Not enough players!

[Tubbie]

And ofcourse, each sub-gamemode has its own aims........... I prefer to see freeroam as some sort of lobby where you can hang out and stuff and mess around, doing pointless funny things just to relax. Mini-games or even deathmatch areas in a freeroam map are cool and have their own aims so... I don't see the problem LOL

[Dark Dragon]

the problem is that someone who wants to play assault, tdma or ctf has no chance to find a server. and "do whatever you want" is no point. example:

AlienX's freeroam server... blabla - 72/128 players

Teletubbie RPG - 43/72 players

24/7 FREEROAM BY http://WWW.EXAMPLE.COM host - 34/128

Some other unknown """rpg""" - 11/32

hay 24/7 - 5/32

eXo|Clan Deathmatch Server - 2/32

Well, now i wanna play something beside cruising around (wasting time of my short life). There are 2 options. I play with 2 other guys (TWO others!!! - but at least its some fun...) or i leave it and play some counter strike.

I may not be one of the developers, i may not be one of the QA team. but it seems to me that they wanted mta to be something different. not only cruising around doing nothing. as some replys by QAs or developers already said the competition is really important for them. all of the releaseday modes had at least some team based activity. for a real game of mta it needs a small area with lots of players who compete for something like defending bases getting the flag or getting more kills in a short time.

actually i mean the team wasted much time in inventing such a powerful and great mod because nobody uses the abilitys - and again: freeroaming worked fine on samp too... i dont know why you were waiting for mta then...

[Guest]

Hmm, I wouldn't worry about the amount of players yet. This version is still a Developer Preview version, which means that some people may think that it is not a playable modification yet. Naturally, rumours spread around, and people will get interested.

the problem is that someone who wants to play assault, tdma or ctf has no chance to find a server. and "do whatever you want" is no point.

You're right there! Nearly every populated server is running some kind of freeroam/roleplay mode. It's hard - if not impossible - to find an Assault/Stealth/etc. server with some people playing on it.

I'll admit, i despise the freeroam nature of gamemodes, and jfk003 is spot on about RPG modes.

However, i believe this is a developing area and there is still hope: namely the clan scene. Luckilly the clan scene is the community you can rely on to always want focused, competitive gameplay that are team games. This is a very much developing area for MTA, and i hope to drive this aspect further forward ( viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21658 ).

Once the clan scene has developed, I expect that there will be a demand for users to join clans rather than just play on freeroam servers. This leads on to them playing on more focused gamemodes because that's the only way they can prove themself.

After being in QA for such a long time, it is rather dissatisfying to see the lack of welcoming for "proper" gamemodes. But to sum up, i think people are going to get bored of this crap and start playing competitively again.

Yeah, I agree with Talidan. Even though freeroaming with friends was fun, it got boring after a while. Working as a team, as a squad... it just has something special, and it requires practising and patience. And it can be really fun (especially if you screw up with something while practising, heh).

We'll see how the competetive side of MTA develops. I hope that we'll have some populated servers with team-based modes soon. (And of course, some roleplay servers are nice as well as long there's something else too. )

[-XII-Wacko]

Its not the little things.

Remember SA-MP 0.1(b)? It didnt have a proper anti-cheat, it didnt support a lot of the features MTA has nowadays, it had a few nasty bugs etc.

It wasnt half as good as MTA is nowadays, but it had a few big advantages:

- Great servers up from day 1 with gamemodes that are constantly being developed, and fun to play.

- Its GTA. Not the GTA game engine adapted to play CTF, climb haystacks or have monstertrucks with cookie wheels. Lots of players dont even like to shoot the other team, they like to gang up and cause havoc throughout the city.

That's what caused it to break total player count records every month!. Even with the latest version, player numbers are still on the rise for SAMP. Its about the style, feel and GTA-ness of the mod.

Im sure you wont really appreciate me (as being involved with the SA-MP team) to draw a comparison between the two, as it might be subjective etc. (it probably is).

