More of my ramblings lol | Forums

[XGN_King_George]

i was just thinking about how fun it used to be playing rainbow six, rogue spear, urban operations, and black thorn on zone and mplayer.

back in those days you were literally dieing to get home and log onto zone or mplayer and see what games were on and who was playing.

usually the good games (the 16 players ones) hosted by known clans were full and you might have to wait 15 minutes just to get into one. and you would sit there hovering with your mouse pointer over the game table clicking feverishly for a spot.

and then when you were finally lucky enough to get one or you beat somebody to a spot you felt like you won the lottery. then you would enter the game and it was like cheers where everyone knew your name. you would be saying what's up to all the people who were dead and who were for the most part all regulars who you played with on a nightly basis.

the games in the series back then just had such a community feel to them and i know it had a lot to do with the setup and interface of both the msn gaming zone and the in between round chat interface for the games back then.

nowadays everythings so fast and impersonal due to things like the addition of dedicated servers. you really don't have the time to get to know anyone or develop a rivalry with anyone because the emphasis is so on speed. there's a timer for how long you have to pick your weapons and then theres another timer counting down to how long the game starts. it just all feels so rushed.

one of my favorite parts of playing the r6 series and logging onto the msn gaming zone was the time i would spend outside a game in the main lobby or inside a game between rounds talking. talking **** usually but still that was one of the best parts of the game for me. i used to love talking in chat with all my buddies discussing what games we were going to join, who cheats, pretty much anything you can think of. no subject was taboo.

and then you would have the asschimps in main chat who were stupid and goofy but who you would always get a good laugh from. then there was always the obligatory punks who would never learn and who would always be messing with the member +'s till they got booted then we would go and download a zone hack and be back only to be booted again. and all that time you would be laughing your *** off.

i just don't get that feeling from a game anymore or for that matter from ubi's gaming service. i didn't get it from raven shield and i didn't get it from lockdown. to be honest i haven't felt that way about a game since urban operations was released.

that's what i want for the next game in the r6 series for pc. i want a game myself and my fellow rainbow six series players can get excited about. i want a game that has a community feel to it where when you get home from work your dieing to log onto and see what games are on and who's playing.

it's a must this game must possess a a huge replay value. i don't want something i'm going to grow tired of right away.

is anybody else with me on this?

KG over and out

[GSG_9_Rage]

i completely agree. one thing that you left out was the fact that you didn't have to pay! gaming was free! noone would have to worry about your monthly payment, or if your leader paid the bill. gaming was fun, not a money hog.

[Yen Lo]

Ahmen BRO! I played on Gamespy, those were the days. Wonder if theyll ever come back? Dosent seem to darned important to Ubi though. They need to implament their ideas so they can lose even more money.

[KungFu_CIA]

You've identified some very good and key areas like lobby-system, out-of-game-chat, etc.

However, the bigger issue why games are so impersonal these days is because, in my opinion, what UBI and most publishers/developers keep doing and that is constantly try and increase sales by making the games attractive to persons or groups of persons who wouldn't and shouldn't be interested in certain games... Like R6... In the first place.

Lockdown is a clear example of this.

I know we are all trying to move on, but the main thing which pissed a lot of people off with LD was the blatant pandering and trying to lure players who probably would not be interested in R6, nor shouldn't be playing R6 to begin with if we are going to be perfectly honest.

The benefits of niche game communities isn't just they are small so you can get to know most people relatively easy... The benefit of a niche gaming commuinity like R6 is the fact you are supposedly playing with people who are ALSO interested in the kind of game you are and want to be there because they have a general passion/enthusiasm for it compared to most games which cater to more casual gamers and whose communities are more transient because the game isn't that good (or groundbreaking) and as soon as something new or better comes out the majority of the community will also move on/fade away.

This is why I don't think the real "community" aspect of R6 is never going to return, unfortunately. Granted, this is just my opinion...

But the way the games industry currently works, they promote and foster this transient behavior because half the titles they put out don't demand long term investments by communities -- either because lack of technical support or because the game isn't that great to begin with -- Which is why I don't think there really is such a thing as a solid gaming community anymore.

Yes. There are huge, visible ones like Half-Life (CS), BF2, Halo, etc... But if you were to break down those communities, a lot of the membership fluctuates and is made up of a lot of gamers who come and go -- Myself included as far as CS and a few other games -- But again, I believe, this is more because of the games which are being released lately that don't demand long-term communities or investments by gamers because the games are so watered down or trying to cater to everyone they don't really do anything particularly well (they aren't bad necessarily) and it becomes "just another _____", whatever the niche/genre of the game is.

[Defuser]

Well said KFCIA - although can I just add that games companies like to encourage loyalty to 'franchises' rather than 'games'?

One of the things I've heard about the industry is that as soon as a game is successful, it becomes referred to as a 'franchise' rather than merely a 'game'. What a way to strip personality and emphasise the money making aspect, guys! You're instead buying into a brandname and the individual nature of the experience is diminished.

