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  • #46
    Originally posted by Epinephrine View Post
    But for those who started in this crucial period, how did you find Subspace, and why did you stay playing it? (2001-2004)

    What led you to play a seriously outdated game (yes in 2001 Subspace was ridiculously outdated) and spend so much time doing it?
    (Don't worry I did read your whole post)
    I first played this game in 1999 on the name "SuperFighter" but it really must haven't been very long at all, maybe 3 or 4 months. I came back in late 2001 or early 2002 on the name Murlin and discovered Trench Wars. I came back to the game because I found out a friend of mine in 7th grade (i think?) played as well. He played in another zone that I don't even remember, and I wound up losing contact with the friend and never spoke to him again. The only name I can sort of remember him using when I was at his house was Liger Something, and Aero something. No idea what zone he played in but I'm led to believe it was Extreme Games. Anyways, I kept playing Trench Wars in hopes of finding him again but I got pretty involved with the Lasertag arena with the name Xog. We had our own little community and I still keep in touch with some of the older members (hi setboy, nike g u r l 637, La-La 56, MeL, megaman.exe, fadark, picano, funkmastaD, nemis, noc-, etc.). I stopped playing for about 4-5 months after the server move. I had over 20,000 kills in that arena and it was erased! I came back in late 2003 or early 2004 and got involved with TWD, ever since then I've kinda been hooked. I think it was the friends I made in the lasertag arena that really kept me playing from around 2002 onward. We had such a blast. We played together every day for about a year straight in that arena. You can type ?sheep in the arena and see we left a mark with our squad Empyreal

    Comment


    • #47
      A few days ago, I was bored and decided to check some stats.. it may interest some players

      Edit: 3 more

      ** Those are NOT live stats, replace .gif with .php and it will update the .gif with the latest data **

      Btw, if you want a special graph, just PM me (forum only, not in-game).
      Last edited by Arobas+; 03-15-2010, 10:59 PM.
      TW Bot Developer
      TW Web Developer
      Friends> All I saw was arobas+
      Friends> It's like death

      Comment


      • #48
        Thanks Arobas+!

        Comment


        • #49
          Originally posted by Arobas+ View Post
          A few days ago, I was bored and decided to check some stats.. it may interest some players

          Edit: 3 more

          ** Those are NOT live stats, replace .gif with .php and it will update the .gif with the latest data **

          Btw, if you want a special graph, just PM me (forum only, not in-game).
          Looks like 2005 was our best year. I would think we probably reached the nadir of population growth percentage-wise in 2003-2004.

          After that time the zone slowly died off.

          World of Warcraft released: November 23, 2004
          Xbox 360 (first of the new gen consoles) released: November 22, 2005
          Counterstrike: Source released: October 7, 2004
          Everquest II released: 8 November 2004
          Epinephrine's History of Trench Wars:
          www.geocities.com/epinephrine.rm

          My anime blog:
          www.animeslice.com

          Comment


          • #50
            Originally posted by Xog View Post
            I first played this game in 1999 on the name "SuperFighter" but it really must haven't been very long at all, maybe 3 or 4 months. I came back in late 2001 or early 2002 on the name Murlin and discovered Trench Wars. I came back to the game because I found out a friend of mine in 7th grade (i think?) played as well. He played in another zone that I don't even remember, and I wound up losing contact with the friend and never spoke to him again. The only name I can sort of remember him using when I was at his house was Liger Something, and Aero something. No idea what zone he played in but I'm led to believe it was Extreme Games. Anyways, I kept playing Trench Wars in hopes of finding him again but I got pretty involved with the Lasertag arena with the name Xog. We had our own little community and I still keep in touch with some of the older members (hi setboy, nike g u r l 637, La-La 56, MeL, megaman.exe, fadark, picano, funkmastaD, nemis, noc-, etc.). I stopped playing for about 4-5 months after the server move. I had over 20,000 kills in that arena and it was erased! I came back in late 2003 or early 2004 and got involved with TWD, ever since then I've kinda been hooked. I think it was the friends I made in the lasertag arena that really kept me playing from around 2002 onward. We had such a blast. We played together every day for about a year straight in that arena. You can type ?sheep in the arena and see we left a mark with our squad Empyreal
            BTW if you're going to quote me in the opening post of this thread, at least get my name right! I'm not Ephemeral.
            Epinephrine's History of Trench Wars:
            www.geocities.com/epinephrine.rm

            My anime blog:
            www.animeslice.com

            Comment


            • #51
              LOL I'm sorry - I was actually talking to him in the game when I wrote it.

