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Forums - General - The RolStoppable Appreciation Thread

 

Should RolStoppable be the first member of the VGChartz Hall of Fame?

Yes 6 42.86%
 
HELL YES 3 21.43%
 
nah, firebush03 should be first instead 0 0%
 
firebush03 are you serious? 0 0%
 
well yeah he is basically the new rol 0 0%
 
-_- just no 5 35.71%
 
Total:14

He was correct on Switch's massive success, right? If I recall correctly, he predicted it would succeed and a lot of us (I even thought it was a good possibility) thought a cliff could come for Switch around 2021-2024, and it did not happen.
I thought Switch would probably outsell NES, and maybe 3DS. I did not see it probable that it would surpass DS.



Lifetime Sales Predictions 

Switch: 159 million (was 73 million, then 96 million, then 113 million, then 125 million, then 144 million, then 151 million, then 156 million, then 161 million)

PS5: 116 million (was 105 million, then 115 million, then 122 million)

Xbox Series X/S: 38 million (was 60 million, then 67 million, then 57 million. then 48 million. then 40 million)

Switch 2: 120 million (was 116 million)

PS4: 120 mil (was 100 then 130 million, then 122 million) Xbox One: 51 mil (was 50 then 55 mil)

3DS: 75.5 mil (was 73, then 77 million)

"Let go your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind." - Guru Laghima

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I don't have that many cool stories to tell but I just realized the extent to which Rol influenced these forums. Back in 2007-2010, the glory days of the Wii and DS, Rol basically led the Nintendo community on this site.

So, to add my own story, I want to talk about Sean Malstrom and Rol's possible secret identity.

If you don't know, Sean Malstrom was a famous blogger (he still blogs, but is a lot less famous now). In fact, he was the blogger that spread the word about Nintendo's strategy: The Wii was a disruptive product and the DS a blue ocean product. If you hear these words today, it's because of Malstrom's blog posts from 2005-2007. He had one piece called "birdmen and the casual fallacy" in which he explained why the Wii was a success and why Sony and Microsoft struggled and couldn't just copy it. It was a magnificent piece. 

I'm pretty sure Rol read Sean Malstrom's blog. In fact, I wondered if Rol was Sean Malstrom.

Rol was basically the gospel of Malstrom on this website, even though he never directly admitted it. Rol had a deep understanding of the Wii's success and as I was fascinated by these business theories, I gobbled them up and so Rol and I often argued side-by-side. Rol so perfectly explained the things Malstrom explained (just in other words) that I often wondered if Rol had a secret identity. Was he actually Malstrom? I will never know, but I think it's a cool theory.



And one more story, on a more personal note. This one is about me being a cocky idiot and Rol instantly seeing through my false game. 

Ironically, the fact that Rol so perfectly spelled out my own thoughts most of the time when it came to Nintendo's success (or lack thereof) led to me taking a long break from this website - at least in terms of posting. I would always lurk and enjoy his posts and the conversations, but I would hardly post. Well, that was one of the reasons.

The other reason was that I was ashamed. Back in 2007 I was the one who wrote the press release for this website when the Wii overtook the Xbox360 in sales. It was a huge hit, even the New York Times quoted us! It really made VGChartz explode in popularity for quite some time and more press releases and articles would be the number one story on yahoo.com in the following years. This site was big back then, and I was one of the reasons behind it! I was proud of myself... and full of myself. I even got to write a monthly article in the biggest German Nintendo magazine (N-Zone) at the time, with VGChartz branding and all. 

Unfortunately, I was only a cocky teenager and I didn't deserve that success at all. I neglected my responsibilities as a moderator for this site. I neglected my responsibilities as the "head of the PR team" (yeah, cocky title, huh?). And I was ashamed. So I stopped posting, but couldn't keep away from this site forever. Rol's posts were just as brilliant as ever and so I came back with an alt account and posted under that name.

Nobody noticed, except for Rol of course! He posted on my wall that I must either be a long-time lurker or an alt account and I'm pretty sure he knew who's alt account I was, even though he never said so. So Rol instantly saw through my false game.

But he never called me out. Instead, he supported me. When I wrote a post that gamers hadn't abandoned Nintendo, but Nintendo had abandoned its customers (back during the Wii U days) and thus Nintendo could make a comeback he quoted my post and wrote "I nominate this for post of the week". Was one of my proudest moments here! 

And thus, Rol of course was the reason when the Switch was revealed I felt confident enough (despite my prior failings of character on this website) to predict that the Switch would be a huge success and sell over 100 million units (which, back then, nobody believed). And of course it was Rol who argued side by side with me and supported my arguments. 

So yeah, without Rol, I wouldn't be posting this right now. I hope he's alright, wherever he is right now.