Official forums for BZFlag.org

Hello everyone.
I just wanted to ask on otger peoples opinion; what the position of the league is? And how do you think the league is going?

I personly think the league is still strong, and though there has been minimal activity, the is still matching every two days, same rules, good admins.

I think ducati (and probably gu aswell) will get through this inactive stage and come out the other end just as good!

But i want to know what others think.

-Jacko h

The leagues in general are doing better than BZFlag as a whole, but with little to no new faces in leagues and in the game for that matter, I think 3.0 is the only chance for anything bzflag related to survive. Its a downward spiral though. Less members, less coders. Less coders, more time between updates. More time between updates, less members.

check out this thread and that is the resume of it i am afraid:

JeffM wrote:Development stopped on the game a long while ago, so the likelihood of another release is low. So in that case BZFlag in it's current form has little possibility of growing.

http://list.bzflag.org/bzflag.html

Just look at the yearly graph. I remember it was quite the same a year ago (maybe a bit better). The declining rate should be increasing. In a two years it may drop to 50 players a day.

on the same note zaph, const seems to think 3.0 could come out in a month or two if coders chose to make a final push for it. I'd love to try to contribute if I could get a copy of the latest 2.99.x code, all I was able to find was 2.0.x code. I don't know c++, but maybe I can get something done with the java I know, the two are somewhat similar languages.

The 2.99.x code is the SVN trunk, specifically under bzflag/

http://my.bzflag.org/w/SVN

Yrogirg wrote:http://list.bzflag.org/bzflag.html

Just look at the yearly graph.

The graph may display non-relevant data on the subject. As far as I understand, a loss of players may not show up on the graph if they get replaced by bzadmin observers for instance.

Bit of topic but hopefully 3.0 will come out and save bzf, I would help but idk c++ ^^

I'm not so sure bzf needs "saving".

Some people play card games online (like Solitaire), where there are leagues they can join and play matches in . Why would someone want to? Mostly the community and shared fun I suspect - not because the game demonstrates the latest openGL wizz-bangery. I suspect something similar is true of BZF too.

What is happening now in the BZ community is that we appear to be seeing fewer casual and/or new players. However there is a still a large group of players (mostly active in leagues) who aren't going to stop playing just because there is uncertainty around what the next version of BZF will be or look like, or when it will arrive.

New and/or casual players will likely stick around if the community is friendly, helpful and encouraging even without the latest wizz-bangery.

But speaking of wizz-bangery, there are some terrific maps with graphical effects that work on v2.0 - such as LouMans churchyard and many others by other map devs. (Personally, I'd rather spend an hour or two on pillbox than one of those maps - but sometimes you just have to go where the players are.)

So, lets not get too carried away with this idea that BZF needs "saving" and only the next-generation BZF can do that.

Grans

Grans Remedy wrote:I'm not so sure bzf needs "saving".

Some people play card games online (like Solitaire), where there are leagues they can join and play matches in . Why would someone want to? Mostly the community and shared fun I suspect - not because the game demonstrates the latest openGL wizz-bangery. I suspect something similar is true of BZF too.

What is happening now in the BZ community is that we appear to be seeing fewer casual and/or new players. However there is a still a large group of players (mostly active in leagues) who aren't going to stop playing just because there is uncertainty around what the next version of BZF will be or look like, or when it will arrive.

New and/or casual players will likely stick around if the community is friendly, helpful and encouraging even without the latest wizz-bangery.

But speaking of wizz-bangery, there are some terrific maps with graphical effects that work on v2.0 - such as LouMans churchyard and many others by other map devs. (Personally, I'd rather spend an hour or two on pillbox than one of those maps - but sometimes you just have to go where the players are.)

So, lets not get too carried away with this idea that BZF needs "saving" and only the next-generation BZF can do that.

Grans

Perfectly said.

Grans Remedy wrote: New and/or casual players will likely stick around if the community is friendly, helpful and encouraging even without the latest wizz-bangery.

This is something I think we could work on. New players are often berated and sometimes poll banned just because of their inexperience. Many times I am asked to kick or ban a player that just doesn't understand the game yet. I find it really hard to convince people that these players are the future of bzflag, and they need to be helped and encouraged if our game is to survive.

-wp-

New players are often berated and sometimes poll banned just because of their inexperience.

Let those who were not banned cast the first stone!

This is something I think we could work on. New players are often berated and sometimes poll banned just because of their inexperience. Many times I am asked to kick or ban a player that just doesn't understand the game yet. I find it really hard to convince people that these players are the future of bzflag, and they need to be helped and encouraged if our game is to survive.

-wp-

I agree there. when I first joined, I had immense trouble playing the game and not getting kicked due to accidental tking, and players 'yelling' at me for doing things by accident like getting hit with geno. (part of the problem, was that I hadnt figured out the talk buttons: n,m,etc and couldnt defend my side of the case) this would have scared me off, but a good friend of mine plays BZflag and told me to keep trying.

so many new players get confused by the jargon of the community, the trouble with learning how to play the game, player ettiqite, etc that they simply give up, and leave to some other game. I also think that many of these 'Tkers', 'flag runners' and traitors may simply be misinformed new players. (maybe if there was a way admins could tell how long ago they joined, or how many hours a player has played it could be easyer to spot new players)[/quote]