Decreasing playerbase

[giZmo]

Since we noticed a steady decreasing of players on the ballistic weapon server im kind of interested why. So im asking everyone for their opinion why this is happening or about their problems why they stopped playing, play less, think about quiting etc.

Please don't start discussions about someone else opinion or comment it with a trollpost since im gonna delete them anyway.

[iRobot]

Some potential contributing factors, including, but not limited to:

Attacking weaker players all the time;
Forcing them to aim when they either don't want to or are not comfortable doing so. Belittling people for their weapon choices. Grading people as spammers or shitters because they play differently. Perhaps let them play as they please.

Skill system;
Well documented, but to restate, ‘in your face’ reminders about how good/bad you are at the game doesn’t really achieve much other than de-motivating you. Once again, stating intent at removing any visible presence in game or on forum.

Map changes;
Removal of ‘popular locations’ on maps, and map changes in general. Particularly on community favourites. Maybe revert these changes – such as Osiris?

Lack of updates;
New weapons keep it fresh. This is completely at mercy of the few dedicated individuals who are creating content for free – so while it’s unfair to be unhappy at the pace, people want new things. Maybe introduce some of the previously ‘cut’ weapons.

Voting weights;
People unable to vote certain maps when they want. Possibly due to the repeat limit / excessive weighting on some choices. Reduce repeat limit perhaps?

Overzealous staff;
Not giving examples, but insta-mutes and insta-bans for relatively weak offenses does nothing to help the feel of a friendly community.

Robot playing less;
I've been pre-occupied with Diablo 3 a lot lately so maybe play one or two games a week when I'm bored. People not being able to see the legend himself is probably pushing people away.


one of these isnt serious

[iZumo]

Attacking weaker players all the time;
Forcing them to aim when they either don't want to or are not comfortable doing so. Belittling people for their weapon choices. Grading people as spammers or shitters because they play differently. Perhaps let them play as they please.

Support.

Skill system;
Well documented, but to restate, ‘in your face’ reminders about how good/bad you are at the game doesn’t really achieve much other than de-motivating you. Once again, stating intent at removing any visible presence in game or on forum.

Don't support, you have ways how to hide it in game (and only few people go to the website).

Map changes;
Removal of ‘popular locations’ on maps, and map changes in general. Particularly on community favourites. Maybe revert these changes – such as Osiris?

I hate to say it, but it's likely, including UrbanHotZone.

Lack of updates;
New weapons keep it fresh. This is completely at mercy of the few dedicated individuals who are creating content for free – so while it’s unfair to be unhappy at the pace, people want new things. Maybe introduce some of the previously ‘cut’ weapons.

I don't think so, there were periods w/o update at all and it didn't hurt anything.

Voting weights;
People unable to vote certain maps when they want. Possibly due to the repeat limit / excessive weighting on some choices. Reduce repeat limit perhaps?

This was tuned already.

[iRobot]

Maybe give the players a chance to voice their opinion before flat out dismissing any changes Izumo

My points were only stimulus to encourage discussion, not the definitive reasons the server is dying.

[Skaldy]

The general reason not to play is frustration, and being frozen in Freon too often is why weaker players give up.

1) Can players with lower skill thaw relatively faster? Better players will still score more, and it would give an incentive for weaker players to target them.

2) The choice of weapons is large and daunting for new players, but too many of the weapons are distinctly average or poor. I humbly suggest removing all weapons that are rarely used by anyone.

3) KS2 are fun for top twenty players, but very powerful and never achievable by weaker players. Scrap them, or nerf them into a single larger KS1 group.

---

My main reason to play less is that P/L and micro-stutter have got worse at LDG this year - it is difficult to get used to the exact amount of lag because it is varying constantly (some of this may be down to my ISP, Virgin Media in UK, which is known to be poor around Birmingham at peak times, but Butcher is also having problems from DE).

1) Can all of the LDG UT servers' default netspeeds, tickcounts, or whatever be reviewed? A default netspeed of 20000 seems high. If all your UT servers are on the same physical machine, does Racing really need the same level of accuracy as BW?

2) What about ping compensation on the server? Is it on or off? Is it just for certain players? How strong does server-side prediction have to get before it becomes too much of an advantage? I struggle to hit certain players (only) at medium to long distance.

