Old Games Kept Alive By Community?

[Spacedeck]

A guy on YT goes into old games to see how they are doing today. I find them pretty interesting that people are keeping these games going.

I wasn't there at the original time it launched but I play fairly badly at Links 2003, and attempt to play the online tournaments that's still being run in the community.
I play HALO PC and HALO CUSTOM EDITION (not MCC). Official servers long gone but have been replaced. You usually find around 100 or so players on each game.
COD2, another one which tends to always have people playing, not super popular anymore, most likely no more than 100 or so, but I have a blast every time I go on.

Do you still play any old games that are being kept alive by a community, big or small? If so, which games are they?

List of mentioned games with active communities
Links 2003 (Game Purchase ¦ Links Corner Forums ¦ LSPN Online Tournaments)
IL-2 Series (Mission4Today Community Site)
HALO Combat Evolved (physical disc version)
HALO Custom Edition (Custom Edition Homepage) *Requires CD key from physical disc*
Soldier of Fortune II
Supreme Commander: FA (Forged Alliance Forever Homepage)
Freelancer (Crossfire 2.0 Mod)
Warzone 2100 (Warzone 2100 Homepage)
Total Annihilation (Total Annihilation Forever Homepage)
Quake (Steam Store ¦ GOG Store ¦ QuakeWorld Homepage)
Project 1999 (Project 1999 Homepage)
Wildstar Nexus (NexusForever Server Homepage (WIP))
Earth and Beyond (Earth & Beyond Emulator Homepage)
Planetside 1 (PSForever Homepage)
Echovr (Research Project Server) *server might be picked up later down the line*
Star Wars Galaxies (SW Galaxies Homepage)
Master of Orion 2 (Steam Store ¦ GOG Store ¦ MOO2 Mod)
Legends of Mir 2 + 3 (LOMCN Homepage)
Hellgate London (London 2038 Homepage) *requires original physical disc copy*
Unreal Tournament (Old Unreal Homepage *Github Patches Here*)
HALO 2 (Project Cartographer *requires CD key from physical disc*)
Battlefield 2 (BF2Hub Homepage)
NHL 2004 (Main Forums)
Grand Prix 4 (GrandPrixGames Forums)
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (ETLegacy Homepage)
Enemy Territory Quake Wars
Falcon 4.0 (Steam Store ¦ BMS Mod)
XCOM: UFO Defence (Steam Store ¦ GOG Store ¦ OpenXCOM)
Call of Duty 2 (Steam Store & works with disc version)
CoD: BO2, MW3, WaW, BO1 (MP by Plutonium *requires original games on Steam Store*)
Call of Duty 4 (Steam Store ¦ COD4x MP Servers)
Grand Prix Legends
Doom
Freespace 2 (Steam Store)
Star Trek: Bridge Commander (GOG Store ¦ Mods)
The Matrix Online (Matrix Online Server)
City of Heroes (CoH: Homecoming Server)

 

[Spacedeck]

Some exellent games to have a look at in this thread!

HALO 2: being worked on with Project Cartographer.
Battlefield 2: available through BF2Hub, don't play too often but still installed.
NHL 2004: still seems to have a modding community that bring out updates on the roster and such, pity there isn't a newer/better NHL game on PC.
Grand Prix 4: Did anyone play this? Community still going over at grandprixgames.

 

[Spacedeck]

I'd love a night of Enemy Territory

What's stopping you? The game actually came to my mind yesterday, so checked to see how it was dong. Apparently at some point the game moved to Steam, and player base is now almost dead, reaching no more than 53 in the last 24 hour peak.
There is still good news though, just head over to https://www.etlegacy.com/ and you will find a more active game. It's built on an earlier version of the game..

ET was my first introduction to online multiplayer gaming on PC when I started, it was either around 04 or 06. I very much remember seeing the "Connection Interrupted" pop up often on my screen, or the long downloading times when entering a new server. The gameplay was some of the most fun I've ever had.

 

[Spacedeck]

Is BF2Hub still working?

I remember a few years ago (probably at least 5 ) there was a project to get the game running standalone but EA put a stop to it, was that BF2Hub?

BF2Hub works just fine and plenty of players still play. Upon looking online, there used to be one called Revive for BF2, I read though it didn't get shut down by EA. I don't know if that's the one you're thinking off but I swear there was another which was shut down but based on a different BF game, not BF2.

CoD2 and CoD4 are still on the go with frequent LANs, another oldie kept alive by the community is a terrible mmo called Thang Global. It's changed hands a few times but there's a newer version out now.

Sadly the terrible CoD sales has pretty much killed my hope of playing the older titles, I refuse to pay the asking price. I only play COD2 as I have the disc.

 

[Spacedeck]

If anyone is interested in any of these games mentioned in this thread, I've added them to the OP and with some links I can find about the community side of the game.

 

[Spacedeck]

Does The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
quallify as well?

Not to me . I wanted to concentrate more of the obscure ones people remember, who may not realise the game still has a community going for it. Plus there's a reason for not adding others like GMOD or LFD, games pretty much everyone already knows about and are in their own right very popular even today. Then there is disc based games, those released before Steam codes became a thing, some which may have received a re-release since the digital age.