Team Fortress 2, the most popular multiplayer non-role-playing game?

[John Doe]

Looking at the posts on Steam... Looks incredibly popular. Sounds
like it would be worthwhile to download and dabble in. Is it all
free? Mainly curious, I don't really mind paying something for
entertainment.

Thanks.

[Rin Stowleigh]

It is free to play, so give it a go. Just remember it's been out for
many years, and although its a very accessible / easy to jump into
game, being late to the party in a mutliplayer game means it can take
a little longer to learn all the maps and the ways of doing things.

Yes it is wildy popular but I'm not sure its the most popular non-role
playing game. For the most part Counterstrike seems to consistently
hold that honor... current stats for Steam are showing CS peak number
of players today as being higher than the Team Fortress 2 numbers. I
guess that can vary on a daily basis but it says a lot about CS when
you consider the age of the game. But if you're not accustomed to
multiplayer shooters Team Fortress is probably better to get started
in. Counterstrike isn't free and it can be unforgiving to newcomers.

[John Doe]

Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh gmail.com> wrote:

> John Doe <jdoe usenetlove.invalid> wrote:
>
>>Looking at the posts on Steam... Looks incredibly popular.
>>Sounds like it would be worthwhile to download and dabble in. Is
>>it all free? Mainly curious, I don't really mind paying
>>something for entertainment.

> It is free to play, so give it a go. Just remember it's been
> out for many years, and although its a very accessible / easy to
> jump into game, being late to the party in a mutliplayer game
> means it can take a little longer to learn all the maps and the
> ways of doing things.
>
> Yes it is wildy popular

And they gave it away because they are generous developers? Just
curious, if anybody knows.

> but I'm not sure its the most popular non-role playing game. For
> the most part Counterstrike seems to consistently hold that
> honor... current stats for Steam are showing CS peak number of
> players today as being higher than the Team Fortress 2 numbers.

Would you please provide the path to those statistics? I will make
a note of it. I often need to know about popularity, since I enjoy
multiplayer pickup games.

Thanks.

> I guess that can vary on a daily basis but it says a lot about
> CS when you consider the age of the game. But if you're not
> accustomed to multiplayer shooters Team Fortress is probably
> better to get started in. Counterstrike isn't free and it can
> be unforgiving to newcomers.

In

[Rin Stowleigh]

On Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:48:43 +0000 (UTC), John Doe
<jd...@usenetlove.invalid> wrote:

>Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> John Doe <jdoe usenetlove.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>>Looking at the posts on Steam... Looks incredibly popular.
>>>Sounds like it would be worthwhile to download and dabble in. Is
>>>it all free? Mainly curious, I don't really mind paying
>>>something for entertainment.
>
>> It is free to play, so give it a go. Just remember it's been
>> out for many years, and although its a very accessible / easy to
>> jump into game, being late to the party in a mutliplayer game
>> means it can take a little longer to learn all the maps and the
>> ways of doing things.
>>
>> Yes it is wildy popular
>
>And they gave it away because they are generous developers? Just
>curious, if anybody knows.

It was not free to play originally, it was sold as a regular AAA
title. It went free to play after the sales peak dwindled, so at that
point it was probably more valuable as a way to increase awareness of
Steam and help some of the Steam haters get over their phobias. It's
also a great way to indoctrinate players to the Team Fortress
concept... the original TF and Mega TF games (not to be confused with
TF Classic were mods for Quake which were probably not very well known
outside the hardcore competitive PC gamer crowd.. most people didn't
become aware of the TF series until TFC which was a HalfLife mod).

Also keep in mind free to play does not necessarily mean the same as
"free" in all cases. In this particular case it does apply sort of by
coincidence, in the sense that you can now get for free everything
that was part of the original release (and more, really).

>> but I'm not sure its the most popular non-role playing game. For
>> the most part Counterstrike seems to consistently hold that
>> honor... current stats for Steam are showing CS peak number of
>> players today as being higher than the Team Fortress 2 numbers.
>
>Would you please provide the path to those statistics? I will make
>a note of it. I often need to know about popularity, since I enjoy
>multiplayer pickup games.
>
>Thanks.