              Comment


              • #52
                Originally posted by Aquarius View Post
                what happened to the rotating zone banners we used to see on many sites as an attempt to promote smaller zones?
                Even though you were answered on SSForum for this question I think I should relay the message over here so others can see it incase they were wondering

                Originally posted by Hakaku
                The script was pulled offline sometime late 2006 - early 2007, not long after sscentral was layed to rest and merged into the forums.

                Comment


                • #53
                  Originally posted by Xog View Post
                  LOL I'm sorry - I was actually talking to him in the game when I wrote it.


                  By the way, I think you misunderstood the point of my question. It wasn't asking people about their friends/squads or whatever. It's what things about the GAME made people stay, considering it was already so outdated.

                  So like when I started playing SS, it was the FIRST MMORPG in the world that I knew of (Ultima Online went beta my 5th month playing SS). So that's what made this game really awesome for me. It also reminded me of one of my favorite games of all time - Star Control. There was something just really cool about playing a game and chatting with people all over the world... used to spend hours and hours just meeting new people.

                  The leagues were the reason why I kept playing the game all these years after the novelty wore off though. Unlike leagues/ladders in other games, the fact that Subspace has always had such a great community feel (you can have 300 spectators all at once all chatting together) makes the leagues more like real life sports than any other online game I know of aside for Infantry which obviously doesn't count.

                  Since we cannot add in the novelty factor anymore (meeting people from all over the world was so 10 years ago), the best we can do is promote the gameplay and the leagues. Making it more accessible to everyone would be a start, but really I think this game is kind of old and nothing we do will bring it back.
                  Epinephrine's History of Trench Wars:
                  www.geocities.com/epinephrine.rm

                  My anime blog:
                  www.animeslice.com

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Originally posted by Epinepheral
                    By the way, I think you misunderstood the point of my question. It wasn't asking people about their friends/squads or whatever. It's what things about the GAME made people stay, considering it was already so outdated.
                    I understood the question, I guess if I were to break it waaay down, I'd say I originally came back to the game because my friend played, and I got lured back in by making friends in the lasertag arena (had so much fun), and I stayed because of TWD/TWL.

                    The whole "FIRST MMOG" aspect wasn't what drew me in.. it was really the players and how I got involved / attached to the game. I was playing Asheron's Call in 1999-2001 for the most part, and off/on to 2005 where I officially quit, so SS wasn't my "first" MMO experience, rather a "one of the first"... if you know what I mean.

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Originally posted by Epinephrine View Post
                      Looks like 2005 was our best year. I would think we probably reached the nadir of population growth percentage-wise in 2003-2004.

                      After that time the zone slowly died off.

                      World of Warcraft released: November 23, 2004
                      Xbox 360 (first of the new gen consoles) released: November 22, 2005
                      Counterstrike: Source released: October 7, 2004
                      Everquest II released: 8 November 2004
                      I don't disagree with anything you said epi, but one thing to keep in mind looking at that graph is that double squadding in TWD was a huge problem in 2005 if I remember the year correctly.

                      As epi said earlier meeting people online from all over the world was once a perk this game had over the competition but today it's almost meaningless. TWL (and TWD) is, in my opinion, the star attraction of TW these days. TWD seems to be well taken care of and I've just recently noticed some additional updates to the website to make it even more appealing. The same kind of attention needs to be given to the TWL website, the Hall of Fame should have a committee or something and there should be one additional player added per league per season at least (one for LD, one for LJ, two for LB). The medals on the TWD website (and hopefully one day TWL) could be further established by giving special medals for those who have MVP'd in the finals of any league. More or less I'm saying some players have quit/gone inactive because there wasn't enough focus on TWL, although this is probably a small number compared to other reasons for players quiting.
                      1:Best> lol why is everyone mad that roiwerk got a big dick stickin out his underwear, it's really attractive :P
                      3:Best> lol someone is going to sig that
                      3:Best> see it coming
                      3:Best> sad

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Originally posted by Reaver View Post
                        I don't disagree with anything you said epi, but one thing to keep in mind looking at that graph is that double squadding in TWD was a huge problem in 2005 if I remember the year correctly.

                        As epi said earlier meeting people online from all over the world was once a perk this game had over the competition but today it's almost meaningless. TWL (and TWD) is, in my opinion, the star attraction of TW these days. TWD seems to be well taken care of and I've just recently noticed some additional updates to the website to make it even more appealing. The same kind of attention needs to be given to the TWL website, the Hall of Fame should have a committee or something and there should be one additional player added per league per season at least (one for LD, one for LJ, two for LB). The medals on the TWD website (and hopefully one day TWL) could be further established by giving special medals for those who have MVP'd in the finals of any league. More or less I'm saying some players have quit/gone inactive because there wasn't enough focus on TWL, although this is probably a small number compared to other reasons for players quiting.
                        There are a few things we could do to really make the leagues better, but they would require some server changes, and some commitment from staff as well as some website upgrades.

