Future ARMA games

[KproTM 10]

Hey guys,

I'm kind of new here and ARMA caught my eye after watching a few videos of ARMA III. I continued to watch more vids and was really impressed with the realism that this game is achieving towards, to the point where I shouldn't even call it a game and instead refer to it as a "combat simulation" in respect. The scale of what BIS is going at is astonishing and I have to say you ARMA players are a lot more respectable, decent, and serious-but-fun type of players I have seen.

But before I say what I want to ask, I had to read over the Forum and understand what type of players you guys are so that I can better understand what you guys are wanting out of ARMA as to not make myself appear ignorant to the fanbase.

After reading through the Forum, I've noticed that the reason most players of ARMA like it is because of the Single-player *And it's incredible modding community*. Most topics I've read through appear to give me the impression that you guys play ARMA for a SP experience and not a Multiplayer one. In fact, I wanted to make sure I wasn't seeing this wrong, but after reading more it seemed to me that if anyone suggested expanding more towards the Multiplayer experience that the idea would generally get flamed or looked down upon.

Now, I'm not a CoD fan. That game is too arcadish for me and there's too many 7-12 year olds cursing crap I don't even know what to me. Battlefield, on the other hand, had a bit more tactical and realistic approach than CoD that drew me into that franchise. And while I am excited for BF4, looking at ARMA III, I can't help but think to myself, "Maybe I should join the PC master race and upgrade my PC to play ARMA III when it comes out", and that just expanded the slew of ideas that came out of my imagination of what the Future of ARMA is capable of.

So I ask you, how would you feel if BIS made an ARMA game in the form of a persistent massively multiplayer online first person shooter? Now before you start thinking the negative, let me bring up Planetside 2! Yes, I know it's science fiction, however when I looked through several videos of that game I noticed these amazing events when hundreds of friends in multiple Outfits organized offensive assaults to attack enemy bases, and the way they do it was so well organized and tactical that I imagined a version of such in the form of a Future ARMA title that would be, well, extraordinary!

Please, help me understand what ARMA is truly about, why it's unique above Battlefield and CoD franchises, and why Big-Multiplayer modes is sometimes looked down upon for ARMA.

Edited June 28, 2013 by KproTM

[Phantom Six 25]

MMO ARMA? There would be no point of me editing and that would make ARMA what it is not. The answer is no. ARMA to me is what you make of it. For "MMO" type servers, I guess people play those Life servers, DayZ, and whatnot, but I for one enjoy standard classic no revive/respawn coop missions so I play those and even make some of my own. If ARMA was just pure MMO like planetside, there wouldn't be much of a point in addons, custom content making, or even mods. Some people enjoy ARMA for the editor, some enjoy the singleplayer custom campaigns made, some enjoy the organized community driven multiplayer gaming sessions (some more mil-sim-ish than the rest). Overall, ARMA is what you make of it.

I won't speak for the community on this one but the reason why I look down on big multiplayer modes would be that on the gamemode that you do revive/respawn, you psychologically feel more reckless and become rambo instead of communicating with the team as much. You won't take your approaches carefully enough and become careless and just rushing to objectives knowing that you will revive/respawn so you'll have plenty of people rushing objectives and being rambos dying over and over instead.

To me, ARMA should stay true to what ARMA is, not stray and become something its not. That would be selling out.

[Taisen75 1]

MMO ARMA? There would be no point of me editing and that would make ARMA what it is not. The answer is no. ARMA to me is what you make of it. For "MMO" type servers, I guess people play those Life servers, DayZ, and whatnot, but I for one enjoy standard classic no revive/respawn coop missions so I play those and even make some of my own. If ARMA was just pure MMO like planetside, there wouldn't be much of a point in addons, custom content making, or even mods. Some people enjoy ARMA for the editor, some enjoy the singleplayer custom campaigns made, some enjoy the organized community driven multiplayer gaming sessions (some more mil-sim-ish than the rest). Overall, ARMA is what you make of it.

I won't speak for the community on this one but the reason why I look down on big multiplayer modes would be that on the gamemode that you do revive/respawn, you psychologically feel more reckless and become rambo instead of communicating with the team as much. You won't take your approaches carefully enough and become careless and just rushing to objectives knowing that you will revive/respawn so you'll have plenty of people rushing objectives and being rambos dying over and over instead.

