Freelancer - Discovery USA server and forum closes...

the 5th server in about 9 months

I honestly don't understand all these Disco servers. Everyone knows the main one is the one to go to. It's always got players on, if you don't like RP though, then you're stuffed. So all these other ones opened up, relaxed this, relaxed that, and what happens? Nobody uses them. Yes it's sad a server is closing, but no surprise at all as there are way too many Disco servers basically offering the same thing.

The other factor is the overall player base which is sadly dwindling. Even on here, the how shall i call it, 'debate' about the Crossfire server continues. I actually thought there would be more players playing the mod as there's certainly an active community, but it seems that's not the case, unless i'm reading it wrong.

Which leaves my server and my new mod, Genesis. I've put a lot of work into it, added bucketloads of features, i could go on, but i can see the writing on the wall, there won't be anyone playing it. Players go to servers with an active player base, not where there are only 4 or 5 players.

Give you an example, my last mod was called Phoenix, over 10k downloads, never saw more than 10 players at any one time, WTF were the others doing then? Do people just collect mods and never play them? I honestly couldn't believe the stats. Nothing surprises me in FL anymore, least of all with servers and mods. As a modder you try to give people what they want, you set up a server, forum etc, get loads of support while you make the mod, then nobody bothers to play it. It honestly doesn't seem worth the effort anymore tbh

well.... what is active nowadays?

3 months ago Crossfire still reached up to 50 players online... and was the 2nd server on the player ranking
we also had twice as much forum activity

I have a different theory.
CF had a boost during the first months after the release but the lack of clan presence and role plus a series of troubles has driven away many players.

Which raises an interesting point, RP. Freelancer was always about do your own thing, do what you want, it's the core thinking behind the games development. So here we are nearly ten years later and the most populated server is the one with the most restrictive RP you can imagine. Is this what players really want?

I personally can't stand RP, goes against everything FL and myself stand for, but that's just my opinion sadly. It's an element that players nevertheless ask about and in all honesty, it drives me mad. I'm stuck on the fence with RP as if i implement it, means i can't play my own mod how i want to and that will really suck. If i don't implement it, then nobody will play on the server. Madness

If even Crysis started to grow up, that clearly shows players are getting older, but it's not over yet Because he and many others are still here. Like Vishnu (we need a troll smiley).

Yet players can still take any small reason to create hostilities, for some game related topic or even something from outside like a football team...

Quote from /V\ichael

If even Crysis started to grow up,

i dont think that's possible in this dimension...

however this will give the CF Community (what's left of it) to do mass amounts of advertising from Freelancer Facebook pages to news articles on ModDB and other random gaming websites that might humor us and let us post an article about an 8 year old game with a super badass mod *cough* Crossfire *Cough*

i say take the opportunity to grab as many former Disco Players as possible (some came from CF so those'd be easier i suppose) through as many internet media outlets as possible (Youtube, facebook, twitter, Gaming news etc etc..)

my theory on the gaming websites (IGN, Gamespot ModDB) is that if we convice that website that this continually super awesome game is dying and the members of the FL community and it's Mod fanbase (all 400 million gajillion of us) want to keep this game alive that maybe they could help with promotion via facebook ads or youtube ads or whatever. granted the forums need as much attention as the server, it is theoretically possible to revive this game to 50 players or more on a given day...just need tons of perseverance, dedication and hours to put in. just keep in mind i'm not volunteering for this soley as i am not at my computer all day nor do i have the patience to undertake such a task alone...a team would be nice i think....

and as an unrelated side note: can an engine like Unity be used to make a community made Freelancer 2? utilize DX10 and other fancy stuff making it as compatible as FL1 does today? i don't know a whole heck of a lot about it, and an engine like the Unreal one might be too...inappropriate for a space-combat simulator.

regardless, maybe a meeting between server admins of all forms of Freelancer needs to happen so EVERYONE knows how bad it's getting. 5 servers in 9 months? makes me vomit...

Gentlemen... To give you some ideas of more or less what's happened here recently with the player population in general for Freelancer I'd say there are a few contributing factors, some more recent, some more long-term but most of which are already mentioned.

Recent factors:

1. Release of Diablo III.

I don't know much about what other games you guys play on PC, but I know this is a HUGE franchise and a long-running for Blizzard in the PC world. Hell the Diablo Battle Chest set is still holding it's value even after some 8-9 years after it's release if that tells you anything! Me personally, I'd love to jump on it right now, but I don't have even the minimum requirements to run it at the moment.

