Why is this game not more popular?

[ProfTournesol 956]

So I thank OP Dragon Rising for bringing me to Arma2, funny how things workout sometimes.

I knew this "game" will be useful one day, not only for wedging my desk.

[Macadam Cow 1]

yeah cause as a darts target it sucks, almost break imediatly, those guys at codemaster really can't do anything right

[gabravo2005 40]

I think this question has been answered enough. I just wanted to say that I absolutely love these games, I have lost track how much money has been spent supporting this habit. Then factor in the money spent upgrading my rig to support this game......

I used to play the original Operation Flashpoint so much that the original disc died, had to buy a second. Let's see, I have two copies of VBS1, and I have VBS2, along with ArmA, which I bought from Sprocket, and then Atari. Then last year I bought ArmA Gold. ArmA II was a Day 1 buy, along with all of the Expansions/DLC's (All have been day 1 buy).

Now I have the COD and MOH games but after a couple of days I stop playing them. There is no replay value like there is in these simulators. That coupled with the great community the replay value is endless. These are games that will always remain on my hard drive. My brother still loves playing the original Operation Flashpoint, hell I think I am going to reinstall it because I miss those days, Tonal Island, BAS week, etc.

[ladlon 10]

I'm a huge fan of Arma2 myself! So much offered in one game/sim... looks great, and just continues to grow and improve. Just stunning, and incredibly immersive.

I posted my praise in the 'Just wanted to say Thank You BIS!' thread...

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=90092&page=15

[TenBensons 10]

No.....dont go mainstream ArmA.... Look what happened to hip hop........ :)

A lot of people who are impressed by ArmA when i show it to them find that there is too much for them to take in at once, commands, difficulty, scale of maps/units etc. I can make it look incredibly fun but it has taken years of practise and hours upon hours of reading ridiculously long 128 page threads ;) So i think time is the reason this game is not as popular, most people dont have the time to dedicate to ArmA, because to be fair it it can chew up hours of time without you even launching the game.

[ziiip 1]

128 pages of repeating that ArmA isnt arcadish?

[jblackrupert 14]

Just create different shortcuts for different servers you can name the shortcuts whatever you like.

Right click the properties and in the target line should be something like this

"E:\Bohemia Interactive\arma2oa.exe" -nosplash -world=empty -cpuCount=4 –noFilePatching -showScriptErrors -mod=@CBA;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_RU;@ACEX_USNavy;@ACEX_SM;@JayArmA2Lib;@ACRE

Launchers will do that without having to mess around with shortcuts.

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=6649

Instead of shorcuts you just create profiles in the launcher.

[metalcraze 290]

In the CS/BF/CoD/MoH scenes bunny hopping (i.e. gaining speed advantage from repeated jumping) and other forms of movement mechanics abuse have been frowned upon since forever

And that's why they put them there in every installment.

[celery 8]

And that's why they put them there in every installment.

Oh? Please tell us which games in those series have bunny hopping in their patched forms.

[Atom Quark 10]

Once you realize that the population has made American Idol the most popular TV show, then you will understand why ARMA is not as popular.

[djczing 10]

This game is /extremely/ popular...

... with me, and those who I would wish to play serious military sims with.

Falcon 4 had the same issue -- too complex to be widely popular as an arcade game -- but its still /the/ quality military flight sim out there.

Arma's shelf life will be/has been at least as good.

Maybe look at it this way -- rather than being widely popular for a short time, is it such a bad thing to be narrowly popular over a longer period of time ?

Revenue-wise, maybe and maybe not. Respect-wise, definitely.

[Joe98 90]

I am still a newby having has Operation Arrowhead since about last October.

i was immedaintly impressed!

I recently completed playing roth through the Armoury and i recently ddiscovered the "My Missions".

Wow! This is the game I have been searching for since I got my first PC back in 1988!

I expect I will enjoy this game for 10 years and as major improvrments come along my money is ready!

-

[Mad-h 0]

I am still a newby having has Operation Arrowhead since about last October.

i was immedaintly impressed!

I recently completed playing roth through the Armoury and i recently ddiscovered the "My Missions".

Wow! This is the game I have been searching for since I got my first PC back in 1988!

I expect I will enjoy this game for 10 years and as major improvrments come along my money is ready!

-

Good to hear. Well there are still gamers out there who would love this game, they just dont know about it, or they give up, before they discover the depth of the game. This is a thing i was thinking a lot about. So why do they give up? Bugs, glitches, not at all userfriendly. This is a torment for players who has no patience. Do we arma 2 players have more patience? I dont think so. We just know what's inside. Yea, i was a big fan of operation flashpoint.

[galzohar 31]

I am still a newby having has Operation Arrowhead since about last October.

i was immedaintly impressed!

I recently completed playing roth through the Armoury and i recently ddiscovered the "My Missions".

Wow! This is the game I have been searching for since I got my first PC back in 1988!

I expect I will enjoy this game for 10 years and as major improvrments come along my money is ready!