Think about it anyway

[Tubbie]

Hmm true... if I wanna play a shooter, I boot up good ol' SoF II or Battlefield 2142 ghehe... at least they are actually made for that kind of game play. MTA is cool and stuff, with a pretty nice imitation of shooters, but it still has to have that GTA feel -XII-Wacko is talking about. GTA multiplayer is, in my opinion, cruising around and messing things up, occasionally shooting at others. I mean, in single player I also don't even shoot a lot of peds... yeah, the drug dealers to get my dough and I bash hookers, and ppl who talk bad to me, but that's it. When I wanna play MTA, I just want to cruise around just like in single player, but then with a lot of friends and ppl who just wanna mess around too! Oh, and no, I don't mean cheating LOL. It is fun to punish people in freeroam though... keeps you occupied

But anyway, when I see MTA's DM game mode, I think well okay, so this is GTA, but then totally restricted and with some text and menu-overlays. I don't see DM and stuff as GTA, I see it as a spare time project to create a multiplayer shooter using the GTA engine. You know, these game modes are soooo restricted (which is obviously their goal LOL), but GTA is not. That's why freeroam is popular I guess. It still has the freedom of single player GTA. Hmm.. I think I'm not the only one thinking this way, checking the server stats. All freeroam People just want to play GTA, but then with friends.

Why was I waiting for MTA and didn't I just download SA-MP? Well, because I'm loyal to MTA and I've been playing MTA for quite a while now, so I figured it was worth the wait. And it was. When I've got some more spare time, imma develop game modes or other resources. I think the team did a great job in making it accesible to developers. Oh and one more thing... it's damn stable!

[Dark Dragon]

- Its GTA. Not the GTA game engine adapted to play CTF, climb haystacks or have monstertrucks with cookie wheels. Lots of players dont even like to shoot the other team, they like to gang up and cause havoc throughout the city.

As many others here i played samp. And yes (? lol) its cruising around. but: i stopped playing samp 3 days after the release, because it has no aim. i thought those who were waiting for mta had the same idea of gameplay as me. the opposit of samp, that means gamemodes with a point and (maybe) custom maps.

i still want an answer(from those freeroamers): if youre just interested in cruising around without any mission or aim, what the hell made you waiting for mta?

This fucking nice mod wants to use its abilitys!!!

[The_Stig]

I still think the reason its dead is because the disconnection issue. We get loads of players every hour trying to join then just timing out. Even our own members time out. See it on loads of other servers as well so i don't think its anything to do with the gamemodes.

[Tubbie]

LOL dragon... I already answered your question I'm a fulltime freeroamer and I'm just loyal to MTA and did not ever install any other mods, just because MTA is quality. And also, the developing possibilities are awesome there you go

Hmm, but anyways, I was expecting a lot more DM gamers as well, thought I was the only one not really liking DM... sometimes things don't work out like you expect right?

[Dark Dragon]

developing possibilities for... uhm... driving two cars at once? i guess freeroam doesn't really use the possibilities, does it?

[-XII-Wacko]

- Its GTA. Not the GTA game engine adapted to play CTF, climb haystacks or have monstertrucks with cookie wheels. Lots of players dont even like to shoot the other team, they like to gang up and cause havoc throughout the city.

As many others here i played samp. And yes (? lol) its cruising around. but: i stopped playing samp 3 days after the release, because it has no aim. i thought those who were waiting for mta had the same idea of gameplay as me. the opposit of samp, that means gamemodes with a point and (maybe) custom maps.

i still want an answer(from those freeroamers): if youre just interested in cruising around without any mission or aim, what the hell made you waiting for mta?

This nice mod wants to use its abilitys!!!

You're not really getting what i mean.

What i mean is that MTA has become so much more than GTA originally was. GTA was about going about San Andreas drivebying people, jumping off buildings with parachutes, earning money at casinos, shooting people for money, buying stuff with that money, modding your car and race with it etc. MTA is all of that (except for the parachute, but i'm sure thats just a matter of time), but it became so much more, that it lost it authenticity. Someone needs to create a gamemode which is like that modded LVDM that littlewhitey runs on his server @ SA-MP: Pointless, featureful but not forced, freeroam-ish and simple. Thats a mode that the player can do with whatever they like! Shoot people for fun, own buildings, form gangs or just simply have a race around the city with some friends.

Don't forget that there's an area between boring freeroam and exciting on-your-toes objective-based team deathmatch

Offtopic: Its perfectly possible to write gamemodes with an aim on sa-mp.

