Hey Bo,
Your comments mimic an on-going argument I'm having with some of my Q2 buddies. I'm now confident that there are two legitimate sub-categories of FPS players.
Warning: What follows are two stereotypes - don't take it personally! ;-)
Category 1 - The Deathmatcher
This person plays multiplayer Quake or Quake 2 exclusively. Their biggest priorities include framerate and understanding the _layout_ of a level and how to quickly move around inside of it. They hate long, windy, single path levels and, while they like fancy textures and lighting the first time they see it, it isn't as important as framerate and weapon placement. They almost _never_ play single player levels (certainly never more than once). They either hate "Unreal" or are reserving judgement until the "real" release (i.e. multi-player support) comes out. They never did fully understand Unreal's story line. If they play a flight simulation game, it is _not_ MS Flight Simulator.
Category 2 - The Simulation Lover
These people want their FPS game to be as "realistic" as possible (kinda like a simulator) and they like to take their time when going thru a level. The love to find all the little secrets and vistas. They _love_ Unreal and think that Quake-levels are starting to look dated and blocky. They love lots of "plot" in their single-player experience and will often take several hours to complete a level that someone in Category 1 will do in 10 minutes. While they enjoy playing Quake 2 single player, they feel that something was lacking in it. They own all 27 versions of MS Flight Simulator and the add-on packs.
It is interesting that id has recently acknowledges these distinctions and deliberately stopped catering to Category 2. Unreal, on the otherhand, specifically targetted Cat. 2 in their initial release and is now trying to catch up in the multiplayer area. Valve's Half-Life appears targetted squarely at Cat. 2 which is why they recently bought the Team Fortress guys to address Cat. 1 users. SiN is currently trying to straddle both categories and may have problems doing so down the road.
The good news? BOTH CATEGORIES LOVE VOODOO CARDS! (but, note that they do for different reasons.)
FWIW, I am mostly in the Cat. 2 group and agree that the Unreal engine rulez! ;) With id abandoning this important niche, it will be interesting to see who grabs the high ground. Long term, my bet is on... LucasArts!
Chip |
