Whats happened to this community

[gaz1971 15]

What the title says.

And its since arma 3 went to steam. i run a UK group and am often on here looking for mods aswell as new members.

 People post on here looking for groups to join, most of them give a shit explanation of what they are looking for, and what they offer, they rarely give their age or timezone or a way of contacting them, So the only way is by pm. then most don't even bother replying, or give you cheek when they do. I have been part of this community for some years. Is this progression ? Do we really need steam ?? I for one don't think we do,

[Greenfist 1863]

How is this Steam's fault? :huh:  Are all Steam game communities degenerating?

[gaz1971 15]

just my view, i personally don't like steam, and don't feel its needed, what was wrong with the way things were done before ? why did they chose to go down the steam route ? im not saying its bad for all steam games, just arma 3 :)

[Greenfist 1863]

I personally like Steam, and think it really is needed. For example, how could BI update their game 250 times a year without Steam?

 

But how did Steam make Arma players ill-mannered? Would the community be exceptionally mature without it? Maybe. But it would probably be 100 times smaller also.

[Siege-A 4054]

I'm not really a big fan of Steam either, but I don't think that's to blame here. It sounds to me like these life game modes would be more related to your issue, since they have brought in a massive crowd of underage children into our mix. Same thing that happened when DayZ dropped, only not quite to this scale. This is sure to happen anytime a game becomes more popular, as many new crowds are drawn to it. It's not the same military-sim community that we once had, so you have to pick and choose more wisely or settle with what's available. 

Edited November 3, 2015 by Siege-A
removed discriminatory text

[zimms 22]

It's not Steam's fault. And do you really not know why Bohemia took this route, or do you just don't want to hear it. I think the reasons are pretty obvious.

[chortles 263]

Or you could get the reason for Steam straight from the source .

[inlesco 233]

In short: Steam makes all the stuff for game developers better: modding integration, continuous game updates, collecting of feedback, etc.

 

As it's the most popular PC gaming service to this day, can't see anything wrong with using it.

 

However, what the actual playerbase / community prefers (one over another, etc.), is their "problem".

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

Nobody likes commitment. 

[Nicholas 5]

I feel it was partially because DayZ brought in lots of new players.  Before DayZ, people bought ArmA to actually play ArmA.  Most of them bought it this time around because of DayZ.  Steam may have also put ArmA in the spotlight some more.

 

Nothing wrong with being in the spotlight, but it sure does bring in a lot of filth with the good.

 

I've been here for quite a few years now, and I refuse to join a community.  I found that a lot of the communities require ridiculous commitments that I simply do not have time for.

[McAber 55]

Steam is not the problem. Power hungry communities where the leaders immediately take ranks like 'General' are. Used to be in a community which had 200 players and 6 staff grade general officers, and another 25 officers on top of that. Everyone else was an NCO. In that community, 'rank' becomes the be all and end all and they shat on everyone below them for that reason, even those who had actual military experience and were attempting to help them. Unsurprisingly, shitting on people regularly drives players out to form their own communities which split into smaller and smaller units until you get LOADS of tiny communities and no co-operation between them.

Because of this, people drift to Wasteland as they can't get a decent game, starving the larger Domination and Mission servers of players. Servers that do get player numbers are also occasionally swamped with administrators who have paid/donated/applied for admin positions, not people who actually know how to administrate, meaning that they also lose players due to people throwing weight around. If you want someone to blame, blame the communities that force people out, blame the bad admins who force people to congregate on a tiny number of decent servers (and even those have being going down hill lately) and blame the Life/Wasteland players who want to shoot everything that moves regardless of uniforms or tactics.

[Client77 0]

I'm thinking about buying this game but I keep hearing people talk about the problems and now I'm not sure.

I'll give a little background on my situation to help clarify.

I'm an older player, 39, I don't enjoy fps that are all run and gun with no tactics or team work. BFBC2 was my favorite but now battlefield 4 has lost all team work and resembles COD too much these days for my tastes.

I've always heard of arma but never had the computer to run it. I have a laptop that says it will run it bit I doubt very good but I'm willing to build a desktop to be able to join this game.

But, the more I read about arma the less it sounds like what I'm looking for. I want to be able to play a game with lots of teamwork and goal oriented objectives. Not just lots of kills or stats. The more I study up on arma 3 the more I see stuff about wastelands and life. They sound like random killing and goofing off.

