Topic: For the Old Timers out there

[Zenback]

I was wondering was there large organized/structured online play back in the day.  Could you provide an example of such.

In another online game we had such an activity on Sunday nights, where over 200 people came together to fight it out for which ever side they were assigned. 

I'm not sure if you refer to  your individual organizations as clans or squads or what ever how were they structured and was it successful? 

Last question for the old timers.  Do you have any plans to reform those organizations should online play return?

[Strat]

Ahh I have to think now.

Back from SFC 1 to SFC OP we had hundreds of people online in MPlayer (the precursor to GameSpy) and on into GameSpy.

Over the years we did have groups we called 'Fleets' (Star Trek Clans!) that would compete. There were so so many back then! The device used to host the competitions changes over the years, including one called StarLance (I think I have that right), GZ Leagues, and another more recent one (forgot the name) that kept the trend going before as SFC OP hit the final days of online competitive play.

If you play online in GSA today, you may find people still wear their tags, even though they have no practical meaning today besides listing a personal history with the game. There were many Fleets that lasted all the way from SFC 1 through to SFC OP.

During that time though, there was always a group of poeple who generally stuck to the Dynaverse gameplay. There the competition was on the map, and was not only fights in mission, but over control of resources. AFAIK, those guys were not as as Fleet per say, although they might affiliate with one. They generally enjoyed picking a race on the map and fighting for their side. I don't know as much about the Dyna side, as at that time I was more into the GSA than the Dynaverse.

As for future plans: AFAIK, the Dynaverse Association was never interested to host rounds for competitive play. Even when GZLeagues was here, and its later replacement, those services hosted all matches. The DGA (Dynaverse Gaming Association, this site) never hosted them. So that is to say, if things pick up enough, and if DGA remains the same, the DGA would likely not take the lead in what Starlance or any of those services did, it would be up to some other people to create a new service for hosting competitive play again.

If things picked up to that degree again, it would be very exciting.

[EagleEye]

Yea the good ol'days!! I remember back then I was in a fleet and played on MPlayer there was a lot of players on at that time. Would be nice to see the Dyna and Fleets come back!

[BlackRook_32]

I was wondering was there large organized/structured online play back in the day.  Could you provide an example of such.

In another online game we had such an activity on Sunday nights, where over 200 people came together to fight it out for which ever side they were assigned. 

I'm not sure if you refer to  your individual organizations as clans or squads or what ever how were they structured and was it successful? 

Last question for the old timers.  Do you have any plans to reform those organizations should online play return?

I don't post often. But too answer your questions, back when SFC/OP came out, there was a lot of activity. 

I belonged to the [SFC] clan, I was the academy instructor for SFC 1 and SFC/OP. We trained our cadets in dedicated servers. Once they mastered the "in's & outs" of the game GUI? Their finals were participation in fleet campaigns on the Dynaverse. The final exam- a "one on one" with the academy instructor. If the cadet "won or lost" it didn't matter. It's all about evaluating "his or her" tactical decisions, team work, and how they best used their resources. If they were a top ace threw out their training? They could pick any ship for the exam. Second place could only use their command ship, third ranking had too suffice with an unmodified CL on the instructor's choosing. My comand ship was an unmodified CL (Akula Class). If I have the classification wrong, please forgive me, it's been almost 10 years for me. The academy training success rate was pretty good.

The main point I always stressed to our cadets, was too have FUN.

IMO, a lot of clans back then did not follow that rule. A lot of people stopped playing. partly for the massive cheating going on the Dynaverse server back then. I don't know if things have changed. That, and gaming fleet's in house politics, caused many gaming fleets to roll over, or died out altogether. One thing I remember about the Dynaverse gaming was the dedicated servers! One that come too mind was called "All Out War!". The owner of AOW was so cool!- good memories!

I've since turned too trek modding, rather than playing, but too each their own.

Cheers,
BR32

[Grand Master of Shadows NCC37385]

I remember MPlague. lol

Hmmmm, tons of fleets. The lobby was always full and you had individual rooms. I had never even heard of RW before that. There was also alot of lag since broadband wasnt as common as it is now. My old fleet was the 15th Fleet.

[MyJuliet]

its later replacement, those services hosted all matches. The DGA (Dynaverse Gaming Association, this site) never hosted them. So that is to say, if things pick up enough, and if DGA remains the same, the DGA would likely not take the lead in what Starlance or any of those services did, it would be up to some other people to create a new service for hosting competitive play again.