PC Magazine

[bzflaginator]

Today after practice I was waiting for my car to warm up and so I decided to read through my latest issue of PC Mag. Their featured article was on "Best Free Software for 2007" so of course I flipped right to that page. After reading through their categories, I fell upon a section denoted "Fun and Games". Guess what was second on the list....yes of course BZFlag. The game has been noted in other magazines and websites (to which I can not remember the names). So as it may seem, BZFlag has become quite the freeware scene for gaming on SourceForge. Now this is the crowd we would like to attract...the older gamers that are more mature than the featured teens of this era .

P.S. They do somewhat of a meager job of description. Oh well.

[WarPig]

wow!! thats amazing, i never knew it was that popular! i might get a copy of it!

[biggeruniverse]

I will say it before, and I will probably say it again: the only game to top bzflag on sourceforge is tux racer. It's been that way since at least 2000.

[Saturos]

Could you upload a scan of that PC Magazine page? Or at least quote what they wrote about BZ?

[joevano]

Better yet, here is the actual article and a link to the page that mentions BZFlag

Entire Article: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2090787,00.asp
BZFlag: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2090815,00.asp

[the_j0k3r]

wow, there is some publicity for you.
its nice to know that its not just the games that have companies to pay a lot of money for them that get mentions in magazines, etc
i guess its a pat on the back to the people who made the game

[Grace F]

So as it may seem, BZFlag has become quite the freeware scene for gaming on SourceForge. Now this is the crowd we would like to attract...the older gamers that are more mature than the featured teens of this era

Im a teen of this era

BE AFRAID!!



And yea it would be good to attract more older gamers.

[jack]

wow!! thats amazing, i never knew it was that popular! i might get a copy of it!

do you mean the mag or bzflag cause you dont need to buy bzflag

[asciimonster]

(...) the only game to top bzflag on sourceforge is tux racer.

I agree, but tuxracer (as well as sunspire) is dead for a long time now.

It was reinstated as PlanetPenguin Racer. Amongst the big plans was adding a doubleplayer mode (Boo-Yeah! ). But the website is offline for so long now I fear the worst.

So: Keep on developing BZFlag and you'll grab the #1 position soon!

[bzflaginator]

I will say it before, and I will probably say it again: the only game to top bzflag on sourceforge is tux racer. It's been that way since at least 2000.

Yeah, tux racer was actually 8th listed on the page.

Could you upload a scan of that PC Magazine page? Or at least quote what they wrote about BZ?

Yeah sure. Ill probably do that later today, I have pre-game prep with the team at the campus center then the rest of the day until my game.

[Longhair]

I found it interesting that they only used the word "free" to mean "you don't pay for it". The article says nothing of the license that each piece of software has.

According to the first page of the article, they got a trojan on their computer in the course of looking for "no pay" software. Many of us know that if you search for and use GPL software, you'll most likely not get in this sort of trouble. It's just too hard to foist a trojan on people through GPL software, because too many people can read your code and spot the malware.

When I look for "cost free" programs for Windows computers, I usually include the term GPL in my google search.

Glad to see BZFlag is in such a well-read publication. Cool!

[bzflaginator]

Here is the article I scanned.

[blast]

That file seems to be corrupt. Photoshop couldn't read it.

[bzflaginator]

Hmm you are right. Im not sure why it is a Tif file .

[Davy Jones]

Seems BZflag is growing

I'm already seeing more than 5 people join a day in the past couple days, maybe because of this magazine? When did you receive this, bzflaginator?

[the_j0k3r]

whoah. just checked out davy's profile - 5.63 posts a day .

is this a popular pc magazine? - sorry i wouldnt know, we have different ones in australia.

another question ( i was thinking about launching it as a topic but it seemed a bit to small a question. or maybe it isnt.. ill say it anyway)

do we want bzflag growing into a ridiculously popular game? i actually like the tight-knit feel bz gives, and would actually prefer it this size to something huge.

[bzflaginator]

is this a popular pc magazine? - sorry i wouldnt know, we have different ones in australia.

Well it seems to be one of the most popular PC magazines and that article could attract a lot of not-as-wealthy people to look for "free" programs.

another question ( i was thinking about launching it as a topic but it seemed a bit to small a question. or maybe it isnt.. ill say it anyway)

If it relates to bzflag and is a valid, and a not-spamming question, you should ask it probably in a new topic so you dont get OT. The worst that could happen is Jeff PMS's and deletes it.

When did you receive this, bzflaginator?

Well I got mine about last Wednesday.

[Tropican8]

The Tiff file is fine. I converted it into JPEG though for everyone to see:

[Longhair]

do we want bzflag growing into a ridiculously popular game? i actually like the tight-knit feel bz gives, and would actually prefer it this size to something huge.

I don't think that getting more people to play BZFlag would in any way be a bad thing. Quite frankly, there are way more people that play BZ than I will ever know anyway. The tight-knit feeling that I get from BZ is probably from being involved in a certain set of circles within the game. Mostly the Pillbox crew, and to an extent, the Ducati players.

Saying that more people coming in is bad seems like xenophobia to me. Just think, some of the people reading PC Magazine might be decent coders (it is a magazine for computer enthusiasts, after all), and they might end up contributing to the game.

[CUPCAKE]

Wahoo! BZFlag is ever growing, and I'm one of the growing community! I'd love for BZFlag to keep growing, too. It's great to have more people joining all the time.

[Sir Lance-A-Lot]

I would love to know which new users joined as a result of reading that article - A friend promptly called me when he saw it in there, as soon as the mag came.

Lookin good, BZ

[Grace F]

If BZFlag continues to grow, what kinda impact would this create on the servers?

Its exciting that new people are joining BZ everyday im just worried about what may happen in the Future.

[CUPCAKE]

Well, then, we'll have to get more mapmakers!

[meeba]

Well, then, we'll have to get more mapmakers!

Nah, we'll just have to refine the server list. If a server is full in terms of actual players, maybe it would be good to move those DOWN in the list, that way people who want to play can always see the most active and AVAILABLE servers at the top of the list.

Just a thought.

Because there are, in fact, about 2 billion maps out there. But nobody ever uses them.

[Winny]

Yeah, I have about 2000 different maps stored on my HD.

I would say about only 10% of maps ever get hosted, and maybe 1-3% are ever popular.

No way we need more maps.



And, Back OT:
I like BZFlag just as it is now. Personally, I never really play on public servers, and therefore I don't want to see the GU League get any bigger.