State of Empires.

Discussion in 'General' started by bunnyhopper, Dec 20, 2017.

  1. vipervicki

    vipervicki Member

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    it does under meet the players, which is not the best pointer to it. It should have its own menu item in the nav bar.
     
  2. Metal Smith

    Metal Smith Member

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    Jesus, that white bar blends right in with my current toolbar. Didn't even see it.
     
  3. MiamiHeat87

    MiamiHeat87 Member

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    Half Life mod games have been going down with activity for years. The gaming community has changed a lot in a decade, and is moving to other areas. GMOD is still really popular but everything else is not like it used to be.
     
  4. mrmeow

    mrmeow Member

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    agree almost 100% with OP. the retarded fanboys are disgusting
     
  5. Pyrope ☭

    Pyrope ☭ Member

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    Depends on how you look at it. Since barely anyone plays during the weekdays, I fear many people turned away due to that.
     
  6. Ranger

    Ranger Member

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    The community is dying of old age.
     
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  7. Pyrope ☭

    Pyrope ☭ Member

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    indeed Ranger
     
  8. PredatoR[HUN]

    PredatoR[HUN] Member

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    The things that are listed in this thread are definitely not helping Empires but there are also a lot of
    external factors that are causing decline. There are just so many free to play games that can scratch all sorts of itches, people don't have to look for mods to get more out of their games. Gamers have also become a lot more loose with their wallets, we drop money on games a lot more easily and it's also just "accepted" now to pay money for video games. Thus people just don't feel the need to look for mods like empires, only mods for customization and such.

    The people that once looked for multiplayer mods have actual income now(or free to play games) and the newer generations have their shiny new games - they won't care about some decade old half life 2 mod. Not to mention steam sales and humble bundles - even the less fortunate of us have 20+ games on their steam account. There is also twitch, esports, let's plays. But I don't feel like going into that.

    Multiplayer games, especially competitive ones have also changed. People want to track their progress. They want their online stats and ratings to compare against others. There has been some attempts at this over the years, most recently I've seen the one on Xya's server but it doesn't seem to work that well due to the low population and inactivity. Mostly gives people free jokes opportunities about their perceived skill level compared to their rank.

    The commander stats are a good idea but pretty late and it just doesn't really matter because Empires population has always been small enough so that basically everyone knows everyone else and most people know who is good now or who was great five years ago or who was amazing 10 years ago. Which applies to more than the commanding part.

    Well anyway, that's my opinion about external stuff. There is also a lot of internal obviously but I don't feel like going into that. The only thing I'd mention is that I doubt the stats/scripts/features caused depopulation, some choices definitely made me enjoy it less but I remember some patches back in the day like 2.2 that made all weapons weak as fuck to the point it was a better idea to get melee upgrade than shoot people. Yet the game was still peaking. The "veteran" players leaving was more of a chain reaction. At some point a lot of them only played because of each other, only started the game because they saw a name the enjoy playing with. Big personalities like Trickster, FN, Patton, HSM, Hobbes or even Sodaen caused a lot of people to start the game - either to play with them or make them cry. But those are just the biggest I could think of, there are plenty others that caused me personally to start the game. They are just not there anymore.

    I still like Empires but mostly just the memories of playing it with and against my friends. With and against the best.
     
  9. Sgt.Security

    Sgt.Security Member

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    This is a fair point that I forgot.

    When I play LoL, WoT, Garry's mod, I play with the game, not the people.
    That is, I join a server without checking player's list.
    In fact, if I am to play ranked games in LoL, I would rather play with strangers, so I don't get mad and lose a friend.

    When I play Wurm, Killing Floor, maybe PUBG if I can find the time, I play with the people, not the game.

    I dunno, maybe since 2015~16-ish, Empires has fallen into the "play with the people" category, for me.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2018
  10. LordDz_2

    LordDz_2 Strange things happens here

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    Empires was always a "play with the people" for me.
    The global team chat and the fact that people actually used it made me keep playing this game.

    Compare it to say Red Orchestra where you'd join a server and people were mostly quiet. It just didn't feel the same.
     
  11. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

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    I only ever see casual chat in source games for some reason, everything else you just get random shit talk and that's it. Yeah, empires having that sense of friends with the enemy really helps you come in to play, makes even the boring bits less boring.
     
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  12. Ranger

    Ranger Member

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    Let's rename Empires to Community Chat & some game
     
  13. Acolyte

    Acolyte Member

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    I think we have to all try and be positive. The reason why even the vet community is shrinking is, that while empires as a game it'self is very rewarding. The community is toxic to too large of an extent. I would love to keep playing weekends, like this past one and try to promote empires into being a more postive experience. However, I've been too reluctant simply because playing empires seems equivalent to pretending to be a CEO, where you take more of the blame, and recieve almost no praise when doing well. Point is, I think positivity is the only way we'll get vets to stay. As for noobs, i think it's not worth the trouble.
     
  14. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

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    Vets going away because people are being mean? Vets have always been meany pants. Vets go away because either the level of team work and skill isn't there anymore so there's no challenge or it's just frustrating(revive, what's that?), they want big games and it's rare to see them, or they just simply get bored of empires. Not many can play a game for over 5-10 years and still have the same enthusiasm. I fall into that last camp, I just don't have that much fun in empires anymore, though I know half that is because I don't see the people who used to make empires fun to play with.

    Meany pants vets are what scare away new players, not other vets silly willy.
     
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  15. D.D.D. Destroyer

    D.D.D. Destroyer Member Staff Member Moderator

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    ...and then there's the people who played for many months, but stopped due to toxicity...

    At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who gets scared away, as long as they do, the problem will be present.
     
  16. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

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    Reading comprehension 10/10 destroyer.
     
  17. D.D.D. Destroyer

    D.D.D. Destroyer Member Staff Member Moderator

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    Oh no, I fully understood your post, but I disagree with the core point. Take DocRabbit as an example to back up my take on this.
     
  18. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

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    I'm disagreeing with acolyte's post that states people being not nice is why many vets are running off. I won't say it doesn't account for a couple, but it's just that, a couple. If everyone was suddenly being care bears to each other you wouldn't see vets come back or remaining ones stay, it will mostly just help new comers or the few that sat through the crap for a few months before they got tired of it.

    As I stated, vets are the main culprit of this so it's odd to say this is what's driving them away.
     
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  19. .Oktay.

    .Oktay. Member

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    Vets dont care if they getting insulted. most of them dont make many mistakes to get blamed on and even if you misplayed something no one will blame you because everyone knows your potentials. you only need to be nice to the new players but sometimes is hard because ones they make a mistake they get sorted out. they are many new players that keep on joining and leaving but the new players that keep coming back in the weekends they should be treated the most. they know how to play the game but arent the best in terms of gameplay or decisions making so they should get the helping hand from the vets. also a question for all of you guys everyone want some good games but what is a good game for you guys ? should a game last long ? do you have to win it and when is a game even for you guys ?
     
  20. D.D.D. Destroyer

    D.D.D. Destroyer Member Staff Member Moderator

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    @Lazybum The nicer parts are not vocal, ignore the community at large, or have left already. There's plenty of people like that, with just a portion of the community regularly bathing in the virtriol.

    @Oktay I need to land my shots and keep myself (or be kept) in check in terms of pushing forward, I chronically overextend and it costs me - victories are secondary.
     
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