Yeah well, I guess hope only dies last..
hoping for changes is all well and good, but it is not a good basis to create league attendance. especially without a definitive date when the changes get implemented and released. Advertising in multi-game communites might be better, especially when the leagues are solid and provide good racing, some old-timers might return, even if it is just for one league race/event.
that's great! especially to get some attention out of the bubble. even if it attracts just one person.
Last night's E-Challenge had 14 cars attend out of 40 signups, and it was only the second round (of five). We're grateful to those who turned up and raced, and they gave us a great show, but we are left wondering what happened to the other 2/3rds of the entries... 😔
I agree, LiveForSpeed is in need of more tracks.
Imagine if you had a minimum of 12 tracks, you could create a championship every year, one race per month on different tracks.
I think LFS really needs more circuits
Everyone agrees with that. A track editor might help. We could (also) very simply multiply the tracks with the tricks of the last millennium for virtual tracks (mirror, reverse mirror + makeover or patchwork from existing tracks etc.).But existing tracks should be used online. For example, there are only 7 servers on Rockingham and they are empty.
I was have not been involved in league racing for over a year by now, but from outside it currently gives me the impression that there is a structural issue of casual and competitive drivers having the same pool of leagues to choose from. Casual from my perspective means having a good time a clear and easy to understand event format with only a precise amount of breaks as they want to drive for the fun of diving vehicles quickly around a track and racing with others, at least as quick as they can. On the other Hand competitive drivers are those who want to score good positions and are more tolerant to breaks and off-times on the server as the pursuit of a good position motivates them and maybe the immersion by higher concepts such as the inclusion of Safety Car rules etc. But they also get more easily bored by repeating combos and alike.
I fear it comes down that it lacks the user base: high concept leagues need enough of those what I call competitive drivers to have a stable grid size. Casual drivers are not as interested in those leagues. More casual leagues appear to me to have a more loyal driver base of casual drivers, but when competitive drivers come in the driver base gets pushed out in parts, especially towards the rear of the grid. A sort of gentrification of the leagues, if you want to call it like that… or the conflict between grassroots and professional competition…
I like the idea of fixed setups in this context. It levels the differences between all types of drivers and it appeals at least in parts to both groups as at least in the short term it is novel for what I call competitive drivers and it is easy clear and fair for what I call casual drivers: https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/102700-FIXED-setup-races-on-LFS%3F%3F
But maybe it was more rambling then anything substantial I posted here.
I fear it comes down that it lacks the user base: high concept leagues need enough of those what I call competitive drivers to have a stable grid size. Casual drivers are not as interested in those leagues. More casual leagues appear to me to have a more loyal driver base of casual drivers, but when competitive drivers come in the driver base gets pushed out in parts, especially towards the rear of the grid. A sort of gentrification of the leagues, if you want to call it like that… or the conflict between grassroots and professional competition…
I like the idea of fixed setups in this context. It levels the differences between all types of drivers and it appeals at least in parts to both groups as at least in the short term it is novel for what I call competitive drivers and it is easy clear and fair for what I call casual drivers: https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/102700-FIXED-setup-races-on-LFS%3F%3F
But maybe it was more rambling then anything substantial I posted here.
Since the mod support was introduced, the people that are getting involved into some sort of league racing (even drift events for that matter) are not really bothered about signing up for the event on the forums, it's too much hassle. It's like the only party trick that can be pulled off for now in LFS, but when it comes to actual proper oldschool type of racing in this game, there's literally nothing.
Mouseman, I'll just let you know, you're becoming boring. Just posting depressed views. Also factually incorrect ("literally nothing" etc).
If you don't have anything interesting to say, then it would be better to keep your mouth shut. Just going around being miserable doesn't help anything. We don't run this forum and service for the purpose of bringing people down.
LFS is supposed to be a positive thing. It is fun and allows creativity. Not that we have to pretend to be super excited about everything, but continual moaning is not the thing to do.
If you don't have anything interesting to say, then it would be better to keep your mouth shut. Just going around being miserable doesn't help anything. We don't run this forum and service for the purpose of bringing people down.
LFS is supposed to be a positive thing. It is fun and allows creativity. Not that we have to pretend to be super excited about everything, but continual moaning is not the thing to do.