Are there servers/games out there that still have decent PvP/TvT matches going on? Is there a lot of team work or has arma turned out like bf4?

Thanks

[wld427 1705]

I think the bigger issue is the community shifted from an adult based group through OFP-Arma-Arma2 as players were interested in the actual combat simulator play of the game.

 

The introduction of fantasy land arma3 DayZ shifted to a younger less mature crowd looking for simple game play and as others have said  simple "goofing off". Some die hard players remain but it is a long way from what it used to be. 

[chortles 263]

But, the more I read about arma the less it sounds like what I'm looking for. I want to be able to play a game with lots of teamwork and goal oriented objectives. Not just lots of kills or stats. The more I study up on arma 3 the more I see stuff about wastelands and life. They sound like random killing and goofing off.

Are there servers/games out there that still have decent PvP/TvT matches going on? Is there a lot of team work or has arma turned out like bf4?

There have been such communities throughout the life of the Arma series, but they've usually just that: specific communities operating their own servers and running curated/tailored scenarios at scheduled times instead of something where anyone can just hop in, if only to protect themselves from the "random killing and goofing off" that you're seeking to avoid.

Admittedly I don't believe that the "DayZ influx" (because Life preceded that) really changed that fact, so much as intensifying that by contrast or changing the proportion of how many Arma players were doing so relative to the wider base. An interesting thesis paper noted that the student-writer had initially dismissed Twitch as a hub through which to find milsim communities due to her initial leads (stream recommendations) turning up non-milsim streams and thus she shifted focus to the Arma subreddit, only to come back to Twitch when a self-declared realism unit kept using "milsim" and "tactical" and by refining her searches with these terms she found that in fact milsim groups were actually streaming their sessions, not just DayZ players and Lifers.

[Client77 0]

I think the bigger issue is the community shifted from an adult based group through OFP-Arma-Arma2 as players were interested in the actual combat simulator play of the game.

 

The introduction of fantasy land arma3 DayZ shifted to a younger less mature crowd looking for simple game play and as others have said  simple "goofing off". Some die hard players remain but it is a long way from what it used to be.

Is there still big PvP server/matches where everyone is not goofing off out there? This is what Im looking for.

[McAber 55]

Is there still big PvP server/matches where everyone is not goofing off out there? This is what Im looking for.

 

There are a few but they are spread out. Credit where credit is due, the Zeus community blokes with Terox do a pretty good job. They are pretty rules heavy, but I am gathering a structured server is what you're looking for.

[R0adki11 3945]

I think the bigger issue is the community shifted from an adult based group through OFP-Arma-Arma2 as players were interested in the actual combat simulator play of the game.

 

The introduction of fantasy land arma3 DayZ shifted to a younger less mature crowd looking for simple game play and as others have said  simple "goofing off". Some die hard players remain but it is a long way from what it used to be. 

 

I agree with part of this, some of this shift maybe because a shift in priorities in peoples lives. I found in OFP, Arma and Arma2 i had more time as at the time was mainly studying in education. But with Arma3, i have a career, house and other interests that take up my time. 

 

 

There are a few but they are spread out. Credit where credit is due, the Zeus community blokes with Terox do a pretty good job. They are pretty rules heavy, but I am gathering a structured server is what you're looking for.

 

Zeus is an example, as is FUSION (the squad i am an Executive Officer in). I am not aware of other high profile PvP Squads.

 

Back in OFP ,myself, some FUSION members, members of Zeus ran the European Flashpoint League which at times had 40 to 50 squads playing in a league. Its a shame to see how the PvP has dwindled, but i feel that maybe due to shift in some of BIS's priorities also. As PvP MP hasn't been supported well initially, doing a simple CTF doesn't work as flag models don't work on any default Arma3 Units which is a shame as it worked in (OFP, Arma, Arma2). End Game is been developed and released soon, but it maybe to late to revive the PvP side of things. :mellow:

[giorgygr 61]

...But with Arma3, i have a career, house and other interests that take up my time.

BLASPHEMY !!

:D

Aside joke..life is getting harder all around the globe for most people.

Responsibilities getting higher (and harder) while someone must remember he still has

a live to live within *thin hour-limits between work-family-friends-passion (typeAny)

[Maxzy 12]

what was wrong with the way things were done before ?

There was a post somewhere on this forum in which one of the devs (I think it was Placebo or maybe RiE) quite explicitly decribed what was wrong with the way it was before - a dozen different versions (english, german, russian, gog,steam, etc) every of which demanded a different approach at the same tasks and what a horrible fucking mess it was managing all of it.