[Tubbie]

Well.. I'm working on a flying resource LOL. Driving 2 cars would be fun - ignoring sarcasm - but freeroam basically is DM without rules. DM is just a stripped down version of freeroam. When I was talking about developing possibilities I was not talking just about freeroam, by the way... I just meant MTA in general. You can do loads of things for freeroam as well as for other gamemodes. Or you can develop your own gamemode. Oh, and as our little crazy guy said:

Don't forget that there's an area between boring freeroam and exciting on-your-toes objective-based team deathmatch

[Dark Dragon]

you could point the thing i didnt get, but a TDM on the whole san andreas isnt much more than a freeroam mode. maybe there are some guys who want to have some team deathmatch but there will be as many who are just freeroaming.

yes samp could have gamemodes with an aim too... well the only one i saw was protect the pm... in fact that was the only mod i played for longer than 20 minutes. im sure tehre are some servers with an aim but ill never find them, because of all those other (freeroam/RPG)modes.

as far as i remember gta was most fun while working on missions... tell me if im wrong but in missions i didnt have to roam around where ever i want to... ahh now i remember why there were those blips on the map! they showed me where to go. and now the blips show me where i can find the enemy flag, or too loud enemys on stealth.

but freeroam basically is DM without rules.

maybe youre right. im going to play some soccer without rules... dont know why they call it tennis.

[Tubbie]

You know... your problem basically is you can't stand people freeroaming instead of playing games with rules like DM. You're the guy who's screaming on the soccer field "Come on guys let's play some ball!" and no one even bothers to answer. They're just running around and tryna put on their ugliest faces and show them off to eachother. They laugh and then try to cheat with their supersupersupersoaker. They whine no weapons are allowed. Slappers only! And then you say "Come on this is not fun anymore, this field is meant for playing soccer and everyone who just messes around should go play somewhere else." Then everyone dissapears and you will be alone.

The reason freeroam is so popular, is that there are no gamemodes the big crowd really likes. Freeroam is the mode that fits all needs. Well ofcourse, it can be improved. That's why the MTA added the scripting possibilities. You are just whining no one plays your favorite gamemode. MTA is not made for the DM gamemode. It is made for any gamemode, also freeroam. I guess you just have to wait for people to develop cool gamemodes which you also like.

Let's all eat a cake made out of rainbows and smiles and be happy

[Dark Dragon]

you seem not to understand. its not the problem that you want to play freeroam. in my opinion everybody can do what he wants. the problem is that those who want to play tdma or stealth go to some server. it fills up and somebody votes for freeroam. some of the people who wanted to play tdma will not complain and play freeroam instead. some are going to look for another server(splitted), and some leave at all. there are tons of freeroam servers... tons of empty freeroam servers but nealy no "TDMA only" or "Stealth only" server.

actually id love to see noones playing freeroam and everyone plays ctf tdma or soething like that. i totally accept the others, BUT as talidan said mta was meant to be some more team orientated, and something different to all the multiplayer mods before... i mean...

GTA:tournament -> freeroam (even without weapons)

GTA rumbe -> freeroam

mta -> race... something different... own maps

samp -> mostly freeroam... well the possiblity to create own gamemodes but if you see for example the resource browsing of mta you see what a real mod should look like. (dont forget the great design(still waiting for better loadscreens:P))

mta -> DM... the name is Deathmatch... "Multi Theft Auto: Deathmatch" - this makes me think about some new name for SAMP... maybe san andreas multi roaming. they dont call it multi theft auto: do whatever you want

mta was on magazines and tv because its a serious multiplayer mod. freeroam is more like habbo hotel (dont know if some of you know that ) just a lobby to have a chill out but not a serious multiplayer game... When you play world of warcraft youre also doing something beside just walking around lol. the keyword is competition, think about that word a few seconds and you may understand the difference.

theres nothing else to say, i dont want that topic to become a chat. over and out

[Tubbie]

Ahhh okay, I understand it. Well, you've got a point then. Hmmm, when you look at it that way, it definately sucks LOL. I always go to a 24/7 freeroam server and I didn't know people were voting for freeroam on other servers. Damn, that's nasty! Well, you can't blame them for choosing the quality of MTA above all other mods. Let's just hope things will get right if a new release is out. Can't wait for the peds, LOL. I guess you can create awesome gamemodes. Imagine creating human shields with peds!!!

[Guest]

Gimme CD Key... The n il join ^^

[Tubbie]

Errrr... I don't remember I needed a cd key well, in case you can't read your legally bought cd box, you can always try google for a serial... or just go to gamecopyworld

[jfk003]

DarkDragon has a point, well a whole lotta points actually.