What's more depressing is to see how the player count has declined in the past 10 years. But I guess that's also factually incorrect?
Seeing this game go close to abandoned does hurt a bit, you know? Same recently happened with a lot of popular GTA SA:MP servers, they just had to shutdown even after running for over 8 years due to lack of players.
We just want to see this game succeed, but how can we express genuine excitement and support when all we have got for over 10 years is just little to no change. I don't blame you though for it, it's your project and you can progress with it however you like The last thing I would want to see on the main page is news about shutting down master servers
Seeing this game go close to abandoned does hurt a bit, you know? Same recently happened with a lot of popular GTA SA:MP servers, they just had to shutdown even after running for over 8 years due to lack of players.
We just want to see this game succeed, but how can we express genuine excitement and support when all we have got for over 10 years is just little to no change. I don't blame you though for it, it's your project and you can progress with it however you like
The last thing I would want to see on the main page is news about shutting down master serversIt is true… the forums became a lot more quieter and even sign up threads don’t get as much traffic as they used to… meanwhile discord chats explode and are more often then not overwhelming to follow. Is it a change of communication culture? The classic sign up through forum seems to be outdated. Do league organisers need to adapt or is it the people less interested in the structured league racing or competitions?
Desire of patience used a in-server sign up system… would something like that be more appropriate these days?
Desire of patience used a in-server sign up system… would something like that be more appropriate these days?
It has gone down in 10 years, yes, as discussed a thousand times, due to so many things we can't discuss here and piracy too, But far more interesting is how it has gone up in the last 1.5 years. See the attachment, representing 600 weeks.
But calling it abandoned is just some fantasy which you want to believe in because it suits your narrative. To believe that, you have to ignore all our progress reports, everything we say, decide we are lying than make up your own version of reality. In fact I'm working about 10 hours a day and Eric is working loads too. There is a lot of progress. Is it as fast as anyone would like? No, but to suggest it is abandoned is just so absurd from my point of view.
The game has picked up so much, sales are up since 2021 when there was a serious problem, as stated. Piracy was bringing the game down. Now it's not. You are free to believe what you want but I'd appreciate it if you won't mope around here making up fantasies of doom and gloom and trying to paint that depressing picture.
You know, this thread is about how to improve attendance for scheduled events. The answer can't be, let's go back in time 10 years and change history. What threads are for is, to comment if you have anything to say on the matter. Not an invitation to spread feelings of doom and gloom.
Anyway, back on topic.
I feel that there is this weird split between "classic pick up racing" (pick a server and race) and organised open events (rony's tuesday, gti thursday, fox friday etc.). Those events provide full grids and close racing. They have the significant advantage that you can join them if you have the time and don't have to commit weeks / months ahead to a shedule (especially if you have a family, or other irregular commitments, or work).
Maybe those open events could serve as a template for general racing? Like week long fixed combos with leader boards (with various categories, averaged by number of races) visible on the lfs pages (lfs world?).
(Ok not really on topic, but generally the idea is to bring the number of players up. Leagues should profit from this as well. Those week long events could be coordinated with leagues to get people familar to cars / tracks...)
I feel that there is this weird split between "classic pick up racing" (pick a server and race) and organised open events (rony's tuesday, gti thursday, fox friday etc.). Those events provide full grids and close racing. They have the significant advantage that you can join them if you have the time and don't have to commit weeks / months ahead to a shedule (especially if you have a family, or other irregular commitments, or work).
Maybe those open events could serve as a template for general racing? Like week long fixed combos with leader boards (with various categories, averaged by number of races) visible on the lfs pages (lfs world?).
(Ok not really on topic, but generally the idea is to bring the number of players up. Leagues should profit from this as well. Those week long events could be coordinated with leagues to get people familar to cars / tracks...)
We are not yet in a position to provide data at CESAV, but in our experience Discord is proving to be a true gamechanger. It's not just that most of the LFS players are on Discord -we can reach them more easily there, so I guess the word here is engagement.
