Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 3:55 am
ive had him ignored for years, works much better than telling him to shut up repeatedly
I'm sorry Kap...i couldn't resist...i need help, therapy or somethingKap wrote:QUOTE (Kap @ May 17 2012, 02:29 PM) It's your opinion, it's partially true like most opinions. You only see what you are used to or have knowledge of. I'm sure there are diehard fans that don't play anything else and dream about allegiance every day, that's alright in my book, unconditional support is what drives and keeps something going on during the rough times. But there are also casual players who, like most games, comprise most of the player base. These are people who like the game for what it is, for the raw fun they get. They are getting their fun somewhere else right now.
People have differing opinions on what is the right size for a fun game but something is undoubtedly true: the game (or main core) is not designed and not fun for the 2vs2 or 5vs5 we have right now.
So what is the cause of all this? Why don't we have a positive balance of people in - people out? Yes it could be the current players, maybe they have become so close and tight that they don't accept any new people's input in their ways of doing things and that drives people away. So what if it's that? (I personally think it is not) well then you just let it die and move on if you are not interested in solutions. Maybe you are but then, your cause of the problem becomes irrelevant. If the current people (which are very few) are the problem then you can just dilute them with a bunch of new people who make their own way of playing regardless of what the 'old and corrupted' think. The current playerbase is so small that a circle of 10-15 people could probably come into the game, win every game with disruptor 2 and proclaim it as the best weapon and a winning tactic. The couple of 'old and corrupted' that remain? they will probably be thinking they are stupid but what can they do? It's a circle of like-minded people who, like them, won't easily accept the fact that disruptor 2 is stupid (ok not always but for this example it is), so they just leave. So, the current bad apples become irrelevant because of the current size of the playerbase. Almost any half-active squad right now has so much influence on what the current valid tactics are like in my example and this can occur too with new players who think alike and start making their own circles.
So how do we get hundreds of players to come, stay, compete and show the other which is the best strategy not by being the only line of thought but by emerging victorious in-game against other ways of achieving victory?
One obvious thing to do is increasing the fanbase by attracting the right kind of players, those who have more time to spend and are experienced enough to understand and/or appreciate strategy. These used to be late late teens and early 20's not yet working, but new generations may differ from this. Now, these people won't just magically appear and join us. There needs to be publicity, they need to know this game exists for them to even have a chance of becoming a casual players, let alone a big fan. The places that used to serve as advertisements for the game are obviously not having the same impact that they used to. Some Web pages where we used to be listed are probably out of service by now or we are simply buried down by the most recent games they list. More exposure is needed, people need to know this game exists in order to get more people playing.
So what about the game itself, the mechanics. There are things that need to be done in order to maximize the probability of fun for a guy that is playing for the first time. Many things have been said, and most of them will help, but one of them I'm personally more inclined towards making it a priority and that is the dead time between games. This dead time where people are just chatting about what happened in the last game or how awesome they are may be good for morale building and comraderie but doing it for several minutes before a new game starts is definitively not attractive for a new guy who has a bunch other games to choose from and which probably don't take as much time to start. I understand the need to cool down after a great or horrible game but this could be done in a separate main lobby while people who are fresh or new can join those ready to play again and start a new game, instead of forcing the cool down on everyone.
Then there are the commanders, another essential part of the game. R6 brings some improvements to make commanding less of a chore and more entertaining/challenging (he3 rocks and indicators, probe marks, etc) and these kind of improvements is another thing that needs to continue in further developments of the code, regardless of the bringing back of the ACS or another program that speeds up the competence of players willing to take the lead.
In a way you are helpful elzam, because you trigger these kind of discussions and make people want to prove you wrong just to shut your mouth. But that can be done by anyone and you are not the first. You could continue being helpful and propose or be part of solutions. Or you could just move on thinking that you did everything you could, because maybe that is indeed everything or the only thing you think you can do.