People attract people, that's obvious, so if everybody is on freeroam, you won't find a decent tdm or anything else with some people.

It's like an undending circle.

To those saying gta looses it's "spirit" with mta...I'm sorry, you shouldn't be expecting from mta to give you the same thing as in single player mode + multiplayer. That is just wrong.

If you litteraly put gta in multiplayer it would be dead boring...yes you've read right, just porting the single player mode is plain boring. And no, this is not what mta does ! You can't give a huge area with no limits to, say, 32 players ! It makes no sense.

I know most of you think gta is all about freedom, but hey here is the thing: a good multiplayer mod is a mod where you put heavy constraints ! That sounds contradictory ? I don't think so! The keyword here is focus, because to keep a very small amount of people entertained, you have to reduce the game area and put a clear goal. You don't want to spend 3/4 of the time just moving to the action field, you are not playing mutliplayer for that.

I think people really need to understand that; putting constraints is a must, that's the only way a multiplayer makes senses; yeah, even in GTA.

Take far cry or crysis: maybe not an example, but see how the single player mode brings a huge area, while the multiplayer mode only brings you a limited map...it's no surprise: in multiplayer you don't want people to get lost, you want them to be focused; the only counter example for this would be a mmo, like WoW, where you can afford to bring huge universes; but we are talking about an action game, so by all means, keep the game focused. And stop with that bad freeroam habit. I don't, know, at least unite and make ONE freeroam server, but not a thousand of them; otherwise, other mods just can't "exist" ! And I might also add, otherwise Mta can't exist, quite simply put.

It's such a shameless waste to see people who create freeroams just not understand how, by doing this, they are killing mta. Seeing this I would even have prefered to see no release of mta than that, really. And I'm no developper so I'm not even close to know how they feel, but I can guess...actually, they promised a nearly perfect mode, they hold their promise and see what happens once it is in the hands of the community...

I still hope it will change though, it is never to late to react (talking to modders and server owners here)

[-XII-Wacko]

DarkDragon has a point, well a whole lotta points actually.

People attract people, that's obvious, so if everybody is on freeroam, you won't find a decent tdm or anything else with some people.

It's like an undending circle.

To those saying gta looses it's "spirit" with mta...I'm sorry, you shouldn't be expecting from mta to give you the same thing as in single player mode + multiplayer. That is just wrong.

If you litteraly put gta in multiplayer it would be dead boring...yes you've read right, just porting the single player mode is plain boring. And no, this is not what mta does ! You can't give a huge area with no limits to, say, 32 players ! It makes no sense.

MTA supports 128 players. Im sure that'll do nicely for filling up a half/whole city with action. Ofcourse using the entire map is silly, thats what world bounds are for!

I know most of you think gta is all about freedom, but hey here is the thing: a good multiplayer mod is a mod where you put heavy constraints ! That sounds contradictory ? I don't think so! The keyword here is focus, because to keep a very small amount of people entertained, you have to reduce the game area and put a clear goal. You don't want to spend 3/4 of the time just moving to the action field, you are not playing mutliplayer for that.

GTA:SA is a very crappy game when it comes to just doing on-foot stuff in a confined area. Its just not entertaining enough for just that, and im sure a lot of people agree with me on this. Its not a good shooter, its not a good racing game, its not a good flightsim. Its a little of all of that, and that combination delivers freedom and the great game that we all enjoyed while playing single player. A gamemode should provide that freedom and fun. GTA is more about constantly being in the action fields. It's just not made for that. Thats what Unreal Tournament or Counter-Strike is for!

I think people really need to understand that; putting constraints is a must, that's the only way a multiplayer makes senses; yeah, even in GTA.

Take far cry or crysis: maybe not an example, but see how the single player mode brings a huge area, while the multiplayer mode only brings you a limited map...it's no surprise: in multiplayer you don't want people to get lost, you want them to be focused; the only counter example for this would be a mmo, like WoW, where you can afford to bring huge universes; but we are talking about an action game, so by all means, keep the game focused. And stop with that bad freeroam habit. I don't, know, at least unite and make ONE freeroam server, but not a thousand of them; otherwise, other mods just can't "exist" ! And I might also add, otherwise Mta can't exist, quite simply put.