Just bing or google "steam stats"

[John Doe]

38,051 56,574 Team Fortress 2
24,758 45,991 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
24,756 37,417 Dota 2
20,584 71,286 Counter-Strike
20,267 69,826 Football Manager 2012
19,039 61,719 Counter-Strike: Source
18,015 27,591 Sid Meier's Civilization V
12,770 50,300 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 - Multiplayer

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!
(overemphasis)

Subject to change without notice, I guess.

I figured it wasn't originally free to play. But if it was not
already on Steam before they made it free, I would think that they
could have made significant money off of it by charging a few
dollars for the convenience of putting/having it on steam, for
people who pay for their games. But what do I know.

I hope it automates well, by voice. Not just "fire, run, fire
fire, run run run" :)

Or maybe I should try Civilization.

Anyway, I appreciate your writing and opinions.

[Rin Stowleigh]

On Tue, 10 Apr 2012 01:18:45 +0000 (UTC), John Doe
<jd...@usenetlove.invalid> wrote:

>38,051 56,574 Team Fortress 2
>24,758 45,991 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
>24,756 37,417 Dota 2
>20,584 71,286 Counter-Strike
>20,267 69,826 Football Manager 2012
>19,039 61,719 Counter-Strike: Source
>18,015 27,591 Sid Meier's Civilization V
>12,770 50,300 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 - Multiplayer
>
>BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!
>(overemphasis)
>Subject to change without notice, I guess.

Not sure if that was an analytical moment or not? :) Those numbers
are about the same as when I looked them up.

Just for anyone else looking on, the number in the left most column
above is current players and the middle column is peak number of
players today. This means the 12 year old version of Counterstrike
peaked at 71,286 players today, and the one with the updated engine
that came out in 2004 peaked at 61,719, so to tally up the
Counterstrike score we would come out with a number in excess of
133,000. Quite a number for an old game.

>I figured it wasn't originally free to play. But if it was not
>already on Steam before they made it free, I would think that they
>could have made significant money off of it by charging a few
>dollars for the convenience of putting/having it on steam, for
>people who pay for their games. But what do I know.

It was always a Steam game, and they made a lot of money off it when
it was for sale.

>I hope it automates well, by voice. Not just "fire, run, fire
>fire, run run run" :)

I suspect not so much, but good luck.

[John Doe]

Rin Stowleigh <rstowleigh gmail.com> wrote:

> John Doe <jdoe usenetlove.invalid> wrote:

>> I hope it automates well, by voice. Not just "fire, run, fire
>> fire, run run run" :)
>
> I suspect not so much, but good luck.

I had some luck with Tribes 2. I prefer hanging around choke
points, or using other strategic ways of picking off the enemy. In
Tribes 2, I hung around inside a building in one popular map. The
enemy would rush into the building and dropped down a chute. At
that moment, I would lob a grenade or whatever into the chute
after him. I didn't find much of that possible in Section 8. But
the fact that there are so many players expands the possibilities.

I so miss Tribes 2. Never forget the feeling of first-person
three-dimensional travel on some distant world. And then there
were the jetpacks...

Then again, I feel the same about WarCraft 2, too. Marvelous
gaming experience in our generation.

[Rin Stowleigh]

The original Warcraft was a real treasure and the first RTS game I
ever played over the Internet -- I had played Populous via modem
against friends on the Atari ST, but Warcraft was brilliantly fresh
for its day.

I meant to comment on this possibility under your thread asking about
jetpacks -- but you might want to take a look at Gotham City
Imposters. Its cheap enough in price but a pretty good multiplayer
game that might appeal do you because you've got things like glider
wings, grappling hooks, and similar gadgetry and reasons to defy
gravity. It has that goofy Team-Fortress like vibe, too.

Then of course there is Duke Nukem Forever's occasional jetpack, but I
assumed you were looking for use of a jetpack in a team-type
multiplayer game, an area that DNF is not going to help much with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=U5MPnynDVWs#t=134s