New 5punky gaems

[Dog Pants]

I'm starting this thread without any real idea where it's going other than to discuss the distinct lack of decent games being played at the moment. As far as I can see it's coming down to a few things, not least of which is the fact there's been no decent shooters come out yet this year. I think this has had a knock on effect that more of us are playing MMONGs, which despite their uniquely social nature are really little more than a single player game with a built in chatroom.

I noticed tonight that there was three games scheduled with about 6 people signed up to each, but that none of them actually seemed to end up with more than a couple playing. I was playing Futurebeef, and for that I can say that it was the game's fault more than the players'. Even so, it seems to be pretty standard for six to nine people to sign up to a game and for only three of four to actually play, which combined with the fact that many nights have several games scheduled at once seems to be having the effect that nobody is playing anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I disagree with anything being done, but maybe trying to avoid scheduling games on the same night with a similar audience and trying to avoid joining games if you're not sure you're going to play.

That looked like a mini rant, but I'm just regurgitating my thoughts and observations for discussion. I'm predicting the lull in games getting worse before it gets better, and wondering what we can do so we still have a couple of good games a week.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I blame the communists.

[MrGreen]

I blame Chicken, who probably isn't a communist.

[ProfHawking]

[spoodie]

That was a particularly sucky game of futurebeef though. We seemed to be on the losing side, punkbuster, I forgot how to play, h4x, Rage 2142, etc. When I stopped playing I was 20 point shy of my next rank, but couldn't bring myself to play another round ...

[Hehulk]

I so agree with this

[Grimmie]

I've been playing some good Garry's Mod, with 6 players.
I get about 5-6 5punkers join in on the CoD4 I've scheduled.

I see no problem.

If we schedule CSS someone will just moan and demand we play something else when they get bored

[MrGreen]

I see no problem.

Not very this.

If we schedule CSS someone will just moan and demand we play something else when they get bored

Very, very this.

[Dog Pants]

I get about 5-6 5punkers join in on the CoD4 I've scheduled.

Lots of people join most games, very few turn up. And COD4 is a different matter altogether which we've discussed way past the point I'd hoped that particular subject would reach.

There's some logic behind keeping set nights for set games - COD tuesday, Steam Wednesday, BEEF thursday, but the problem with that is when someone wants to play something different it will inevitably clash with something which is established but has very few people playing.

[Mr. Johnson]

Lots of people join most games, very few turn up. And COD4 is a different matter altogether which we've discussed way past the point I'd hoped that particular subject would reach.

There's some logic behind keeping set nights for set games - COD tuesday, Steam Wednesday, BEEF thursday, but the problem with that is when someone wants to play something different it will inevitably clash with something which is established but has very few people playing.

much this. i say we go back to keeping certain days restricted for certain games. mondays and fridays can be used for other stuff.

[Lateralus]

I was pondering something similar a week or two ago - despite their name, I don't find that MMOs are actually very social games, certainly not in the way that FPSs are, and there are certainly more people playing them now (myself included).

Since there are still people 5cheduling games, there's still plenty of interest which is great, but there's no single game that loads of people want to play like when we had Wednesday CS:S and Thursday Beef. As I've said before, my gaming time is no longer as regular or predictable as it used to be. However, a new FPS game with mass-5punk appeal would probably still bring in a regular crowd. I'm still unsure as to why COD and Teef failed to do this in the longer term other than people got bored/fed up with them a lot quicker than previous games.

On that note, are there any decent-looking FPS games on the horizon?

[Mr. Johnson]

i'm keeping an eye out for that battlefield heroes thing, it's free, so basically everyone of us can play it, and it looks like it could be a laugh. we'll see.

[Gunslinger42]

Regarding the mmonging I've noticed (at least in AoC, wouldn't know what the case is like in WoW) that everyone is too busy solo grinding like gheys. One of the things that attracted me to AoC was the idea of playing it with 5punkers, but so far I've only had once brief time where I actually saw other 5punkers and did a quest or two with them.

[Dog Pants]

Regarding the mmonging I've noticed (at least in AoC, wouldn't know what the case is like in WoW) that everyone is too busy solo grinding like gheys. One of the things that attracted me to AoC was the idea of playing it with 5punkers, but so far I've only had once brief time where I actually saw other 5punkers and did a quest or two with them.

I agree, despite being as guilty of this as anybody else. Personally I find myself embroiled in whatever particular task I'm doing to the point where I'm reluctant to break off. Is suspect this is common in one way or another - we're all concentrating on our individual character progression because the game's new to us. The same thing is happening in Warcraft. Speaking again for myself, the other reason I don't team up a lot is because I often will drop the game at a minute's notice for half an hour or so to go and do some job for Mrs Pants, which is frustrating for anyone who teams with me. Conversely, CoX was great for teaming up because of the sidekick system and the fact that we had several established players who've seen it all before but don't mind repeating bits of the game. Same goes for Friz and Berk in Warcraft.

'Slinger's making a very good point though, that if we put a bit more effort into getting together we'd probably encourage more people to stick at the game. I'll be bearing this in mind, although I have no idea how the team system works in AOC. There's probably a new thread in the making there.

[HereComesPete]

Colon possesses an apprentice jobber that bumps the lower player up the levels as per.

Tortage is a bit of a grind and a lot of quest completionists have spent a long time there, moving on as fast as possible is my advice, the game gets a lot better if you do.

I am finding the quests compelling enough that even interesting sounding grey quests get finished for shitty rewards, I don't feel that I'm grinding or power levelling in any specific sense, just a lot of fun quests happen to grant good xp.

I am enjoying the traders being open again. I've inflated the market price on quite a few goods and made a good 20-30 silver from mediocre items.

I picked up architect as a skill last night so I'll start learning how to build a 5punk city!

[Dog Pants]

A 5punk city, now I like the sound of that. At risk of derailing the thread I wouldn't mind knowing more about what we'll need. Pete, can you drop a bit about both points into the colon gameplay thread for me?

[Grimmie]

I've been scheduling lots of games recently, and I've just been on a little scheduling spree.
I'm trying to follow the 'once a week' thing that people seem to like.

Monday beards
Tuesday cods
Wednesday sauce
Thursday teefs and beefs
Friday ships

If you like a game, and you want to see it played more, schedule it!

To Stoat:
Is there any way a 'repeat event weekly' style command can be shoved into the scheduler?

[Dog Pants]

Seems as good a schedule as any, although personally I'd say friday is reserved just for drunken silliness rather than any particular game (which The Ship falls into the category of).

[Lateralus]

Seems as good a schedule as any, although personally I'd say friday is reserved just for drunken silliness rather than any particular game (which The Ship falls into the category of).

This, with added MMONGS for Monday.

[Grimmie]

Beards in my book;
MMO's
RPG's
RTS's