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Warning: Not short, sweet or to the point. Long, unwieldy. But might be a good read ... or not. :d Or is :d It's been a while since I've posted something deep sooooo ....
I like to solve puzzles backwards and forwards figuratively speaking because, to be quite honest, life is like Lex Luthor's quote in the first Superman movie how someone "can read the back of a bubble gum wrapper and unlock the mysteries of the universe".
Observing what happens in Quake is interesting because you can see how people to react to things, each other, etc. because it gives insight to human behavior.
Bonus: Getting insight from, say, online human behavior is nice and without consequence compared to, say, direct observation of stuff that actually can affect your life. Watching events unfold or something mature online is something that doesn't really have an impact, versus say events unfolding with, say, friends or at work or somewhere where the result affects you.
Virtual experience!
What was going on before 2006...
I think Quake as a game had a very abnormal premature decline back in the early 2000s when cheats became widespread for Quake with the source being open.
Combined with some other things like GLQuake not working in any form on a wide array cross-section of computers (the notorious Intel displays), Quake took a major hit plus it was ugly compared to, say, Quake 3 and of course people want to play the next great thing.
Add in the quake.exe (DOSQuake) won't work on Windows XP, Quake suffered the perfect storm of
2006...
2006 was a weird year where there was ...
Furthermore, there was a large bulk of enthusiastic and flexible moderates who weren't so dogmatic about their preferences and were "more live and let live" types around.
For example, in early 2007, there were always 40-60 people on servers in the evening. And in the forums, there was a great deal of interest in custom maps, single player stuff, engines and so forth.
Enough of them, in fact, to displace crustier people and in fact make the crustier people feel really out of place.
Mid/Late 2007 - Slow return to new normal
Once Quake experienced a resurgence, more people played and eventually more people were satiated (sufficiently re-experienced what they liked) or the natural scheme of player depletion took place (real life, etc.) or had their curiosity sufficiently satisfied and it was "new" anymore.
Really, probably every Quake community experienced a renewal of some sort in 2006 of returning interest from veteran returners and/or curious newcomers.
Quake had had a premature decline earlier in the decade so it was well positioned to get a small boom a couple of years ago.
Nowish
Quake to me seems like it has resumed to where it should naturally be for a game this old.
A good chunk of the remaining players know what they like to play and are more or less set in their ways.
This also means less interest in new things, and so less demand or interest in new things and no doubt few new things will be made.
Certain "non-new" low-risk development activity will continue to occur. For example, new single player maps following the "tried and true" formula will continue to be made. Low-risk client/engine development will continue.
But what we probably won't see much of ..
I think Quake will probably remain a place of general inertia catering to established norms.
Quake is a great game and has had and will continue to have an abnormally long lifespan for a game.
But I am wondering if Quake hasn't hit that figurative "history is dead" point.
The Age of the Toaster
The expression "History is dead" means history is dead not because a future doesn't exist, but because the future will contain no more new history and any new history will be unremarkable.
An example is the toaster!
Toasters were invented in 1930s and apparently in the last 70-80 years they haven't changed.
Disclaimer follows!
I like to solve puzzles backwards and forwards figuratively speaking because, to be quite honest, life is like Lex Luthor's quote in the first Superman movie how someone "can read the back of a bubble gum wrapper and unlock the mysteries of the universe".
Observing what happens in Quake is interesting because you can see how people to react to things, each other, etc. because it gives insight to human behavior.
Bonus: Getting insight from, say, online human behavior is nice and without consequence compared to, say, direct observation of stuff that actually can affect your life. Watching events unfold or something mature online is something that doesn't really have an impact, versus say events unfolding with, say, friends or at work or somewhere where the result affects you.
Virtual experience!
Quake a microcosm
Quake has a life-cycle like any game. Games have life-cycles like any product, any website, any company, any organization or even a group of friends.
It has a beginning, a rise, a decline, a long period of stability and a tailing off.
Most things don't have a finite end. Quake won't either.
Quake has a life-cycle like any game. Games have life-cycles like any product, any website, any company, any organization or even a group of friends.
It has a beginning, a rise, a decline, a long period of stability and a tailing off.
Most things don't have a finite end. Quake won't either.
I think Quake as a game had a very abnormal premature decline back in the early 2000s when cheats became widespread for Quake with the source being open.
Combined with some other things like GLQuake not working in any form on a wide array cross-section of computers (the notorious Intel displays), Quake took a major hit plus it was ugly compared to, say, Quake 3 and of course people want to play the next great thing.
Add in the quake.exe (DOSQuake) won't work on Windows XP, Quake suffered the perfect storm of
- "it doesn't work on my computer"
- "the ugliness doesn't impress my friends"
- "it's not cool"
- and of course, "cheaters" ... both real and *imagined* (imagined = worse)
- "the ugliness doesn't impress my friends"
- "it's not cool"
- and of course, "cheaters" ... both real and *imagined* (imagined = worse)
2006 was a weird year where there was ...