CESAV has a farily well organized, full of useful features website; we have a section here in LFS forums and we keep up to date the calendar so we can benefit from the Upcoming Events list (really useful), we're also on Twitter and Youtube, and they really help us in advertising and showing some love (lol) for the drivers who come to our events.
We got all of these, yet things HAPPEN on discord.
We know that there will always be some drivers who sign-up for a race and pull a no-show, eventually. Reasons for this behaviour are a known unknown, but sometimes it's something as prosaic as "yo, man, I fell asleep while waiting for it."
On discord you can shout to all of the people in your channel, and tell them to come to a voice channel, make a live show, discuss a new championship, or just remind them that the event is about to start with a few clicks of your mouse... And it is a two way road, because reaching you is as easy for your audience.
AFAIK, engagement is the name of the game.
CESAV has a farily well organized, full of useful features website; we have a section here in LFS forums and we keep up to date the calendar so we can benefit from the Upcoming Events list (really useful), we're also on Twitter and Youtube, and they really help us in advertising and showing some love (lol) for the drivers who come to our events.
We got all of these, yet things HAPPEN on discord.
We know that there will always be some drivers who sign-up for a race and pull a no-show, eventually. Reasons for this behaviour are a known unknown, but sometimes it's something as prosaic as "yo, man, I fell asleep while waiting for it."
On discord you can shout to all of the people in your channel, and tell them to come to a voice channel, make a live show, discuss a new championship, or just remind them that the event is about to start with a few clicks of your mouse... And it is a two way road, because reaching you is as easy for your audience.
AFAIK, engagement is the name of the game.
Yes most subscribe to Discord and not the forum.
In all leagues I'm currently subscribed to discord, it's much simpler, much faster and much more practical than it is on the forum.
In all leagues I'm currently subscribed to discord, it's much simpler, much faster and much more practical than it is on the forum.
Personally my problem with competitions purely organised on Discord is, that they are segregated in their bubble. Dark web, if you want to call it like that, as you cannot search for it from the outside and the stuff that happens there is only visible to those who are on the respective server. I had similar discussions with people who organise leagues purely on Facebook years ago. The only continuous source of information on leagues and competitions seems to be the forums, but only if they are broadly used.
Alright... seems like there are plenty of people answered, I just burst a bubble here...
Some years ago, I created this league: https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/90352-MTDZX--Flat-Out%21-Series%21-Season-2-%28-CANCELLED%21-%29
I was not expecting to anyone joining... but managed to get somewhat alright amount of racers joined per race. Least amount was 4, Most one was 20+ ( at peak moment ).
The funny thing was, numbers were going even higher, but dropped down due 2 reasons:
1: Some inappropriate racing in honest manners.
2: Egos.
First one was clear as sky: Plenty of cheaters using any kind of program which back then managed to sneak out anticheat system. Unfortunately for them, I was already tested absolutely everything in any car back then, so finding these was no issue. Downside was, it dropped amount of participants, because they were banned.
Second thing was a bit odd, which frustrated me in two different occasional times. As LFS Community have these top tier racers, they had ultimately found this out, and was keen to try it out. Amusingly, they thought back then this was just boring full throttle stuff with no real skill involved, but as people happen to say; "truth is more wonderful than fiction".
I admit I was highly excited. Having some top tier racers to fully challenge some hardcore "flat outters"... only to find out it was nothing like that at all.
Turns out their ego couldn't handle enough of having a truth about someone less known is actually MUCH faster than those top tierers, as it was simply so much different type of racing. Setuping the car and knowing the layouts were completely different story, as not every layout was completely full throttle one. So, after they saw their limit ( which could had EASILY lift up in no time, but because it was official league, they didn't dare to do that on the go ), they just moved away. I remember one fellow guy told via TeamSpeak that his ego won't stand about losing, as ppl were 6-7 seconds faster... that was something he never expected ever to happen.
So yeah, I or we ( as a team back then ) managed to grab few, but the ultimate top never joined. This is from my perspective back then.
Nowadays, I have nearly completely moved off from LFS, that time is no longer for me. Although I still sometimes come checking things, even sometime starting LFS and having few laps, but that's that.
