On Line Gaming

[M.Dancer]

You have to pay to play?

[GostHacked]

You have to pay to play?

I really don't like pay to play like a monthly subscription. However, we do a drive now and then among our clan members to donate to the ODR66 group, to keep the server alive. It does cost money to run an official server where stats are tracked.

For TF2, you buy the game, and join any of the public servers out there. You need Steam installed (Valve). Steam is Valve's digital distrobution client and provides acces to your games and other features. You can login offline and play games that way as well. I have come to love steam and admire it. The netcode for the games is in the top 5 out there.

If you do not already have steam or any Valve game, I highly suggest The Orange Box. Half-Life 2, HL2 Epp1, and Epp2, Half-Life Deathmatch, Portal and TF2. Best bang for your buck. Retails about 45 -55 CND.

The client download is free, you have to create an account. You can buy games right through Steam, their content servers are super fast, it should top out your connection. At my pals place he has 18up/2down and the connection was maxing out at 2.1 mbps (megabits). Almost 8 gigs for the content I needed to download one day and that took just under 40 minutes, impressive.

http://store.steampowered.com/

http://www.valvesoftware.com/

They have servers you can rent. To create your own community, things like that.

The other thing is with Valve, is they treat cheating as a serious offence. That could end up getting you banned from the server, and banned from Steam altogether. If you are caught cheating in one game (aim bot, wallhacks, ect), you can loose access to all your Steam/Valve games. I have seen it happen. For me I have about 8 bought games that are tied to my Steam ID/account. It would be a pity to have to buy all those games again to play online. I applaude Steam/Valve for how they approach cheating in game.

The good thing is that you are not restricted to just your machine. Install Steam on any PC you use, and install all the games. However, you can only be logged in once at any given time. It will kick you off the other machine if you login on another. This is awesome, because I have a spare system at my pals place so I can run TF2. No worries about having to buy it again to play on another system. It all travels with you when you login.

[AngusThermopyle]

If you do not already have steam or any Valve game, I highly suggest The Orange Box.

Yep, the absolute hands down best value in gaming, not to mention episode three is going to be coming out. The great thing aboout HL and HL2 is the story and characters, a persistant story line that involves you in the characters lives, and a pretty cool setting as well. Not to mention Portal, a game designed to boggle the mind and challenge your logic and puzzle solving skills. You forgot to mention Counterstrike, thats part of the Orange Box package as well.

I was trying out that free online one I was talking about, Combat Arms, someone there was using a wall hack. Camped directly outside the spawn point behind a wall. He got me about three times before I figured out what he was doing. He must have been a noob because he didn't check to the rear. I just circled around behind him using the second exit from the spawn point and killed him, actually came up behind him and placed my pistol against his head and fired. Ended up getting him about five times before he figured out his little trick wasn't going to work any more.

I really despise cheaters, nothing will ruin a game faster than cheaters, they certainly did with Day of defeat when it first came out.

[Argus]

WoW doesn't do anything for me either but it does for many people. Actually to the point of addiction for quite a few. Off hand I can't recall any specifics but I do recall that their have been a few (or more) dubious practices and actions credited to WoW players. For many it becomes more than just a game and more of an extension of their personal world, in fact so much so that it can affect their real physical world.

You can get addicted to almost anything.

I've tried Eve Online, but it was a very steep learning curve, and the graphics of actual game play weren't a lot better than pong. I have also tried WOW - much better, but still cartoony graphics.

I think as graphics increase in quality, more and more people will want to become involved in these online game. The more realistic the game play and visuals, the more people will become involved in them - and addicted to them. If you look at the visual art in the Final fantasy movies, and translate that down to a regular video game like WOW you begin to see how real the games can become. Add in features which scan photos and let you recreate yourself as a digital figure in a very realistically depicted world - fantasy, science fiction, exploration or FPS and you being to see what kind of crowds these games will attract in future. It's probably the future of porn, too, come to think of it. Which isn't a bad thing as porn money fueled VCR and DVD development, as well as the internet. Ten or twenty years from now I think the gaming world will far outstrip any other entertainment medium, and the 10 million who play WOW will be seen as pretty small scale numbers.

