Why is this game not more popular?

[froggyluv 2136]

I just did two hours of cti - and left frustrated:

Guys coming on the server do not even say "Hello!", not even guys comin into your team.

It's like playing with dumb robots or ... autistic gamers. (Whereas I don't want to discriminate real autists ...)

The explanation given to me when I asked whether they were robots was: "I don't want to socialize ... "

The "lol" stuck to my throat.

Well - mature co-gamers - pls help to make this game more attractive by saying "Hello" if you join a server. Instruct instead of bash noobies ... and they will feel welcome and "online-gaming" will be more fun for all.

Like in the ol' nice days with OFP ... ;-)

LOl, thats been my experience as well. Matter fact, the last 5 times I've gone online with this, it's been a total dead space response from the guys who were already playing -felt like I was in a zombie movie :D

I don't play this MP very often but damn, I remember a much friendlier type of player in Arma1 and have found even the youngsters in BFBC2 to be more engaging (in smaller rooms).

Shame.

[nukey 10]

Does anyone really care about making friends while playin Arma2? Join a dating agency if your lonely....or go and get some friends in RL and force them to play Arma with you....

My god, im a miserable git....

[zoog 18]

Does anyone really care about making friends while playin Arma2? Join a dating agency if your lonely....or go and get some friends in RL and force them to play Arma with you....

ArmA is based on teamwork, so yeah :) Some communication is needed if you want to accomplish tasks together.

[cri74 10]

Does anyone really care about making friends while playin Arma2? Join a dating agency if your lonely....or go and get some friends in RL and force them to play Arma with you....

My god, im a miserable git....

Yeah.. i do :) I think its fun to play with regulars and get to know ppl on servers ingame.. both comic remarks and memorable moments often happen as a result.

[froggyluv 2136]

Does anyone really care about making friends while playin Arma2? Join a dating agency if your lonely....or go and get some friends in RL and force them to play Arma with you....

My god, im a miserable git....

I think your missing the point :p

It's not about making new BFF's for life, but competitive game/sport communication leads to better team coordination and a sense of camaraderie. Do you play pickup basketball or football games at all? It would feel weird if no one said a word and generally teams that have it play better and have a better time doing it.

Arma series is already a large play area and it's too easy to join up and literally feel like your in the middle of nowhere with no real sense of purpose going on.

As to your last point, at my age, not many friends play video games so thats not really an option.

[avibird 1 154]

That's why a game like ARMA2 would be great with XBOX LIVE you can join friends and make friends a lot easier with it then on a PC. PLAYER VS PLAYER play or COOP play has always been the problem with BOHEMIA games. OFP/ARMA games in my option are better for COOP play but most players today for PC and consoles care more about player vs player modes and how they did in the game/round with stats. I am not saying people do not play with teamwork or communication but it appears most players today in public rooms don't care.

[Zipper5 74]

And you honestly expect it to be a different case on a console? If you were to be realistic about this, you would see how it could be much, much worse...

[Deadfast 43]

Why are we still discussing consoles here?

There is an existing XBOX 360 thread, please use it.

[avibird 1 154]

Why are we still discussing consoles here?

There is an existing XBOX 360 thread, please use it.

My main point was PC's needs a better way to meet and hook up with players/friends in public rooms like on a console and Most players today want player vs player modes and don't care about teamwork or communication in public rooms.

I know if you join a clan for ARMA you are set but that does not help the gamer who can only play a few hrs a week to really see how this game should be played in public rooms. Console games are overall smaller in numbers of players and the host could manage the room better and just kick players from the game if not playing the right way as the room.

This is not a console vs PC thing right now, just something to think about why the game is not more popular and why it appears more players do not play with teamwork or communication in public rooms. New players who like this game and don't have time to join a unit/clan get frustrated and stop playing. Who wants to play this game ie PLAYER VS PLAYER OR COOP PLAY with no teamwork or communication.

Public rooms is the key to this game to get new players hooked and the overall members to grow. Players who are in a unit/clan know but players who are not can get lost and stop playing.