( Fun Fact: Cancellation was never about lack of racers, but rather lack of time and lack of technical interest. I have seen that interest has been coming back, but it is too late now. However, if someone is willing to make this kind of league, those layouts are still in these forums to download. Made by me and other people as well. )
Some years ago, I created this league: https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/90352-MTDZX--Flat-Out%21-Series%21-Season-2-%28-CANCELLED%21-%29
I was not expecting to anyone joining... but managed to get somewhat alright amount of racers joined per race. Least amount was 4, Most one was 20+ ( at peak moment ).
The funny thing was, numbers were going even higher, but dropped down due 2 reasons:
1: Some inappropriate racing in honest manners.
2: Egos.
First one was clear as sky: Plenty of cheaters using any kind of program which back then managed to sneak out anticheat system. Unfortunately for them, I was already tested absolutely everything in any car back then, so finding these was no issue. Downside was, it dropped amount of participants, because they were banned.
Second thing was a bit odd, which frustrated me in two different occasional times. As LFS Community have these top tier racers, they had ultimately found this out, and was keen to try it out. Amusingly, they thought back then this was just boring full throttle stuff with no real skill involved, but as people happen to say; "truth is more wonderful than fiction".
I admit I was highly excited. Having some top tier racers to fully challenge some hardcore "flat outters"... only to find out it was nothing like that at all.
Turns out their ego couldn't handle enough of having a truth about someone less known is actually MUCH faster than those top tierers, as it was simply so much different type of racing. Setuping the car and knowing the layouts were completely different story, as not every layout was completely full throttle one. So, after they saw their limit ( which could had EASILY lift up in no time, but because it was official league, they didn't dare to do that on the go ), they just moved away. I remember one fellow guy told via TeamSpeak that his ego won't stand about losing, as ppl were 6-7 seconds faster... that was something he never expected ever to happen.
So yeah, I or we ( as a team back then ) managed to grab few, but the ultimate top never joined. This is from my perspective back then.
Nowadays, I have nearly completely moved off from LFS, that time is no longer for me. Although I still sometimes come checking things, even sometime starting LFS and having few laps, but that's that.
( Fun Fact: Cancellation was never about lack of racers, but rather lack of time and lack of technical interest. I have seen that interest has been coming back, but it is too late now. However, if someone is willing to make this kind of league, those layouts are still in these forums to download. Made by me and other people as well. )
Discord is a tool, organizing a competition purely on that platform is a decision. Thing is that Discord is a very helpful tool in terms of return on investment, and while I do not recommend building your community solely around it I understand those who actually do it.
Improving the visibility and communication of scheduled events is certainly a good thing, whatever the platform and the means used. Each community has its customs, its language, its preferences... LFS brings together people with very disparate profiles and aspirations. This is one of its strengths (and the creation of vehicles also pushes in this direction).
Be that as it may, the scheduled events will only ever interest a part of the licensees. I apologize for the triviality of this remark, but just as the lack of participants in organized events is one of the effects of lack of interest in the game in general, increasing the number of licensees seems to me to be the best way to increase "automatically" participation in organized events. And this is also where we can do something. Or at least discuss (possibly on a separate thread, if anyone is interested).
I can only speak from my little personal experience. But take the time to choose a particular event, register for it in advance, train a little to look good, make or download a specific setup, block a non-modifiable date in my calendar, etc. seems to me to be a somewhat disproportionate, and very time-consuming, for a few laps per week. The place of virtual races in my life has never been compatible with this kind of practice. It didn't stop me from buying an S3 in 2021 (before the announcement of the mod system) when I already had an S2 which I almost only used offline. However, not playing online is not one of the many commandments of my religion (especially since I am an atheist).
Online events are not accessible to me. But what other choices do I have here?
Go back to flattening cars on Blackwood with kids that aren't mine anymore?
Running alone on an empty server?
Randomly arrive somewhere and get run over by a bus or take 3 seconds per turn against an alien/setup magician?
What else does LFS offer me right now other than tweaking cars to have a more competitive AI offline?
No one can rewrite history, it is a fact. LFS has arguably lost its leadership position in competitive racing. It may change tomorrow. I hope so for you and for the future of the game. The fact is that currently, even people like me would go elsewhere if for a competitive experience. And maybe it's time to think about something else? To return to the magic of the origins.
