What keeps you playing?

[Giorgio]

I like this thread very much, and the responses warm my heart. It's hard to never feel doubt in a gaming environment where population is not what it once was, and I think part of the reason that makes me stick around is the nostalgy of those glorious times, when the server limit was upped to 225 to accomodate the demand... And even then, it could be hard to find a slot during week ends after updates.

And although this feels like ages ago, the spice that has always been at the heart of Disco kept drawing me back, and this time I think for good. Like Durandal said, there's just no other thing like it, I'm very attached to the Freelancer universe, the perfect balance between relatability, ambiguity, depth and sci-fi. Everything is there. I'll keep playing because there's so much yet to be uncovered, stories to create from this rich basis... And of course others' stories to discover, enjoy and sometimes be a part of. Discovery + Freelancer really ticks all the boxes for me, right down to the crisp, layered and demanding combat. To see it all live on so long past its golden age, with new, younger members producing high quality RP and interactions, fresh and creative factions to make up for those we lost... It really is something, like a passing of the torch but with the old guard coming back bit by bit. I just can't say goodbye to this place and it keeps on giving. Back in the day, I had made quite a few good friends that I'm still in touch with today. And ever since my return last summer, I've made new acquaintances, noticed new people, that I'm very keen on knowing better. As long as this cycle keeps on, Disco can never die.

This post really resonates with me. Discovery felt like a logical progression of vanilla Freelancer. The ability to fly different ship classes, tons of new systems and so on.
Childhood nostalgia and Freelancer's uniqueness is what does it for me. The only game currently installed on my PC.

I remember the introduction of 225 server slots like it was yesterday. Long-awaited .86 was recently released, the server was crashing every 10 minutes, and one still had to wait at peak hours for someone to log off because even 225 slots were not enough.

And the progression is indeed fascinating. Back in the day, almost anyone whose name didn't contain "Knjaz" or "Thunderer" in it was likely sub-par at battleship combat, by current standards. The average skill level is a lot higher now, and that goes for all ship classes.

[onca]

Gotta do something while mining those sweet sweet bitcoins.

[Reddy]

Tea, pews and people
*drinks tea with pinky finger extended*

[pillow]

couple weeks ago i prolly wouldve started playing more if not for the crippling lag i get at random times for no reason

so when the game does work and doesnt do its best to kick me off it i do the thing

The super fast paced, heart pounding combat,

in conn tho because im afraid to start getting 99% lag outside of it and have people tell me im wesker

[Sanctions]

It's been somewhere around 1.3 years that I haven't launched Disco, due to some RL reasons, while actually considering it being an important (if not the most important, actually) part of my gaming life. During my military service I managed to set up a vanilla server on my laptop just out of boredom and play there, dropped few nostalgic tears back then, it's all so simple and genius as Quake, that I couldn't resist but just admire the simple and accessible concept, which is an important trait of a successful game.
It was an old conclusion of mine that the dusk of this precious mod certainly started with the 86 version for sure and no one is able to force me to think anyhow else. Features and efforts were great, but that all led to the unfortunate direction which made the game different in a bad way.
As a matter of an analogy of a sort, it is known that Blizzards have announced Classic WoW server due to the incoming pressure from the oldfаg playerbase not being satisfied with the modern conditions the game is able to offer. So I thought why wouldn't Discovery do something like that?
With all my honesty, I'd say, that if there would be responsible people out there capable of administrating and maintaining the 85 server, possibly adding modern anti-cheat systems, if that would be anyhow appealing for them, I would gladly fund that activity, no matter if that fractures or splits the whole community, however you'd call it, I don't really care. People should have more options to pick from, not only being modern Discovery Base Building Simulator and HLC(if it still is alive, haven't checked it recently).
Just a few cents from the player, who was battling his path through out the end of 84 to the almost present.

[sasapinjic]

I have no idea.
I guess i invested much time in it and I hate to leave it all , or i hope things will improve.

[Jansen]

The cool people here.

---

[Shelco]

Wesker

---

[Pepe]

Bad taste for games and people.

:*

---

[R.I.P.]

The love of space, exploring, and smuggling cardi to the fine folks in Liberty! Eh really i hardly play anymore but do log in on occasion when i feel the desire to fly around aimlessly or smuggle. Left in 2015 and deleted everything because things just got a little out of hand back then. But ended up coming back in mid 2017 and rebuilt my main ship i fly. Like many have said you can leave this game but you usually end up returning sometime or another. Spent way too much time here back in it's glory days but this is still a very awesome mod and nothing will ever have a chance of filling the void we all would/will have if this ever gets shut down. But i have met a lot of wonderful people throughout my time here, even though i have met some i felt this game could do without. The pros did outweigh the cons as far as the community here for the most part. Just bummed so many have left but i always have and cannot fight the desire to check in on how things are going here. Like many out there this place will always hold great memories no matter what happens.