VETS of the game need to go into public rooms and help the new players but most VETS stay in there locked rooms and never join public rooms. I feel this is a major problem why this game is not more popular. Like it or not this is just my view.

[Pulverizer 1]

Uh... what? PCs have plenty of ways communicating and managing a group of friends. Steam Community, X-fire, IRC, MSN, ICQ, TeamSpeak, Mumble, Dedicated servers, online forums etc etc. The lack of communication is not a problem, just that Arma2 isn't a game that the average gamers enjoy because you don't respawn in 5 seconds after dying and there isn't an explosion or two happening on the screen at all times.

[avibird 1 154]

Uh... what? PCs have plenty of ways communicating and managing a group of friends. Steam Community, X-fire, IRC, MSN, ICQ, TeamSpeak, Mumble, Dedicated servers, online forums etc etc. The lack of communication is not a problem, just that Arma2 isn't a game that the average gamers enjoy because you don't respawn in 5 seconds after dying and there isn't an explosion or two happening on the screen at all times.

Yes true, but most VETS stay in locked rooms and don't teach the new players how to really play this game. Yes some players will hate this game play but a lot would like it but as I said they get frustrated and stop playing because no leadership in public rooms before they can make a group to join. Think how many players that you played with over the years that you showed how to really play by following waypoints,staying in formation,holding fire until every unit has a target ect. New players need good leadership. I have not be playing PC games a lot since 2005 and the few times I did over the years to check out ARMA1/ARMA2 public rooms suck and any new player would be frustrated to play this game.

WOW, we can have a nice conversation about this game.

[nyran125 10]

nah i reckon its because alot of people have problem running the game properly AND have heard bad performance issues around the net about ARMA 2 not running very well so dont even want to give it a try in fear of it not running on thier computers.

Secondly its nto the most user friendly game in the world it requires alot of hand eye button co-ordinations that actually take practise to use them properly. Alot of people cant be bothered learning the huge amount of stuff required to play the game. Just the keyboard buttons themselves i need a light on just to see what button im pressing. I can play Call of duty Modern warfare 2 in the dark , knowing i only need to press W,A,S,D and space and c and a few numbers. I dont need a ARMA 2 keyboard Diploma to play Call of duty or battlefield.

I have got use to it more now but it took a long time to get my head and hand eye co-ordination right with the game. Arma 2 is DAUNTING as hell for noobs too. REAL DAUNTING.

[avibird 1 154]

nah i reckon its because alot of people have problem running the game properly AND have heard bad performance issues around the net about ARMA 2 not running very well so dont even want to give it a try in fear of it not running on thier computers.

Secondly its nto the most user friendly game in the world it requires alot of hand eye button co-ordinations that actually take practise to use them properly. Alot of people cant be bothered learning the huge amount of stuff required to play the game. Just the keyboard buttons themselves i need a light on just to see what button im pressing. I can play Call of duty Modern warfare 2 in the dark , knowing i only need to press W,A,S,D and space and c and a few numbers. I dont need a ARMA 2 keyboard Diploma to play Call of duty or battlefield.

I have got use to it more now but it took a long time to get my head and hand eye co-ordination right with the game. Arma 2 is DAUNTING as hell for noobs too. REAL DAUNTING.

I have to disagree with you. If you like playing COD games then this game is most likely not for you. Yes a big learning time with commands and gameplay is required. If more VETS would teach the new players the right way a lot of new palyers would be hooked. If you like COD gameplay then you will not like this game and that is the bottom line. We all know more players like the run and gun thing but my point is a lot of players have no leadership or direction when they first start playing and we lose a lot of players to that fact.

Yes it's true, you need a really good rig to run the game right but that is not the reason the game is not more popular at this point. Advertisement is the second key factor. BOHEMIA has never been good with it or have the money for it. It was word of mouth but that needs to change if they want to play with the big boys. For every 10 people who hear of this game you get 2 that like it but if only 50 people know about the game you only have 10 people playing the game. Do you see my points.