Crysis/Far Cry are essentially shooters, with a few vehicles which are only useful in combat. Its a pure deathmatch game by default. Thats why the multiplayer is just more of the same, but then in a confined space. Thats level design, not game design.

It's such a shameless waste to see people who create freeroams just not understand how, by doing this, they are killing mta. Seeing this I would even have prefered to see no release of mta than that, really. And I'm no developper so I'm not even close to know how they feel, but I can guess...actually, they promised a nearly perfect mode, they hold their promise and see what happens once it is in the hands of the community...

I still hope it will change though, it is never to late to react (talking to modders and server owners here)

How on earth could the developers make the community like the way the gamemodes are being set up? They've provided the tools, its now up to the gamemode makers. All i can think of are SA elements such as casino/ammunation NPCs, the original modshop and stuff in that area to make it look more authentic. More GTA.

Its not killing MTA by creating less focused gameplay. Its reviving GTA.

[Woovie]

I like to play all gamemodes, so I play free roam. But I play on my server, because I do agree. All the other free roams are too split. We have teams, guns, vehicles. You can DM if you want! You can free roam if you want! You can do anything.. Just find the right server and don't judge all free roams on a single basis.

[Chicano_18]

More players will come when they get more game modesand stuff especially rpg truelly

[darkdreamingdan]

I don't like the logic of "It's not GTA". Can you tell me what GTA is? Freeroam? I don't think that's what GTA is.

What annoys me is that people think that gamemodes such as team deathmatch and capture the flag take away the GTA element. Why can't your CTF map span across one of the islands, with vehicles, guns, modshops?

By your logic, GTA missions arent true GTA because they restrict gameplay. There's no reason why a proper teamwars map - which involves taking over of gang territory - can't be "GTA". Obviously GTA involves gangwar territory in single player.

What i'm trying to say is, MTA's gamemode being "true GTA" and having focus are not mutually exclusive.

[Darius]

Someone should make a server with a Pen1 type Gamemode (DM + Bugs allowed)

[Guest]

Someone should make a server with a Pen1 type Gamemode (DM + Bugs allowed)

mabako started doing that already > http://mtasa.org/forum

[thestrangestick]

I don't like the logic of "It's not GTA". Can you tell me what GTA is? Freeroam? I don't think that's what GTA is.

What annoys me is that people think that gamemodes such as team deathmatch and capture the flag take away the GTA element. Why can't your CTF map span across one of the islands, with vehicles, guns, modshops?

By your logic, GTA missions arent true GTA because they restrict gameplay. There's no reason why a proper teamwars map - which involves taking over of gang territory - can't be "GTA". Obviously GTA involves gangwar territory in single player.

What i'm trying to say is, MTA's gamemode being "true GTA" and having focus are not mutually exclusive.

I agree.

I'm sick of the whiners.. they complain about DM not being out for ages then run it down like spoilt children. I don't care what 'purist' GTA is, that's because I'm not a sad conformitist idiot like people that spend time leaving comments on youtube like "ZOMG11!! I PLAY GUITAR HERO ON EXPERT11!!" Not a sad conformitist like so called 'Metallica' fans who run all everywhere in comment boxes sprouting their conformitist whiny crap: 'Their new stuff sucks (because that's what someone else told me to think!)' 'Metallica sold out man!' No-one cares, me least of all, on whatever topic it is, I refuse to have someone on the other side of a screen ram their crappy opinions down my throat - opinions that are most likely borrowed from somebody else. Just to annoy you, I could make every car pink and make a teashop gamemode. If I could script. Do you get me? I. Don't. Care. What. You. Like. You like what you like. Go ahead and play single player, I couldn't give a flying fook if it's not 'GTA-ey' enough for you, especially as I thought the whole point of GTA was shooting stuff, and what more fun could it be then with people online? Stop trying to tell people that your opinion should also be theirs. And go home.

I quite enjoy freeroam for a laugh, but I feel very sorry for the people that put effort into these gamemodes and freeroam, which is what you do in single player, has taken over as a 24/7 thing! You can never find anywhere playing Interstate69.. in my mind, one of the most impressive custom gamemodes, with the choice of weapons and vehicles. I've got nothing against freeroam, I just wish it wouldn't take over a DeathMatch (that's the name folks!) mod, and leave some room for the people that want to do what the Mod was designed for.