To say 2 words about my online experience, in demo it was great. I only have great memories. Our only concern at the time was finding a server with enough room to accommodate all of us. We were several and wanted to play with others, but together. When there were too many of us, one of us would host. But all this in an improvised way, at the last minute. Then, we migrated to S2 and there… already, it wasn't the same. The atmosphere was colder and the discussions more serious. It felt like we were stepping into someone else's shoes and disturbing.
It's nobody's fault. It's just that something is missing between the demo and the licenses. I know that the idea is slowly making its way into many heads. So why not think together about a new "ready to drive" racing format, simple and accessible to everyone?
Be that as it may, the scheduled events will only ever interest a part of the licensees. I apologize for the triviality of this remark, but just as the lack of participants in organized events is one of the effects of lack of interest in the game in general, increasing the number of licensees seems to me to be the best way to increase "automatically" participation in organized events. And this is also where we can do something. Or at least discuss (possibly on a separate thread, if anyone is interested).
I can only speak from my little personal experience. But take the time to choose a particular event, register for it in advance, train a little to look good, make or download a specific setup, block a non-modifiable date in my calendar, etc. seems to me to be a somewhat disproportionate, and very time-consuming, for a few laps per week. The place of virtual races in my life has never been compatible with this kind of practice. It didn't stop me from buying an S3 in 2021 (before the announcement of the mod system) when I already had an S2 which I almost only used offline. However, not playing online is not one of the many commandments of my religion (especially since I am an atheist).
Online events are not accessible to me. But what other choices do I have here?
Go back to flattening cars on Blackwood with kids that aren't mine anymore?
Running alone on an empty server?
Randomly arrive somewhere and get run over by a bus or take 3 seconds per turn against an alien/setup magician?
What else does LFS offer me right now other than tweaking cars to have a more competitive AI offline?
No one can rewrite history, it is a fact. LFS has arguably lost its leadership position in competitive racing. It may change tomorrow. I hope so for you and for the future of the game. The fact is that currently, even people like me would go elsewhere if for a competitive experience. And maybe it's time to think about something else? To return to the magic of the origins.
To say 2 words about my online experience, in demo it was great. I only have great memories. Our only concern at the time was finding a server with enough room to accommodate all of us. We were several and wanted to play with others, but together. When there were too many of us, one of us would host. But all this in an improvised way, at the last minute. Then, we migrated to S2 and there… already, it wasn't the same. The atmosphere was colder and the discussions more serious. It felt like we were stepping into someone else's shoes and disturbing.
It's nobody's fault. It's just that something is missing between the demo and the licenses. I know that the idea is slowly making its way into many heads. So why not think together about a new "ready to drive" racing format, simple and accessible to everyone?
This is not something that you think, but something that you do. Don't get me wrong, I'm not attempting to bash you. It's just that I believe you miss something that it's gone and not gonna be anymore. 2004 was cool because there wasn't anything else, and we were excited about LFS, and younger
Today it's different, and it is what it is. I have a few ideas on how to improve attendance on scheduled events, but I can't write them down yet. However I believe lfs is walking in the right direction.
Now, about your statement, if you want casual online races you've got two options -you either wait for someone else to organize them or you do it yourself. And yep, that means a lot of solo online racing before peopke like you finds about you and joins your way.
If I could do it, it would already be done. But the new race format I'm thinking of unfortunately cannot be created or implemented by a player.
When the concept of scheduled events is not suitable (that's what I'm talking about
) the solution cannot be to organize others. It takes something different.The closest solution would be to set up a specific server, with categories of cars with limited or fixed setups. But that is not yet possible. And it would not work. It would require a specific entry, having the choice between the demo servers, an intermediate class with specific cars and racing conditions, and then the open servers and the current organized events.
3 separate entrances, the intermediate class would serve as an airlock between the demo and the online competition.
I believe, like you, that the LFS is going in the right direction and I do not preach for my parish. I can do without playing online until the end of time (my simulator is not even connected to the internet
). I just think a lot of LFS players expect something like what I think (I'm not the only one thinking about that, that's for sure). And that this new entry could attract new racers
.Actually you can do most of this thing. Setting up a specific server with certain categories of cars is just a few clicks away from your mouse
Only the car setup is escaping your control here.Although I'm afraid this chart tells very little as of today today, because it represents a span of more than 10 years of activity, these are the drivers who registered at CESAV and filled in their license in the profile (a must to participate in our events).
