped because now it is only dependent on old creators no offense to new creators and memes. If anyone would like to continue this looooong convo, Please feel free to continue this thread.
gems.
how they have let down authors
their weird baning politic, some have got for no reason.
How they look past popular authors problematic behvaior and rule breaking.
not to mention the coldness from the admins, no offensie to them, but all the cool admins have left. and I know its non of our bussines why they left, or where fired. but it would be nice to at least get a bit of information.
Also they are litarraly working here why are the admins never helping.
Tory who is new admin seem nice, but I think she got scared when she posted her first clothes update. she havent call them a name since, and just say clothes update.
Honestly I think it has to do with a couple of changes, not just one big reason.
INK to LIMELIGHT featured stories; Ink was the most popular because it was the most advanced story type out, and during this time (whether you agree or not) Episode made the best featured stories. Now, everything is just romance focused, with a mean girl, best friend, and expensive outfit changes. And because the featured stories are basically what represents Episode since it’s there when you first open the app, some people may not have liked this change and left.
People grew up. I’ve been playing Episode since like 2016 and there are times where I’ve uninstalled it cause I got bored and it was taking up space. I also haven’t been as active on here as I was during quarantine because of other things like school.
No more hype on the forums; I’ve looked back at some people’s profiles who are Episode Community Members and seen a lot of cool topics like Weekly Polls made by admin which would have so many replies in them. Now the only time it’s kind of like that is the new outfit releases, but even then it’s about 400 - 1000 replies depending on how good the clothes are.
There’s more, but I don’t want to list every single thing.
I noticed this when I came back to episode! I left the episode community around late 2019 and my instagram account. When I logged back in about 2 months ago to get back into episode and seeing the new things i realized a majority of the accounts i followed were deactivated gone or just stopped posting. I’ve also noticed the new updates that have taken place on episode and how much they (No disrespect to the authors ofcourse!) push the cliche romance stories over and over again and how much people need gems to the basic amount of things I don’t know when this started but i feel like a lot of people checked out when that happened.
I think the episode team should look at what all of us are saying and whats happening and completely do a 180 with how there doing things but at the end of the day its about the money im guessing.
I’ve been writing on episode since 2017 but I started playing in 2015 i believe when limelight characters became a new thing thats when things started to go down hill…
The forums are a lot less populated now as well. I think the main reason is the removal of the roleplay section, and the majority of people were here for that, which I don’t get honestly .
I wasn’t here on the forums for the roleplay section since I joined the forums in February of 2020.
So fucking true. Episode guidelines and their rules played a big part in the downfall of the community. I also got very angry when I saw the new guidelines on Instagram. I really hope episode hires new creators and new admins to make the app feel brand new because if we continue like this, there is no hope whatsoever for episode.
I agree with you on everything especially number 1 and number 2, My cousin who was a major fan of episode just started to lose interest after playing for 4 years from 2016-2020. She said episode got boring and didn’t have that unique vibe anymore. I think also that people left because episode stopped creating Hollywood stories anymore like Demi Lovato etc… Demi Lovato was really the blueprint of episode and gained atleast 70-90% of their players. I feel like episode should come back with a strong collaboration with an artist in the spotlight right now like Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eillish, Doja Cat etc… This wouldn’t gain not only some of the old fans of episode but new fans since they have a huge following. And, yes I am so mad about the switch to INK to the ugliest style in episode, Classic was classic but INK was the style which was the og of episode, Many people joined episode during the INK time and after they switched to limelight they just left. (and started doing the same and unoriginal stories.) If there is one thing I would love to see is diversion in episode featured Stories like Isadora, Deepest Desire, Watch me fly etc… And a genre which I truly love by my whole heart. BoyxBoy because there is not even a single BL story in the episode featured shelves named as “LGBTQ” It lacks sooo many things such as Ace people’s story etc… Lastly, I didn’t even payed attention to the roleplay category but it was one of the most active category in the forum (My old account here, Imsadi1) I noticed that the roleplay category was getting more recognition than other categories but when it was removed, episode forum users also just left because now, this place became a place to talk and get information, no nothing to have fun at all.
Oh my god, It’s like we experienced the same thing. I hope atleast episode or a major big admin of episode sees this because episode is in denial about the game and soon it will lose all it’s users.
Honestly! I was thinking about leaving again but now im working on a story and gotten really back into episode but as far as reading other authors stories atleast the ones i’ve read since ive been back on episode seems like people are going crazy with the way they can use gems in there story.
I love all the styles. Limelight and Ink are my fave styles because Ink is classic of course and Limelight has more diversity than the previous styles.
so i heard about episode a few years back, but never decided to start playing until last year in november. when i first began playing, i thought those cliche stories like love on fire and rulebreaker were so so good. i was obsessed with the episode original stories (keep in mind that i didn’t know there was such a thing as community stories). i then read last girl standing (or what was created of it since the author left episode) and i fell in love with it. it was such a good and different story. i then discovered community stories and currently am addicted to mystery stories such as evident by piki and sci-fi stories like deep space by ely. i feel like if episode decided to feature stories in the mystery, horror, sci-fi, thriller, action and adventure and make them more about those genres as opposed to cliche romance stories set in high school about taming bad boys, then episode would be so so much better.
