Celebrating 23 Years of The Sonic Stadium! Members' Shop Returns! Earn Rings, Collect Cards!

[Dreadknux]

Is it really that time again, already? Today is October 24th, which means it's the Sonic Stadium's anniversary! We've now been running for 23 YEARS since we launched in the year 2000 - how mind-blowing is that?

It’s kind of hard to overstate just how much this site and our community has accomplished over the last two decades. We became the leading voice of Sonic the Hedgehog News. Our forums are world-famous for being the online water cooler for SEGA fans. We pioneered audio streaming with SEGASonic Radio, and were doing live podcasts like The Sonic Hour well before the word ‘podcast’ had even been invented. Chance meetings with SEGA Europe reps in the mid-2000s kick-started an internal process that led to the Community and Social outreach programmes that the company engages in today. And, of course, there’s Summer of Sonic.

For 23 years, this humble little webpage has been leading the charge at the forefront of the online Sonic community, and part of the reason we’re still here, I think, is because we continue to evolve as community (and broader internet user) trends change. From a static web page that connected to others via Webrings, to Wordpress news blogs and now a unified community portal covering a broad range of content.

As the guy who runs the show, I could just sit here right now and pat myself on the back all day long... but the truth is, it’s not me that has been the key to The Sonic Stadium’s impressive endurance. It’s you guys. Since the very first day on October 24, 2000 - since I saw that very first hit on my Site Counter as a 15-year-old kid - I have been eternally grateful for every single person who comes by to check out what we have here and what we have to say (even if they don’t like it!). And I simply can’t evolve a website to meet fellow Sonic fans where they are, if I never received any feedback or engagement from visitors in the first place.

So, just as I do every year, I want to dedicate this site anniversary to you guys. The Sonic fans who have found a home here, who visit every day to get their Sonic fix, or come to chat with friends about the latest stuff, or even just to complain to me about how badly I reacted to the announcement of Sonic and the Black Knight. I appreciate all of you. The Sonic Stadium is a reflection of my love for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, but it has always been dedicated to the community. Thank you, truly, for the last 23 years of support.

To celebrate you all, and because we're nearing Halloween, here's an old-school classic.

Now, let’s get to the fun stuff.

Introducing: The Sonic Stadium Members Shop

We are bringing back a big feature that was incredibly popular in the early days of the SSMB - the Members Shop! Here, you’ll be able to buy nifty little site features and trinkets for your Sonic Stadium account using Rings - the digital currency of our community.

SHOP

You can find the Member Shop menu under the ‘Browse’ navigation header on the site. To start with, there will be two kinds of item you can spend your Rings on: Sonic Stadium perks/games and what we’re calling ‘Profile Cards’.

For the Sonic Stadium perks, we tried to think of a couple of fun games that can offer the chance to significantly boost Ring count, as well as some site enhancements that can offer some entertainment without completely wrecking the place. This includes a prize that lets you Pin any topic in the forums to the top of the page for a seven-day period, and even a whole new ‘Boosted!’ usergroup promotion that offers a number of perks like more visibility, highlighted replies and Double Ring Bonuses on a daily basis. We’re always thinking of new ideas too, so watch this space.

PROFILE CARDS

This is where we imagine you’ll want to spend the majority of your Rings - with Profile Cards, we’re launching a special set of Collectable digital items that you can keep on your Sonic Stadium account and show off on your profile. At the moment there are two categories: ‘Sonic Collection Series 1’ and ‘SEGA Console Collection’, but I am already getting loads of ideas for new Collections to introduce over time too, and I think this feature in particular is really exciting. I had a lot of fun getting the SEGA Console Collection organised, for sure.

MY ITEMS

When you purchase an item, you have the option to either ‘Buy & Use’ immediately, or ‘Buy & Store’. If you do the latter, you can visit your ‘My Items’ page where you can opt to Sell Back the item to the Store (minus a % Sellback Charge) or Send it along to a friend if you don’t want it anymore. Once you Use the item though, it’s locked to your account.

