Critical Distance Fansite Jam 2026

Howdy folks!

A little under two years ago, we ran an event called the Critical Distance Fansite Jam. In it, we solicited submissions in the form of fansites–old-fashioned personal websites devoted to a topic the author is interested in. Fansites come in all shapes and sizes, and the practice of making them stretches all the way back to the earliest days of the Internet, but our immediate inspiration was a contemporary example in the form of Phil Salvador’s Final Fantasy VIII is the Best And If You Don’t Agree I Will Destroy You. And yes, it’s still being updated.

Taking Phil’s example as motivation, we organized a jam and were blown away by the results: seventeen weird and wonderful fansites. Shadows of the Empire? Check. An online local broadsheet for the Mushroom Kingdom? Check. A shrine dedicated to the best RTS console port of all-time? …Ch-Check.

Now, we’re doing it again. This is our call for submissions for the 2026 edition of the Critical Distance Fansite Jam. Here are the updated rules:

1. Your submission should be a website! In the spirit of DIY fansites of yore, your submission should be a standalone, topic-focused, publicly-viewable website, which isn’t tethered to a major social media platform (i.e. Tumblr) or existing blog or newsletter-hosting services (i.e. Medium, Substack).
2. Submissions cannot be created with drag-and-drop solutions like Wix, Squarespace, Google Sites, etc. There are a bunch of reasons why we are including this as a new rule this year, but top-of-mind is the increased integration of generative AI tools on these platforms–it’s becoming less drag-and-drop and more vibe-and-slop. We think this state of affairs is antithetical to the creative spirit of the jam, and of homemade fansites in general. Beyond that, it’s up to you where you host your site–Neocities is an accessible place to start, has a built-in HTML editor, and offers free hosting services. If you’re anxious about participating because you’ve never touched code before, keep reading.
3. If it’s not already clear from the above, please do not use generative AI tools to design or populate your fansite.
4. Subject matter is flexible. If you think you’d like to participate but are not sure what you want your fansite to look like (whether in terms of content or design), a great first place to start is our roundup post of submissions from the 2024 Fansite Jam. You’ll see sites of all shapes, sizes and styles here, ranging in subject matter to single games, to series, to broader topics of inquiry, and even a few about games that never existed (or did they?). Remember as well that tabletop, sports, LARP, and other digital or nondigital games are also welcome. We think suggesting games as a topic is useful primarily to provide a bit of structure if you aren’t sure what you want to do yet, but we’re not trying to gatekeep, so the association can be loose.
5. There is no length requirement or limit. A fansite can be a single page, or it can be an accumulated digital tome representing years or even decades of work. Since we’re running this jam for about six weeks, we don’t expect many submissions to be that long, but we see no value in imposing limitations here.

That’s it for rules! Now for some extra stuff on organization:

• In order to participate, please join our Discord! In prior years where we have run events we have also accepted submissions via email, but on an increasingly ad-cluttered and enshittified Internet it has become impractical to monitor our email closely. Discord also provides a convenient hub to connect with other jam participants (as well as a wider community of critics, writers, and enthusiasts).
• Submissions close on February 28th, 2026 (tentatively), and will be followed by a showcase roundup collecting the submissions. Depending on the popularity of this jam it may take a bit of time to produce this roundup, and we may even have to split it into several instalments, but the end goal here is to showcase your work!

Finally, a bit of advice:

• If you’ve never used HTML/CSS, don’t panic. We will have space on the Discord server for community tech support, coding tips, sharing of WIPs, etc. We can help you get up and running with tools that align with our creative values and goals for the jam. If you’re willing to learn, it’s possible to get up and running with the basics of website coding in an afternoon, and there are lots of folks on our server who will be willing to answer questions.
• Make the site about something you care about, and make your site yours. You do not have to be the foremost expert on your topic, but it should be something you want to write about and want to share with the world.

Okay, that’s it for real now. Show us your weird and wonderful fansites!