Why is it that every time there is a great medium out there, somebody uses it for their own gain or perverse pleasures? We’ve had examples of this in security leak on Xbox some years ago, accounts that are stolen in online games like World of Warcraft (or stripped of gear and gold), problems with accounts on Facebook. I’m sure there are many more examples. Closer to home, in Nintendo gaming, it happened to Swapnote, or Letterbox as it’s called in Europe.
Swapnote is a perfect example of something really great, developed with connecting the gaming community in mind. I think the developers at Nintendo didn’t think there would be people out there who wanted to use such an innocent app for not so innocent pictures or other perverse ways. Such a pity to see that end, and to me it changed the meaning of my friend list on the 3DS to pretty meaningless.
As I’ve mentioned earlier we have a nice group of gaming Ladies gathered together, and when Swapnote arrived we found extra incentive to make sure we all had each other on the friend list. I remember vividly the first few messages I got in real handwriting. Coached by Nikki I got to know the ladies in the group so much better. We shared pictures, voice messages, festive greetings at Christmas, sweet birthday cards. The various stationary was a stroke of genius, always exiting to get new ones. And it was never boring, seeing the blue light and knowing there were messages waiting. Swapnote got us connected in a way that even Facebook can’t do.
Nowadays Nintendo has decided to lock everything down as much as possible in the MiiVerse. I do understand their decision in doing that, but to me, MiiVerse can’t even hold a candle to how good Swapnote was. No pictures allowed aside from gaming screenshots. No voice recordings, no stationary and no way to form a group. Pity that some people just have to ruin it for others!
I wish I was able to enjoy swapnote that way. I hardly ever use it probably because of a lack of people playing the 3DS in my area. So for me, the miiverse was a cool way to connect with other Nintendo fans, although of course, nothing beats being with these Nintendo fans talking and playing at the same time in the same location.
I was lucky to have a group of ladies all over the globe in my swapnote, who’d known each other for some time on Facebook already. That’s what made it fun! I do think I should give MiiVerse another shot, you make it sound fun!
Definitely. Especially for game recommendations. 🙂
What’s your MiiVerse name? I’ll look for you on there tomorrow.
I loved SwapNote! I was sad to see it go. It was a cute and fun way to message people. I think I looked at Miiverse a few times, but I haven’t used it much.
Me neither. I tried getting into MiiVerse but it’s just not for me…