Besides free to play weekends (which they have done and probably will again) how exactly do you demo a Multiplayer only game??
Not sure if possible but it would be nice if there was a way to give out say an hour long pass. After that, you couldn't play anymore until you purchased the game.
Only problem I see with that is the possibility to troll. Maybe limit the pass to an hour per Steam ID.
Or how about allowing people to download a demo version that doesn't include the online multiplayer but includes the explore mode and the new Bots?
Easy, make one Map free in Demo, and limit them on special Demo Servers. Normal Players can also join Demo Matches, but not Demo Players the normal Servers.
Besides free to play weekends (which they have done and probably will again) how exactly do you demo a Multiplayer only game??
I remember playing the BF2 demo for dozens of hours. You could play one game mode on one map, gulf of oman, as long as there were servers that ran it. I never actually bought the full game.
Besides free to play weekends (which they have done and probably will again) how exactly do you demo a Multiplayer only game??
I remember playing the BF2 demo for dozens of hours. You could play one game mode on one map, gulf of oman, as long as there were servers that ran it. I never actually bought the full game.
This is pretty much the problem with demos of this sort. The Free to play weekends are much better as a conversion rate (F2P -> BUY ME! :P )
IronHorseDeveloper, QA Manager, Technical Support & contributorJoin Date: 2010-05-08Member: 71669Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, Forum Moderators, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Subnautica Playtester, Subnautica PT Lead, Pistachionauts
edited May 2013
So the options are :
To play on highly condensed and isolated version of the game that people can play for free (like the battlefield demos)
Benchmark only
No access to huge sections of the game like pres or mods
Time pass
Free weekend
The first option creates an isolated bubble where the majority of the playerbase wont experience huge swaths of things that NS2 has to offer. Its the same symptom that all but the last two suffer from.
I like the Time Pass option the most because its like a free weekend but at your disposal.. will spread load the amount of people (so its not a huge hard to handle influx) giving a more accurate depiction of the game with mixed vets and rookies, and yet has all the benefits of the free to play weekend - experience every aspect ns2 has to offer, you are not isolated, free to try, possible discount*
*Should include a one time incentive too when the time passes.. "Buy it now and receive 50% off - an offer that expires after today"
That could definitely be a good model for a demo.
I think no pres or mods is a good restriction, you don't NEED them to experience the game, but if people like it they don't have any choice but to buy it really, it will get old fast not having access to any lifeforms/weapons.
Free weekend is of course the best option, but I hear they are hard to set up?
Tribes 2 demo was sooo good back in the days, I never actually even thought about buying a game, because all full game was going to offer is more maps.
I like that idea better than the timepass Yoption because players who can't afford the game will still add value to the current playerbase simply by having more players to fill servers.
No PRes would be disastrous IMO. And it kinda goes pay-to-win; while being a one-time fee... i'm kinda uneased by this. Imagine FREE players vs Paid players... a paid player goes fade --> Free players leave cause they only have LMG...
No mod would be soooooooo big. Like only non-modded server would be play I have the feeling. (i.e. let's say using this option duplicate the number of players by 5 times; modded servers would stop being played; because when you play you want to play with people; most of the time). I feel it is possible; but would be dumb; because the essence of NS2 is its vanilla version (not like Starcraft 1 / Warcraft3 where there are over9000 custom map and almost makes the point of the game( I mean by this that both melee and custom were really great and different; current mods aren't really interesting IMO; no crazy tower defense, madness or something alike; combat is somewhat in that direction, but misses something...) )
Time pass = win imo. Play when you want for a certain time. I don't see the fail in this.
Also, something like a limited number of servers that you can't join directly would be doable I think. i.e. a free player press a certain button; which queue him so he can join a free server. Those server would be joinable by paid people via the server browser. And you can put something like 1 or 2 map only (i.e. let's say veil and tram) on those servers. Make a use of those empty UWE servers !
That way people wanting to play may need to wait; because there would be a limited number of servers (==> incentive to buy to not wait). The "advertisment" would be playing on the servers themselves. The servers having a good player limit (<= 18), there wouldn't be lag like in the Onos Bar on end game when there are 25+ players in the same room --> more FPS for the players ==> more chance to buy.
Demo should be the full game without weapons! You can walk around being a meat shield
edit: spelling!
Spectator only? Awesome. You get to see all the good stuff up close, and when you can't resist any longer you just throw your money at the screen and jump right in.