Edited November 7, 2008 by Argus

[AngusThermopyle]

Ten or twenty years from now I think the gaming world will far outstrip any other entertainment medium,

I think I mentioned that I read an article, I think it was in Maximum PC, where they stated that the gaming industry had outstripped the movie industry in total revenues. It makes sense actually, given the amount of different platforms out there and the fact that it appeals to far more young people than the movie industry does.

[AngusThermopyle]

I think I've just found the case I'll use for my next gaming rig that I'm going to build. This is really cool, no pun intended. the oinly problem I can see with it is the fact that its suited to sitting on a desk as opposed to the floor, not a big problem really. Also HSF selection will probably be quite critical due to space requirements.

Check it out, its really different and cool.

Antec Skeleton

[Argus]

I think I mentioned that I read an article, I think it was in Maximum PC, where they stated that the gaming industry had outstripped the movie industry in total revenues. It makes sense actually, given the amount of different platforms out there and the fact that it appeals to far more young people than the movie industry does.

I'd say it's more because it appeals to older people the movies don't. When you're a teenager you go to movies. When you're 35 it seems, you play games. The average age of gamers is now about 40 I think. Adding to this, very little on television appeals to intelligent people either.

[AngusThermopyle]

I'd say it's more because it appeals to older people the movies don't. When you're a teenager you go to movies. When you're 35 it seems, you play games. The average age of gamers is now about 40 I think. Adding to this, very little on television appeals to intelligent people either.

Actually that makes a lot of sense, I didn't really give it too much thought. The article didn't mention any demographics as I recall just stated overall profits.

[GostHacked]

It's really amazing to see more money put into game production than movie production these days. Much of the tech to provide CGI in movies translates over to games as well.

We had some good battles as of late for TeamFortress2. One of our admins is now an admin on the ODR66 server, and is now wearing the ODR66 tag ... this is a great thing. What is funny now is that ODR66 looks at the SGC crew as equals now. We just wanted to play and have fun, and now they are recruiting from our clan hehehe.. So we can look at it as ODR66 is the pro team while sGc is the farm team. I don't get enough hours on the ice to get called up

Seriously, get on it, and I can add you to the sGc clan.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Sundaysundaysunday

[White Doors]

Ok, I played WOW, got bored. Tried Conan, it's still in beta really, but I think I have finally found my gaming home. You guys needs to at least do the trial on this:

http://www.eve-online.com/

It is HUGE, open ended and has a very, very large learning curve. Argus et al, it makes WOW look like Mr. Dress-up.

Try it out. PM me if you do so we can work together. (Everyone plays on the same server)

[AngusThermopyle]

I've heard abput Eve, quite a bit actually.

Unfortunately I've gone and gotten myself hooked on that one I was talking about, Combat Arms. Nothing fancy, just good old run and gun gameplay. Now I've been playing more I find it reminds me a lot of the old TF style of play. Some of the maps like Sand Hog and Junk Flea have a very TF feel to them as well.

[DrGreenthumb]

I'd say it's more because it appeals to older people the movies don't. When you're a teenager you go to movies. When you're 35 it seems, you play games. The average age of gamers is now about 40 I think. Adding to this, very little on television appeals to intelligent people either.

Holy crap a thread that I can agree with Argus on something lol

The only thing I watch on TV is Cpac, other than that its gaming all the way. The orange box is great. Xboxlive and Bungie track cheaters pretty effectively as well and they get banned. Xbox live makes you download patches that prevent cheats whenever a game cheat is discovered. If you don't accept the update, no xboxlive connection. I spend WAY to much money downloading extra game content over xboxlive marketplace, but I gotta have all the latest RockBand songs. Its funny the games have got my kids listening to all the old bands that were popular when I was their age.

I just got Fable 2, and its great. Very huge virtual world to explore.

[GostHacked]

Ok, I played WOW, got bored. Tried Conan, it's still in beta really, but I think I have finally found my gaming home. You guys needs to at least do the trial on this:

http://www.eve-online.com/

It is HUGE, open ended and has a very, very large learning curve. Argus et al, it makes WOW look like Mr. Dress-up.

Try it out. PM me if you do so we can work together. (Everyone plays on the same server)

The server environment they run is actually unique. It is only one server. They recently switched over to flash drives for the content that is access the most. This increased the capacity of the server by 4 times.

One server runs EVE. Which is nuts.

[blueblood]

Call of Duty 5 (too many damn good kids on there, I walk for 2 seconds and am swiss cheese, I'm lucky to get 5 kills in a round)

Can't find a shooter as fun to play multiplayer as 007 Goldeneye for N64.

