Finally Multiplayer Gets A Lead Role

[Nelson]

Well, the numbers are what they are so you are not mistaken, Tomisama. The data is not germane however as to the question of who pays the bills for Creative Assembly.

STEAM numbers don’t tell us much at all. First person shooters and traditional RTS games such as Star Craft dominated the MP numbers and did for years until MMOs arrived. Now 11 million people play WoW. What does that tell us about Total War? No more than STEAM statistics.

For the Total War franchise, SP accounts for an overwhelming percentage of players. CA knows this and has admitted as much. They would of course like MP to grow. They would like to increase sales for any play style. If they thought they could get a Total War MMO to fly they would be tempted to go for it!

[drone]

Brad Warrell (CEO of Stardock) posted on the Demigod forums some surprising stats on single-player/multi-player usage in the 2009 yearly report. Demigod was meant to be a multi-player game, the single player "campaign" was limited and the AI was not very good compared to good players, but only 23% of those that purchased the game ever went online to play it.

For Stardock, the more significant shock of Demigod has been the discovery of the low number of PC gamers who play strategy games online. Demigod’s single player experience, while decent, did not get anywhere near the care that the Internet multiplayer experience did. Despite this, only 23% of people who have purchased Demigod have ever even attempted to logon to play Internet multiplayer.

Demigod continues to sell thousands of copies weekly – enough to remain at retail during the Christmas season despite it coming out last Spring – but the number of people available to play online is typically less than 2,000 at a given time. This is in stark contrast to MMORPGs and FPS’s which tend to have very large online communities.

Our conclusion is that strategy games that we make and publish in the future will support multiplayer but will not sacrifice the single player experience to do so.
Developer Gas Powered Games has continued to update and provide support to Demigod despite its work on Supreme Commander 2. At the time of writing, two new demigods are nearly completed along with a couple of significant updates.

Having a good multiplayer is important, but it is not the end-all-be-all of a strategy game. That said, the multiplayer issues Demigod had at launch severely hurt it's potential.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

CA will always play nice with the SP crowd. If they don't, it's simple business logic. Then the SP'ers and modders will ditch TW, then bye bye TW. BattleField Bad Company is a great MP game, I enjoyed it much, but it can not compare with TW. You can say how it has a lot of MP players, and true. But why does CA care about that game? It has no reason to, because in the end, SP players are paying the bills for TW, not MP players from different games.

[Tomisama]

For the Total War franchise, SP accounts for an overwhelming percentage of players.

Please understand, that I understand, that you are absolutely correct for what has transpired to-date.

I remember a survey here at the Org in the early days, that proved out that only 5% were active multiplayers at the time.

And that was pretty much considered to be a normal percentage rating for multiplayers of any game that provided the option then.

That was a long time ago in computer gamming time, and the world does not work that way any more.

In fact the research available for current consideration by developers, points clearly to the fact that games that have a multiplayer option sell twice as many units, as those who do not.

Now this was research on major manufacturer consol games, but without a doubt shows the direction things are going.

To confirm it, the numbers I presented show just one game having more players playing multiplayer, than any other game having players total!

That game was the only one clearly labeled as totally a multiplayer game, but we all know the many of the others are predominantly multiplayer also.

The reason that the Total War series is not yet a major leader in the race for the ever expanding multiplayer market; is that they have never really even tried to pursue that goal.

It has always been about single player, because that was “the game” from the beginning (safe, and I don't blame them).

Multiplayer was an add-on to capture an additional few percent of the market, but was never considered seriously as potentially money maker, capable of out grossing the single player base.

Add a little Steam, and all perceptions change; even the most conservative observer will have to admit the future of computer gaming is in one word; multiplayer!

People playing against and with other people, is more exciting, more enjoyable, and more meaningful, than people playing against and with computers.

A simple undeniable fact, in my book anyway

[IncubusDragon]

I'm still waiting on my broadband to be installed, so haven't experienced multiplayer without a foyer (I last played multiplayer with VI)... I'm assuming that no foyer means it's like a console interface (just a list of games to join like on a PS3 or something) - maybe trying to dumb everything down to console level, but why? Maybe they're toying with a cross-platform MMO concept, that's the only reason I can think as to why such an integral feature would be dropped.

