[Spoon]

I can feel Axem's frustration especially because he

• Makes missions that are technically excellent, probably the most ambitious and sophisticated in the entire community
• Doesn't have a big splashy post-Capella mod, or a TC, or a new universe to draw attention
• Does a lot of his original work in comedy, or in experimental stuff

He works his ass off at a talent level that would, in another community (say, HL2 modding) have him routinely pulling press coverage and download numbers to make Diaspora green with envy.

QFT

[Nuke]

ive slowed down but i sure as hell haven't quit yet.

[karajorma]

Not everyone has the benefit of making a stellar mod and/or stand alone game that goes across every major gaming site. 

As I said, there are plenty of people who come to HLP just to play games. So it's not like there isn't an audience for mods.

I won't say that everyone should be forced to play, but shouldn't we be encouraging everyone to play? And this thread just seems like it celebrates not playing. Unless its supposed to guilt them into playing again... Then bravo, I guess!

I was going to post something along the lines that if you want to encourage people to play telling them they should be ashamed of themselves for not playing isn't the way to go about it but for one reason or another I decided against it.

I agree with encouraging people or at least asking them why they're not playing. I just don't see any point in trying to make people feel bad because they like modding more than playing at this point. That's just likely to make them feel unwelcome in the community unless they play.

[soilder198]

Even though this threads gone a bit off topic, I still play the main freespace 2 campaign from time to time because its so godly awesome

[Axem]

I just think that we shouldn't work in total vacuums with each other. Letting us build off each other makes mods of even higher quality.

I don't think we should shame or ostracize people for not playing FreeSpace either. My last sentence in that comment was a bit of a joke. Of course you won't get anything with a negative attitude. We have things like the highlights that help draw people to things like releases. They've been a little slow lately, the only big releases up there are Diaspora and Shumpspace (which goes back to July).

And yes, a good question might be, why have you stopped playing? Are they tired of FreeSpace in general now? Or are they just not aware of new content. If you haven't played for 3 years, you've missed (or forgottten) a lot of the highlights since then!

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I haven't played FS2 mods since... uh... BP2. Gave up on the Antagonist, 'cause I suck at single-handed dogfights. I did play Diaspora though!

[karajorma]

I don't think we should shame or ostracize people for not playing FreeSpace either. My last sentence in that comment was a bit of a joke.

I knew you were joking. Sadly though there have been comments on this thread to that effect which didn't seem to be jokes.

[SpardaSon21]

I don't typically replay campaigns, and I've done most of the stuff that's been recently released (yes, that includes Diaspora).  Busy waiting for Spoon's new mini-campaign for WoD though.

And no, don't tell me to play Sync, Transcend, VD, and Windmills.  Those don't interest me.  Yes, I am a horrible person for that.

[MatthTheGeek]

I still very, very routinely play FS, mostly BP beta testing. I would understand though that people that have been there since the very beginning (more than a decade !) may be a bit burnt out. After modding HW2 for 8 years I rarely go back to it (but FS is much more awesome than HW2 !).

[yuezhi]

hmm. maybe i should just defect to tachyon and starshatter.

[Spoon]

This is still a terrible thread and I don't see it improving!

[Solatar]

The first impression I got from the thread title was "hey, people that used to play freespace all the time, it's been awhile for me, how long has it been since YOU moved on to other things?"  The title suggests to me a backward looking mindset into an "old" game whose glory days have already passed, not taking into account that - as has been stated several times - some of the coolest, most innovative stuff that's been done with the engine has been done in the past few years and continues now.  That mindset can poison a community.  It's been 13 years, and we're finally getting to the really good stuff. 

I'm more of a consumer than a contributor (I rarely post as such, should probably add a few more "somebody's playing it, keep making it" posts), but regardless, the game is anything but dead to me.  Even personal, never-finished mod projects give the game a sandbox element that keeps it fresh when I'd rather meddle with stuff than play through any of the great stories out there.

[Cyborg17]

I feel like the difficulty is that building Freespace missions, especially good ones, is a difficult task.  Both writing dialogue and putting together the mission events in a way that makes a mission fun, balanced, and interesting is a long process.

I feel like that's the thing that keeps more campaigns and mods from coming out, even more than asset building, disregarding the really large projects which never got that point.

[Droid803]

I don't see what's wrong with this thread.
For the record, in my position : I've just stated that I haven't player anything since the last big-ish release that I was interested in. I'm assuming many others are in the same boat.