 

 

 why did they chose to go down the steam route ?

In the same post, if I'm not mistaken, it was said that if it wasn't for steam, this game wouldn't see the light of day at all - it's as simple as that.

[chortles 263]

There was a post somewhere on this forum in which one of the devs (I think it was Placebo or maybe RiE) quite explicitly decribed what was wrong with the way it was before - a dozen different versions (english, german, russian, gog,steam, etc) every of which demanded a different approach at the same tasks and what a horrible fucking mess it was managing all of it.

It was now-outgoing project lead Joris-Jan van 't Land ("DnA") and the devblog about it may be found here (summary here).

[wld427 1705]

I agree with part of this, some of this shift maybe because a shift in priorities in peoples lives. I found in OFP, Arma and Arma2 i had more time as at the time was mainly studying in education. But with Arma3, i have a career, house and other interests that take up my time. 

 

 

 

this is precisely the case. As us old farts moved on with lives and careers the newer incoming crowd was less concerned with the realism and simulator aspects and have shifted to more of a fantasy/future/made up/zombie setting instead of the nuts and bolts game play that built this series. I still feel  if BIS would have done arma3 as persay a PLA vs US or a true 1985 scenario the game would have sold so many copies we wouldn't be having this discussion. 

[McAber 55]

I'd buy a game set in Northern Army Group's sector during the cold war in a heartbeat, especially as that gives you British, Russian, E German, American and even Belgian troops to play with.

[chortles 263]

I still feel  if BIS would have done arma3 as persay a PLA vs US or a true 1985 scenario the game would have sold so many copies we wouldn't be having this discussion.

That's only plausible if you believe that such a crowd of younger people (as opposed to your self-declared "old farts" who "moved on with lives and careers") exists at population replacement level. Because if Bohemia leadership believes that that's not the case...

[IIIXJokerXIII 2]

    This is my 1^st post and Hello all!  I think I can give some valid feedback here as I’m new to this community.  I’m 37 years old and 1^st let me say how I got in to ArmA.  I was watching someone on Twitch and he was playing the DayZ mod while waiting on another game.  After seeing the guns and vehicles I knew I had to play it.  I bought the CO version and downloaded the DayZ mod.  After about a week I was done with that and it was almost enough to make me stop playing the game.  The community was very unfriendly and the DayZ mod for me well let’s just say it’s not my cup of tea.  So I went and bought all of Arma even the Take on Heli’s.  :D   I’ve come to love the game very much so much that I now have over 2000 hours played in less than 3 years.  I’ve also bought more then 30+ copies to give to my friends.

 

    I stared playing around with making a mod long before I knew the rules about Arma mods.  See the 1^st communities I joined lead me down a bad road when it comes to Arma mods.  I would say it was more like share anyone’s code without asking the creator if you could use it.  I didn’t really like this but on many forums that’s just how they do it.  I’m working on a mod now that has code I got from other forums that I will never upload until I’ve personally found the creator of every bit of code that I didn’t write and ask them if it’s okay if I use their code.  I think they are many players like me stuck out there on these bad sites because they have not found the goods ones yet. 

 

    When I stop playing Arma OA and jumped on the Arma 3 version I was not real happy with the modern warfare.  But I do see how that appeals to the young players.  I’m more of a 60’s-90’s military theme guy myself and I started working on my old Arma OA mod again.  Back when I 1^st started making this mod I was so lost and most of my google searches took me to sites that were not very good for Arma IMO. 

 

    See I own a gaming community and having a good community starts with having the best resources and information.  But having the best resources and information is useless if you don’t have an easy way to navigate them.  Just as important is the way you conduct this information and the clear rules you provide with those resources.  The best thing that could happen to Arma at this point would be a much more user friendly website setup for file sharing with a clear understanding agreement for the mod content you download.  This would be something the user would have to agree on before downloading any content.  In this agreement it could have both BI and the mod creator’s terms.

 

But it's now good to be a member of a website with a + view of Arma and it's community for once!   B)

[valleyofthewolf 0]

the latest update  on arma 3 has the worst fatigue, and another thing i like to state is we need the old school weapones and jets and tanks for example like the m16's, ak's, as50 snipers, t90 tank , Abraham tank and so on just chuck in all the old school weapones and vehicles from arma 2 into amra 3 i am willing to pay  dlc