On this note, I was wondering what people think about the relative health of the NWN and NWN2 communities. It seems NWN forums get more action, and more people are playing NWN online. Clearly there is far more community content for NWN. All this seems to indicate that NWN will outlive NWN2. But I'm just one person and I was wondering what people who are more plugged into the community think. I have both games and I'm always changing my mind about which one deserves my attention. I can't go on like this, LOL, I need to be able to focus on one or the other once and for all.
So, how many years will Neverwinter Nights sustain a decent sized community?
Débuté par
simomate2
, avril 20 2012 02:31
Retour en haut
#27
Posté 13 mai 2012 - 09:34
Bondari the Reloader
-
- Members
- 149 messages
Firstly, this community, whatever its size, is awesome. I, like the OP, was too young when the game first came out to be heavily involved in the online community, though I did lurk around the old forums a bit. Even with the drop in activity, the ones who still frequent this forum are always ready and willing to answer questions, usually within a day or two.
I think the toolset is a big factor in its continued longevity, and I don't think it will be replaced any time soon. I'm an extremely novice module builder (basically, anything Lilac Soul's amazing script generator can't do, I can't do), but it's an easy enough tool that I can make a simple adventure without too much stress. I think another thing that helps (for me, at least) is that the game is fairly text based. What I mean by that is that a lot of the dialog has to be read, even in the semi-voiced OCs. Compare that to a more modern game like DA:O that's fully voiced. I've never tried to mess with the DA:O toolset (mainly because it's a separate download), but assuming you could write textual dialog without voicing it just wouldn't feel right in that game. I think as games move more towards being like interactive movies rather than interactive picture books (hopefully that analogy works) it will become harder for a user-friendly toolset to exist. (If anything I've said here is wrong, please feel free to correct me. This is kind of a speculative topic, so I felt free to speculate a little.)
Bottom line, since ten years after this game's release we still have a community this active, I think NWN will be fine for the forseeable future.
I think the toolset is a big factor in its continued longevity, and I don't think it will be replaced any time soon. I'm an extremely novice module builder (basically, anything Lilac Soul's amazing script generator can't do, I can't do), but it's an easy enough tool that I can make a simple adventure without too much stress. I think another thing that helps (for me, at least) is that the game is fairly text based. What I mean by that is that a lot of the dialog has to be read, even in the semi-voiced OCs. Compare that to a more modern game like DA:O that's fully voiced. I've never tried to mess with the DA:O toolset (mainly because it's a separate download), but assuming you could write textual dialog without voicing it just wouldn't feel right in that game. I think as games move more towards being like interactive movies rather than interactive picture books (hopefully that analogy works) it will become harder for a user-friendly toolset to exist. (If anything I've said here is wrong, please feel free to correct me. This is kind of a speculative topic, so I felt free to speculate a little.)
Bottom line, since ten years after this game's release we still have a community this active, I think NWN will be fine for the forseeable future.
#28
Posté 14 mai 2012 - 05:00
BelowTheBelt
-
- Members
- 394 messages
If the community stays active and involved with events like this:
NWPAD Celebrates NWN's 10-year anniversary
We'll be around for many, many more years.
Get involved and get the word out.
NWPAD Celebrates NWN's 10-year anniversary
We'll be around for many, many more years.
Get involved and get the word out.
#29
Posté 15 mai 2012 - 02:16
_Guile
-
- Members
- 685 messages
ffbj wrote...
It's fun to reminisce about this amazing game. Whether it be the campaigns, pw's, modules, or the great work so many have done to make this a historic and monumental game.
Aye, I'm with you ffbj on this one..
---------------------------
I think what turned many builders away was "burn out", if you really want to break it down, it's A BOAT LOAD of work to make a decent size module, after you make 2-3 of them you will lose the heart to continue on... At least that's my perspective on it...
I found myself wanting to almost quit the game after running into a bug that I was sure I had correct, I got frustrated, and the frustration led to other feelings... I believe one of the reasons why people leave the game is frustration too, even feelings of failure.
I've seen a lot of jealousy fly around, a bit of utter hatred, and even quite a few player stonewalling other players on servers. Indeed, there are many bad apples left in the game that are still there... Mean people who don't like noobs at all, part of that will stifle the community from ever growing again...
If NWN has a chance to come back, it's going to take some friendly nice people gathering together to work together as a team, if you don't have a strong team, the mission will fail, that's pretty much a guarantee...
We can look at Higher Ground as a great example, they had a very strong team, and because of that, they delivered a very high quality server / module.. After looking at the module in it's infancy, I didn't think it was going to last, but the team that came together was astounding, so it flourished, though some big members left...
I don't know much about the history of Higher Ground, but one thing I do know is, if the community doesn't pool together, then NWN will grow stale and die.... I tried to rally a call for quality & collaberation, but that wasn't recieved well at all. We need NEW quality Server & Offline Modules, not the same old ones, we need a big quality team to come together to make something huge, bigger than Higher Ground even..
I'd like to see what's left of this community come together to make a big server, huge in fact, maybe 100+ Meg Module? It wouldn't be that hard if everyone focused on building quality adventures & balance was fair to all classes...
Modifié par _Guile, 15 mai 2012 - 02:34 .
