Is Discovery dying?

[Ash]

If there's one thing this game/mod has taught me that despite the endless rants and fortellings of it's impeding doom it always seems to pull through.

It's really inspiring to see and almost impossible to understand without evidence that we actually have very little of. I have no doubt that almost everyone here has their own thoughts on what makes Discovery and Freelancer so resilient to obsoletism, but this thread has really made me think.

Discovery and Freelancer has next to no advertising that's consistent enough to draw as much attention that it does, or at least did until recently; and I think by understanding this phenomenon further will allow us to work as a community to attract more players through the more common channels they are drawn from.

I'm going to set up a poll, probably the first in a series of short surveys to pin down where players are coming from and why they are drawn here. This should give us a good idea of how we can enhance or improve the income of new players to the mod, thus helping to stabilise a problem we are all familiar with. The participation of everyone would be greatly appreciated.

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[tothebonezone]

(P.S. Star citizen? Are you F*%^*'N kidding me? You basically have to pay cash, like real money to get a good ship. It looks like a cool game, but only if your willing to pay for a crazy subscription. I have a feeling that game will just make FL look better. Keep up the great work Dev's!)

You can have your own private server, and the game is going to support modding fully.

But, off topic.

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User was banned for: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...tid=202684
Time left: (Permanent)

[Agmen of Eladesor]

I came in here expecting that usual kind of thread, but ended up being pleasantly surprised by the OP.

When "roleplay" around you seems to be diminishing... all you can do is be a new beacon of roleplay to light up everyone else's interactions.

This is exactly how I feel about this thread.

I wish I could add more, but I think taking time reflect on the actual contents of the thread would be a wiser and more rewarding move.

I'm with these guys.

Actually, my first thought was where is Saronsen, and what have you done with him? This is a well thought out, eloquent, and quite honest and appealing post - which in my cynicism, I normally don't associate with Magnarot. (Something about the head of the guy from 300 flying through a windshield, actually...)

But in all fairness and honesty, I'm quite impressed with the quality of the analysis and the content - and I'm also heartened by the fact that later on, we see a post by someone who's all the way to 4 posts on the forum.

In Disco dying? Eventually it will - but there is a niche of players who will continue this game. Does it have all the fun bells and whistles and graphics of some of the newer games? Nope. Does it need them for us to have a good time playing? Nope. Is it the original Freelancer? Nope - it's evolved into a game in and of itself. And honestly, since the online server hosting requirements aren't that strenuous, it will probably never actually die.

Not when I see people younger than my own kids getting on here and having fun.

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Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.

[Garuda]

I'm here since late 2008, and still play this game with only one break. During this time, I bought one Gaming Laptop and Computer.

Do you want to know, why I bought gaming computers?

For Freelancer and all the other old games, not for those "usual Call of Duty, Battlefield 3 crap."

Here is what I want to say.

Those new games, most of them can go to the hell. But Freelancer and this mod will be forever in my heart and on my computer. AND even if I get a 239 Core Computer with million of RAM.

DISCO WILL NEVER DIE!

[onca]

Nearly 7 years on and I still stick around. Not a great deal, my RP ain't up to the same scratch as most of you, but I still lurk about. Freelancer/Disco is and always will be one of my all time favourites.

When I'm 105 and we're all plugged in thru neural interfaces into the VR Internet 3.0, I bet there'll be a little corner with this old retro space shooter/trader featuring a poorly-rendered guy named Trent

[Bootsiuv]

Disco was "dying" when I started playing 3 years ago....

It will continue "dying" for years to come I assume....

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[Haste]

We're all dying. How long it's going to take, however, I doubt any of us know.

The same applies to Disco.

/Thread.

[Hone]

But roleplay allows those of us who aren't capable of PvP to come together

But PvP IS roleplay.

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User was banned for: Griefing others
Time left: (Permanent)

[Visivicous]

The Discovery community is pretty strong, and the dev team is doing great things with the mod. But eventually the age of the Freelancer engine will become too great. It is my hope that another great space sim will come out before Disco dies, something that can be modded and rebuilt in Disco's image (or barring a complete overhaul & copyright issues, adapted to fit the spirit of the Disco community). Maybe that will be Star Citizen, maybe not. Maybe, even if Star Citizen is not adaptable enough, it will be popular enough to attract Microsoft's attention, inducing them to invest in a Freelancer sequel with all the bells and whistles current tech has to offer.

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[Oorn]

But PvP IS roleplay.

Because RP is vague term.
Its very rare to see PvP that has more RP than griefing.
Do you consider 2mil-r-die RP? or deminding whole cargo? Some do, i do not. It brings only negative emotions to recieving side, so its not worth having. Another side is right to some extent too.

Now I see why trader-pirate interactions should be viewed seperate from whole server context. Most players make money through trading. Only interactions they have are pirates. 95% of them are here to ruin your day. Conclussion?
For majority of this server, when they are making preparations to have fun, 95% of people they meet try to ruin their fun.

How to fix it? I think (laugh at me Govedo) some of the stuff here should be free (snubs/bombers), while anything bigger requires not only money, but also playtime spend on smaller snubs/bombers. I'm not talking about EVE amounts of time, just some time, for example 3 hours for a gunboat. Bad thing is it would require ship rebalance to remove newb ships, as well as npc rebalance. In the end i think it will be worth it.

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When "roleplay" around you seems to be diminishing... all you can do is be a new beacon of roleplay to light up everyone else's interactions.