The demise of classic deathmatch MP

[Curio]

It's very sad.

http://archive.gamespy.com/stats/

Half-Life2 (CS): 38397 players
BF2: 20723 players
Quake4: 199 players

Why have the classic DM style shooters died such a spectacular death? I mean, I understand that the more "realistic" squad-based games are popular these days, sure, but I can't believe how few people play Quake or UT now. I could understand CS/BF2 being, say, twice as popular....maybe even 3x.....but how can they be sooooo far ahead in terms of number of players and servers I just don't understand.

I love Q4 multiplayer but I'm sitting here in absolute frustration because there is just nobody playing. It makes no sense. Surely the pure and simple deathmatch style still has a place?

 

[Curio]

Well firstly, it's that quad-based games are by their nature a lot easier for beginners to get into, and have a much less steeper learning curve than throwing yourself in against other deathmatchers and getting constantly owned.

Yes, that's very true. But do some people not want a challenge? When I first started playing Quake2 there were already some amazing players around and I remember getting smacked around all over the place. Did I give up? No - I thought "wow. I wanna be that good too!". Shame I never was

Secondly, there hasn't been a decent deathmatch FPS since Quake3 and Unreal Tournament quite frankly. Quake 4 has rubbish MP (and why you took that as evidence for your point instead of UT 2004, Q3, or SOF2 on that list I'm not sure)

That I don't agree with and it's one of the reasons I get frustrated with the lack of players on Q4. Quake2/3/4 are pretty much the same game....there are slight differences of course, but there's no reason at all why Quake players can't move along with the series. The same happened when Q3A came out - most of the people I played Q2 with moaned because, well, it wasn't a 100% remake of Q2. And now it's the same story with Q4. I found it very easy to move from one to the other - and really enjoyed the challenge of mastering the slight differences.

But so few people would accept a game like that if it came out. They'd be all "OMG the graphics aren't as good as FEAR/HL2/Crysis/current game of the moment, that makes it rubbish!", or "Oh it's so difficult, I keep dying, I give up". or "lol, everyone knows you can't make laser guns, and it's impossible to jump large distances like this in real-life. This game is unrealistic, and therefore stupid and rubbish!"

Again, sadly true I guess.