2. World-wide economic problems.

I'm not sure how hard this is hitting most people and their families in certain geographical areas, but it's bad news for all anyway you slice it. It's a serious and very troubling situation, especially in Europe where it's the worst it seems...

3. Aging player base.

Pretty self-explanatory. We certainly ain't getting any younger and as mentioned, life priorities change dramatically for most as we enter adulthood. I saw this first-hand recently with the departure of Sam, callsign ARROW, as CO of the Silver Arrows when he recently got married in real life.(his new wife has alot to do with this I'm afraid) As a result, to my understanding Forlon is now Deputy CO of the Silver Arrows indefinitely, unless for some rare chance Sam returns.

Long-term factors:

1. Freelancer was released on March 4, 2003.

As incredible as the game was and still is IMHO, it's approaching 10 years(!) old. This is ANCIENT in the video gaming market these days and even more so in the PC gaming world. The only way this game is going to live on is the hope that OP will polish and release the new FL styled engine he recently showcased that can reuse FL assets and files and has a newer, more modern DX10 or DX11 type game engine. With the ability to use much more modern features and putting the engine back in the hands of capable independent developers within the FL community,(and out of M$'s damn greedy ass hands) the game could last indefinitely as one of the best PC space sims ever!

2. Fracturing of the Freelancer community with the past demise of the Lancer's Reactor.

The fallout of the Lancers Reactor's demise years ago and splitting up of the player base into separate communities will eventually DOOM this game into obscurity if things do not change. Granted, OP has restored that to some degree with hosting of LR on the SWAT Portal and hopefully as a peace offering to the other communities... But still much more needs to be done to unite the entire community even though I have very few ideas of how to do that effectively, as I feel there are still deep seeded feelings against OP and the SWAT Portal in The Starport community.

3. Long-term FL mod developer motivation and shrinking FL player base

This is unfortunately a secondary condition of long-term problem #1 which exacerbates it as well. As Gibbon has correctly pointed out, a shrinking player base due to the age of the game in general will only in the end add to the frustration of most FL modders. With no players to test their mods, no players to populate the server and no players to make it worthwhile pursuing further FL modding as a result, most FL modders will eventually lose interest and move on from Freelancer.

Anyway, there's most of them in a nutshell from my viewpoint, I'm sure others will add to it or expound on it as well. Regardless, the situation is most troubling and without any easy solution I'm afraid folks. I always hope and pray for the best though as this game is IMHO one of the best space sims ever made and I'll still even after 20 years from now want to crank this up and play it in single player, even if it's for nostalgia.

Couldn't agree more. The big worry is that once some of the more competent modders give up and move on, who will replace them? I've seen a few recent efforts from new guys trying to woo us with their wares and imho at least, not up to scratch. I can't moan too much as we all had to start somewhere. The problem is we started when it was popular so picked up a lot of info as there were lots of us doing it. Now there are so few people left, who do you ask, where do you turn? People will just get frustrated and do something else. Shame really...

Old idea, cooperation between modders with different ways is hard.

Quote from /V\ichael

Old idea, cooperation between modders with different ways is hard.

i can only imagine the catastrophic disaster when modders with different idea's get together...it would be REALLY weird to see a star destroyer in Crossfire

Never going to happen sadly. The whole point of modding something is to make it how you like it, and there lies the problem. We all see things differently. OP has his Crossfire universe, i have my mods and how i like to see things, Disco has it's way of looking at things, the new Star Wars mod is another example. Not to mention all the other guys working on their own projects. This is also a good thing as some mods will have features where we go, 'crap, wish i'd thought of that' and so on. To try and get all these talented people to work on one project just is not realistic unless someone puts money on the table, then it becomes a job. There's an old saying, 'Too many cooks spoil the broth' and this is also very true

Star Destroyer in crossfire, not going to happen. OP already mentioned such thing before, many times

while i see less problem in agreeing with an common idea or concept i see it more a compatibility problem
-> 2-3 modders working on different areas of the mod... well... and how to put these different parts together?
there are many different ways to do the same thing in FL... every modder uses his/her own methods... even an own style of modding and in the end their different areas that they work on are always overlapping

let 2 modders work on 2 different system and you might notice that they also use the same IDs for different stations

Uhm.. What about GC? Will it shut down too?