Epic turning off online play for some older games

[JZL]

A few from the top of my head.

Realism --- most preferred playing a character that seemed closer to human, rather than one constantly bunny hopping and rocket jumping at 100 miles per hour
Direction --- objectives drew people to certain areas of the map and gave them clear goals (like plant/defuse the bomb)
Hitscan over Projectile --- Arena shooters were packed with Projectile weapons and most didn't like constantly shooting predictive shots. The biggest MP game back then was CS which was hitscan for all its weapons
Teamwork --- the objectives meant you knew where to go and what to do with your team even without voice communication. Random people could drop in and out of a server and play just fine most of the time
RPG elements --- Things like earning xp and unlocking items/skins and perks felt weird at first but eventually became part of the norm

These are some of the reasons modes like Onslaught (Warfare in UT3) and CTF and vCTF (vehicleCTF) were popular and worked well. They are non-arena objective team-based games. The vehicles are cool.

And for the love of gawd, SAVE THE REDEEMER from the hands of the devil!!

[Trunks0]

Death match just grew boring on the same tiny little maps. Once Starsiege: Tribes hit, the trend toward large maps, teams and objective started and never stopped.

[twonha]

Kids today need that extrinsic reward loop, and can't appreciate the intrinsic joy of just playing the game.

I question whether kids need that persistance and reward, and I'm sure they do also appreciate the joy of playing, but I think there are two other factors at play in what you're saying. One is that if you have to choose between a game with stats and rewards, and a game without, then the choice is obvious: the game that actually appreciates you returning for it will win out. The other is that with those stats, it's so much easier to share and discuss progress with friends; there's an added social layer. Plus, personalization is a plus in multiplayer games - it used to be that you'd give your name all kinds of funky colors in Counter-Strike or Quake Arena, but now you've got an actual character with actual progress. The dopamine drip helps, but I think there's much more to it than just that.

That said, I wonder if an arena shooter could be anywhere near as succesful as other shooters if they followed suit. Halo Infinite feels like the sole survivor of arena shooters, but wardens 343 manage to screw up every second step they take, while Call of Duty feels similar to arena shooters but is certainly a different beast.

[SubCog]

I still struggle to understand why arena fps totally died. I can understand losing popularity versus other options, but you'd think they'd hang on as a niche. Apparently not.

imo, it's the lack of persistent stats & rewards.

I think of it similarly to the difference between how my kids now experience arcades vs me when I was a kid. When I was a kid, it was all about the joy of playing the game, mastering the challenge, etc... But my kids really only play the redemption games, and don't see much point in playing unless you win tickets. That's how Fortnite is, you're constantly earning costumes and ranks and crap, and that's what makes it sticky. It's that constant dopamine drip. Kids today need that extrinsic reward loop, and can't appreciate the intrinsic joy of just playing the game.

[Drexion]

I still struggle to understand why arena fps totally died.

A few from the top of my head.

Realism --- most preferred playing a character that seemed closer to human, rather than one constantly bunny hopping and rocket jumping at 100 miles per hour
Direction --- objectives drew people to certain areas of the map and gave them clear goals (like plant/defuse the bomb)
Hitscan over Projectile --- Arena shooters were packed with Projectile weapons and most didn't like constantly shooting predictive shots. The biggest MP game back then was CS which was hitscan for all its weapons
Teamwork --- the objectives meant you knew where to go and what to do with your team even without voice communication. Random people could drop in and out of a server and play just fine most of the time
RPG elements --- Things like earning xp and unlocking items/skins and perks felt weird at first but eventually became part of the norm

[Nagorak]

I still struggle to understand why arena fps totally died. I can understand losing popularity versus other options, but you'd think they'd hang on as a niche. Apparently not.

[clerick]

Really feels like an end to an era. UT99 was my everything growing up.

[metroidfox]

Does Fortnite count as an Unreal Tournament?

As a side note, Halo Infinite's new maps are starting to look more and more like Unreal Tournament ones. The game even has a shock rifle!

[SubCog]

Cool and popular for a month until the playerbase went back to CS1.6 and the multiplayer games in the orange box (CS:S and Team Fortress 2). Arena shooters were a dying breed at that point holding on by a thread, objective based shooters had captured the mindshare and the biggest portion of the multiplayer playerbase.