</tears>

[iRobot]

KS2 are actually more achievable by weaker players now. I believe they only need around 3-5 kills for a KS2 where as someone with 6+ skill needs 9 kills. It's a dynamic system.

That said, it still is relatively rare for a weaker player to get 3 or 4 kills in succession.

[Aberiu]

Because nobody knows about LDG servers, Ballistic weapons mod and UT2004 in general?
I mean, people cannot come from nowhere. Some players get tired of the game and move to something new. It's ok.
You guys need to promote yourself somehow.

[Azarael]

Some potential contributing factors, including, but not limited to:

Attacking weaker players all the time;
Forcing them to aim when they either don't want to or are not comfortable doing so. Belittling people for their weapon choices. Grading people as spammers or shitters because they play differently. Perhaps let them play as they please.

Forced aim affects about 5% of the playerbase and no indicators of dissatisfaction with it have come from the overwhelming majority of those, who spam because they are ignorant and not because they reject the idea. I won't discount the idea that unfriendly chat may be a contributor, and am aware that I engage in it a lot. I assume that were I not an admin, I would receive a lot more shit for raging at people than I do at the moment, but most people will not engage me because of the admin status.

Skill system;
Well documented, but to restate, ‘in your face’ reminders about how good/bad you are at the game doesn’t really achieve much other than de-motivating you. Once again, stating intent at removing any visible presence in game or on forum.

Strongly agree. When I'm playing badly in general, as I am right now, I lose my motivation to play tracked Freon very quickly and only join for Onslaught games. It also has a seriously negative effect on my attitude towards the game and other players in general, some of that stemming from old personal issues. I am for hiding skill entirely.

Map changes;
Removal of ‘popular locations’ on maps, and map changes in general. Particularly on community favourites. Maybe revert these changes – such as Osiris?

To address Izumo's post - you should play the server before you comment on UHZ. My final rework of it is considered a superior map to the original, even in the opinion of players who are usually my detractors.

To address iRobot's post, Osiris is the only map which experienced a drop in voting post-rework. If you want to try Osiris2 again, I've no problem.

Lack of updates;
New weapons keep it fresh. This is completely at mercy of the few dedicated individuals who are creating content for free – so while it’s unfair to be unhappy at the pace, people want new things. Maybe introduce some of the previously ‘cut’ weapons.

Not going to help, per Skaldy's post. People whore a limited set of the current weapons, and we have enough bland weapons as it is (R9, M763, MRS138, XRS-10, Fifty-9, R78 being prime examples). I would rather focus on reworking the currently bland weapons to give them some kind of role and additional features than add crap cut content which was removed to reduce the filesize and overlap.

I'm not convinced that new content is necessarily appreciated all that much. For the players who migrate to these new weapons, sure, but the vast majority stick with a single loadout and are more likely to complain about balance and gameplay issues with the new content than anything else. Longhorn is a perfect example of this phenomenon.

Voting weights;
People unable to vote certain maps when they want. Possibly due to the repeat limit / excessive weighting on some choices. Reduce repeat limit perhaps?

It's bad enough that otherwise good maps are neglected because of players continually voting what they know. Don't support this.

Overzealous staff;
Not giving examples, but insta-mutes and insta-bans for relatively weak offenses does nothing to help the feel of a friendly community.

Examples are really necessary for that. BW is not a ban happy server - AS/Race sees far more bans.

Robot playing less;
I've been pre-occupied with Diablo 3 a lot lately so maybe play one or two games a week when I'm bored. People not being able to see the legend himself is probably pushing people away.

one of these isnt serious

I'd also like to remind players that nothing lasts forever. This is an old game and there are fewer incoming players to replace those who leave.

[Calypto]

Original maps should be provided along with changed versions, this includes UHZ, Aztek, Downtown, and even Highlander.

We also used to list the server on all gametypes, so players would find us much more easily. We currently list under only onslaught.

[iRobot]

Original maps should be provided along with changed versions, this includes UHZ, Aztek, Downtown, and even Highlander.

We also used to list the server on all gametypes, so players would find us much more easily. We currently list under only onslaught.

Epic did not approve of listing under every gametype so blocked the server completely. Reasons unknown but I recall that is what happened.

Onslaught has the most players from the stock gametypes that it makes sense to list the server there.