Not sure if I should have posted this here, or in the Epic Games general chat. But since it is also about UT3 and its community, I did it here.
Epic has said they would bring UT3 back to the original UT, while keeping the good stuff from UT2004. Like vehicles, wall jumps, etc.
This is great news indeed for a UT player like me. Having played UT for 6 years and having my best gaming experiences with that game. Ever.
But UT was more than just the fast paced, hardcore, adrenaline-pumping, palm sweating action. UT was a way of life
. It was a real community. Anyone who was part of it near the start of UT would know this.
Why was UT like this though? It came to me today.
Epic said they would not go for a BUILD-in IRC application within UT3 because... everyone would use mIRC anyway. The same reason was given to the build-in music player. Though they might be right on both accounts, they forget to look at the big picture of the build-in IRC function UT had.
The build-in function was more than just a functionality. It was more than being able to play the game and still chat to people and see their messages in the chat box. It was something for the new kid on the block to get into the community. A new player opens UT. Plays the game, and LOVES it. He obviously wants to get into competitive play, join a clan! Or he is just interested to talk to people about it. Earlier he noticed the CHAT function within the game. And clicks on it. Orientates on the application, and clicks connect. Connecting to IRC.UTGAMES.COM. Autojoining #UNREALTOURNAMENT.
"Hi!"
He starts talking to people, meets new people, wants to join a clan. He gets invited to join some channels of clans that would like to have him. he meets new people here. He joins the clan. They start doing some matches, lets go to clanX they are about our level, ask em to play a scrim. Alright /join #clanX.
What does all this mean? A new person is launched into the community through the chat function. He meets new people. Gets in touch with clans. Starts playing with the community, and has 200% more fun than just playing the game with bots-with-human-skills. AKA. Human players. But they are just a name to that person and he will probably not see most of them again or remember them when he plays next time.
THAT is the result of the chat function. But there is more.
irc.UTGAMES.COM was the chat server run by epic. Later turned into UTCHAT. When you went into the game, and clicked connect, you went to THAT server by default. It kept the community in one place. It brought new people into this one place.
What happens now? You want to play in a clan? Right. Google? The player will be slapped dead with ETG, Quakenet, gamesurge, yadda yadda.
In short. The community is SPLIT UP. DIVIDED.
To get to the point of my post:
SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY
Keep it in one place. Keep it together. Bring it back to the UT tightness
1. Re-launch UTGAMES.
2. Implement build-in CHAT that goes to UTGAMES.
3. Launch Epic's OFFICIAL ladder.
4. Advertise this to the community.
Keep the community strong, keep it together, don't let it get divided between 10 chat servers or 20 different ladder sites.
A ladder is important. It is where the competitive play comes from. Right now there are so many of them, there is no top 1 clan. There is no "Hey did you hear, yesterday GoD beat NoC and they have taken the number one spot!" because there are 10 number 1 spots on 10 different ladder websites. Most of the big sites don't focus on UT. They focus on as many games as they can, attracting as many people as they can. They are out of touch. Keep a HUGE community in one place, keep it 'small' by keeping it together. Let there be famous players, and famous clans, and let there be a tight-knit big community.
You don't need to put extra man-power in this that are hard at work to fine-tune UT3. Look to the community. They are your buyers, they are your heart. They will help you help them There are some really talented individuals part of the unreal community, something I don't have to tell anyone but lets just state it anyway.
Under EPIC's supervision 'recruit' this volunteers to help you in creating the tools necessary to keep the community strong. To keep it together. And to increase the shelf-life of your own product. And as such keep the money flow going.
Surely EPIC, you want not only the gameplay of UT back in UT3. But also the success of UT, the popularity of UT, the full servers of UT, and the shelf-life of UT.
Don't forget the community. Do what you did with UT. That is my plea.
That is all.
Epic has said they would bring UT3 back to the original UT, while keeping the good stuff from UT2004. Like vehicles, wall jumps, etc.
This is great news indeed for a UT player like me. Having played UT for 6 years and having my best gaming experiences with that game. Ever.
But UT was more than just the fast paced, hardcore, adrenaline-pumping, palm sweating action. UT was a way of life
. It was a real community. Anyone who was part of it near the start of UT would know this. Why was UT like this though? It came to me today.
Epic said they would not go for a BUILD-in IRC application within UT3 because... everyone would use mIRC anyway. The same reason was given to the build-in music player. Though they might be right on both accounts, they forget to look at the big picture of the build-in IRC function UT had.
The build-in function was more than just a functionality. It was more than being able to play the game and still chat to people and see their messages in the chat box. It was something for the new kid on the block to get into the community. A new player opens UT. Plays the game, and LOVES it. He obviously wants to get into competitive play, join a clan! Or he is just interested to talk to people about it. Earlier he noticed the CHAT function within the game. And clicks on it. Orientates on the application, and clicks connect. Connecting to IRC.UTGAMES.COM. Autojoining #UNREALTOURNAMENT.
"Hi!"
He starts talking to people, meets new people, wants to join a clan. He gets invited to join some channels of clans that would like to have him. he meets new people here. He joins the clan. They start doing some matches, lets go to clanX they are about our level, ask em to play a scrim. Alright /join #clanX.
What does all this mean? A new person is launched into the community through the chat function. He meets new people. Gets in touch with clans. Starts playing with the community, and has 200% more fun than just playing the game with bots-with-human-skills. AKA. Human players. But they are just a name to that person and he will probably not see most of them again or remember them when he plays next time.
THAT is the result of the chat function. But there is more.
irc.UTGAMES.COM was the chat server run by epic. Later turned into UTCHAT. When you went into the game, and clicked connect, you went to THAT server by default. It kept the community in one place. It brought new people into this one place.
What happens now? You want to play in a clan? Right. Google? The player will be slapped dead with ETG, Quakenet, gamesurge, yadda yadda.
In short. The community is SPLIT UP. DIVIDED.
To get to the point of my post:
SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY
Keep it in one place. Keep it together. Bring it back to the UT tightness
1. Re-launch UTGAMES.
2. Implement build-in CHAT that goes to UTGAMES.
3. Launch Epic's OFFICIAL ladder.
4. Advertise this to the community.
Keep the community strong, keep it together, don't let it get divided between 10 chat servers or 20 different ladder sites.
A ladder is important. It is where the competitive play comes from. Right now there are so many of them, there is no top 1 clan. There is no "Hey did you hear, yesterday GoD beat NoC and they have taken the number one spot!" because there are 10 number 1 spots on 10 different ladder websites. Most of the big sites don't focus on UT. They focus on as many games as they can, attracting as many people as they can. They are out of touch. Keep a HUGE community in one place, keep it 'small' by keeping it together. Let there be famous players, and famous clans, and let there be a tight-knit big community.
You don't need to put extra man-power in this that are hard at work to fine-tune UT3. Look to the community. They are your buyers, they are your heart. They will help you help them
There are some really talented individuals part of the unreal community, something I don't have to tell anyone but lets just state it anyway. Under EPIC's supervision 'recruit' this volunteers to help you in creating the tools necessary to keep the community strong. To keep it together. And to increase the shelf-life of your own product. And as such keep the money flow going.
Surely EPIC, you want not only the gameplay of UT back in UT3. But also the success of UT, the popularity of UT, the full servers of UT, and the shelf-life of UT.
Don't forget the community. Do what you did with UT. That is my plea.
That is all.
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