- a lot of interest in Quake as it was the 10th year anniversary
- a lot of people who felt they had been prematurely deprived of playing multiplayer Quake (large player pool of those who wanted to play)
- a lot of curiosity and mystery about newer engines
- a lot of curiosity about custom maps and mods and other possibilities
- a lot of people who felt they had been prematurely deprived of playing multiplayer Quake (large player pool of those who wanted to play)
- a lot of curiosity and mystery about newer engines
- a lot of curiosity about custom maps and mods and other possibilities
For example, in early 2007, there were always 40-60 people on servers in the evening. And in the forums, there was a great deal of interest in custom maps, single player stuff, engines and so forth.
Enough of them, in fact, to displace crustier people and in fact make the crustier people feel really out of place.
Mid/Late 2007 - Slow return to new normal
Once Quake experienced a resurgence, more people played and eventually more people were satiated (sufficiently re-experienced what they liked) or the natural scheme of player depletion took place (real life, etc.) or had their curiosity sufficiently satisfied and it was "new" anymore.
Really, probably every Quake community experienced a renewal of some sort in 2006 of returning interest from veteran returners and/or curious newcomers.
Quake had had a premature decline earlier in the decade so it was well positioned to get a small boom a couple of years ago.
Nowish
Quake to me seems like it has resumed to where it should naturally be for a game this old.
A good chunk of the remaining players know what they like to play and are more or less set in their ways.
This also means less interest in new things, and so less demand or interest in new things and no doubt few new things will be made.
Certain "non-new" low-risk development activity will continue to occur. For example, new single player maps following the "tried and true" formula will continue to be made. Low-risk client/engine development will continue.
But what we probably won't see much of ..
1) New high-risk/high-effort mods (aka the unconventional ones)
2) New high-risk/high-effort clients (the Vengeance R2s, Tremors, Tenebraes)
3) New High-risk/high-effort server mods (RQuake and such)
4) Independent high-effort stuff like Rygel's texture pack
2) New high-risk/high-effort clients (the Vengeance R2s, Tremors, Tenebraes)
3) New High-risk/high-effort server mods (RQuake and such)
4) Independent high-effort stuff like Rygel's texture pack
Quake is a great game and has had and will continue to have an abnormally long lifespan for a game.
But I am wondering if Quake hasn't hit that figurative "history is dead" point.
The Age of the Toaster
The expression "History is dead" means history is dead not because a future doesn't exist, but because the future will contain no more new history and any new history will be unremarkable.
An example is the toaster!
Toasters were invented in 1930s and apparently in the last 70-80 years they haven't changed.
Disclaimer follows!
None of the above doesn't mean Quake isn't important, just that my theory is that Quake's future will a lot of sameness.
It could be a long steady sameness or even one with some growth, but sameness is the antithesis of excitement and barring something extraordinarily unpredictable and extraordinarily unusual (and where would this come from?) it seems unlikely that there could be a boom or even a significant growth spurt.
Mature communities get set in their ways, inflexibility sets in .. and with that comes sameness.
Inflexibility and sameness are a form of stability, but it's like electrons orbiting in the lowest energy electron shell. It's what you have when something is cold and lacks energy.
And I'm not referring to this community when I was thinking about this, although it applies here too of course. I've seen a lot of disinterest in new things and like the reception of mods etc pretty much universally.
3 or 4 very diverse people have actually brought this subject up in the last 5-6 months (you'd never be able to guess any of them, which is funny to me).
/Sue me for the chemistry reference, I didn't feel like dumbing my post down.
It could be a long steady sameness or even one with some growth, but sameness is the antithesis of excitement and barring something extraordinarily unpredictable and extraordinarily unusual (and where would this come from?) it seems unlikely that there could be a boom or even a significant growth spurt.
Mature communities get set in their ways, inflexibility sets in .. and with that comes sameness.
Inflexibility and sameness are a form of stability, but it's like electrons orbiting in the lowest energy electron shell. It's what you have when something is cold and lacks energy.
And I'm not referring to this community when I was thinking about this, although it applies here too of course. I've seen a lot of disinterest in new things and like the reception of mods etc pretty much universally.
3 or 4 very diverse people have actually brought this subject up in the last 5-6 months (you'd never be able to guess any of them, which is funny to me).
/Sue me for the chemistry reference, I didn't feel like dumbing my post down.
uake
ne.com
even so though, Q1 is mainly attractive to me as a SP mapping platform, because of the monster set and the fast gameplay. I'm starting to think that I would really like easier colored lighting, light emitting textures, radiosity and similar mapping side improvements. Quoth 2 of course is a major incentive to make Q1 maps, but even that leaves a few things to be desired (engines would have to be changed I guess.)
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