I could give less of a damn about total conversions set in non-original universes that I know nothing about, because they probably assume that I do know something about said universe, and proceed to deprive me of critical information (that an actual fan of the universe would obviously know and would be bored hearing restated). Not to mention that I haven't looked into the originals precisely because their descriptions never really hooked me. I mean sure, I know they're great achievements in terms of the technical modding perspective but I wouldn't play it just for that - I'd rather just have someone tell me what they did that was so cool. I don't see it being worth downloading several GB of otherwise useless data just to see a tech demo. I haven't called anyone out for totally ignoring my mod when talking about alternate flight models (while also bringing up Wings of Dawn which actually has a flight model closer to regular old FreeSpace), so hey.

You can bet that when WiH2, or JAD 2.22 comes out I'm sure as hell playing it, but the reality of the fact is that between work, classes, homework, and a mother****ing honours thesis there just isn't time to play campaigns I'm not totally interested in, and contribute to projects I'm already on. I feel that's the position most people who haven't played in a while are in, rather than being "burned out". I'd sure as hell be playing more if doing so contributed to REAL LIFE and all...

Anyhow, I feel like the whole "THIS THREAD IS BAD" posting is worse than the actual thread itself. It's not about to change anything and just makes this have a more negative and depressing atmosphere than it needs to.

[Spoon]

I don't see what's wrong with this thread.

See

The first impression I got from the thread title was "hey, people that used to play freespace all the time, it's been awhile for me, how long has it been since YOU moved on to other things?"  The title suggests to me a backward looking mindset into an "old" game whose glory days have already passed, not taking into account that - as has been stated several times - some of the coolest, most innovative stuff that's been done with the engine has been done in the past few years and continues now.  That mindset can poison a community.  It's been 13 years, and we're finally getting to the really good stuff.

I think this sums it up pretty good!

I haven't called anyone out for totally ignoring my mod when talking about alternate flight models (while also bringing up Wings of Dawn which actually has a flight model closer to regular old FreeSpace), so hey.

Well you bloody should! DE is criminally overlooked.

[Sarafan]

The first impression I got from the thread title was "hey, people that used to play freespace all the time, it's been awhile for me, how long has it been since YOU moved on to other things?"  The title suggests to me a backward looking mindset into an "old" game whose glory days have already passed, not taking into account that - as has been stated several times - some of the coolest, most innovative stuff that's been done with the engine has been done in the past few years and continues now.  That mindset can poison a community.  It's been 13 years, and we're finally getting to the really good stuff. 

Jesus, from the guy who created the thread I can say Kobra provided something you all missed.

I had an impression like this was supposed to be "My name is ***** *****. I am ** years old. I am addicted since ****. I haven't played FS for ** months." but it ended up more like "I haven't played FS for years, what gives?". In other words, too much seriousness here.

Real reason I havent played FS is because my is pc is a 11 year only junk, my god, everybody chill, Freespace nor HLP are falling
apart.


What have I done?



 

[Droid803]

I don't see what's wrong with this thread.

See

The first impression I got from the thread title was "hey, people that used to play freespace all the time, it's been awhile for me, how long has it been since YOU moved on to other things?"  The title suggests to me a backward looking mindset into an "old" game whose glory days have already passed, not taking into account that - as has been stated several times - some of the coolest, most innovative stuff that's been done with the engine has been done in the past few years and continues now.  That mindset can poison a community.  It's been 13 years, and we're finally getting to the really good stuff.

I think this sums it up pretty good!

I guess I can understand where someone might get that impression. It's up to interpretation, and I think there can be some room for people to look back and go "damn, I sure missed the days when I was in high school and never had to work, do any homework, or study and had tons of free time." People have their reasons and I really doubt it's out of some feeling that the "golden age" has passed - which obviously isn't the case, as because looking back, even classic campaigns like Derelict can be pretty...bland [and occasionally also pretty bad in terms of mission design] in comparison to the cool new stuff we have!

So, what's the point of calling this thread terrible then while not really contributing?
A ploy to get it closed by making it even more terrible? 

[Sushi]

Holy crap this thread has gotten meta on itself.




I do find it interesting (and somewhat of a relief) that I'm not the only one who finds it hard to just play after having gotten into modding. It's really hard for me to just enjoy FS2 (or any variants) when I know how (relatively) easy it is for me to go and "fix" the things I don't like.

It's a strange position to be in where the power to change the game makes it hard for me to enjoy it as it is.

