177 replies to this topic

[NeoGrant]

I can't understand why do you need a designer ffs. I can pump out graphics, you can do the coding we both get 250 each?

Seriously you always go on about pro designers when what really needed is right here on ST.
There are other graphics designers around somewhere here too. I'm actually infuriated with that bs.

The inspiration needs to come from someone else, its simple as that imo. Plus I wouldn't want cash for doing it, but I'm not doing it, takes too much time.

[geminorum]

TS became freeware, had a short burst of publicity and was left alone with a pretty bad situation as serials are required to have an effective ban method.

Cheating can't be handled without serials.

To the rest of your quote, just voicing my opinion.

i know i said im done, but this is just so hilarious i have to respond.

not sure if its the 3rd or 4th time im telling you this:
i am/i wasnt talking about ra2 to become freeware, i am/i was talking about serial give-away's, which means you can still handle with cheaters just like before.

one last question:

who the hell promoted you to a strike team admin?

Edited by geminorum, 17 February 2012 - 05:27 PM.

[Seke]

who the hell promoted you to a strike team admin?

I think that is really unfair thing to say to Neo, as in my opinion he has done more for RA2 and CNC community than just about anyone, and you including.

[geminorum]

not really, how would you know what ive done for the cnc community anyways? the fact ive finished rank 1 over a long period for time without cheating gives cnc a good reputation for sure, dont you think?
but were not talking about neo or myself here.

i know he puts much effort into this, but if you put effort into things that arent worth at all in the end, was it worth all the time and stress then?
i sadly lost the energy and motivation for ra2, but luckely poeple like him didnt, so im trying to show him the right way to get it bumping again. why would i otherwise waste my time and post here at all? im also trying ra2 to give a new go althought i dont even play it anymore (but ill for sure return if he gives it a go and it works out). he has the power and energy to give it a go, i dont.

so i may ask you, isnt it unfair he kinda ignores all my requests/ideas and wont even give it a try?

p.s. to all the other kids, dont change the theme now, we are talking about xwis promoting, not about what neo has done

i destroy him anyways, get over it and may concentrate on the main thing as im trying to

Edited by geminorum, 17 February 2012 - 06:08 PM.

[PostNextOlaf]

I think the activity problem with this game should be expected (tho the actions of certain individual 'players' dont help matters either). The game was primarily aimed at teenagers- Players that were 10-21 years old when this game was released 12 years ago are no longer interested. The game needs to be aimed at players of a similar age today.

It should be about bringing new (younger) players to the game, not bringing old players back imo.

who the hell promoted you to a strike team admin?

You are an idiot. Without Grant XWIS would be in a far worse situation then it is now.

p.s. to all the other kids, dont change the theme now, we are talking about xwis promoting, not about what neo has done

Why bring it up then? Don't start something you can't finish.

Edited by DubStep, 17 February 2012 - 06:16 PM.

[geminorum]

try reading our posts/conversation and you might understand my fustration and why ive asked that.

problem with people like you is, you join topics without reading it and just pick on something that comes into your eyes.

it wasnt even directed to you, it was directed to neo.

p.s. age has nothing to do with the game, a gamer might like the game or not, the main aim is to get the other people from the other networks to join xwis since they play ra2 already.

the chance that oldschool players (who loved the game) return to a 12-year old game is much higher than the chance that someone totally new (doesnt matter what age) joins a 12 year old game. but thats just a sidenote

[PostNextOlaf]

try reading our posts/conversation and you might understand my fustration and why ive asked that.

problem with people like you is, you join topics without reading it and just pick on something that comes into your eyes.

it wasnt even directed to you, it was directed to neo.

p.s. age has nothing to do with the game, a gamer might like the game or not, the main aim is to get the other people from the other networks to join xwis since they play ra2 already.

the chance that oldschool players (who loved the game) return to a 12-year old game is much higher than the chance that someone totally new (doesnt matter what age) joins a 12 year old game. but thats just a sidenote

FYI i did read the whole topic but people don't need to read the whole topic to get what you are about. Just by asking that question.

So you are saying that a school kid say 13-16 was not more likely to have been playing this game then say a 30-40 year old man? :S

I am not saying that old players should be forgotten about because bringing them back will no doubt help activity- but any promotion needs to be aimed at new players as well.

[BlueBala]

We do try, but taking TS from past experience is not a viable option right now, mainly we can't ban - what effects would that have with the ladder? Not sure. Cutting the price maybe...can't speak on behalf of Olaf though on that.

We had a prize invasion and it was quite a good success. Can you prove otherwise?



$160 per page design, 100 for sub pages.
$60 for a logo.
$200-250 coding the forum design from psd to ipb.

I don't think a new look will make a difference to be honest. We can spend that $420-$470 on advertisement. A quick simple logo that anyone can make (including you and me; I've seeen you make small logos for our tournaments) that get the point accross to post on other forums should be enough. Additionally, we need a couple people who can speak English and Chinese to go on QQ and tell people about XWIS. How do they join? Well, perhaps Olaf can make some 3 free month serials for the chinse players to use; once the month expires offer them to buy the game. To make them interested on our server when we offer the free 3 month serials, we should host a tournament and use that pointless new design money on prizes instead. The look is fine, what we need to do is make it easier for new players to register an account on XWIS. I am willing to help on anything that we need done


//edit- we also need to ask for donations. People like fireworks could donate to XWIS, he loves the game and he wants to help obviously by hosting tournaments. That money can go to advertise for a while then host some tournaments. I am sure other people would be willing to donate occasionally.

