Fortress Forever - View Single Post - I Never Thought I Was a Part of Something Big

$h4m3 · 09-08-2008, 07:41 PM

You see, I missed the initial surge by a few days. I heard FF came out a couple days after TF2 came out and immediately downloaded it. I heard the stories of a ton of players rockin it until the release of TF2, then they switched. Reasons? They had them. All in their own fashion. Glitches, graphics, end-user support. There were a ton of reasons people could/would/did switch to TF2. So, friends, when I started playing FF, it was dead-ish.

I don't believe I've ever seen more than 3 servers full at any given time. I've owned them, operated them, and moderated them in turn. I've learned the tricks of the trade of filling a server. Pretty much, just sit in it. Eventually 2-3 people would come and it would snowball from there. Sadly, this approach stopped working and we saw the rise of certain servers. Now we really only see those servers with players in them, if even them at all.

So now we are informed of the long-awaited 2.1's release on Friday. I sit and wonder what this actually means. The advertising, it's there. On the rare occasion that I pick up a pub and play I see at least 2-3 whenwillouts in the servers. In the words of our American politicians, "Change is Coming". But I have to wonder, how much? Don't get me wrong, I know of the need for change. My underlying question is, will it take FF to the level of TFC?

You see, as a child I played TFC alot. I clanned and pubbed and it was fantastic. The world of TFC was never-ending due to the many ways you could play. CTF was always available but when you tired of that you could move on to things like warpath or dustbowl. Even then, when the carnage became dull, escape maps, climb maps, conc maps, solly maps. The possibilities were endless on any given night.

At least on the servers I played on, after 10-11PM at night, when everything died down, the fun really began. People who know each other well would DM or we'd see who could complete a skill map the fastest. Someone would get fed up with a climb and noclip to the top and make fun of everyone elses' moms until an admin would slap him off the peak and watch him fall to his demise.

Even then I felt as though I was a cultist. That I had stumbled upon a video game not many knew. That we were involved in a game with never-ending possibilities. With a ton of people around we played by the rules but when they disappeared, we made our own.

So I guess what I'm trying to figure out is what direction are we really moving in. One without a PR pitch involved. I promote the idea that there is no problem with the core of the game, but all we've seen are adaptations of the core. It's the accessories that made TFC great. The multi-dimensional aspect to it. That was why people never bored of the game and never had to put it down, the fact that there was a map or gamestyle for every occasion and when you bored of one you could move to the next. Sorry for making it so long, I just felt the need.

09-08-2008, 07:41 PM	#1
$h4m3 Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I Never Thought I Was a Part of Something Big You see, I missed the initial surge by a few days. I heard FF came out a couple days after TF2 came out and immediately downloaded it. I heard the stories of a ton of players rockin it until the release of TF2, then they switched. Reasons? They had them. All in their own fashion. Glitches, graphics, end-user support. There were a ton of reasons people could/would/did switch to TF2. So, friends, when I started playing FF, it was dead-ish. I don't believe I've ever seen more than 3 servers full at any given time. I've owned them, operated them, and moderated them in turn. I've learned the tricks of the trade of filling a server. Pretty much, just sit in it. Eventually 2-3 people would come and it would snowball from there. Sadly, this approach stopped working and we saw the rise of certain servers. Now we really only see those servers with players in them, if even them at all. So now we are informed of the long-awaited 2.1's release on Friday. I sit and wonder what this actually means. The advertising, it's there. On the rare occasion that I pick up a pub and play I see at least 2-3 whenwillouts in the servers. In the words of our American politicians, "Change is Coming". But I have to wonder, how much? Don't get me wrong, I know of the need for change. My underlying question is, will it take FF to the level of TFC? You see, as a child I played TFC alot. I clanned and pubbed and it was fantastic. The world of TFC was never-ending due to the many ways you could play. CTF was always available but when you tired of that you could move on to things like warpath or dustbowl. Even then, when the carnage became dull, escape maps, climb maps, conc maps, solly maps. The possibilities were endless on any given night. At least on the servers I played on, after 10-11PM at night, when everything died down, the fun really began. People who know each other well would DM or we'd see who could complete a skill map the fastest. Someone would get fed up with a climb and noclip to the top and make fun of everyone elses' moms until an admin would slap him off the peak and watch him fall to his demise. Even then I felt as though I was a cultist. That I had stumbled upon a video game not many knew. That we were involved in a game with never-ending possibilities. With a ton of people around we played by the rules but when they disappeared, we made our own. So I guess what I'm trying to figure out is what direction are we really moving in. One without a PR pitch involved. I promote the idea that there is no problem with the core of the game, but all we've seen are adaptations of the core. It's the accessories that made TFC great. The multi-dimensional aspect to it. That was why people never bored of the game and never had to put it down, the fact that there was a map or gamestyle for every occasion and when you bored of one you could move to the next. Sorry for making it so long, I just felt the need.