Late in the Game

[Natalya]

This might be a srs business thread so bear with me here...

But okay, CS:S is like what, 4 - 5 years old now? I don't actually know, but it's getting pretty old pretty fast. Like, we're late in the game and as newer games come out fewer and fewer people play CS:S, leaving us with servers that are harder to fill and that are dead a lot of the time. This makes it hard for N/U to grow. So, like in the past we've tried expanding to other games, but they weren't popular enough or our admins weren't dedicated enough.


Zombie Mod:
The other option we've tried to better success is diversifying within CS:S to newer game-types. Many players get tired of the classics like Office and Dust so they move to other things. Zombie Mod used to be the biggest, newest, coolest thing, but that was a couple years ago and ZM's golden age has passed (like the mod itself not our server) and interest has waned, with only a few popular ZM communities remaining, and no more big name, serial ZM mappers left except for me and Grey Echo, but I don't know how popular his stuff is. So ZM as a mod has a hard time growing or re-inventing itself.


Gun Game:
However, we have had some success with newer game-types. GunGame was the next big thing after ZM, and its popularity continues. There are no big name mappers, but GG maps don't need a lot of skill to make because they're small, so a lot of people make only a few contriubtions to the game, but it all adds up. This seems to be a more sustainable method of growth than ZM's serial-mapper style. Right now GG is still strong and will continue that way for some time.

But new things have shown up since GG. Our MG server for example has been doing well for the three months it's been up, since there is still a void in that market. Maybe it's nothing like GG but people do like the random fun maps, especially younger players who don't like to play ZM anymore.


Hide n' Seek:
HnS I think is one place we have a lot of potential, we just haven't been realizing it. There are very few HnS servers out there right now, but the mod is old enough that people want to play it. The limiting factor for N/U's HnS server is maps. When we first opened the server we had a ton of interest, but after a couple weeks it died out. Then later when I returned from Canada and added 4 new maps to the server, it came back again, but once again died shortly thereafter. So, if there were more maps for HnS then the server would do much better. However, HnS as a map category on FPSB has very little interest. There are only a handful of HnS maps. But this doesn't matter because there are over a thousand maps out there already which would be good for the server... Zombie Mod maps.

ZM maps are perfect for HnS. They have tons of hiding places and props are everywhere. All it takes is for someone to find a good ZM map, write up a list of props, and then bam we can put it into rotation. They don't even need to be converted over. (Note: zm_ only, no ze_ maps.) The ZM map section on FPSB is a goldmine for anyone who wants to improve our HnS server. I propose we at N/U start a trend of using ZM maps for HnS. This could easily bring the server popularity up above where it was when we first created it.


Going Beyond:
CS:S doesn't end with HnS or MG... N/U hasn't explored some of the other emerging gametypes. Jail Break for example seems to be a pretty popular mod, maybe we could do something there? What about Death Run? People who stick with CS:S tend to look for new mods all the time, where there is creativity and something new going on. I think those are good places to look.

Anyway, the whole point of this is I don't want us to suffer from the delusion that people are looking for more of the same old server styles. As the game has gotten older, fewer and fewer people want to play the default gametype, and they want to try new things. I don't mean to sound condescending towards those servers, it's just that in those areas we are competing with other big communities for the same shrinking fan base. The best opportunities out there are in the smaller, but newer mods.

That's my 2 cents... ;o

[NoogyMan]

I completely agree!

-Our Zombie Mod server stays full pretty much 24/7 which will bring a bunch of new comers to the website and hopfully other servers of ours. Nat, maybe you could get your ZM admins to create the bind I use in offce....

bind "blah" "say /say www.n00bunlimited.net Go Register and Become a Member of the Community!!"

-As for that working, it truely does because I have been told by people they didn't even know we had a website until they saw that bind, and I thought since ZM is always full and there are pretty much admins always on thats a good way. Just have them press it 3 times in a row and people really see that.

-Gungame does tend to have it's moments but usually at night when regs like freebase, Snowman, and all those people are on because all the n00bs love to watch him play and try to beat them, mainly when Freebase is on his 20 wins in a row bull crap. :P

-HnS is a good server but It just doesn't have the hype that ZM, office, dust, GG have because T's are usually just sitting there as some small object for 5 min. (Unless you get Me, Soopa, Sniper, Wolfeh in there and we start making living rooms in the snow....)

-Umm, about the JailBreak..... That is a kind of server where you HAVE to have Admins on all the time. I use to be an admin for a 24/7 Jailbreak and there were only 4 of us, with a full server of about 24 all the time. You have CT's that will just kill all the T's for no reason, and than accidently killing a T and that CT won't kill himself.... SO as Jailbreak is a great server, and populates quite easily, its one that requires 24/7 Admin observation.

-DeathRun is a good idea if we can limit the T's to maybe only able to hold 2-3 T's at a time. That way you don't get 10 T's trying to push the buttons. But DR is a great idea in my opinion.