Why IZC is Better than ZHQ
By Navie
I'm sure that you, a devoted Zelda fan, have been to many different Zelda websites in your long, cyber-space travels. And during those travels, you have undoubtedly been to Zelda Headquarters, Z64, and many more of the other big sites. And of course, since you are reading this, you have been to Ice's Zelda Central.
First off, let me tell you a bit about my experience with Ice's Zelda Central ("IZC"). It was just a typical day in the internet world, sometime in June, I believe. My friend had told me about IZC, and I had told her that I would check it out. That was a month before the time of which I speak. She started bugging me about it again, so I just went. And honestly, I didn't expect any thing special. But what I got really blew me away. IZC was nothing at first glance, but I started diving into the sections, and hours later, I had still not covered half of the site. There was so much there, it was unbelievable!
So I went back the next day. And the next. And there was always more to read or something else to do. And Ice's almost daily updates didn't help with getting through all of it, either. Several days later, I had searched every nook and cranny of the site. What I had gained from all of that was a vast a mount of new Zelda knowledge. And I had realized something else. I had gotten more out of this site than I had gotten out of any other Zelda site. All of them combined couldn't match the info and features that Ice had accumulated. So I began to think. Ice' s Zelda Central was still practically unknown. Only by the slightest chance did anyone ever find it. And Ice was doing the page all by himself. I knew that once people started hearing about the page, then it would become incredibly popular, and I had wanted to start a Zelda website of my own but couldn't due to various reasons (lack of HTML knowledge, for one thing), so my genius brain put two and two together.
I e-mailed Ice. Told him that I could help out a lot with the page. He e-mailed me back with a dopey letter saying that he didn't need help. Yeah, right. He's a man. Of course he needs help. Eventually, I had convinced him to let me aboard.
That's how I got on this marvelous staff. Now, back to my main reason for writing this editorial. Why is Ice's Zelda Central the best? In the early days, there was only one explanation. Dedication. If Ice hadn't devoted so much of the summer of 1998 to the page, who knows what kind of shape it would be in? Now, let me compare the two top Zelda sites. Zelda HQ and IZC.
Let's start out with the webmasters. First, you have Niels. Now here's a guy who has excellent HTML and webpage designing skills. He has made one of the most popular sites ever on the internet. And he should be greatly commended for that. But here's the problem . He doesn't know jack about Zelda. Now before you bust a hemroid, hear me out. Okay. The only reason he even picked to make a Zelda site in the first place was because Zelda 3 was his favorite game. A legitimate reason. But, the truth is, he only owns Zelda 3. None of the other games. He would be nothing if it weren't for you brainless little fans who sent in all your reviews and editorials and strategies and everything. Take away all of your knowledge that you have given him and leave everything that he himself knows and has done, and what do you have? A Zelda page along the lines of my grandma's. Plus, Niels has a huge ego problem (and I, of course, have nothing of the sort). Niels has admitted that ZHQ was just a site to prove to the world his abilities , and Zelda just happened to be the topic he chose. So that leaves most of you out there, craving Zelda info, when all you get is an update usually less than once a week from a guy that knows as much about Zelda as I know about cow poop. And he's got a 16 member staff, and they only get out an update less than once every seven days? I mean, come on! And they're always the last to get news, or, at least, the last to tell us about any.
On the other hand, here we've got Ice, webmaster of Ice's Zelda Central. When Ice started out this page, his HTML was about as good as my Spanish. If any of you ever visited the site when it had it's original black and yellow layout, you know what I mean. But, as you can see, it has greatly changed since then. As for popularity, hardly anyone knows about IZC, so that really hurts the site. But when people actually start finding out about it, IZC could become a powerful force on the internet. And do you want to know why IZC could surpass even ZHQ? Ice doesn't have to rely on all his visitors for Zelda info! He knows it! That's why he's been able to make so many updates and answer so many game questions and write the reviews and have detailed story sections and write all these editorials and answer the letters and everything else! He knows the stuff! Other visitors and stuff do send in their work and contributions, but if you took away that, and Ice's knowledge met Niels's one-on-one, Ice would blow him away without even a hint of competition. For all of you people that are not satisfied with ZHQ's small updates and lack of good, quality info, search this site completely. I know that a true fan will find it much more rewarding.
In closing, I challenge you to explore both of the sites fully, maybe even rate them, decide which one you like best, and make the winner the top one on your little mental list. I strongly suggest you just visit both of them regularly. If you ever have anything to submit, though, remember that Ice's Zelda Central publishes fan's work a whole lot more that ZHQ, perhaps fifteen or twenty times more. that means that you have a 1500%-2000% better chance of getting your work recognized and put up for the world to see right here at Ice's Zelda Central. Examine both sites fully. Which one do you choose, no knowledge, or knowledge. No updates, or updates? Mediocre, or quality? ZHQ, or Ice's Zelda Central?
