Miiverse

For further reading on Miiverse:

Miiverse on Le Miiverse Resource

• Miiverse Timeline

Miiverse on Miiversepedia

History

Miiverse was powered by Nintendo Network, and was created so users could share their video game experiences with others. Those with a Nintendo Network account could access Miiverse, and the account's Mii would be the profile picture for Miiverse. Because of this, the amount of users on Miiverse was equal to the amount of Nintendo Network accounts there were at the time (around 26 million), even if the accounts never posted to Miiverse at all.

Miiverse was divided into communities, and users were expected to make on-topic posts relating to each community. The communities consisted of series communities (commonly for big Nintendo IPs), and communities for individual games. Almost every game that was put on the Wii U or 3DS eShop had a community corresponding to it. Communities could be favorited by users, and a list of a user's favorite communities would be displayed on their profile.

There are instances in most Wii U games that allowed users to make messages on Miiverse (such as Super Mario 3D World). There are also instances where users can make posts on Miiverse itself that would affect certain parts of the game (such as Super Smash Bros. for Wii U's Miiverse stage).

Prior to the redesign, users were able to post without any limits, though they were restricted from making one post after another by time restraints. Also prior to the redesign, users could post in the activity feed, and any of the user's followers that visited the Activity Feed could see the post there. 

Miiverse had an infamously strict administration during its lifetime. The admins were bots that would delete users' posts if they contained inappropriate language, spam, personal information (such as friend codes), or anything else that violated the Miiverse Code of Conduct. Drawings would be deleted if the admins determined that they contained sexually explicit content. Reposts of deleted content would be deleted once more. Repeated violations lead to temporary bans of 3 hours (commonly for spam) or 2 weeks (anything else). Repeated temporary bans would cause a user to be permanently banned from using Miiverse. Many users created alternate Nintendo Network accounts, also known as sockpuppets, to continue posting. If these accounts got banned repeatedly, the entire console would be banned from accessing the site.

A list of admin messages can be found here.

Redesign

On July 29, 2015, Miiverse went through a redesign to match the site's original intentions. This redesign was very controversial among Miiverse users, with many leaving due to it. The redesign introduced the Play Journal, which allowed users to post their game experiences. Users could no longer post on most communities unless they were Play Journal entries, nor could they post in the Activity Feed anymore. Users could only post 30 times a day, though there was no limit on posts made from a game, and the time restraint was shortened. This led to the popularity of communities unchanged by the redesign, such as the New Super Luigi U and the Legend of Zelda Series communities.

Shutdown

On August 29, 2017, the users Tom and Erika from Nintendo made posts announcing Miiverse’s shutdown. The shutdown was likely due to Nintendo moving on from the Wii U to the Switch, so at that point the server was not worth supporting. This announcement received mixed reception from users, with some celebrating the end of the site and others wanting Miiverse to be saved. A drawing-only community was made so users could upload art that would be featured on a mosaic. Additionally, from that point on, users could get an archive of their post history emailed to them by Nintendo after Miiverse shut down. 

During its final months, Miiverse was more prone to hacking than ever. A lot of Miiverse hackers would "magic post" (post images and videos that they are not allowed to post legitimately) on places such as the New Super Luigi U community, with some even posting NSFW imagery. Users would also create Public Miis and spam on communities, with some even trying to MM57 (intentionally spamming posts violating the Code of Conduct). On places such as the YouTube community, there were many people who decided to draw NSFW material such as penises. It is rumored that the administration was shut down on Miiverse's final day.

On November 7, 2017, at 10:00 PM PST, Miiverse was shut down alongside Wii U Chat and the Japanese version of Nintendo TVii, two other Nintendo Network applications. Despite being shut down, the app icon for Miiverse is still present on both the 3DS and the Wii U.

Reception and Legacy

Miiverse meant different things depending on who is asked. Some people believed that Miiverse was good up until the redesign (or not good at all), while others liked the comfiness of the site. Most Miiverse users showed hatred towards the strict administration and the long bans. Some people defended the Miiverse administration, though a lot of the time it was for trolling purposes.

Miiverse was a large community with many different types of people. Some posts, usually in the YouTube community, showed users attempting to e-date each other. These types of posts were ridiculed, and were featured on Miiverse YouTuber Giga Gamby's series, A Typical Miiverse Relationship. Many posts, whether they were jokes or not, were screencapped and shared online to showcase the bizarreness of Miiverse, and were also the origins of several memes. One notable example is Bigley, a popular figure in Miiverse based on a drawing one user made that was supposed to joke about Ridley being too big for Super Smash Bros.

Miiverse inspired many clones due to its problems like the administration and the post limits. Most of these clones were created by Miiverse hackers. For instance, Openverse was released Summer of 2017, and improved upon Miiverse by implementing a lack of post limit, pre-redesign posting features, and the ability to post images and urls.

The announcement of Miiverse's shutdown caused several users to create forums and Discord servers so they could still talk to one another. Some users also developed and released clones of Miiverse in order to house some of Miiverse's userbase in a different, Miiverse-like environment. An archive of many of the posts Miiverse had known as Archiverse was launched to the public in early 2018.

Former users have mixed feelings of Miiverse's shutdown. Some miss the site since it seemed to hold a charm due to how it was. Others were glad or didn't care that the site shut down due to the bad memories they had or the cringeworthy posts they encountered. Some people were and still are distraught that they were unable to keep in contact with their Miiverse friends.

Overall, Miiverse had a huge impact on many people for both its positive and negative traits.