ID:1283451
 
I'm not trying to bash SS13 or anything, it's just that I don't unerstand why the game is successful. I feel like they just plop you in some random ship with a whole lot of unexplained features. Can anyone explain why people are so drawn to this game?
The controls are atrocious, the icons are ... decent, a lot of finer functions in the modes are buggy, the whole thing feels unoptimized as most of the servers lag while running, but you get to basically do what ever you want.

I enjoy putting on luchadore masks, boxing gloves and shorts as the lawyer; referring to myself as the LuchaLawyer and wrestling opposing lawyers and security in trial by combat.
Lol or you sure about doing whatever you want? I got banned fr giving "grief".
Well if you purposely destroy stuff or randomly kill people for the "lulz" you might be ruining someone else's round or the whole round- but I have a feeling you already know this.
Yeah i know. But I just have so much fun doing it. I'm not trying to sound like a douche or anything, but I can't have fun in a non-respawn games without going crazy.
I ask the same question. As I see it, SS13 isn't even one of the 'good' BYOND games - Even S19th is better than it.
Well, to play devil's advocate ss13 and S19th aren't really in the same genre or have the same "intended" gameplay. You're not "supposed" to go around murdering everyone on ss13.

With that said, round based game-play often gets more attention because it keeps things entertaining, that is most likely a large factor. The the fact there's open sources of it and a lot of modifications going around.

Perhaps this subject needs more research and thinking into it, but who cares, if you enjoy it there you go; if you don't go find/make someone that does peak your interest.
In response to Jittai
Jittai wrote:
Perhaps this subject needs more research and thinking into it, but who cares, if you enjoy it there you go; if you don't go find/make someone that does peak your interest.

Would take about 19 years to make someone that would peak your interest.

Developers everywhere question why these poorly made games get popular, and there isn't really a answer outside of people wanting to 'just mess with people' on them, because the people who actually seem to enjoy it never give a reasoning to it. You claimed to like the freedom of it, but there are already tons; and I mean TONS, of games that give you just as much(if not loads more) freedom to do as you choose.
Two words.

Emergent gameplay.

It's the same reasons games like Minecraft are so popular.
In response to The Magic Man
SS13 is emerging to you? Hell, I don't even get that feeling from Minecraft. Too poorly done, both of them. Maybe if they were to run smoother with a lot less issues you could feel emerged in the gameplay, but I could never as it is now; too many things that irk me to the point I'm actually angry they could make and release something like that.
In response to NNAAAAHH
Emergent gameplay is a term.

It refers to games that give you a fairly simple set of mechanics, but from this many varying and complex situations emerge that the developers probably did not consider or intend for.

I enjoy putting on luchadore masks, boxing gloves and shorts as the lawyer; referring to myself as the LuchaLawyer and wrestling opposing lawyers and security in trial by combat.

This is an example of emergent gameplay. The developer did not intend for the game to be played like this, but someone figured out he could play like this, so he does.


Emergent gameplay is like roleplaying. Except instead of pretending you're doing something, the game gives you the tools to actually do it.
ss13 used to be alot more fun when it was about mechanics- now people just play to dress up
I thought it was also popular because of someone getting excited about it on Reddit.

The social aspect of gaming is extremely powerful. Take a look at games like FarmVille (which isn't even really a game), or all the DBZ/Naruto/whatever anime games on BYOND. Unlisted anime games have active players comparable to SS13, don't they?
They have more active players than most games but ss13 always has the most.

@MagicMan: that's the point I was trying to get at about it being "round based" - thanks for knowing the proper term. :)

@Magicsofa: Well NEStalgia, which is a really good game, ran a really small advertisement campaign and if I recall correctly had about 150+ players and 14 servers. Their player-base decline is a whole other discussion though, just saying advertisement even word of mouth is powerful.
In response to Jittai
Jittai wrote:
@Magicsofa: Well NEStalgia, which is a really good game, ran a really small advertisement campaign and if I recall correctly had about 150+ players and 14 servers. Their player-base decline is a whole other discussion though, just saying advertisement even word of mouth is powerful.

When was that? During the time I played it was always 3 servers, with max of like 70 players. Guess I missed the good old days :(
When NEStalgia was first "advertised" on many gaming blogs, it had multiple servers up and loads of players. However after a few months, the player number dwindled down and the servers were merged.
It's fair to say, Silk sent an email to a guy while he was eating his wheaties. That was the "advertising". Nothing fancy, just a game with some natural appeal and a little marketing nudge.
In response to Stephen001
Not trying to start anything, but from what I've had people tell me, SilkWizard sent more than just a few emails out. I know a certain website that rhymes with Pan that was viraled for weeks on end by either Silk or someone he knew.

EDIT: I'd also use NEStalgia as a cautionary tale. It was well advertised, but what happened afterwards has totally destroyed any image it may have built up for it's self. If you want people to keep playing your game, be professional about it.
Well that's fair enough. It's still only weeks, compared to the months (or heaven forbid, years) you throw into development.

So I think you can get the gist of what my point is, about doing a little marketing for your game. Seems mad to me that someone would spend so long making a game, then go "Well, it's BYOND listed .... that's it's lot, can't do any better than that".
In response to Stephen001
Well, most people don't put a LOT of development on BYOND. I don't often find anyone dedicated enough and caring enough to the project they work on to worry about how it turns out. Probably because there aren't many professionals on BYOND. Most in the BYOND Development community are just people who took interest in development because they thought it'd be cool to have their own game, not that there's anything wrong with starting out that way.

It takes passion, effort, talent, want, need, and often times a decent bit of cash to make a remotely successful game. Takes resources just to get the game into development and then even more to push it through. Afterwards, you have to put more in and most people that actually reach the point of 'completion' seem to have the mindset 'The project's done, the spending's over. No more development.' Because they don't know much, if anything, about marketing.
Page: 1 2 3 4