so I watched TB's stream yesterday and he went on a minor rant about fast arena FPS 'fans' that, according to him, don't exactly exist - at least not in any relevant numbers. When 'the next big thing' comes to appease these fans, the games reach a total of maybe 50 or less active players. Bethesda catering to an audience so minuscule, so negligible would be a disaster.


He summed up his thoughts in his QC opinion video at the very beginning and brought some good points on the table.

Take a minute and watch it before answering the question below.



'We', ESR, the butthole of the esport community, kinda-sorta often fit this criteria - the insatiable, unsatisfiable, arrogant whiners, longing for the 'old days' of LAN parties, Q3 clones that aren't supposed to deviate from Q3 but at the same time are rejected for looking too much like Q3

We reject every notion of a change, yet at the same time strive for it.

However, I do believe that TB, never really being part of that culture, never really digging into the meat as much as 'we' did, cannot possibly understand our views and/or concerns.


To play the devil's advocate, I ask the community -

Reflex Arena, Warsow, Toxikk, Quake Live, Xonotic, Unreal Tournament

1) Have you tried any of these games?
2) Have you liked them?
3) if not, why didn't you like them?
4) what stopped you from playing them?
5) What should the game do, in order to grab your attention?

TB strolls around the map in duel mode like a muppet, walking up and down the stairs, aimlessly prancing the same exact route in unfavorable positions, literally walking in circles around RG, constantly jumping on 'small armor' while fully stacked for so long that the duel ended because they reached the time limit.

Makes you wonder, how can a person so unaware of quake playstyle comment on what the 'elite' wants?

Well he's got the steam activity numbers to back up his claims, what do we have?


So for me at least....


Reflex:

1) Tried it
2) I did, the movement is sleek, the team behind it pulled their weight and offered a polished product
3) I'm still convinced that map textures/weapon design could be better and it drove some people off.
4) Lack of time, kept playing QL when I had the time
5) uhhh at this point I'm not sure, but I guess I would have released it later, kept the development in closed beta for a longer time



Warsow:
1) Tried it
2) it was ok
3) don't like cellshaded pigs, sounds, maps, community was too much into instagib
4) lost interest, people that I played with stopped playing
5) no idea, scrap the pigs

Toxikk:
1) Didn't bother trying it, even though I have it installed

Quake Live:
1) Tried it
2) It's an ok game
3) Dear god where do I start. Over the course of the years, it felt like QL was just a testing grounds for id/bethesda for their new products. Duel detective, while ineffective, was fun. Team of chaps on IRC made better matchmaking then entire id team. No marketing at all, the game was not advertised at any point of its lifecycle.
4) At this point, QL is where Q3 was 10 years ago. There's those few nutcases still 'going strong' on their favorite CA/CTF servers, playing for fun and enjoying the game. I still hop on every now and then.
5) It needed to be more polished from the get go, the long beta and some questionable updates drove off a lot of people.

Xonotic/Unreal
1) Didn't try