Edited by BlueBala, 17 February 2012 - 06:44 PM.

[geminorum]

FYI i did read the whole topic but people don't need to read the whole topic to get what you are about. Just by asking that question.

So you are saying that a school kid say 13-16 was not more likely to have been playing this game then say a 30-40 year old man? :S

I am not saying that old players should be forgotten about because bringing them back will no doubt help activity- but any promotion needs to be aimed at new players as well.

never said that, we are talking about ra2.

if a game was new, then yes, since most of the gamers are younger, but we are talking about a 12 year old game.
why would someone join a 12 year old game when there are a tons of new games out?
you can only attract oldschool players again or the ones that are playing already on the other networks, you might have luck and get someone totally new to buy the game, but its not worth the effort, trust me.

as said if ra2 was 1 year old, then yea go for it, get new players to join, but the game market is so big and always fresh they wont even bother about a 12 year old game.

other question would be, who would publish and waste all the money for a 12 year old game? noone

Edited by geminorum, 17 February 2012 - 06:40 PM.

[fir3w0rx]

Upload a virus to QQ, GR and Hamachi. Where's Alex when you need him?

(sori but I had to lighten the mood up a little )

[FReQuEnZy]

The inspiration/designs doesn't have to come from elsewhere. I could do the graphics for free as long as some one is able to code the site.
I can design a user friendly interface and a logo, but only when I know that we are serious about this and that Olaf is willing to update and merge the sites.

[Seke]

I think the combining of communities and making it easier to get into XWIS is the key, and we are already taking initiative on the fact that people like me and Michel try to bring players\educate players every month as well as starting to overcome the language barrier by translating some of the key topics.

I do like BlueBala's idea of a "3 month free serial", and I think that is something that should be considered.

I also agree that the money would be better used to sponsor tournaments and serials, however I think the winners shouldn't be decided by skill, but by a random drawing of some sort, or maybe a "who plays the most games" kind of thing, that actually does increase activity.

In my opinion, I also think a rework of how the ladder WORKS could be looked into, it has been discussed before and things that could be changed are a numerous: how long the ladder goes (say a 1 week ladder instead of 1 month) or "accomplishments" as Neo and others brought up before, increasing the number of wins per player, etc.

[BlueBala]

I think the combining of communities and making it easier to get into XWIS is the key, and we are already taking initiative on the fact that people like me and Michel try to bring players\educate players every month as well as starting to overcome the language barrier by translating some of the key topics.

I do like BlueBala's idea of a "3 month free serial", and I think that is something that should be considered.

I also agree that the money would be better used to sponsor tournaments and serials, however I think the winners shouldn't be decided by skill, but by a random drawing of some sort, or maybe a "who plays the most games" kind of thing, that actually does increase activity.

In my opinion, I also think a rework of how the ladder WORKS could be looked into, it has been discussed before and things that could be changed are a numerous: how long the ladder goes (say a 1 week ladder instead of 1 month) or "accomplishments" as Neo and others brought up before, increasing the number of wins per player, etc.

We should adopt the SC2 ladder for QM

Edited by BlueBala, 17 February 2012 - 07:21 PM.

[Seke]

We should adopt the SC2 ladder for QM

How does that ladder work? I have no idea so explain it well please.

[BlueBala]

You get put into different leagues. Ex. bronze and silver


Bronze league has its own competetive league so they can have rank one

silver league has its own league so that can have rank one

As you win you get promoted to each league if you're clearly too good for the league you're in

This means we can have prizes for people in the bronze league so that way Marko isn't winning all the prizes

Edited by BlueBala, 17 February 2012 - 07:29 PM.

[Seke]

You get put into different leagues. Ex. bronze and silver


Bronze league has its own competetive league so they can have rank one

silver league has its own league so that can have rank one

As you win you get promoted to each league if you're clearly too good for the league you're in

This means we can have prizes for people in the bronze league so that way Marko isn't winning all the prizes

Yeah, I guess, but I don't think there is enough players for that.

[BlueBala]

http://hamachinetworks.com/networks/Red+Alert+2/all/


There are 5 full hamachi servers there just in the United States. France, Romania, Israel also have a couple full servers. There are additional servers that are NOT full. I did some research and found several hamachi players from Latin America who play on hamachi because they don't know about XWIS, they think westwood shut down the servers pernamently. China has over 10,000 players each day. Thailand has the same amount of players playing on its own server. If we advertise on these places, give trial serials, and use the design money on tournaments, I think we can get a lot of new players from these servers

[BlueBala]

http://hamachinetworks.com/networks/Red+Alert+2/all/


There are 5 full hamachi servers there just in the United States. France, Romania, Israel also have a couple full servers. There are additional servers that are NOT full. I did some research and found several hamachi players from Latin America who play on hamachi because they don't know about XWIS, they think westwood shut down the servers pernamently. China has over 10,000 players each day. Thailand has the same amount of players playing on its own server. If we advertise on these places, give trial serials, and use the design money on tournaments, I think we can get a lot of new players from these servers

[FReQuEnZy]

We couldn't spend design money. We need to raise the quality and user friendliness of xwis first to make the players stay and to have something to show that we have a better quality server/network.