#30
Posté 16 mai 2012 - 08:08
Zarathustra217
-
- Members
- 221 messages
To an extent, it's quite disturbing for me to think that I've occupied myself with this game for ten years now. But I doubt there is any other game out there that can provide the creative stimulus that NWN does. Personally, my first years were dedicated to custom content, but it was actually the possibilities for true online story-driven roleplay that have done most to keep me. First on other PWs and later one I took part in initiating myself - the one I still keep working at honing and improving just about every day.
There has been many times where I've felt certain that soon, both our community and the NWN community as a whole would die out due to the game's age. But for us, it has - surprisingly - only moved toward more activity. In fact, recently, I did a count revealing 1100+ unique CD keys coming by our server over the last 3 months which is probably our highest count ever. It still continues to perplex me.
A major factor in this, I suspect, is gog.com - quite many of our new players have actually never played NWN before joining our server. And in a sense, I think that is actually the key to keeping NWN alive: to gain a continuing influx of players to the NWN scene.
What I think is important to recognise here is that the game now appeals to a player segment that might not have been the typical kind of player when the game was first released. It is clear that NWN can't compete with other games in terms graphical (but not necessarily aesthetic) quality, but that the game is nonetheless still able to attract players is assumably due to it's other strengths and unique opportunities. There's not that many hardcore gamers left I imagine, but instead, the game's main audience is those looking for rich and varied storytelling and the opportuntiy for highly specialised online play and roleplay.
The logical consequence is that we could as a community very likely benefit from doing more in promoting NWN toward that segment - the roleplayers and fantasy-fiction-fans as a whole. I recently saw the documentary "The Dungeon Masters" and noticed someone describing WoW as the game that comes closest to playing tabletop PnP. Say what you want about the people in that documentary, but it still suggest that there's a large amount of roleplayers and fantasy fans out there that are oblivious to the wonders of NWN.
There has been many times where I've felt certain that soon, both our community and the NWN community as a whole would die out due to the game's age. But for us, it has - surprisingly - only moved toward more activity. In fact, recently, I did a count revealing 1100+ unique CD keys coming by our server over the last 3 months which is probably our highest count ever. It still continues to perplex me.
A major factor in this, I suspect, is gog.com - quite many of our new players have actually never played NWN before joining our server. And in a sense, I think that is actually the key to keeping NWN alive: to gain a continuing influx of players to the NWN scene.
What I think is important to recognise here is that the game now appeals to a player segment that might not have been the typical kind of player when the game was first released. It is clear that NWN can't compete with other games in terms graphical (but not necessarily aesthetic) quality, but that the game is nonetheless still able to attract players is assumably due to it's other strengths and unique opportunities. There's not that many hardcore gamers left I imagine, but instead, the game's main audience is those looking for rich and varied storytelling and the opportuntiy for highly specialised online play and roleplay.
The logical consequence is that we could as a community very likely benefit from doing more in promoting NWN toward that segment - the roleplayers and fantasy-fiction-fans as a whole. I recently saw the documentary "The Dungeon Masters" and noticed someone describing WoW as the game that comes closest to playing tabletop PnP. Say what you want about the people in that documentary, but it still suggest that there's a large amount of roleplayers and fantasy fans out there that are oblivious to the wonders of NWN.
Modifié par Zarathustra217, 16 mai 2012 - 08:52 .
#31
Posté 03 juin 2012 - 11:04
apunyfly
-
- Members
- 112 messages
I know this discussion is over but I would like to add a little something :
I joined the community very late. Later than most of you, probably : First played the game in 2007 or 8, and first began to fiddle with the toolset in 2010. However, for various reasons, (lack of free time being the main reason), I haven't played the game much these last two years (except when I played A Dance with Rogues, excellent mod), nor have I ever been really present or contributed anything yet. First time I've logged in for months.
BUT.
I've been waiting. I want to get back in this game. I'll have free time in a couple of months, and yowza, I'll download half the custom content on the vault, hopefully start me own mod and possibly even play the game online, something I've never tried before.
Why am I boring you with this story ?
Because the game is 10 years old, and I've been waiting for two years. That should tell you something about NWN, and also the way it captures some players' attention. What I mean is, I'm sure there are other players like me who haven't really fully gotten into the game yet, but intend to.
Just bear that in mind, and please keep playing for the next hundred years.
That's all I have to say, see you in a couple of months, everybody, and keep the game running.
I joined the community very late. Later than most of you, probably : First played the game in 2007 or 8, and first began to fiddle with the toolset in 2010. However, for various reasons, (lack of free time being the main reason), I haven't played the game much these last two years (except when I played A Dance with Rogues, excellent mod), nor have I ever been really present or contributed anything yet. First time I've logged in for months.
BUT.
I've been waiting. I want to get back in this game. I'll have free time in a couple of months, and yowza, I'll download half the custom content on the vault, hopefully start me own mod and possibly even play the game online, something I've never tried before.
Why am I boring you with this story ?
Because the game is 10 years old, and I've been waiting for two years. That should tell you something about NWN, and also the way it captures some players' attention. What I mean is, I'm sure there are other players like me who haven't really fully gotten into the game yet, but intend to.
Just bear that in mind, and please keep playing for the next hundred years.
That's all I have to say, see you in a couple of months, everybody, and keep the game running.
Modifié par apunyfly, 03 juin 2012 - 11:08 .