I think calling it an RTS first is kind of misleading. For the majority of new players, ns2 will only ever be an fps.
By this, do you mean that for the majority of new players, ns2 will only ever be played from an fps perspective, or that they will only ever play an fps?
Because I want the people in the latter category to uninstall this game immediately.
the lack of a demo is losing people who might actually like the game (i.e. players) and gaining revenue from people who are willing to pay money to try it (i.e. purchasers)
it's a cute business strategy to charge for a game and have people leave because of something they could have discovered through a demo (eg. low performance)
but in terms of player counts, it's exactly the same as if those people never bought it
Lots of defending a game here. Reviews are reviews, they're someone's opinion. Whether you agree that demo's are or are not the way forward in contrast to someone else's opinion OR that performance should be mentioned is your opinion. Let this guy have his, move on and know, it is an opinion that both of you will share with another.
I like how the whole conversation turned into demoing the game lol. When I said "play or buy", I wasn't meaning there was a way to play without paying. My overview basically describes reasons why you might like playing it, depending on what kind of player you are, then it goes on to saying why you should buy it, talking about the price of the game.
Comments
this game has no demo either
If played at the right numbers, its performance is pretty good. only when you go above 16, that;s when it goes all wonky.
6v6 runs really smooth.
I say play how it's meant to be played and stop bitching.
Not sure if possible but it would be nice if there was a way to give out say an hour long pass. After that, you couldn't play anymore until you purchased the game.
Only problem I see with that is the possibility to troll. Maybe limit the pass to an hour per Steam ID.
Or how about allowing people to download a demo version that doesn't include the online multiplayer but includes the explore mode and the new Bots?
I remember playing the BF2 demo for dozens of hours. You could play one game mode on one map, gulf of oman, as long as there were servers that ran it. I never actually bought the full game.
This is pretty much the problem with demos of this sort. The Free to play weekends are much better as a conversion rate (F2P -> BUY ME! :P )
The first option creates an isolated bubble where the majority of the playerbase wont experience huge swaths of things that NS2 has to offer. Its the same symptom that all but the last two suffer from.
I like the Time Pass option the most because its like a free weekend but at your disposal.. will spread load the amount of people (so its not a huge hard to handle influx) giving a more accurate depiction of the game with mixed vets and rookies, and yet has all the benefits of the free to play weekend - experience every aspect ns2 has to offer, you are not isolated, free to try, possible discount*
*Should include a one time incentive too when the time passes.. "Buy it now and receive 50% off - an offer that expires after today"
That could definitely be a good model for a demo.
Free weekend is of course the best option, but I hear they are hard to set up?
edit: spelling!
No mod would be soooooooo big. Like only non-modded server would be play I have the feeling. (i.e. let's say using this option duplicate the number of players by 5 times; modded servers would stop being played; because when you play you want to play with people; most of the time). I feel it is possible; but would be dumb; because the essence of NS2 is its vanilla version (not like Starcraft 1 / Warcraft3 where there are over9000 custom map and almost makes the point of the game( I mean by this that both melee and custom were really great and different; current mods aren't really interesting IMO; no crazy tower defense, madness or something alike; combat is somewhat in that direction, but misses something...) )
Time pass = win imo. Play when you want for a certain time. I don't see the fail in this.
Also, something like a limited number of servers that you can't join directly would be doable I think. i.e. a free player press a certain button; which queue him so he can join a free server. Those server would be joinable by paid people via the server browser. And you can put something like 1 or 2 map only (i.e. let's say veil and tram) on those servers. Make a use of those empty UWE servers !
That way people wanting to play may need to wait; because there would be a limited number of servers (==> incentive to buy to not wait). The "advertisment" would be playing on the servers themselves. The servers having a good player limit (<= 18), there wouldn't be lag like in the Onos Bar on end game when there are 25+ players in the same room --> more FPS for the players ==> more chance to buy.
My grain of salt.
Just watch this and you're done:
By this, do you mean that for the majority of new players, ns2 will only ever be played from an fps perspective, or that they will only ever play an fps?
Because I want the people in the latter category to uninstall this game immediately.
people only keep playing games they like
the lack of a demo is losing people who might actually like the game (i.e. players) and gaining revenue from people who are willing to pay money to try it (i.e. purchasers)
it's a cute business strategy to charge for a game and have people leave because of something they could have discovered through a demo (eg. low performance)
but in terms of player counts, it's exactly the same as if those people never bought it