About RedSpy

What is RedSpy?
RedSpy is a pseudo-revival of the old GameSpy site circa 2001 to 2008 with my own touches here and there. The site has been founded with three goals:
1. Serving as an independent gaming news aggregator free from corporate influence.
2. Serving the role of being a digital clubhouse/gaming community away from Discord and similarly bloated chat clients.
3. Preserving the old GameSpy site without solely stooping to nostalgic key-jingling.

RedSpy does NOT have a Discord and it never will. If any pop up in the future, they are not affiliated with us.

Why archive GameSpy?
GameSpy (1996-2013) was the cornerstone for multiplayer gaming in the late 90s and 2000s. It not only hosted thousands of game servers, but also hosted various subsites known as Planets that were dedicated to their own games and genres such as RPGPlanet, 3DActionPlanet, etc. It was also one of the best ways to get information on the latest games as well as a wide variety of columns posted weekly about various gaming topics and even had an entire column dedicated to gaming-themed recipes in the form of Gaming Gourmet. I feel like the death of GameSpy and the Planet sites wasn't just a massive blow to the servers for hundreds of games leaving many still unplayable without clients like OpenSpy to this day, but it also killed off an entire community and it's subcommunities with it.

Another reason for starting this project is due to my fear of the original site being purchased by a domain squatter and resold to someone who will (likely) turn it into another content farm. It happened with sites like GamersHell, Abandonia, Reloaded.org, FilePlanet and Xfire and it very well may happen again with GameSpy's old site. There's also the fact that a lot of the Planet sites are down and many of their current links are redirecting to IGN's absolutely dogwater game wikis. While these sites are all archived via the Wayback Machine (hell, that's how I got the HTML, assets and code I'm using as the basis for this sub-site/shrine thingy), I feel like they deserve a proper restoration. This site has been made not with the goal of solely being nostalgic, but to preserve and hopefully reignite the flame that the old site once had.

Why was this site founded?
As stated above, this site was founded with the primary goal of preservation. One issue I've noticed with a lot of preservation projects or similar sites to my own is that they can often be very heavily reliant on nostalgia, frequently romanticising "the good old days" of the internet. There's nothing inherently wrong with wanting to reminisce on the past or looking fondly back on those days, but it's important to remember that rose-tinted lenses can often lead to nostalgia blindness over time which in this case can cause one to overlook certain aspects of the early internet. The old internet used to be far more free and wild, those things came with the caveat of having less moderation which often led to the frequent harassment of minorities, LGBTQIA+ folks and those with disabilities. It's important to preserve the past and it's good to expand on it if you truly want to. But at the same time, I feel it's important to acknowledge these things when doing so.

What's with all the filler text and articles?
As I said, a lot of this is a work-in-progress and much of the images and assets are carryovers from the archived pages. Don't worry, I do plan on updating things around here, just don't expect it to always be up-to-date or as sophisticated as other games journalism sites.

Is anyone from the original GameSpy team involved?
No, and I have no contact with anyone involved with the original site. I'm simply reusing much of the old UI and assets for this.

Who else is involved with the project?
At the moment, it's just myself but I do plan on hiring other writers at some point. Some of my friends may also contribute an article or column or two as well. If you're interested in contributing, shoot me an email @ redspy@hereticalproductions.net

Will this include a server revival for GameSpy Arcade?/Is this related to OpenSpy?
No, this project is not related in anyway to OpenSpy. The focus of this project currently is on reviving/emulating the feel of the old site. There's also a chatroom available on GameSpy Arcade via OpenSpy's patched client and we've got a gaming clan on Xf1re, an unofficial revival of Xf1re.

What are the Heretical Network Forums?
The Heretical Network Forums ar a gaming community, run by an inclusive group of people who believe that gaming is better without the influence of corporations or massive networks. We also occasionally run Frag Nights where we play different arena FPSes or deathmatch modes in FPS games for fun. No set schedule on those but regardless. Feel free to stop by if you're interested!

What is the Heretical Network?
Soon our congregation shall emerge... Standby for the signal, enbies, brothers and sisters of Eris.

LEGALESE: This project is not affiliated with GameSpy, IGN or Ziff Davis in any way, shape or form. Just a fan who wants to revive the site and forums.

With love,
- Heretical Aeris