NHL 09, hockey is the best multiplayer videogame ever.

Medieval 2 for PC, finally a game I can light people up on, beware of my byzantine horse archers...

Edited December 5, 2008 by blueblood

[White Doors]

The server environment they run is actually unique. It is only one server. They recently switched over to flash drives for the content that is access the most. This increased the capacity of the server by 4 times.

One server runs EVE. Which is nuts.

Nah, they have a server farm, it's just one shard, instead of fractured environements like all other MMORPGS

[White Doors]

Call of Duty 5 (too many damn good kids on there, I walk for 2 seconds and am swiss cheese, I'm lucky to get 5 kills in a round)

Can't find a shooter as fun to play multiplayer as 007 Goldeneye for N64.

NHL 09, hockey is the best multiplayer videogame ever.

Medieval 2 for PC, finally a game I can light people up on, beware of my byzantine horse archers...

Empire Total War out in Feb Blueblood. looks like a winner

[blueblood]

Empire Total War out in Feb Blueblood. looks like a winner

The old laptop barely runs Medieval 2. Empire would require a brand new tower setup.

I like my swords and cavalry.

[GostHacked]

Nah, they have a server farm, it's just one shard, instead of fractured environements like all other MMORPGS

Well it may be a farm, but it is one single server farm running the entire MMO. The farm is classafied as a single server, but it is a cluster acting as one. I played EVE for sometime, and is a beautiful game.

http://www.superssd.com/success/ccpgames.htm

Players connect to the game servers via the Internet and interact in real time with other players worldwide. EVE Online is truly a massive multiplayer game, where all 75,000 plus subscribers inhabit the same game world, not split into smaller limited groups or "shards".

http://pc.ign.com/articles/846/846993p1.html

Although dwarfed by MMO behemoths like World of Warcraft, which recently surpassed the 10 million subscriber mark, EVE has been going strong for almost five years in a unique single-server environment. CCP said the game currently has 220,000 subscribers.

[White Doors]

The old laptop barely runs Medieval 2. Empire would require a brand new tower setup.

I like my swords and cavalry.

You will still have that and muskets too!

New TW games = new tower. almost like cloakwork.

[White Doors]

Well it may be a farm, but it is one single server farm running the entire MMO. The farm is classafied as a single server, but it is a cluster acting as one. I played EVE for sometime, and is a beautiful game.

http://www.superssd.com/success/ccpgames.htm

http://pc.ign.com/articles/846/846993p1.html

Yes, exactly. I play on it now.

PM me your character if you decide to play again.

[GostHacked]

Yes, exactly. I play on it now.

PM me your character if you decide to play again.

My problem with most MMOs and RPGs in general is I get bored of them quick. I hate the grind and leveling and customizing everything. It is alot of time spent on it. I have a few friends that play WOW and that is it.

Although Homeworld is my all time fave RTS, EVE is the closest thing I could play to an MMO in this type of universe.

[acidburn]

i think they are great and fun. until people lose themselves in the games and that is ALL they do and ONLY socialize in that way. people who are very into those games need more balance. also a friend had his credit card hacked so someone could pay their WoW account debts? seriously if you have that much skill in online stuff maybe pursue a career in it. exploit your skills not others and don't lose yourself in a world that only exists on your computer. gaming or facebook or myspace or whatever it may be. The real world is a wonderful place - take a chance and enjoy it a little more.

[KeyStone]

I tried World of Warcraft for a month or so and wasn't all that impressed with it.

The upside is the graphics which are stunning, as well as the capture-the-flag type of tournaments.

The downside of it is that half of the quests that you do are things like: Go and kill 20 wolves which is neither fun nor particularly heroic.

The other downside is the aggressive nature of the game the twinks.

For those that aren't familiar with the term, twinks are people who spend a lot of time and money to get their character the very best gear.

It's unbalancing for those trying to compete with them.

A great alternative is Dungeons and Dragons Online:

1) You go into dungeons as opposed to just running around - they take from 10 minutes to an hour to complete.

2) You actually have to think about how to defeat things, and how to solve puzzles etc.

3) The game is cooperative - you need a team - you need a cleric and a rogue etc.

It's just a lot more fun and enjoyable and the people are much nicer.

I highly recommend it