[NeoGrant]

We couldn't spend design money. We need to raise the quality and user friendliness of xwis first to make the players stay and to have something to show that we have a better quality server/network.

If we don't need a designer, please go ahead and design some concepts.

[FReQuEnZy]

Considering I haven't done any web design in a few years can you tell me the best dimensions of the full design?
That's all I really need to know to get started.

1024x768 or a higher reso?

[ExpaNd]

lets face the facts instead of making it more complicated then it already is.

the 2 main problems that have to be solved for success:

- people dont want/cant waste money on a game like ra2 - solution: free serials or cheaper serials

- people dont know about xwis - solution: advertise on the servers they're playing on

EVERYTHING else like invasions, prize cashes, already have been done without real success, it might lasted 1 month yea but not longer

WHAT WE WANT is people playing actively and competitively and you wont get a success if you get donkeys like me back who will play only to take the current prize and say goodbye, you NEED to get the players that play atm actively on the other servers (which as said, dont even know about xwis or dont want to waste money)
focus on those 2 things and ONCE you achieved that, trust me, just like at redirection, the old players will pump up from alone and play longer than for 1 month


youre only wasting your time/energy/money by trying anything else

weve currently seen over 30+ people from QQ playing on xwis, why?
prize invasions? ladders? staff members? prize tournaments?

i can tell ya, they dont even know or dont care, only thing why they joined is because someone advertised for xwis or gave them a free serial


will they stay for a longer time?

yes - if more people join xwis - how? look up

no - they will just leave like in the past because there arent enough people, while on their servers they are at home with much more people

This.
How about worrying about getting active players BEFORE we do things like invasions etc..
Instead of arguing how things will never work, prove 100% how something will not work then you can go on to the next thing...
Either way you should always be trying to make forward progress...
Tomi is saying the right thing, Focus on the Main issue (figure out a solution) then move on to others..
The main problem is Activity, Now before you ask any questions find the solution to that problem (get more players).
after that you ask yourself the solution to the new problem you have (getting more players)
Main problems and solutions to that?

- people dont want/cant waste money on a game like ra2 - solution: free serials or cheaper serials

- people dont know about xwis - solution: advertise on the servers they're playing on

as tomi said... (remember tomi was around in early redirection days so he might have some experience )

i think you guys should just listen to him and understand he brings up good points, and nobody has a good arguement against ANY of his points.

as for a prize invasion....
would it be more effective to have a prize invasion while activity is low...
or while activity is mild? Deal with issues, in order of Importance!

Edit: already talking about how the new design would look, etc?
ESTABLISH a PLAN (foundation) before you start talking about the steps in it please..
Do this the right way, thanks.

Edited by iAmaLeGeNd, 17 February 2012 - 10:54 PM.

[BornL33T]

Something that many of you don't know is this new community for the online games : http://www.voobly.com
It is a recent site that still under construction,the client to play with is similair to Tunngle/GameRanger but the only few games avaibles until now (AOE/AOM/Rsix/...) however RA2/Yuri will be added soon,why it is different? simply because it has a Multi-ladder system/Anti-cheat soft/tourneys each month(generous donators for aoe specially)/replays/mod support..also the client use the LAN mode so there are no delay,the most interesting thing is the capacity of the stuff to attract players (3115 players online atm) principally from US and Europe.
I don't want to be pessimistic but i think such client will dominate XWIS in time if the S-T admins will not make something innovative.
You are free to delete this post,i don't want to make publicity,just want admins take a look.

Considering I haven't done any web design in a few years can you tell me the best dimensions of the full design?
That's all I really need to know to get started.

1024x768 or a higher reso?

Make something cool Martin

Edited by DayDream, 18 February 2012 - 12:02 AM.

[Peer]

Martin, if you need help with any specific design thing, just tell me. I might have some spare time in the coming months

[Edd]

I like all the ideas you guys are coming up with but all these have been talked about before....for years. I agree with tomi in 1 thing, we need to stop talking about it and start taking action. Everything else he said is out of line and rage mode arrogance. Seems like we're overthinking everything and not doing anything because we're "scared" As soon as someone posts a huge reason why people should come to xwis and play ra2/yr, i will copy paste to MLG's (major league gaming) website. I think that not only should we promote ra2 to ra2 communities, but gaming communities in general. MLG is huge and the only RTS they have is SC2... they have like 3 shooters, couple sports, couple fighting. SC2 is the biggest game on MLG now, it took over Halo's. If we promote ra2 there and show a good argument as to why Ra2 is just as good as SC2, i'm sure those guys will be so tempted to play. Maybe in the future even consider ra2 as being one of their major games.

All i need is someone to take the first step.

Edited by Edd, 18 February 2012 - 12:48 AM.