Completely agree! My mind was blown when I realized that there is so much more than just the romance stories. The romance stories CAN be good of course, but the variety is astounding and a lot of the genres really aren’t featured.
The Last Girl standing was also an eye-opener for me too! It’s how I discovered community stories. And yeah, I’m a hard-core fan of the mystery genre too and I wish they would feature more stories like that instead of the cliche romance stories. (No hate to Episode or authors who make stories like this, just voicing my opinion. )
So true, I knew about the app after playing Demi Lovato: Path to Fame. It was the real deal back then. (Although, Episode surely has some great stories now, not all their stories are cliche. )
Well, they did discard the role play section, but the forum games section is still up and active and lots of users play forum games, so I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to have fun here. But yeah, I guess nothing hits home like role plays for the OG Episode community!
Dang yall are making me nostalgic.
I loved reading mean girls and demi stories nowadays I dont even read any features…I dont wanna be the badash girl whos super s3xy cold as nails type(tht cliche “cool” “relatable” idk why ppl think tht buuuut okaaay… MC) NOR do I wanna read stories where “omg u were a nobody/ordinary until the S3XY HAWT bland love intrest comes” like…what happened to cute build up whys everyone gotta be s3xy vapid shalllow whirlwind romances and rude “tough girl/realistic” MCs…EVEN THE MYSTERY SECTION.
Eh…im getting off topic but tht kinda goes with what was said. The forums aint the same and the apps SO NOT the same. It all feels so shallow to me and 1 look at the trending section and featured stories shows the direction it went in. The forums use to be chill…(been here for a LONG time) then the unnecessary banning happened THEN lotta racist crap said where those ppl wouldnt get banned and buncha other stuff like guidelines art changes happened. So lotta ppl left…the vibe hasnt been the same since.
Seriously…what happened to Demi stories. Mean girls. Pitch perfect. Clueless…LIKE whens the last time we even had a story on the features tht wasnt some bland rip off of another and had actual plot tht wasnt being s3xy…being a “badash” girl (really code for being rude as frick)…wheres stories with PLOT and SLOW burn fun but cute(not sappy as frick ur my reason for breathing) type of romances(or the option to be solo)
Yeah yeah ik i sound like a prude but cmon whens the last time we had an ACTUAL STORY WITH PLOT AND ACTUAL CHARACTERS.
Heck even a story with branching choices or real choices at all…(tht arent gems) idk episodes lost its magic a long time ago…I think the app is a SOME OF reason why the forums are what they became u.u
Exactly Marriage by law is such a great example of an episode feature story with a very slow-burn romance with no features of celebrities, just a good plot for an episode story with slow-burn romance.
I agree with all of you. When I joined the Episode Community back in 2016, there was so many different stories with unique plots. I wasn’t a fan of Classic but INK was what I could relate to. When Limelight came out, I was like “what the hell is this?” It wasn’t a style I could relate to. The animations and features were too weird. At least with INK the physical features and animations were relatable and easy to use. When I was told that Episode wasn’t going to update INK anymore, I lost interest and motivation in continuing my stories, plus for personal reasons too. I tried to get back into the interest of writing in 2019 but it wasn’t happening. It wasn’t until last month that I finally got a little inspiration to write. But I do remember how lively this forum used to be but now it’s like when someone is stiff instead of loose.
Another thing I have noticed is that instagram in connection with episode community have made a major affect. I remember when I joined the episode community on instagram, it was mostly about authors promoting their stories, artists creating edits of characters from stories or making story covers even that for free, not where you have to pay. Also, the episode community has a bad name that has been tarnished by the community on instagram. Nothing against instagram, but the people who create accounts using the episode name have hurt the episode reputation as well. I think this has affected the Episode company as well.
I definitely agree with you! I joined the forums properly in 2018 and I think that summer especially was probably the peak of the community. It just felt like one big family on the forums and anyone could talk about anything (mostly). I left in late 2019 or 2020 idek and came back this year properly and it’s all just so different. Forums just feels kinda deserted sometimes.
I think the reason for the downfall could be due to things including:
Rise in gem importance - You literally need so many gems for your story to thrive on the app, it was much easier before it was like this.
Admins - I don’t really see the admins on threads but I’m not that active here so maybe that’s why. Old admins used to chat with you or make their own threads for fun weekly polls like you said.
The drastic move from INK to Limelight - Now I love Limelight, but me and many others used to be dedicated INK supporters. I originally left, not totally to do with this, when they kept saying INK wouldn’t get updates anymore.
Today I’m here to talk about the episode community. Everyone here is allowed and free to share any opinion they have which I doubt because I know this topic will flop but if this somehow gets reach then let’s talk about it lmao that was lame. I’ll start.
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