-

Wow then you'd really love it if you discovered the editor (just a few buttons down) and armaholic.com to download other people's missions...

[ladlon 10]

That's actually true... I think a lot of people out there WOULD like Arma2 if they gave it an honest try. I know I've introduced a few people here to it, and they love it. Same with the TrackIR... They were skeptical at first, at best, thinking that it would be just a gimick with no real merrit... but were blown away by the experience it creates.

I think too, that there are a lot of people who would like it if they give it a try that are on the OTHER end of the spectrum... instead of them thinking it's too boring or not arcade enough, many (like myself initially) may totally respect it, but feel it is 'out of their league'... that only a skilled 'military' type person would survive for more than a minute. I know I always had an interest in Arma, but just thought it was too hard core for me. Not that I don't like hard core, but that I wasn't skilled enough (or would be completely lost in all the info/techniques I assumed I would need to know).

My first Arma experience, with the Arma1 demo, only a few years ago, was certainly intimidating... I felt much like a person would in a REAL military event... overwhelmed, awkward, lost, etc. But, very quickly, it went from a 'merciless insta-kill within a minute or so' type of thing, to 'still very dangerous, but I have a bit of a handle on what I am doing'.

Now, after playing Arma2/OA for many months, it's far more 'easy' (in the sense of me understanding what is going on, being comfortable with the controls, etc). The danger is still there, but now I last for a very long time, and play long sessions often. It's interesting looking back at how intimidating and foreign it was initially, and now it's 'fun'. Kind of reminds me of how I felt using animation/3D modelling software for the first time vs how I am with it now.

There's lots of reasons why it's not as popular... but, as mentioned, it's great to see that it is, nonetheless, extremely popular (within the group of people that know about it)! The support and community are impressively active and productive, and the longevity of the sim is unarguable.

Definitely an impressive amount of content for the price of one game.

[dmarkwick 261]

Good to hear. Well there are still gamers out there who would love this game, they just dont know about it, or they give up, before they discover the depth of the game. This is a thing i was thinking a lot about. So why do they give up? Bugs, glitches, not at all userfriendly. This is a torment for players who has no patience. Do we arma 2 players have more patience? I dont think so. We just know what's inside. Yea, i was a big fan of operation flashpoint.

I always say it takes about a week to "get" ArmA2/ArmA/OFP, there's something about it that clicks and you suddenly see the true scope and ability of it. I think a lot of it is getting over the linear mission-based heavily scripted/orchestrated paradigm of other games.

[pooroldspike 128]

Perhaps people buy AA2 and try to do too much too fast and end up frustrated with the big complex missions and campaigns out there.

The game can be as simple or as complicated as you want, so the trick is to start simple at first and work your way up during following weeks and months.

For example the simplest way to get into the game right after buying it is to have fun trying weapons in the Armory, because it's not just a shooting range, IT AUTO-GENERATES SIMPLE MISSIONS for you!

For example, choose a rifle to try, and you'll be plonked at a random spot on the map to play with it, then after a while (average 45 seconds) a message will come up offering you a mission (Attack,Defend,Survive,Steal,Hunt etc) which you can accept or decline.

If you decline it, it'll offer you another mission after about 45 more seconds.

The missions are auto-tailored to suit whatever weapon you chose to try, e.g. if you chose a rifle the AI enemy will be mostly infantry, and if you chose an AT-launcher or SAM, they'll be mostly AFV's or Aircraft.

I only mention the Armory missions because many newcomers don't know they exist.

Like I said, you have to wait for about 45 secs to be offered a mission, so stick around.

Oh, and they're damn difficult to win, I only win about 1 mission in 3 despite using all my cunning to stay alive, so they're great training tools and you'll be pushed to your limit to survive..:)

IMPORTANT:- You only get a few Armory weapons to play with after buying the game, and have to 'unlock' the rest by racking up points later (a bit silly if you ask me), but luckily you can get instant access to ALL weapons by inserting the line armoryPoints=50000; into your profile.

Here's part of my profile showing how the line looks sitting in there-

floatingZoneArea=0;

headBob=0.062641099;

armoryPoints=50000;

sceneComplexity=300000;

viewDistance=2400;

Edited February 7, 2011 by PoorOldSpike

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

You only get a few Armory weapons to play with after buying the game, and have to 'unlock' the rest by

racking up points later (a bit silly if you ask me), but luckily you can get instant access to ALL weapons by inserting the line armoryPoints=50000;

into your profile.

good points Oldspike, or you can just go into the editor put down a guy and some ammo boxes implement the universal ammo crate filler:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=11346

and then place a SOM module down sync it to you and you get dynamic missions as well as reinforcements,

just in Arma2 of course, in Co its alot better.

I had a buddy that was going to join a couple of friends and I to play regularly on our server, and he was complaining

about the movement, and what not, i told him that the controls aren't set in stone you can change them to however you want,

and then said come in game some time and i'll go over the controls with you and explain what they do.

Well that never happened, he just complained its to hard and the controls are weird. Lol and he was expecting an instant

game where you set your controls and then everything is fine.

