Your first online game & its death

Tac ops over dialup until moving onto MOH 1st BB connection the frustrations of getting a game up running of operation flash point. Used to enjoy Star fleet battles over game spy with a crew at that time too.
 
Technically my first crack at multiplayer games is still going, albeit shinier. Started off on Counterstrike Beta 6 and loved it and now we have CS.GO which, while not quite the same, is miles better than source.

Oh and Unreal Tournament on the Jolt servers is a fond memory. think it's still going too.
 
Prestonian said:
I had a sad moment the other day when I thought I'd look in on the maker's website of the game that started PC gaming off for me.

The game was Black Hawk Down by Novalogic, and it was the best time of my gaming life. The game was brilliant for the era it was in, that's probably why it was a best seller.

Anyway, they (Nova) released Joint OPs and the BHD player-base dutifully moved over to the new engine with drivable and flyable vehicles.

Then came BF2 which grabbed my attention and that was it, I'd moved from Novalogic to EA in a blink of an eye.

Rarely checking back in on Nova's games, time flew by to 2012, and that's when I decided to check in on them. What I found was very sad, very very sad. Novalogic is now a poor excuse of a website, with a community (forums) consisting of just a handful of people.

How can a company that produced such a gem as BHD almost die to the sad state it's in now? Why didn't they put out titles to challenge EA and the other FPS makers? How has this happened?

So onto you, what was your first FPS MP and did it die with time?
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BHD was the first game I properly played online - played regularly, joined a clan, etc.

At the time it was incredibly good (or at least it seemed it to me at the age of 15 and just beginning to really get into online gaming), and I agree.. I've not played an FPS since that captures the same spirit or has given me as much enjoyment as that game did. I realise that a lot of it may come down to nostalgia though.
 
Quake 2 in early 1998. I think it's probably still played by a handful of people - haven't checked in years. I remember I got the Wireplay client on the cover disk of a games mag and thought I would give it a try. I thought that a shooter couldn't possibly be much fun over a modem - I had visions of a 2 second lag on everything. Anyway, installed WP and gave it a bash.....and that was me hooked on multiplayer for the next 5 years. Played Quake2, then Q3A and even Q4. If I hadn't met a girl and got married I'd probably still be playing now :)
 
caz32 said:
Soldier of Fortune.
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How could I forget that classic? Spent way too many nights playing that rather than sleeping. On-line SoF was one of those games that dilates time, you start at 9pm for a few hours and before you know it the birds are starting to sing and the sun is coming up.
 
My first online games was CS/quake 3 and those games are still going strong today, both played on a 56k dialup connection that auto disconnected every hour to refresh its self.
 
Malevolence said:
How could I forget that classic? Spent way too many nights playing that rather than sleeping. On-line SoF was one of those games that dilates time, you start at 9pm for a few hours and before you know it the birds are starting to sing and the sun is coming up.
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Idd, absolutely epic, Everyone was so friendly as well in the games, I just wish I had better internet back then :p but I don't care, it really didn't hinder my experience, would love to go back to it
 
For me was probably starseige tribes back in the 98/99 what a brilliant game so far ahead of its time, I also played star trek: elite force for a long long time, I think both games are pretty much dead now.
 
Prestonian said:
I
Anyway, they (Nova) released Joint OPs and the BHD player-base dutifully moved over to the new engine with drivable and flyable vehicles.

So onto you, what was your first FPS MP and did it die with time?
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I also have very fond memories of Joint Ops. Wasn't it 256 players?

My proper first FPS online MP game was Quakeworld. And I loved it.

Played on both Barrysworld, and Wireplay/Gameplay. The community of Wireplay/Gameplay was awesome with proper player and clan rivalries. It was the dawn of online gaming so unlike today the forums were a good size so that you did end up getting to know people. Didn't bother with Quake 2. Played QW right up till Q3A test.

One thing is I used to fear were the quarterly phone bills. The sense of dread finding out that I owed my folks approx 250-300 quid each bill for my Quake playing. The joys of metered dial up back in the 90s. One month of my crappy part time job paid for the quarterly bill, but it was worth it. Still had 2 months of pay for my uni boozing:D

I still miss doing the quad run or defending RA/RL in UKCLDM2, or DM3. Using keybinding proxies to report my postion and NME postions. /wipes tear from eye

I know it will never happen but I would kill for id to go back and do another proper arena/twitch FPS online game. Bring back Romero as his map design was bloody good.
 
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Unreal, which I only left for UT99.. I played both competitively
When I saw what was around the corner (ut2003/4) I decided to call it a day as I didn't feel the same connection with those as the first 2 games
My stomping grounds were heat net, wireplay, jolt, barrysworld, mpz and multiplay :)

I'll mention Ultima Online, which I personally considered to be dead as of May 2000 (trammel release) given how much they have butchered everything the game once was it might just as well be.

I do feel strongly in regards to what these 2 titles did well, they have yet to be topped respectively.. in regards to the risk factor (UO), EVE has come close though we're unlikely to see anything of its kind again for some years.. unfortunately the mmo genre has become a victim of its own success

In retrospect the same could be said of the FPS genre (twitch fps is about dead, its all COD/BF now, give or take a couple stragglers)
 
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Shadowbane. It is still hands down the best PVP orientated game (Yes I played EVE for years). It was a gutting time when they pulled the plug on the servers.
 
C&C Renegade around 2003-4 when I got dial-up that didn't cost an arm and a leg. Some how I managed to play it with a 500-800ms ping. Even though it's been ditched completely by EA the community still supports it so it lives on.
 
Enemy Terittory was realy my 1st addictive fps game on PC...free to play just bought new pc made by my mate and we played this all the time 24/7 for 3 months.

Moved on to bf1942, then cod etc...and left ET for dead.

CSS
bf series
COD

all became our favs to play
 
BHD was my first online shooter. Had many a great night on that. It stopped working on my computer about 8 years ago and i never went back.

Neverwinter Nights PW's was my first online rpg, nothing has come close so far. Its still going strong (not the PWs i used to play though) i tried playing it quite a few times since but whats done is done. Never found a community quite like the first, still in touch with a few of them.
 
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