This is something that simply cannot happen to particularly tactical games as by its very nature it is not a 'transient' experience - it demands attention, long-term commitment and strategy. The tactical shooter genre is one in which you can, theoretically, pop on for a 'quick blast' if you so desire but in doing so you'll be doing completely the wrong thing. If it is an adquately tactical game, you'll go wrong due simply to lack of seriousness with which you'll be treating the game - as a 5 minute distraction, rather than an immersive and in-depth challenge, to excite you and let you into its world.

It is useless trying to foster just such a 'transiet community' around a game - you can manage it theoretically with a 'franchise' - but never a game.

[XGN_King_George]

Originally posted by GSG_9_Rage:
i completely agree. one thing that you left out was the fact that you didn't have to pay! gaming was free! noone would have to worry about your monthly payment, or if your leader paid the bill. gaming was fun, not a money hog.

very true, i've yet to pay a monthly fee for a game service with the exception of xbox live but i like playing my xbox online so what are you going to do lol

i have however rented a dedicated server for different games that i've played and it can get expensive so i know where your coming from from there also.

[XGN_King_George]

Originally posted by KungFu_CIA:
You've identified some very good and key areas like lobby-system, out-of-game-chat, etc.

However, the bigger issue why games are so impersonal these days is because, in my opinion, what UBI and most publishers/developers keep doing and that is constantly try and increase sales by making the games attractive to persons or groups of persons who wouldn't and shouldn't be interested in certain games... Like R6... In the first place.

Lockdown is a clear example of this.

I know we are all trying to move on, but the main thing which pissed a lot of people off with LD was the blatant pandering and trying to lure players who probably would not be interested in R6, nor shouldn't be playing R6 to begin with if we are going to be perfectly honest.

The benefits of niche game communities isn't just they are small so you can get to know most people relatively easy... The benefit of a niche gaming commuinity like R6 is the fact you are supposedly playing with people who are ALSO interested in the kind of game you are and want to be there because they have a general passion/enthusiasm for it compared to most games which cater to more casual gamers and whose communities are more transient because the game isn't that good (or groundbreaking) and as soon as something new or better comes out the majority of the community will also move on/fade away.

This is why I don't think the real "community" aspect of R6 is never going to return, unfortunately. Granted, this is just my opinion...

But the way the games industry currently works, they promote and foster this transient behavior because half the titles they put out don't demand long term investments by communities -- either because lack of technical support or because the game isn't that great to begin with -- Which is why I don't think there really is such a thing as a solid gaming community anymore.

Yes. There are huge, visible ones like Half-Life (CS), BF2, Halo, etc... But if you were to break down those communities, a lot of the membership fluctuates and is made up of a lot of gamers who come and go -- Myself included as far as CS and a few other games -- But again, I believe, this is more because of the games which are being released lately that don't demand long-term communities or investments by gamers because the games are so watered down or trying to cater to everyone they don't really do anything particularly well (they aren't bad necessarily) and it becomes "just another _____", whatever the niche/genre of the game is.

i totally agree i think what it all boils down to is money. i think ubi in an attempt to wring more dollars out of an already profitable series has dumbed it down and tried to make it cater to a wider audience which in turn causes it to lose it's uniqueness and appeal to it's core audience.

another clear example of this is ubi's recent trend of developing a console version of a game and then porting it to pc rather than than realizing that that pc and console gamers desire and require two totally different things from a game and releasing two totally seperate games. one for each platform.

in my opinion it's just their way of trying to save money and increase their profit margin any way they can by mass producing one single game and having the console version of that game ported over to pc which i'm going to assume is cheaper than having a whole other game developed.

whats the cost of doing this though? the games get more and more generic and the players and gaming indusrty magazines and websites lose more and more respect for the publisher and developer.

i know i've lost some respect for ubi and rse after selling us that bull**** that is lockdown. and i just got my pcgamer in the mail and after reading their review of lockdown it's apparent they've lost some respect for ubi and rse as well.

[Imparfait]

What bugs me about it all is the lack of respect for the consumer.

You pay so much money for Lockdown, turns out its a substandard product with too many bugs and more or less unplayable online.

Instead of dedicating some support to making the game better and more playable they start pushing some new game at us, twice as flashy and probably only a little more complex.

I have no more loyalty towards UBI/RSE and will not be purchasing their products in the future unless they are truly works of art.

[Woosy]

I have made ALOT of friends from Raven Shield, it could be because I mainly play co-op and have got to know people whilst waiting dead. To be honest with you it has been my bridge to many different people from different countries, and have made lots of friends from all over the world. The zone really has just changed it's name to xfire, because I get so many requests to play or have a mass chat, I have got to know people like that aswell.

Honestly, I have never made any friends on Counter-Strike, BF2 or games on the Adversial mode. This is mainly because the attitude is so different, thats where it's impersonal. People are like "I pwn you noob" whatever that means... or "Girls can't play get out the server before I ban you" So I guess really depends what mode you play. Co-op I have fun make friends all the time, Adversial I don't, unless it's NFS MW. *lol*

[SAS_Shield]

i have the exact same feeling woosy, co-op atmosphere is very different compared to advers, two distinct groups of people play