[Frantic 0]

I like CallOfDuty, Battlefield and Counterstrike and love OFP and ArmA at the same time.

So your argument is not really right.

However, the DM and CTF part of the PvP scene in ArmAII seems to be totally small.

In OFP there were more CTF servers on and im really wondering why.

One reason could be ArmedAssault, because many old OFP veterans bought it and were then disappointed of the gameplay of ArmedAssault and then were not interested in ArmAII anymore.

I have just started to play ArmAII a few weeks ago, because i was told that the gameplay of ArmAII has improved after the latest patches and so i tried it again and found out that BIS were not lazy and made it a lot better than it was in ArmedAssault or at the release of ArmAII.

So the only hope i have now to see again an increasing of more CTF or in general PvP servers is the upcoming stand alone expansion OperationArrowhead.

BIS only needs to improve the gameplay a bit more and bring out a nearly bug free game and then we will see a lot of new faces online.

[avibird 1 154]

I like CallOfDuty, Battlefield and Counterstrike and love OFP and ArmA at the same time.

So your argument is not really right.

However, the DM and CTF part of the PvP scene in ArmAII seems to be totally small.

In OFP there were more CTF servers on and im really wondering why.

One reason could be ArmedAssault, because many old OFP veterans bought it and were then disappointed of the gameplay of ArmedAssault and then were not interested in ArmAII anymore.

I have just started to play ArmAII a few weeks ago, because i was told that the gameplay of ArmAII has improved after the latest patches and so i tried it again and found out that BIS were not lazy and made it a lot better than it was in ArmedAssault or at the release of ArmAII.

So the only hope i have now to see again an increasing of more CTF or in general PvP servers is the upcoming stand alone expansion OperationArrowhead.

BIS only needs to improve the gameplay a bit more and bring out a nearly bug free game and then we will see a lot of new faces online.

I not saying that anyone who likes COD gameplay will hate this game but most do that is a fact. I disagree with you the old OFP veterans where would they go. No other game is close to this in gameplay. The fact is the players who want player vs player will always be a little upset. This game and gameplay is more focus on COOP PLAY and that is the bottom line since OFP days.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

I loved COD MW2 too, all eight hours of it...

[Frantic 0]

It is clear that the most servers online are COOP servers, but only with a few players on each.

So the majority of the online gamers prefer warfare now and that is the major gamemode in ArmAII these days.

And warfare is played with humans and AIs on both sides. So not really COOP.

There is still a quite active PvP scene in ArmAII which like to play wars on CTF missions, but they are mostly all by themselves and dont play public rounds.

The ArmAPvPLeague is the best example. They had over 16 clans in their last season and i guess that will be improved with the new upcoming season.

There are other leagues running fine and even on TOW is not an end in sight, so you have to take part in something to enjoy the online multiplayer in ArmAII.

For only public gaming is the ArmAII community too small and familial.

So it can be that its only a feeling that the popularity has decreased, instead all the players play on privat servers now and so it just looks like the popularity is going down...

[Mysteryman5150 10]

I played the COD series and liked it alot. However, it got old after a while playing online. There was very little teamwork in COD game online, unless you were in a good clan (that was hard to find). I have yet to try Arma2 online, as I am still learning the game and I don't have a mic yet, but I hope Arma2 is going to be good online when I get around to it. I am hoping that with the more mature community that Arma has people will be willing to help out a new guy coming into the game, instead of bash them like alot of console gamers do in the COD game rooms. I know in the forums they are more than helpful. I could imagine this game being amazing playing with other humans vs. the freindly AI that at times seems to make poor decisions and also be unresponsive. I think the enemy AI could be dynamic enough where coop would be great on this game, but that is just an opinion since I haven't played online yet.

[Grizzle 0]

Does anyone really care about making friends while playin Arma2? Join a dating agency if your lonely....or go and get some friends in RL and force them to play Arma with you....

My god, im a miserable git....