Speaking of which, you can check your Collection via a special tab on your Profile page (illustrated below), with collected Cards filled in colour so you can see at a glance what you’re missing. Duplicates for a particular Card are illustrated with a number in a green circle above the Card (at present, these cannot be traded or sold back, but it’s something I’m hoping we can look at introducing in the future).

RINGS

All logged-in members will earn Rings for posting and engaging with our community content. To avoid people from abusing the system (making posts just to boost their Ring count), we won’t be too specific as to how many Rings you get for doing what, but you will earn credit for the following:

• Posting a Topic in a Forum
• Replying to a Topic in a Forum
• Creating an Event in the Community Calendar
• Commenting on a Calendar Event
• Joining a Club (the same number of Rings are subtracted from your account if you leave or get kicked from the Club)
• More… (Coming Soon)

(You will not earn Rings for posting or replying to Status Updates, or for Reactions to content)

Topic Starters in the main community Forums will also earn Rings for each reply that is posted in your topic. So think of some good discussion ideas that can really get people chatting! We are also looking into a Registration Referral reward system, where existing members who refer a new user to sign up for a Sonic Stadium account will earn extra Rings. Look out for more details on that soon.

New registered users will also start off with 1,000 Rings to spend in the Store, and there are Bonus Ring incentives that we have set up to encourage posting and content creation across the site. As long as you create 1 post in the specified time frame, you can earn a Daily Bonus (20 Rings), a Weekly Bonus (15 Rings) and a Monthly Bonus (10 Rings).

Finally, I should mention that you can Donate Rings to other Sonic Stadium members (this option can be found in your User Menu, under ‘Content’) if you want to be generous, and you can take advantage of a Bank system where you can deposit Rings (at a 10% charge) that can accrue monthly interest (20%) if you leave it sitting there. Good for building that Scrooge McDuck Moneybin.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BONUS

To kick things off in the best possible way, I have given every member of the Sonic Stadium an Anniversary Present of 2,000 Rings. You can spend this however you want; maybe you want to try your luck and gamble it at the Shop to win more Rings? Perhaps spend it right away on a Profile Card? Or maybe even just Bank or Donate it? It’s up to you!

I honestly had a LOT more to talk about, but just bringing this Member Shop back has been an insane level of effort in terms of testing, researching the right level of Ring distribution/pricing (which may still be tweaked over time, so don’t worry), and stocking the store itself… time has really gotten away from me to talk about anything else, but that’s okay because RINGS ARE BACK, BABY!

I’ll let you all enjoy this lovely new feature, and we can talk about more new features to come later this week (if you’re balking at some of the prices in the Member Shop, just wait until these new features come in because it could be the key to really helping you earn more Rings).

Other important Member / Usergroup changes have been made in preparation for some other stuff, so I have included this below too!

Happy 23rd Anniversary to The Sonic Stadium - and to you!

Thanks, once again, for everything.

Changes to Member Usergroups 

• The ’Newbie’ usergroup no longer exists. All users that were in this usergroup have been moved into ‘Member’ (formerly known as ‘Sonic Community’), and all new registrations will enter at the ‘Member’ level with no relative restrictions on posting or content.
• New members will still have their first pieces of content screened by moderators before they are visible to the community. This is just to sense-check a user’s ability to adhere to our Community Guidelines.
• Signature rules have changed to reduce the number of maximum lines of text (from 15 to now 10), links (from 15 to 10), number of images (now 5) and individual image sizes (now 400 x 100). This is to keep sigs clean and discrete and focus on the post content.
• Members can now upload various media as attachments to content, with a larger maximum storage for each user. 
• You can now upload an avatar with a maximum size of 1280px width/height, with a maximum filesize of 5MB.
• There is now no limitation on the number of Clubs you can create (new Club creation may still be subject to moderator approval).
• Club owners can now add a Blog or Gallery in addition to a Forum and Calendar.

View full story

[Ghelatlishol]

A long, long time ago....in this galaxy, actually...

I had an account back in 2004. I can't remember for the life of me what I would have called it, probably segasarecool, as that was my email address :D

My buddy, Francisco, was my computer lab partner and more privy to the fan side of Sonic. He set me up with a great account and for some ungodly reason, I remember putting on my profile that I was from France. The things you do when you're a teenager. It was a lot of fun using our free time in computer lab to visit the site and chat with everyone on the forums.

