Yo, ANSi World is dead! Wowo!

Written by CoaXCable

Over a long, long time, ANSi was regarded as a really cool art that many people all over the world used to love. Yeah. Can you imagine? There was a gold rush for ANSis, both for BBSs and just for viewing them. Wow, damn, what a time, yeah, what a time...

The first time I saw an ANSi was when I connected to the BBS of my friend's, who was a member in the ANSi group I later joined. At first I thought, "What a funky ugly art!", but after getting used to it I started drawing it myself with the OPGod of the BBS!

ANSi is not an easy art and not so realistic. That is why many people think it should move off demo parties and totally disappear as an artform. It is the same as with pixeling: With the new graphics software, even this respected artform got kicked out of the scene.

Now the only "real thing" in the scene is when you use lots of effects. There are no cartoon-like pictures like those we, the ANSi makers, used to draw, there are no big letters, there are no huge pictures of several screens which you either had to scroll or get smaller in order to see all of them. With one word, in my opinion what we have today is not art any more!

Many people also abandoned ANSi drawing because it was too hard for them, and as we know, when people think something is bad or wrong they often just say: "Hell with that, it isn't worth it and ain't no good!"

ANSi stopped being a cool and worldwide art. The few remaining ANSi groups here and there are almost completely underground, not as it used to be. And if you say that you are an ansi/ascii dude, the others will answer, "Wowo, yeah, yeah, get lost," as if you were an old man aged 100 years and did not know about the new style of graphic art.

This is sad for me and for many people that are used to this BBS art, that cool art we used to draw for OPs who asked for them, or just for BBSs we liked.

I hope that ANSi or an equally nice art will be back one day and strike again!

For the New Age that has never known ANSi,

- CoaXCable / BNC / WIJ