Nowadays arena shooters are dead, it's not the fault of the game developers. Why spend millions developing something that'll be played for a couple weeks to a month before everyone moves back to their objective based shooters or their BRs ?
Be glad it happened instead of being sad that it ended. It was a golden age but time is a harsh mistress that conquers all.

Plus the fact that there's a lifetime's worth of community-built content for these games. The UT community bonus packs were basically sequels/expansions anyway, and there were a ton of those.

[Drexion]

I would have loved to see what a UT2005 & UT2006 could have been like,

Cool and popular for a month until the playerbase went back to CS1.6 and the multiplayer games in the orange box (CS:S and Team Fortress 2). Arena shooters were a dying breed at that point holding on by a thread, objective based shooters had captured the mindshare and the biggest portion of the multiplayer playerbase.

Nowadays arena shooters are dead, it's not the fault of the game developers. Why spend millions developing something that'll be played for a couple weeks to a month before everyone moves back to their objective based shooters or their BRs ?
Be glad it happened instead of being sad that it ended. It was a golden age but time is a harsh mistress that conquers all.

[SubCog]

I wish they would have continued on with the yearly release schedule they were aiming toward. I would have loved to see what a UT2005 & UT2006 could have been like. More maps, more weapons, new game modes, all building on the previous year's release. It all sounds great to me.

[JZL]

UT3 just felt off to me. They tried to combine the feel of UT2K4 with UT99 and the mix just didn't work. Should have just stuck with UT2K4 play IMO.

Yes, after the free-wheeling double-dodge-jump that was UT2k4*, UT3 seemed clunky. Its vehicles and the Orb made it better, all around, but I'd love to see the movement tweaked in the 2k4 direction.

*

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[SubCog]

Apparently they've got an updated version of UT3 they're getting ready to launch. I wouldn't be surprised to see them re-release UT99 & UT2004 too.

[Nagorak]

I really had a lot of fun with UT2K3 and the more refined UT2K4. I fondly remember playing those at LANs with friend. Haven't played them in years though.

UT3 just felt off to me. They tried to combine the feel of UT2K4 with UT99 and the mix just didn't work. Should have just stuck with UT2K4 play IMO.

[zizbuka]

I haven't touched UT games in years, but still fire up the original Unreal now and then. Still a fun game.

UT2004 was awesome, with all the mods you could fill weeks with one game. I think I even played a soccer mod.

[JZL]

Is there any possibility that a move to online services would help a game like Unreal Tournament 3 get re-discovered?

[Trunks0]

Some one could always fire up and a new master list server. Shame services like GameSpy, All Seeing Eye, Heat.net and etc are all gone. As they also acted as alternate master list servers for games.

[JZL]

I saw on Reddit that "some of us" was, apparently, a few dozen players.

Yes, and it's been whittling down a lot more in the last year or so. I don't play regularly but I'd hate to see it go. UT3 in particular, is such an underrated game.
Another aspect for me is the nostalgia that the UT 2004 demo dropped in early 2004, right about the time I finally went from dial-up to broadband (as shitty as it was even for then). I actually played on a couple halfway good Onslaught teams.

I checked reddit after your post and I'm happy to see lots of people area already working hard on keeping the old games alive

That would be nice. I'd also love to play UT 2004 TAM (Team Arena Masters) and instagib bombing run (iBR) again.

[T1Cybernetic]

What do you mean by this? Unreal was released in 1998.

Apologies I pressed 3 instead of 2. Corrected my post.



I checked reddit after your post and I'm happy to see lots of people area already working hard on keeping the old games alive

[twonha]

Unreal games have been running for over 30 years

What do you mean by this? Unreal was released in 1998.

[T1Cybernetic]

A very sad day for unreal players of all generations. Unreal games have been running for over 20 years I never thought I'd see the day it came to an end officially. No doubt there will still be some fan based servers, updates and support for a few years but ever so slowly even we are getting a little distant (And Old) from the games.

[twonha]

I saw on Reddit that "some of us" was, apparently, a few dozen players. I hope Epic revives Unreal and/or Unreal Tournament at some point, or at least makes it so the games are playable again with the new online service. Pulling the plug is alright, I think, but it's a sad moment nonetheless for some of the finest multiplayer games out there.

[JZL]