One sad memory I have is unfortunately not understanding how a forum worked at first, and I drew the ire of a moderator by double posting on my own topic. 

All that being said, just glad to be here again :) Count me as a 19 year old member or still under a year here, doesn't matter. This is an awesome place!

[Knight Terror]

35 minutes ago, Ghelatlishol said:

A long, long time ago....in this galaxy, actually...

I had an account back in 2004. I can't remember for the life of me what I would have called it, probably segasarecool, as that was my email address :D

My buddy, Francisco, was my computer lab partner and more privy to the fan side of Sonic. He set me up with a great account and for some ungodly reason, I remember putting on my profile that I was from France. The things you do when you're a teenager. It was a lot of fun using our free time in computer lab to visit the site and chat with everyone on the forums.

One sad memory I have is unfortunately not understanding how a forum worked at first, and I drew the ire of a moderator by double posting on my own topic. 

All that being said, just glad to be here again :) Count me as a 19 year old member or still under a year here, doesn't matter. This is an awesome place!

That's wild!

[Dreadknux]

4 hours ago, Ghelatlishol said:

A long, long time ago....in this galaxy, actually...

I had an account back in 2004. I can't remember for the life of me what I would have called it, probably segasarecool, as that was my email address :D

Wow that's amazing! Did you have an account on here when it was a phpBB, or when it was an old Invision Board? We went through a whole heap of server crashes and forum platforms back then...

I have been collecting material for an archival project and I remember a user called SegaHead... was that the username you're thinking of?

[Ghelatlishol]

I'm not sure what kind of set up it was...I didn't know too much about that stuff back then (honestly, still don't.) All I can remember is that you used to have a little flag icon denoting country of origin.

I don't remember using the name SegaHead. I might have used segasarecool, crazyfrenchguy312, or angeliclayer, or some other nonsense like that. 

 

 

[ShadowForever]

Happy birthday Sonic Stadium!!! I joined only this year, but I appreciate your long and fun history! I wish you no looking back, no giving up, no letting go, and keep on running!

 

[DaBigJ]

I would browse the site anonymously (I.E. Without an account) during the times when Sonic Forces was leaking and the age of "Old Movie Sonic". Seeing the reactions and how everything happened back then...it felt oddly cathartic knowing I wasn't alone

[Knight Terror]

5 hours ago, Dreadknux said:

Wow that's amazing! Did you have an account on here when it was a phpBB, or when it was an old Invision Board? We went through a whole heap of server crashes and forum platforms back then...

Sounds like "fun" Lol

[Maria.Sosori]

I haven't been here that long, so I can't really share a memory... but still, congratulations! Running for 23 years is crazy!

(By the way, the artist is ghkswkda0s)

Edited October 24, 2023 by Maria.Sosori
added artist credits since i forgot

[CalmCha0s]

I've been using this site to view Sonic news for a while, but never made an account until recently. It's way past cool to have such an awesome community here. Happy anniversary Sonic Stadium, and to many more! 

[Shiny Gems]

It is quite great to see how long this place on the internet has lasted. Time really flies, huh?

Happy birthday, Sonic Stadium! Hopefully, it lasts for a long time from now.

[Knight Terror]

2 hours ago, Maria.Sosori said:

I haven't been here that long, so I can't really share a memory... but still, congratulations! Running for 23 years is crazy!

 

That picture gives me disaster girl vibes

[The Swordsman]

Happy Birthday Sonic Stadium! I know this will sound odd considering this is the social media age but till the site update I was largely a passive observer. But the new site update made it easier to interact, I really appreciate the hard work of the staff! 

[SolidSurgeTT]

I've been spying on this topic waiting to see what this "surprise" is.

[Dreadknux]

1 minute ago, SolidSurgeTT said:

I've been spying on this topic waiting to see what this "surprise" is.

Very soon. I think you'll all like it.

[Knight Terror]

6 minutes ago, Dreadknux said:

Very soon. I think you'll all like it.

