Bring new players into the game? Or lure back players from the good ol' days?

Extremely hard to snag a totally new player, as the attraction to WoW or EVE or some MMORG or whatever is far greater than an old text game. Better to try for getting word out to old players that the game is still being played, and let them entice some of their friends to learn.

Not really sure what sort of developement is gonna breath new life into the game?? LS, are you really thinking that is the thing that'll lure new players?? Now advertisement, and promotion, that may do something but not sure what kinda players would come visit..

The game is attractive to a subset of geek, not just your average geek.. so just blanket advertising will probably not bring in the huge numbers.

What I pointed out above.. the availability of the TWGS to the public opens up the possibility of private servers keeping the fire going. Whether the people playing are enthusiastically trying to raise the bar on gameplay, or are just having fun, the game is still out there.

hmm, "geek"? Think more like "technoJock". It is a competition where you have to think and respond quickly. I've been the common "jock" in sports, and think my mindset from that carries into this game, but now instead of smoking someone on the b-ball court, I'm trying to do it in a text based game. Hell, at my age on the b-ball court, it would be like watching Trade Wars with all delays set to max, so that leaves trying to outthink an opponent and use the tiny bit of technical skill I have in scripting to play this game.

Good thing is - it is 71 degrees outside, sunny, and my motorcycle has a full tank of gas (not for long). Life is good.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

Proper Tutorials, Training/Mentoring, Official-Script Packs are the only things that are gonna bring new people into the game. The TWGS splash screen should reference all players to a site where these things can be obtained.

This talk about casual TradeWars sounds alot like 'Casual Friendly Fire'. Beyond learning the basics of game play, scripting is absolutely essential. You yourself mention that "basic macros are 'okay'" ... and then say helpers/scripts are a detriment. Sounded to me like hypocritical Logic.



Firstly, most Scripts are Macro's wrapped in a protective cellophane wrapper. Secondly, Killing people IS a repetitive task Thirdly, a New Player NEVER standing a chance?? well duh.

So I suppose my lambasting is directed more towards the great and incredibly neglectful J.P. himself. If I was in charge, I would have my Darn Offical TradeWars 2002 coffee mug sent with my suscription to Tradewars Digest, and I would have a copy of the TWGS on my PC too, because it would be able to connect to other TWGS'

The great Traitor himself gave the reason for his retirement being primarily 'too much automation' (specifically with Red's being totally automated), suggesting I believe that a person doesn't need to be at keys at all. This, and the thinking that Scripts are bad, is a flawed perspective. The only real Flaw with tw2002 is: He With The Most Key Time, Wins.

ROTFLOL! Ppl with no scripting ability complain about scripts, ppl with bad key time complain about the need for key time, people who are slow complain about the speed of the game. Magically whatever weakness a person shows usually becomes the "real flaw" of TW. It's like a sysop getting torped in a game then deciding that photons are "the flaw" and disabling them, only to realize people can still get pdropped and then making planets slower because they've never figured out how to beat that tactic.

Stop making excuses. There was a point when we had players that wanted to win, not just "have a game" ... most of them have moved on because they got bored... it's just SSDD 24/7/365/1000.

I hope the game isn't dying.
I'm back for more!

Shields. SHIELDS!!!

LOL, don't worry Thrawn, he'll pod himself...

Oso's Merchant Cruiser warps into the sector.
Oso's Merchant Cruiser just exploded into a brilliant ball of flame.
An escape pod warps out of the sector.

Ah memories

Wonder what his number of pods will be this year

Need new updates. Last update was September 3, 2004. 3.5 YEARS ago. Come on. Something had to be written since then.

Sheesh.

As a TWGS owner, I pop in off and on to see if there's anything new. There never is. And I usually don't even bother going into the forums because the old ones were some goofy thing that didn't work with firefox. So I check, no new server, and browse away.

I'm ready for a 4.0 version of this thing. One written in a language that's portable to UNIX and has an API for a graphical interface of some sort, but can be played at the command line.

It's been 3.5 years. Are we there yet?

Age old questions... they are making one thats "graphic" but IMO is not worth spit. To me trade wars is tradewars, not something with graphics. Its the game I loved to play along time ago, but some upgrades would be nice.

lol, this game is not even "playable" yet.

The game is highly playable. I play it all the time and so do many others. I for one know there are at least 30 active players in the game today, and that's only the ones that I know of. I'm sure there are many more I don't know. Now, whether the game is playable for you, I can't say. Since you seem to be unable to play the game effectively, the question I ask is "Is the game winnable for you?".

The game been dieing for years now eventually we will all grow old and die off and no one will be left that knows anything about tradewars.

Games now days have graphics. Most of the people on the Internet know nothing about BBS’s, and Telnet. They want a pre packaged self-install file with high-end graphic displays and surround sound.

No one has an imagination anymore.

Then use your imagination and imagine that people do!