To me, ARMA should stay true to what ARMA is, not stray and become something its not. That would be selling out.

Well said ;)

[giorgygr 61]

Well i cannot use the word "Massive" for 50 or 100 or 200 players..

[Maio 293]

Hey,

Firstly I would say that you got the wrong impression. Arma is very much appreciated as a MP game :). MP mostly revolves around user made missions both PvP and CO-OP. There are missions tailored around the persistent conflict concept, such as Insurgency or Annex and Secure in which you have to complete different objectives while fiting the AI and/or other players.

Secondly, the following is a personal opinion based on my observations of the MP scene. Building the Arma franchise around the PS 2 concept would fail, as the MP community is structured around multiple smaller communities each playing their preferred game modes ( PvP. TDM, CO-OP, roleplay, sometimes game modes that involve no combat at all, such as racing or just flying around). It would just turn a very open sandbox game into a server controlled PvP one.

The cost of maintaining a server farm powerful enough to allow a big enough environment with enough players to differentiate from other similar games would be huge and would no likely be on Bohemias back. This would also lead to the termination of CO-OP and other deviant communities and PvP communities would have no control over the servers.

My 2 cents

[mmaruda 20]

Personally I hate MMOs since they end up being a grind and the players usually has little influence on the world. Even EVE Online is boring grind all the way till you get some real cash and develop your avatar. The closest thing to proper MMO in my opinion is DayZ, since it allows you to do whatever you want in a realistic, player-driven environment without dumb restrictions like character levels and such. That said, I would enjoy another Arma mod/spin-off of this sort but without zombies. This concept is so overused nowadays that has gone beyond boring. I am not a fan of the "life" server, nor Wasteland, but if BIS decided on a STALKER-like official mod I would be all over it. It could be cool to be a stalker in post-apocalyptic soviet environment, in an open, player-driven world.

[qbert 10]

I think an MMO type deal would be cool. Imagine a fully modeled [insert 3rd world country here], where thousands of players are doing day-to-day military jobs. It could be permadeath, and you'd have to follow strict rules, or risk getting court marshaled (GMs would be the high-ranking people, and court marshals would result in a character deletion. I envision something like Planetside 2, but without all the halo future stuff, and 100 percent realistic. That being said, as much as I think BI would be the perfect devs to create this dream-MMO, I would not ask them to jeopardize our beloved Arma IP to do so.

You have to admit though, if there was an MMO like Arma, developed by BI, we'd all throw our moneyz at it.

[KproTM 10]

Hey,

Firstly I would say that you got the wrong impression. Arma is very much appreciated as a MP game :). MP mostly revolves around user made missions both PvP and CO-OP. There are missions tailored around the persistent conflict concept, such as Insurgency or Annex and Secure in which you have to complete different objectives while fiting the AI and/or other players.

Secondly, the following is a personal opinion based on my observations of the MP scene. Building the Arma franchise around the PS 2 concept would fail, as the MP community is structured around multiple smaller communities each playing their preferred game modes ( PvP. TDM, CO-OP, roleplay, sometimes game modes that involve no combat at all, such as racing or just flying around). It would just turn a very open sandbox game into a server controlled PvP one.

The cost of maintaining a server farm powerful enough to allow a big enough environment with enough players to differentiate from other similar games would be huge and would no likely be on Bohemias back. This would also lead to the termination of CO-OP and other deviant communities and PvP communities would have no control over the servers.

My 2 cents

Ah true, I guess I underestimated the creativity of ARMA's modding community. It appears, when you put it that way, that massive online modes already exist in ARMA, they're just from 50 to around 200 in each server and instead of having an established goal to reach you get to create whatever goal you wish.

---------- Post added at 14:07 ---------- Previous post was at 14:04 ----------

I think an MMO type deal would be cool. Imagine a fully modeled [insert 3rd world country here], where thousands of players are doing day-to-day military jobs. It could be permadeath, and you'd have to follow strict rules, or risk getting court marshaled (GMs would be the high-ranking people, and court marshals would result in a character deletion. I envision something like Planetside 2, but without all the halo future stuff, and 100 percent realistic. That being said, as much as I think BI would be the perfect devs to create this dream-MMO, I would not ask them to jeopardize our beloved Arma IP to do so.

