FreeGameDev

Since the release of Cosmic I've noticed there aren't a lot of players online, at times there are less than 20 people online in total. However, I'm not sure if the number of players online is an accurate measure of the community's size. Just to get an idea of what portion of people play online, I created this poll.

I'm not really that concerned about the size of the community, since there's still enough people online to have a good time, and the community still makes a lot of progress and is very close-knit. I just wanted to get an idea of our total numbers and how the number of people online compares to it.

(NOTE: The term "often" is open to interpretation, but as a guideline it should mean that when you play Red Eclipse, you mostly play online or play online a significant portion of the time.)

I only play offline when i want to test out some graphics settings without the mode and mutators switching every 10 seconds. Otherwise I'm online. Players are a heck of alot more fun to play with than bots :P

Although I advocate online gaming in about the majority of videos i upload to youtube, the bots in this game can in fact help you with aiming, accuracy, and movement tactics. So never underestimate a lvl 89 bot, as I was spectating a noob earlier in a server who got "DOMINATING" by a bot. Pretty sad to see, but he was new. So trust me, playing offline is a good as playing online. The only difference is: Online is where it actually matters

Yesterdayevening there were at least 5 or 6 servers with a fillrate of 50 - 100%. Other servers were populated as well, not fully, but stil... I think this is better than v1.1! We're on the right track.

I like the game but all the mutators and settings just add too much to know for a FPS game, so I mostly play offline. Also since I don't play much I need some practice before I can try and take some other player . To make things worse, most of the times I try to play online the servers are usually empty.

Knitter {l Wrote}:I like the game but all the mutators and settings just add too much to know for a FPS game, so I mostly play offline. Also since I don't play much I need some practice before I can try and take some other player . To make things worse, most of the times I try to play online the servers are usually empty.

I can agree, because I am a 2-3 mutator type of guy. I can't do T-I-M-D-O-H-V-R DeathMatch But I'm usually on during the day and i find some pretty sweet 4 to 6 man servers. This is because I can usually catch players in the other part of the world (you know who you are ) playing around their normal time.

I expect that the forum demographic might be very skewed towards online play...

Also, 20-30 players is kind of a good and steady improvement compared to earlier releases. Reletively speaking, I wouldn't claim it's "few".

I spend most my time online.. the only time i really go offline is for editing

I just checked and 39 people are online atm. When you take a look at the names, you'll see that many of the players that we see online on a regular basis aren't even there. So plenty of people picked up RE since v1.2.

There were 49 players online when I checked at around 11:00 EST.
The number of players has gone UP since the Cosmic release, by far. arand is correct; the amount of forum visitors is vastly different from the number of players.

I screencapped 55 players today. i was so happy I had to printscreen. I uploaded the pic to my Photobucket, seeing as i had to change windows orientation to actually get all the online players in the image.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy12 ... opular.png

inpersona64 {l Wrote}:I screencapped 55 players today. i was so happy I had to printscreen. I uploaded the pic to my Photobucket, seeing as i had to change windows orientation to actually get all the online players in the image.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy12 ... opular.png

HOLY COW!

Just take a look at the download stats. I'd say at least some of those people try the game online.

sireus {l Wrote}:Just take a look at the download stats. I'd say at least some of those people try the game online.

What surprises me the most is not the fact that the dominating OS is Windows (because it really should be Mac or Linux considering how many other games are for Windows) but that most of the people downloading the game are from Brazil..that would explain the BR name tags i've seen in the morning and during the day

Wow. That is a lot. Maybe I've been checking at the wrong times, I'm not usually up till 11.

inpersona64 {l Wrote}:

sireus {l Wrote}:Just take a look at the download stats. I'd say at least some of those people try the game online.

What surprises me the most is not the fact that the dominating OS is Windows (because it really should be Mac or Linux considering how many other games are for Windows) but that most of the people downloading the game are from Brazil..that would explain the BR name tags i've seen in the morning and during the day

I don't think you can take the OS seriously, seeing as most Ubuntu users download using PlayDeb and other distro downloads are probably also not counted. But yeah, RE has always seemed to be popular among brazilians.

I have little time so when I play I do it offline.

The clock ticks just as fast when you're playing online But I understand that you might be fond of a certain level or game mode and want to dedicate your time to that.
Playing online against human opponents is more fun though, you should give it a try.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:The clock ticks just as fast when you're playing online But I understand that you might be fond of a certain level or game mode and want to dedicate your time to that.
Playing online against human opponents is more fun though, you should give it a try.

Actually, what's funny now that I think of it, I figured the majority of us downloaded Red Eclipse because we were mostly looking for a free online multiplayer FPS or free arena FPS. There's nothing wrong with playing offline, but it would make me laugh a bit if someone told me they downloaded this game to play offline only.

I play only offline, because I have the skills of a blind camel, and prefer to embarrass myself against bots than other players. Also, in a bot match I can end the game whenever I want to, whereas in an online match I feel obligated to stay throughout the whole game.

(EDIT: guy above me, go ahead and laugh )

I seem to do better against human players than bots

inpersona64 {l Wrote}:

Ulukai {l Wrote}:There's nothing wrong with playing offline, but it would make me laugh a bit if someone told me they downloaded this game to play offline only.

Then let's say I download this and other games with the awareness that possibly I'll play them offline only.

When I was a kid, playing with others meant playing with my Atari 2600 console, when I was bought the first PC, playing with PC games meant playing almost always on my own. Because I play when I find the time, I end up playing offline but I'm used to that so it's no big deal.

NetMassimo {l Wrote}:Because I play when I find the time, I end up playing offline but I'm used to that so it's no big deal.

Like I said before, there's nothing wrong with that, but in regards to what Ulukai said, playing online is just as fast as playing offline. Not to mention, playing with actual players can actually make you better at playing Red Eclipse. I also seem to think that playing with actual players is better and more enjoyable than playing with bots. But there are some people like you who are used to being alone more than being around people, so I can't knock that. My first console was the Playstation 1 console (I suppose I'm not as "aged") and so my idea of playing 'online' always meant playing with other players, usually around the world. And there are plenty of games that offer substantial, if not incredible singleplayer offline experience (Skyrim). But games like Red Eclipse, to me, just seem geared towards online play. Even if you just want to share maps with others, you promote being online by the mere fact that you exchange something with some other player of the game.

I play offline only when i test new maps.

Headmew {l Wrote}:I play offline only when i test new maps.

Same, but in all other cases I play online.