These fine people are supponsed to be interested enough in our scheduled events to take the pain in the ass that registering in a wbesite is, and as you can see once someone gets past the Demo and buys a licencese, this will be either S2 or S3.
So, there is nothing preventing me (or you for that matter) to set an S2 server, then exclude some cars and set some conditions (track/layout, wind, time of day) for them. With an insim you can even enforce certain rules (don't ask me, I'm no expert) and while you cannot enforce a setup, the rest you've got it.
I fail to see who this will be attracting a significative number of drivers to LFS, but believe me I'm willing to be proven wrong.
Now, will this improve attendance for scheduled events? Supposing that the pool of LFS drivers skyrockets because we get that "intermediate class" that you were talking about, let me tell you that of the 287 S3 registered racers that we have at CESAV we struggle to get 30 in the grid the actual day of the race, and most of the time we're barely commiting 20.
Thats is less than 10% of our potential audience, and the hardcore ones we're around 10/15.
But this is just numbers. Raw data. And while you may think this is a lousy attendance, all things considered it is quite good. Finding why those 5 to 15 exta drivers attend to our events is a conundrum to me, but I've got some clues. Now I've got to prove them.
I know that many things are already possible. But setup control is the keystone of the system I'm thinking of. Without a fixed or limited setup, it won't work (not massively enough).
I would like to remove a possible ambiguity. I'm not saying that having scheduled events is wrong. I hope you don't understand it that way. I say that this offer can only, by nature, interest a small portion of potential players.
What you are doing is very good. Your results are good too, as far as is possible in this way.
The problem with doing things before thinking about them (I'm teasing you) is that you deal with what is possible to do. You only reproduce the same principle, with the same constraints, for more or less results.
The third category I am talking about would allow us to rediscover the magical simplicity of the origins. Which worked wonderfully well before. In three clicks we chose a car in the garage to race with anyone, at the time that suited us. The only possible disappointment was to arrive on a rallycross track.
With scheduled events, you have to fill in a profile (here or elsewhere), find out about the news, select an event, prepare for it, hoping not to have fallen asleep on the wheel before race time.
The immediate pleasure of playing has turned into a constraint over time. On the path between the pleasure and the constraint, you have already lost a lot of people.
Community operations (that's what it's all about) seem to me anachronistic and outdated, unable to satisfy the players of today and tomorrow (I could be wrong too).
The problem with a community is that it exhausted and it dies. There are always more people outside than inside. Above all, over time, the community develops its own culture with its codes, its initiation rites, its vernacular language, its ostracisms, its clans, its internal conflicts and its bitterness. Over time, a community ends up talking only to itself and isolating itself from the rest of the world.
This is what happened with LFS. In 20 years, we have gone from a brilliant game open to everyone to a tool developed specifically to satisfy a group of individuals. Seen from outside the community, no one understands anything anymore about it. As you rightly reminded us, we now have more choices than in 2004. There is therefore no need to make the effort to understand. This phenomenon is so significant that journalists no longer make the difference between the game and its community. Over time, communitarianism has done more harm to LFS than the latencies in its development.
LFS is today a piece of history out of contemporary time. And this fact has little to do with the extraordinary qualities of the game and the expected updates.
The LFS community is great, nothing to say about it. The problem is not there. My point is not a disguised criticism of the LFS community. The game must once again bring itself within the reach of the public. This is what needs to be changed.
A new category open with a real challenge, in which everyone has the same chances at the start, clearly defined and identifiable (not drowned in the middle of servers with offers that are unreadable by ordinary mortals), would make it possible to reconnect with a contemporary public who does not seek more necessarily to integrate a community to have the right to taste the pleasure of driving.
That's what it's all about: driving. No need to make a bunch of friends or be judged on your pedigree. We have real life for that and that's good enough.