[Tomisama]

I'm still waiting on my broadband to be installed, so haven't experienced multiplayer without a foyer (I last played multiplayer with VI)... I'm assuming that no foyer means it's like a console interface (just a list of games to join like on a PS3 or something) - maybe trying to dumb everything down to console level, but why? Maybe they're toying with a cross-platform MMO concept, that's the only reason I can think as to why such an integral feature would be dropped.

This should probably be on a different thread, but since it’s here and I can’t move it, I will try to answer this nagging question.

In the beginning, with the onset of Shogun came the notion of personal honour.

The community was small by comparison then, and individual reputations were a priority.

Through the course of Medieval and Viking incarnations, we saw both the increase of population, and decrease in respectable behavior.

And with Rome and Barbarian a complete breakdown in social responsibility, and the lobby became a minefield of intimidation and bullying.

In the later days of Rome the quality of interaction was diminished to such and extent, that a Code of Honour was created by the Org multiplayers, to try to combat the trend downward.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forum...Code-of-Honour

It didn’t work in the greater sense, but did in some small way did comfort a few that there were still people playing that had self respect, and would treat you decently online.

I personally miss the foyer, but am not sure I would want it back now.

Some things are best left as sweet memories.

[Gregoshi]

This should probably be on a different thread, but since it’s here and I can’t move it, I will try to answer this nagging question.

In the beginning, with the onset of Shogun came the notion of personal honour.

The community was small by comparison then, and individual reputations were a priority....

...I personally miss the foyer, but am not sure I would want it back now.

Some things are best left as sweet memories.

The STW MP community may have been small, but it was strong with the kind of enthusiasm that could grow it. I was never much of an online player, but it puzzled me how support of MP seemed to diminish with each release as MP/online was the direction of the industry as a whole. Tomisama, your observation about the foyer is surprising, but I think you may be right about leaving it a "sweet memory". The gaming industry seems to encourage trash talking as the prefered way to interact with your opponents - just look at gaming ads in magazines to see that.

[Togakure]

I think online behavior is a reflection of a bigger issue: a change in values/behavior at a macro-social level. Compare society in the 50s to society in the 60s, to the 70s, 80s, 90s and now. Notice anything? Because of this, I think it is unrealistic to think that any contrived mechanism could "bring back" honorable behavior. A noble notion to desire this, but in my opinion, doomed to fail. This is why I never subscribed to the CoH, though I never voiced this publicly because I didn't want to seem like I was sabotaging the effort.

Even "honorable" players can behave badly when they become upset over something that is important to them. Other "honorable" players can behave badly in response to incidents like these, particularly when they misunderstand the situation and are hasty to draw conclusions. Even the esteemed who trumpet about this have been guilty from time to time: I've seen it, even behind the closed doors of clans ("particularly" behind the closed doors of clans ...). We all make mistakes and no one is perfect. As said in a popular movie, honor is something one gives oneself (implied: or not ...).

I guess what I'm trying to say is: if you like the notion of honor, focus on maintaining your own honor (a formidable task), and worry not about the honor or dishonor of others. To do so is not only counter-productive, it can result in defeating the very ideal you are trying to uphold yourself.

Humbly.

[Tomisama]

(Just to be perfectly clear on what the code is, and is not.)

The Total War Multiplayer’s Code of Honour

The Code is for anyone who believes in self respect, respecting others, and fair play. You do not have to be a multiplayer to believe in these things; in fact you don’t have to play any games at all to consider The Code an excellent path for life in general, and to support it. The more Signers there are, the greater the possibility that the influence of The Code will prevail even among non Signers, and our community be a better place for it.

The Code is not an honour bestowed; but a pledge made! Whether the Signer adheres to the tenets proposed or not, let the little badge be a thorn in their side to remind them that once they had a noble ambition. It can also be there to alert others as to disreputable characters, when their actions do not match their promises.

The Code is the spirit of all of the best things we are capable of. When you wear the badge, you affirm the environment that you wish to operate in. It tells people that you are a person who is trying to make a difference. And they will be able to verify this by your actions, and know that you have a consistency of character.


Salute!

To Sign The Code please add your Steam ID to our Code of Honour Steam Group.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thecode

Thank You - Go With Honour - Keep The Code