|
|
|
Sign Up to Submit Articles and Earn Credibility! |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Author: Saito
2399 Views
2 Comments
|
Well the game has been out for a while now, it's had a fair share of major events (with varying success) and things are beginning to settle down for what will be 2k4's future. The burning question (and subject of much debate) is “what now?”.
To start with there are two main camps in this; the game is dead, and the game is alive and kicking. To be honest both views hold a fair amount of water, and both are kind of true (depending entirely on how you look at things).
So why the difference of opinion? Well that starts with how you look at things, and your view point on what this game is. Are you a player that plays all mods, or are you a player who concentrates on just one particular mode of play? Furthermore, are you a player that will play on any old pub server, do you play for ladders, or do you only play more competitive on line events/lans? Once you look at the overall scope of things it's rather clear why there is two diametrically opposed views of this game are both semi accurate.
To start with the first issue, CPL didn't pick 2k4 for the world tour. Some argue that CPL should have catered to the largest dueling community (which is 2k4 or quake 3, but since 2k4 was the newer game it would have been the logical choice) and thus stuck a knife in the heart of this community, while the other school of thought is that as a business CPL should make the best business decision and go for the money (which is the smart choice for any business) and thus their pick of PainKiller was totally legit. However all of this means nothing, the fact is the reason has no bearing on the fact that those who played 2k4 for the highest level of competition had their reasons for staying active in 2k4 stripped in one swift move, and their views probably have been shaped by that. Regardless of what I think of that stance, it's a personal one and should be respected. However if you don't play in those events, or care about them all of that means nothing to you.
So how does that translate to a lack of life for so many people not involved? Simple, trickle down. As some of the players everybody wanted to beat exited the game (and took their teams with them) lower people got frustrated due to a lack of “that team to beat”, the inactivity of the higher ranked A teams always ends up in a lack of activity in the teams below them, and before you know it we have a problem (though a fixable one more on that later) with not only top lans, but on line events, then leagues, and then even the ladders take a hit. Though once again this doesn't affect pub players much at all. So the settings in which you play, will shape your views here.
Moving out to an even broader scale, if you are a player that plays only one mod, even a slight drain of players will be felt. The on line numbers for 2k4 aren't really a crisis now. The total number is far from critical. So then why the doom and gloom? The reason is fairly simple as well. 2K4 breaks down to a couple large groups of play styles, the NW WS off (ie DM/TDM), the NW games with translocater (ie CTF), vehicular play (ONS), and instagib (note I know there are other smaller subsets but those are the major ones). The reason things seem off is because each of the above has a very unique feel to it, and often people who like one setting can't stand something in the other (most TDM players don't like the translocater, most NW players don't like instagib, and all the prior tends not to like ONS) so they fracture into small groups that play their one setting and avoid the others (I know some play multiple but that's fairly rare). So essentially you split the number on line numbers 4 ways, and while you have a large active total game, no single game type with in it is that large. Let's also not forget that the drain of some of the top clans has really only hit the more the competitive game types hard (DM/TDM and to a lesser extent CTF), the other game types (IG ONS) which are made up mostly of ladder/pub players didn't lose anybody because they simply aren't in that level of competition. So you can understand the two sides to this. To a TDM/CTF player things have changed allot, and allot of people are gone, to an ONS/IG player things haven't really changed much, and if you are one of those that will play anything you can always find pubs and go have a blast.
So where do we go from here? Well to the random pub player ONS/IG player I don't think it matters. To the competitive gaming crowd it does. More events, more clans would be nice, and building up a player base that's decently sized and active would be a god send. But is it possible, and how would we do it?
Firstly yes it's possible, depending on how you look at it. Getting back all the players that bailed due to CPL not picking 2k4 is not something we can do as a community. Allot of bridges were burned by the “zomg U fagg1ts didn't pixors 2k4 PK is dead lolz” nonsense that went on after CPL's announcement. The only thing we proved was that our community was appreciative for the well run event we did get from them, and (I'm betting) we probably showed any other event at the same level that this community is quick to turn on you no matter what (remember little kiddies it's a business they do what makes money). If we want professional gaming to continue and grow we are going to have to be professional about it, and realize that it's now a business for our sponsors, their goal is to make money, not fund our hobby out of their pockets (the true professionals realized this early on).
So can we grow the competitive community without those gamers, and without total reliance on that level events? Yes, but it will be rather hard, and requires allot of effort. We can (and will) run tournaments out of community sites (like this one hurray) to give those left something to play in, and a reason to keep active. Competitive events are great, and with a steady stream of events with clear winners people are going to want to stay, and play. There are people willing (we are working hard on it now) who have the tools necessary to do this, it's just waiting to kick off.
So the next step is getting more people into these events, which asks the question, how do we do that? Well the first thing is to grab all the teams left and get them on the same page and into these events, the next step is getting new players. I know grabbing the active teams isn't a simple thing, it's not a role call and there will always be calling of names and gnashing of teeth (truth be told I think most on line gamers find flame wars as much fun as playing the game ;0), but it can be done. For getting new players that's the tough part. It will take training efforts (being worked on as we speak) and PUG games (already out the door and going strong). I'd say give some new players time and they will move up the ranks and into our world, and everybody will have more fun.
So to sum this up...
Is the game dead to some? Yes. Is the game as alive as ever to others? Yes. Could things be made better overall? Yes. (and the critical question now) Will this happen? (drum roll please Max) Who knows? But we are working on it ;)
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