Anyway, I've concluded that when I do attempt playing again (probably after the next major/mediavps release) I'll have to make a conscious effort to just play it as-is, and not try to tweak things or even think about tweaking things. Also, to resist the urge to make my own mod yet again.

[SypheDMar]

Last campaign I played was Diaspora, but I didn't finish it yet. I wish I did, but RL takes out a lot of time. When I'm not in school, I'm working for my organization or looking for an internship. When I'm not doing that, I'm working for my job.

Retail is still a very awesome campaign, and I do plan on going back to it again because I never beat it on Insane. Last campaign I played before Diaspora was BP2 when Delenda Est was impossible. That mission discouraged me a bit from FreeSpace because I felt like I lost all my skills in space sims and gaming in general (it turned out to be bugged, fortunately). I played BtA from time to time, and I probably played WoD before replaying BP2. And before that is retail.

Retail is fun, especially since I have a goal set for me. Multi is a ride when there are people to play with (haven't had time since last year). I tried to upgrade several campaigns including Sync, Transcend, and Windmills. There should be a thread under the Campaign Restoration Project. They're not the best restorations, but I tried to make Windmills functional for 3.6.12. I didn't get enough feedback to consider looking back at those and fixing anything, so if there's something that's broken, let me know!.

The best part about HLP is not the mods, though. For me, it's the community. Whether it be IRC or Gen Disc. (which seems have its ups and downs [downs lately]), HLP has lots of smart people that I like listening to, even if I don't understand all of it. Mostly because y'all make it understandable to the average person, and your interests are interesting to read about.

EDIT: One thing HLP has done is broaden my view. I started reading what people are saying and understanding them better than I should. Whether it be political, religious, scientific, or women's issues, I feel that HLP has been a major influence in my thinking of the world. Also, this broadening of views applies to reading threads too.

For example, that Spoon and MinMixael vs Karajorma thread: I knew that there was a misunderstanding. I wanted to say, "Hey guys. Nobody's suggesting that every needs to learn how to script and that scripting is better," but I didn't have the guts to post because lots of prominent members were there and the argument seemed to be personal. Looking back, I should've said something.

[el_magnifico]

Aren't we exaggerating a bit? I mean, it's not like playing video games is mandatory or something.
I had a hiatus of at least a year when I didn't play Freespace because real life was being REALLY demanding. Recently, I came back from it because real life got even more demanding than ever but I'm suffering from considerable stress and I'm procrastinating many things. So I've been getting myself up to date with the main releases.
I just assume everybody has a reason to do whatever they might want to.

EDIT: One thing HLP has done is broaden my view. I started reading what people are saying and understanding them better than I should. Whether it be political, religious, scientific, or women's issues, I feel that HLP has been a major influence in my thinking of the world. Also, this broadening of views applies to reading threads too.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I blame the economic crisis, wikileaks, personal life changes and hard-light for my political changes in the last few years.
Also, I blame hard-light for my recently acquired ability to (somewhat) speak English fluently, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I don't see what's wrong with this thread.
For the record, in my position : I've just stated that I haven't player anything since the last big-ish release that I was interested in. I'm assuming many others are in the same boat.

I could give less of a damn about total conversions set in non-original universes that I know nothing about, because they probably assume that I do know something about said universe, and proceed to deprive me of critical information (that an actual fan of the universe would obviously know and would be bored hearing restated). Not to mention that I haven't looked into the originals precisely because their descriptions never really hooked me. I mean sure, I know they're great achievements in terms of the technical modding perspective but I wouldn't play it just for that - I'd rather just have someone tell me what they did that was so cool. I don't see it being worth downloading several GB of otherwise useless data just to see a tech demo. I haven't called anyone out for totally ignoring my mod when talking about alternate flight models (while also bringing up Wings of Dawn which actually has a flight model closer to regular old FreeSpace), so hey.

You can bet that when WiH2, or JAD 2.22 comes out I'm sure as hell playing it, but the reality of the fact is that between work, classes, homework, and a mother****ing honours thesis there just isn't time to play campaigns I'm not totally interested in, and contribute to projects I'm already on. I feel that's the position most people who haven't played in a while are in, rather than being "burned out". I'd sure as hell be playing more if doing so contributed to REAL LIFE and all...

Anyhow, I feel like the whole "THIS THREAD IS BAD" posting is worse than the actual thread itself. It's not about to change anything and just makes this have a more negative and depressing atmosphere than it needs to.