                        1) Expand the max number of players allowed in each arena to like 500. Every season championship people get locked out, and that sucks. It probably makes a lot of people not bother to even show up actually.

                        2) Put links of upcoming league games, and so on directly on the banner of this forum. A lot of people read the forums but don't do much else. Also perhaps make the arenas automatically give you a link to the TWL website whenever you go into a TWL arena so lazy people can click on it.

                        3) Make a 'free agency' list that people can sign up for

                        4) Create a tiered league system so that people can participate even if they aren't the best and not be blown out every game.

                        5) Have a special time every week even during non-TWL weekends, where there will always be league related events so people can have some fun. Either have some mini-tournaments (i.e. 5on5 deathmatch with ad hoc teams made that day) or exhibition games.

                        6) Run exhibition leagues during non-TWL time. i.e. invent new games for those leagues... wouldn't it be fun to have an offseason spider league? How about an offseason 'speed kill' league (put in 4 squads and see which squad gets the most kills after 15 mins). Or a racing league? Anything could do...

                        There's a lot we can do. Activity drops off quite a bit during non-TWL time, and while it's unrealistic for the game to always be busy (i.e. summers, xmas and exam times are always bad) we could always do more.
                        Epinephrine's History of Trench Wars:
                        www.geocities.com/epinephrine.rm

                        My anime blog:
                        www.animeslice.com

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Ill start off with what I like:

                          Pub. Contrary to the many posts I have had in the past about pub being terrible in the past, I think the current system of having one basing and one pure pub is just fine. Theyre almost always full except around the early morning hours.

                          TWD/TWL. This is the main attraction of the game and players like Arobas+ have been making it even better. Leagues are fun and have a high level of competition despite popular belief that the skill level has overall declined.

                          The playerbase. There are enough different groups of people with the same personalities that any player can come in and fit in with a certain squad. A recreational player can come in and join paladen and just have fun. A player who wants to be really competitive and lose every year despite huge expectations can join next season's Mad/Quake. A geek that wants to act like they're quitting every season when they're secretly practicing and watching their opponents for weeks at a time can join Thunder.

                          And now to the things that i dislike:

                          Pub isnt very user-friendly. Theres no solution for this. Someone who comes in and sees a levi destroying base and hops in one only to get spawned 15 times in a row is going to get discouraged fast. The help ticker is just annoying.

                          TWD. This goes with staff too trying to fuck things up (Witness). TWD has worked amazingly since its come to be. Full charges in TWDD makes people think theres some cheating going on, and despite the general consensus to take them out, all we've gotten is terrible new map ideas like the abortion in wbduel2 with 2 rock piles and a very open middle area that promotes straying.

                          Elim. Man, added functionality hasnt helped the arena out very much. I think years of stats not working has killed the general interest in the arena entirely. The lack of playerbase has hit this arena pretty badly also, and the teaming is so bad in there once someone gets a big win streak that its not even fun to try.

                          Staff. These guys are terrible in almost every aspect overall. The few good staffers are far overshadowed by the useless ones that just want some power in this game and nothing else. Countless times it has been documented that sending cheater calls will get ignored but if you call someone a cheating *** after the game you'll get instantly warned. To be honest, I'd say about 50% of my own cheater/help calls get answered in a timely fashion, and another 10-25% after the 3rd or 4th call. Yes, priorities are entirely fucked up. Most cheater calls are bullshit anyways and I've thrown a few out there myself out of anger at why someone charges fast/eats bullets, but its an important staff function that is not taken care of properly imo.

                          There is also no known 'chain of command' for staff, and bickering between staffers can be confusing to the playerbase. People just lead whatever projects they feel like, and it seems like the dean(s) of staff change every couple months. I think Ara is a dean now, and HMS isnt? I dont know, because that information isnt out there anywhere. Kolar had a list before that he updated on forums, making that the one useful thing he ever did. What PH did this season in TWL was a prime example of how staff should be run. Everyone knew he was in charge of that league, and he made fair and unbiased decisions that promoted competition in the league instead of his own squad winning the league. TWD kinda has that in Witness, but I dont agree with him wanting to change shit up that has been around for years (except fcs!). Personally I think TWD should be maintained as is instead of tinkered with, as it is undeniably the best feature of this game.

                          Lack of support for good programs. I really wanted to start TWLM back up last season, and me, wark, blackmage, and some javs/basers got together and assigned values for players, but the system was so flawed that only betting on MVPs was worth anything. I'd like to do that again for next season if we get support for that. TWDT is another program that is good now, but with direction could be something great. It's a nice recreational league that ideally will have some mediocre players getting to play with some of the top players in their respected leagues. I think it would be nice to me if that league was set up like TWD where the squads could play games at any time during the week that dont really matter, but that would cause a lot of overhead on the coding side. I also like a trade system and giving caps more say over what goes on in that league as far as rules and decisions.