You have to admit though, if there was an MMO like Arma, developed by BI, we'd all throw our moneyz at it.

That is exactly what I was thinking! If it was powered by a Real Virtuality 5 or 6 game engine, if it were created by the end of the decade, I imagine it would be an interesting concept.

[chaplainDMK 10]

I think an MMO type deal would be cool. Imagine a fully modeled [insert 3rd world country here], where thousands of players are doing day-to-day military jobs. It could be permadeath, and you'd have to follow strict rules, or risk getting court marshaled (GMs would be the high-ranking people, and court marshals would result in a character deletion. I envision something like Planetside 2, but without all the halo future stuff, and 100 percent realistic. That being said, as much as I think BI would be the perfect devs to create this dream-MMO, I would not ask them to jeopardize our beloved Arma IP to do so.

You have to admit though, if there was an MMO like Arma, developed by BI, we'd all throw our moneyz at it.

I don't see this being successful. Not only do you need a tonne of servers for it to run stable, it would be only popular with the REALLY hardcore crowd. A Planetside 2 like system, basically permanent Warfare mode, would be interesting, but again, I don't see it being popular.

But I would really like to have support for 256 + players so you could have major PVP actions without needing to introduce the brain-dead AI into the mix.

[qbert 10]

Most of what I said was a hypothetical "In a perfect world" scenario, where I assume that BI buys Google out and acquires their server farms, and microtransactions don't exist.

Also EA goes out of business.... Wishful thinking?

[zooloo75 834]

This wouldn't be the ArmA we all know and love then.

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Things get silly enough in any game that holds 50+ players, yet OP wants more?

[Anachoretes 10]

Quality of players gives much more exp. than quantity.

[NeuroFunker 11]

lets get arma 3 into final first?

[Nobex 10]

Depends how much technology progresses. Arma 4 or 5 can be max 64 or 500 we never know.

[Saliiim 10]

I think building it around the PS2 concept would fail. Although, I do enjoy the 'invasion and Annex' mission in ARMA 3, although I think that may be partly due to me not being part of a group yet and experiencing the more team based side of ARMA.

[dragon01 902]

No MMO, please. Every franchise these days seems to be getting an MMO installment, after which nothing more comes out. Not so bad if dealing with an MMO RPG, where you can have an actual storyline, but an MMO FPS (and that's what ArmA MMO would be) are usually arcade-y arena-style games with no story to speak of, which is exactly the opposite of what ArmA always was.

[Binkowski 26]

[dale0404 5]

Some good arguments for and against this idea.

My own personal opinion is not in a million years!! Leave Arma as it is, a damn fine game.

[tremanarch 6]

just make a big persistent mission on altis - where you can "rank up" doing duties and where random stuff is happening. (same as dayz - just without zombies and ranking.)

only question would be: coop, or team-cti style.. or sth. in between. maybe with possibilities of altering the land (building barricades etc.

as long as its persistent it feels "mmo'ish"

[L3TUC3 32]

I really like the wasteland approach which closely resembles your description. It scratches my freeform mp experience just right.

It's got dayz's gathering and survival stuff, but with established teams and lonewolves.

Want coop pvp? Go on the opfor/blufor team side to join others and do random mission objectives for big rewards, make supply runs, build a base to protect your goodies and create a rally point for teammates.

Want rambo pvp? Join the independent side where you can just go singlehandeldy spoil everyone's day DayZ style. (You can still do all of the above if you happen to stumble upon likeminded independents. Most will just take your beans though).

Once they get character/equipment saving in and get the world to be more persistent so player made bases stick around it'll be a blast.

[chortles 263]

Want rambo pvp? Join the independent side where you can just go singlehandeldy spoil everyone's day DayZ style. (You can still do all of the above if you happen to stumble upon likeminded independents. Most will just take your beans though).

Or do as my group does -- get together in Mumble beforehand, all join Independents, then create a group in-game and link up together.

singlehandeldy spoil everyone's day DayZ style

This person understands the best way to play and is a good poster.