[Maria.Sosori]

2 hours ago, Knight Terror said:

That picture gives me disaster girl vibes

I also completely forgot to credit the artist:

The artist is ghkswkda0s

[Knight Terror]

1 hour ago, Maria.Sosori said:

I also completely forgot to credit the artist:

The artist is ghkswkda0s

How do you pronounce that lol

[Indigo Rush]

This dang site basically raised me. I was a freshie in High School when I came across it and joined, it was here when I went to Military School and snuck on using school computers (I think I asked Dreadknux himself to ban me so I wouldn't be tempted to break PC protocol and I went back on it anyway lol), it was here when I graduated and went to college, it was here when I took a year in grad/seminary (and bailed on that), and it was there when I eventually got married, and it's here for me now. Now I just need to wait to have kids who'll grow up and scrape this site for my trash opinions.

One of my favorite memories here was the Sonic Boom redesign fall-out. I was just jaded enough to look past the insanity and laugh my brains out at the whole thing, and yes, we all survived that saga. I also always liked it when the community got together to collaborate on banner art or music albums (though I could never contribute to that) and it really helped this site feel like a home. 

Cheers!

[Knight Terror]

4 hours ago, Indigo Rush said:

This dang site basically raised me. I was a freshie in High School when I came across it and joined, it was here when I went to Military School and snuck on using school computers (I think I asked Dreadknux himself to ban me so I wouldn't be tempted to break PC protocol and I went back on it anyway lol), it was here when I graduated and went to college, it was here when I took a year in grad/seminary (and bailed on that), and it was there when I eventually got married, and it's here for me now. Now I just need to wait to have kids who'll grow up and scrape this site for my trash opinions.

One of my favorite memories here was the Sonic Boom redesign fall-out. I was just jaded enough to look past the insanity and laugh my brains out at the whole thing, and yes, we all survived that saga. I also always liked it when the community got together to collaborate on banner art or music albums (though I could never contribute to that) and it really helped this site feel like a home. 

Cheers!

What ride that must've been.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I joined around 2004-05, right at the beginning when the franchise and the fandom were entering the dark age with the release of Shadow’s game, and man has this place went through a lot of ups and downs.

The curse is strong with all of us who join it seems, because it amazes me that I’m on this site more than I am Instagram or Facebook.

Sucks that this place went through, what two or three server wipes?

[Maria.Sosori]

@Dreadknuxwill the feature be here to stay? You said that it was here before, so was it a limited feature? I hope it stays around this time, because it sounds really cool. When I joined a few days ago, I was wondering what that 'My Rings' tab was, haha!

[Ratchet25tx]

Happy Birthday TSS!!!!!

[DaBigJ]

But can we gamble our rings for Sonic's secret Chili Dog recipe?

 

I know it exists, Hedgehog. I fucking

[Sonicka]

Dang, 23 years? That is some proper time.

When I have the time I like to engage on here as my main forum / home, but that title was originally held by SonicAnime.net which often linked (or affiliated?) with The Sonic Stadium IIRC? So I did scout about here at times waaaaaaaay back in the heyday - but I didn't officially register until about 10 or 11 years ago. 

Saying that, I do once recall interacting with TSS was when I "reported" (and I say this in the extremely loosest of terms) on the very first Sonic Colours review for Wii. I got hold of this thanks to an early UK magazine publication arriving on my door (those were the days, huh?). I wrote down some of the hot points and my thoughts of the review to share online... at SA.net.

But the next thing I knew I was reading the exact same summarised bullet points I'd made of someone else's review on non-sonic / popular news sites and outlets (sorry NGC Magazine, was not my intention)... so that slightly freaked me out. But when I followed the chain of sources it lead me back here to TSS - and it became clear that someone whom frequented both SA.net and TSS simply shared my original post excitedly. Wild times (well, not really - but it felt like it in the heat of the moment lol). 
 

5 hours ago, Indigo Rush said:

...and it's here for me now. Now I just need to wait to have kids who'll grow up and scrape this site for my trash opinions.

I mean, at the time it feels right to try and indoctrinate your kid with your interests - but yeah... I feel this attempt is also going to massively backfire on me someday soon. XD