                          Ok enough ranting
                          I'm just a middle-aged, middle-eastern camel herdin' man
                          I got a 2 bedroom cave here in North Afghanistan

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            First, let me start by saying I don't post here or read this forum, because I think 99% of it is useless dribble (just look at Izor's post above, does he ever stop bitching?). I was linked to this thread and it piqued my interest. I've been playing TW (off and on) since the zone originally went online.

                            To answer Epi's question, why were you drawn in and why did you stay. I was drawn in because it was different (from svs zones) and had a fairly low learning curve in comparison (the initial 'get a couple kills in pub' learning curve). That doesn't say much on attracting population, but the reason I originally started playing SS was because I was a broke kid with no money for real games.

                            Now, here's the kicker, the reason I stayed was for the people. The friends I've made in this game are the only online game friends that I've felt compelled to log in once a year (during periods of inactivity) just to catch up with and see how they are doing. The reality of the situation, is this game is about community and friends. There are way better games I could download for free and start playing, but I come back here because of the community.

                            During the boom, many of the friendly players were part of a VERY active staff. And there was just generally slightly more acceptance for new players within the entire community. A new player could come in, and fairly easily recognize a staff member and ask them questions and have a conversation. By taking the 15 minutes to talk to a new player (especially if you say hello to them the next day as well) you make them feel more welcome and they start to become part of the community.

                            Furthermore, we've clearly got a very large group of people who are concerned about this zone, so why aren't more of them on staff? When I was a staff member (around 1999-2001) we had an extremely active staff presence (literally 24/7 service). Why don't you hire enough people so that we can be back to that level of service? People who are willing to spend time talking to newbs and answering ?cheater's, ect. The handful of staff members you do have, have absolutely NO power.

                            So you drive off players with a powerless, inactive staff. The worthless staff cannot control the few people who enjoy ruining the game for others, which in turn drives away even more players. The overall quality of the group of players playing continues to decline, and it becomes an exponential decay.


                            An excellent example of the staff making or breaking a zone is SVS Chaos zone. I spend the majority of my playing time in SVS because it is extremely well managed, the players are more friendly and also tend to be older and more grown up. The sysop over at Chaos has been working extremely hard setting up things like pub reset leaders, whom get their names on the map, (which could be a huge boon for TW) and other subtle but effective changes. The zone, in just 6 months, has seen a fairly dramatic increase in the number of players playing the public arena. There has truly been a revitalization of the zone, and it came under quality and active management. The sysop of Chaos is usually in pub, and if he's at his computer, has no issues answering questions. When I first started playing Chaos again, the sysop was one of the first people to start talking to me. Conversely, I have NO idea who the sysops or smods are in TW. They certainly have no presence. If I ever had a problem with someone TK'ing or using racist comments in SVS, I have absolutely no doubts that the issue would be addressed immediately.

                            I apologize for the length of this message, but in summation, an active and friendly staff with the power to make judgment calls is the single biggest factor in maintaining our population and keeping new players around. As well as a community who is actively being friendly to these new players and talking to them. The reason people play this game is for the people, not because it's some great or even moderately fun game.

                            Thanks,
                            droog

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              I log on for possibly the wierdest open discussion forum I have ever encountered.. which just happens to have spaceships shooting each other- funfun. kids nowadays need more flashy pictures however- oh an TS/voice comms where they can squeek at each other to their hearts content.

                              Edit: also to blame all these fucking SS is dying threads.. lets put it to rest.
                              Last edited by Dealt; 04-21-2010, 06:56 AM.
                              LoPIST> i have tons of leet freinds

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                i started in January 2001.. i'm not sure exactly how i found the game but i remember like 2 years before 01, i played some other 2D spaceship game, don't remember what it was called but it was really fun and not online. but you could play with up to 3 people, like 2 on the keyboard and 1 using the mouse. it was hella fun. then i stopped.. and randomly found subspace and was like whoa its like that game but on the internets!

                                why i started playing:
                                - i was a disillusioned youth looking for an outlet to express myself
                                - spaceships!

                                why i kept playing:
                                - clever, funny, interesting people and a ton of really good squads who's success i cared about

                                why i stopped playing:
                                - who the fuck wants to play with people named "bandcampgirl"

                                solution:
                                - ban bandcampgirl
                                Last edited by Ilya; 04-21-2010, 10:24 AM.
                                can we please have a moment for silence for those who died from black on black violence

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