However. It's always the same story. LFS is one of the few places in this world where God sees
and hears you 
. If you are lucky, God answers you and/or performs a small miracle for you. The faithful have therefore gathered and they hold the place. They are the guardians of the temple and the guarantors of orthodoxy and its traditions. The faithful always begin by applauding miracles, then they await them with more or less impatience, finally they claim them. It is a very human reflex.
The doors of the chapel must however be opened from time to time to renew the oxygen. What I am talking about has no other purpose. I have nothing to gain personally. Other than being called an old troll (that's done) and wasting a bit of my time.
I would like to remove a possible ambiguity. I'm not saying that having scheduled events is wrong. I hope you don't understand it that way
. I say that this offer can only, by nature, interest a small portion of potential players.What you are doing is very good. Your results are good too, as far as is possible in this way.
The problem with doing things before thinking about them (I'm teasing you
) is that you deal with what is possible to do. You only reproduce the same principle, with the same constraints, for more or less results.The third category I am talking about would allow us to rediscover the magical simplicity of the origins. Which worked wonderfully well before. In three clicks we chose a car in the garage to race with anyone, at the time that suited us. The only possible disappointment was to arrive on a rallycross track
.With scheduled events, you have to fill in a profile (here or elsewhere), find out about the news, select an event, prepare for it, hoping not to have fallen asleep on the wheel before race time.
The immediate pleasure of playing has turned into a constraint over time. On the path between the pleasure and the constraint, you have already lost a lot of people.
Community operations (that's what it's all about) seem to me anachronistic and outdated, unable to satisfy the players of today and tomorrow (I could be wrong too).
The problem with a community is that it exhausted and it dies. There are always more people outside than inside. Above all, over time, the community develops its own culture with its codes, its initiation rites, its vernacular language, its ostracisms, its clans, its internal conflicts and its bitterness. Over time, a community ends up talking only to itself and isolating itself from the rest of the world.
This is what happened with LFS. In 20 years, we have gone from a brilliant game open to everyone to a tool developed specifically to satisfy a group of individuals. Seen from outside the community, no one understands anything anymore about it. As you rightly reminded us, we now have more choices than in 2004. There is therefore no need to make the effort to understand. This phenomenon is so significant that journalists no longer make the difference between the game and its community. Over time, communitarianism has done more harm to LFS than the latencies in its development.
LFS is today a piece of history out of contemporary time. And this fact has little to do with the extraordinary qualities of the game and the expected updates.
The LFS community is great, nothing to say about it. The problem is not there. My point is not a disguised criticism of the LFS community. The game must once again bring itself within the reach of the public. This is what needs to be changed.
A new category open with a real challenge, in which everyone has the same chances at the start, clearly defined and identifiable (not drowned in the middle of servers with offers that are unreadable by ordinary mortals), would make it possible to reconnect with a contemporary public who does not seek more necessarily to integrate a community to have the right to taste the pleasure of driving.
That's what it's all about: driving. No need to make a bunch of friends or be judged on your pedigree. We have real life for that and that's good enough
.However. It's always the same story. LFS is one of the few places in this world where God sees
and hears you . If you are lucky, God answers you and/or performs a small miracle for you. The faithful have therefore gathered and they hold the place. They are the guardians of the temple and the guarantors of orthodoxy and its traditions. The faithful always begin by applauding miracles, then they await them with more or less impatience, finally they claim them. It is a very human reflex.The doors of the chapel must however be opened from time to time to renew the oxygen. What I am talking about has no other purpose. I have nothing to gain personally. Other than being called an old troll (that's done
) and wasting a bit of my time.Men instead of spamming this forum whit theories go write a book,or like Scawen once said go outside
Off topic {
It is not uncommon for great human adventures to generate stories. It is even a literary genre known since antiquity. After all, nothing forces you to read them.
I have a question, and please don't see any sarcasm on my part. You're always on deck keeping watch. Why not become a moderator ? You could delete the posts that bother you, ban people who are not race online enough, even delete their profiles.
Intolerance is less frustrating with power.
The other solution is to say what bothers you with what I said?
Nothing forces you to. I have the weakness to believe that a forum is a space of freedom (as long as we respect others, that goes without saying) }
How to improve attendance for scheduled events?
(212 posts, started )
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