I was like Arma games have a high learning curve, you got to stick with it for a week or more to get the idea of things,

its like everything else in life, kinda of like a job too, when you first start your not going to know what and how to do,

and the more time you do something the better you get, I dont understand the thinking that

theres an instant ability to do something. thats why theres a demo.

try and ask questions then give up on it if you dont get it down after a week.

If you think about it the controls in the game other then the extras are setup no different then any other game,

its just more simulated and "more" stuff. So it came down to him not playing with us all because of that :j:

thats one reason its not popular, people seem to expect to get the controls down right away, they dont give the game a chance.

Edited February 8, 2011 by Gnter Severloh

[Impulse 10]

Comfortable controls depend on how you able to organise them. In my case I rebind quite a lot buttons to feel it more like OFP, which I'm not running on all defaults also (well I did it only just to try what ArmA 1 is when it came out, maybe will be playing ArmA 2 soon). But i see your point. In my opinion this is the classic situation of a guy got used to play decent arcadish 3D games. He is not getting the whole game as I suppose, this is just not his shoe. Wish him luck in Counter-Strike.

Another reason is high requirements. The game needs best H/W you can have. Still. And this is normal for what it is. So once again, lots people would feel better in CQB games. Lucky headshots for them.

[MissionMaximus 10]

Perhaps people buy AA2 and try to do too much too fast and end up frustrated with the big complex missions and campaigns out there.

The game can be as simple or as complicated as you want, so the trick is to start simple at first and work your way up during following weeks and months.

For example the simplest way to get into the game right after buying it is to have fun trying weapons in the Armory, because it's not just a shooting range, IT AUTO-GENERATES SIMPLE MISSIONS for you!

For example, choose a rifle to try, and you'll be plonked at a random spot on the map to play with it, then after a while (average 45 seconds) a message will come up offering you a mission (Attack,Defend,Survive,Steal,Hunt etc) which you can accept or decline.

If you decline it, it'll offer you another mission after about 45 more seconds.

The missions are auto-tailored to suit whatever weapon you chose to try, e.g. if you chose a rifle the AI enemy will be mostly infantry, and if you chose an AT-launcher or SAM, they'll be mostly AFV's or Aircraft.

I only mention the Armory missions because many newcomers don't know they exist.

Like I said, you have to wait for about 45 secs to be offered a mission, so stick around.

Oh, and they're damn difficult to win, I only win about 1 mission in 3 despite using all my cunning to stay alive, so they're great training tools and you'll be pushed to your limit to survive..:)

IMPORTANT:- You only get a few Armory weapons to play with after buying the game, and have to 'unlock' the rest by racking up points later (a bit silly if you ask me), but luckily you can get instant access to ALL weapons by inserting the line armoryPoints=50000; into your profile.

Here's part of my profile showing how the line looks sitting in there-

floatingZoneArea=0;

headBob=0.062641099;

armoryPoints=50000;

sceneComplexity=300000;

viewDistance=2400;

I totally agree with the aspect of noobies like myself, 1st getting into ArmA 2 and just being overwhelmed at the sheer scale of the game..it's a little intimadating. Well that and trying to play ArmA like COD or any other FPS, man it's a rude awakening and at 1st frustrating. It's not until you as a noob realizes your playing a Military Simulator and not a COD, MOH FPS that I grasped the sheer awesomeness of it all.

[pooroldspike 128]

Another good way to get into the game is to play a short simple mission over and over again against the AI until you're winning it more times than you're losing, it's a great confidence/skill booster.

At the Few Good Men club we build our own missions for each other, then post screenshots and debriefing reports of how we got on, offering advice and comments to each other along the way and discussing what strategies and tactics we used, it's a great way to learn, check out the thread-

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forumdisplay.php?127-ARMAII-User-Created-Missions

We're chronically short of AA2 players (and missions) so if anybody's reading this and wants to join, be my guest (I'm second in command for my sins)..:)

[Mad-h 0]

ppl became lazy playing cod and other console friendly casual games, they want to have fun instantly, turn off their brains, and just play. Arma 2 is a real pc game, you have to learn to play it, and thats too much to ask from a gamer today.

I however never liked the simplicity of these console friendly games, and i prefer old dos games to todays full-of-eyecandy games. or more complex strategies, like the total war series. i dont know why...people are not the same.

[ziiip 1]

You guys realize that this thread has grown 130 pages just by everyone repeating the same exact thing?

But IMO its not just the difficulty, but also the horrible FPS. You can play COD at 40-50 FPS at least, in ArmA2, you get 25.

[Macadam Cow 1]

You can anwser that question with 4 words :

Simulation are not popular.

Period, no need to write book on this. It's the same with every other simulation.

Whatever the graphics, the physics, the handling,the jacket's color,...

simulation.are.just.not.po.pu.lar

[Cyteless 10]

Simulations have things added to them to make them harder, arcade games have things added to them to make them easier. That's what I love about Arma 2, it's a challenging game.