Is that you Morrissey? ;)

You do have a point. I actually turn off voice when I play FPS online ( in this case TF2. )

[daraofp 10]

one summer i took my pc and went to my friends place and we played OFP for about 20 days, i would make coop missions or we would just mess around with planes and chopper's...my best experience with OFP was when 5 of my friends got together(in LAN) and played one mission for 3 hours(now my friends never played OFP before i talked them in to it and the loved the coop)

The coop mission was on some desert island i downloaded, we had two teams(each team of 12 men) in my team 3 human an 9 AI and if someone(human player) dies in our team we respawn by taking control of the next unit in our team so we had to be careful not to die to much or we will run out of team mates and game over for us) and our objective was to capture 2 villages 1 base 1 city and 1 airfield( there were a ton of enemy's), we started the mission around 7 o'clock and played it to 10 o'clock and it was pitch black by the time we finished it.

We started with 24 units and in the end 4 of us survived...

the funniest part was when we took over the base we had to go to the other part of the island so it was a long way and we decided to take a truck and other team found a heli (but my friend was not a good with flying) they got airborne and the enemy AA(shilka) started shooting at them so my friend got paniced, i told hi to fly lower behind the hill so AA cant shot him, but than he pushed the wrong button(insted of going down he got even higher and the AA drilled them like swish cheese...

they flipped over and crashed but managed to survive(but they were all wounded and could not walk so we had to call medic apc support to our position)and we continued after a wile, the great stuf about this game is that we had to improvise alot on the battlefield use ambushes or retreat when tanks apear and finde some AT launchers and be alert all the time because you never know when or where the enemy is(because i made the mission by placing the unit and waypoint radius much higher so i could not know exactly where the enemy is...it just shows how much coop can be fun and unpredictible game play!!!

[Col.Flanders 0]

The funniest thing I've found is that when you read these other game forums for far more arcadey run-'n'-gun type FPS's, the issues that those guys bitch and moan about are never a problem in Arma2 yet hardly any of those gamers would consider A2 as an option. For example:

To all the noobz who nade-spam, blah blah blah...

"Nade-spam"? Okay. Is that like "bullet-spam"? Run along now.

Noob-tOObers - you guys suck because...

Receiving an M203 over range from a fellow human player in A2 would most likely elicit a "very nice shot, sir" response.

I'm going to have a little cry now because my weapon of choice requires 10 rounds to kill a man at point blank...

Again, not a problem in A2. And the list goes on.

I would like nothing more than to round up a shitload of players for some CtI or whatever but in my part of the world, people seem to be more preoccupied with others "raping the uncapped" and other such BS. The epicness that is Arma seems to go amiss on most of the gaming community.

[Herbal Influence 10]

Is that you Morrissey? ;)

You do have a point. I actually turn off voice when I play FPS online ( in this case TF2. )

Oh --- perhaps you got me wrong.

I don't like teamspeak at all.

I spoke about chatting - didn't I say that? - maybe. :eek:

I corrected it in my post. I am so used to communicate via keyboard .... :o

And I don't want to make friends with the people I say "hello" to.

See it this way: It's much more exciting if you kill someone you "talked to" before ... ;)

Hope you know what I mean - don't take it for real. At last to me, it's a kind of Hide and Seek ... :D

Edited February 2, 2010 by Herbal Influence

[dmitri 0]

The average gamers I knew back in the early 2000s quit OFP when Battlefield came out and combined quake speed with largish world environments and easy, accessible multiplayer.

The naming, no connection between OFP and ArmA.

Bugs and "clunky movement".

[qwertz 10]

When I started playing ArmA 2 back in Summer 2009, the peak global online players in the evenings (US time) as shown on arma2.swec.se were around 1200. Now its 350. According to the X-fire stats, ArmA 2 has lost 25% from December to now alone.

That's not a good sign at all - many people seem to abandon the game (at least MP).

Edited February 3, 2010 by qwertz

[noubernou 77]

I am not worried about users, its just that most of the people that are not as dedicated as others sluff off. There are still really dedicated communities like TG, ShackTac, and some of the larger Milsim groups that have a steady roster of players and full games.