[Split] Is VC:MP dead?

[[AoD]NC]

@SugarD: point 1 and 3 creates a chain:
creating a multiplayer mod -> releasing it
release -> small player count
small count -> less motivation to develop it
less motivation -> no updates
no updates ->

It's about motivation (and doing because you like it). But imagine. You work on some project, because you know, you can make it great. You work hard, day n night, drink more coffee and sit more and more on work, you go take a breath 5 minutes and back to hard work. Time to show your work to the world, hoping it will be successful, because you see that you made a good job. And ka-boom. The desire* to work and update it, the fun (?) of coding is somewhere gone and you focus on something else.

*I hope this is the right translation.

[stormeus]

It's about motivation (and doing because you like it). But imagine. You work on some project, because you know, you can make it great. You work hard, day n night, drink more coffee and sit more and more on work, you go take a breath 5 minutes and back to hard work. Time to show your work to the world, hoping it will be successful, because you see that you made a good job. And ka-boom. The desire* to work and update it, the fun (?) of coding is somewhere gone and you focus on something else.

To be fair, we haven't really had much outreach outside our own bubble here on the forums. For example, when was the last time someone on the team even stepped inside our GTAForums board?

[[AoD]NC]

Unfortunately, we don't use much the VCMP section at GTAF, it's more abandon but I think we should reactivate it somehow. At least we could have a place where to talk, when this forum is down sometimes.

And who talks there? Well, me, when I'm extremely bored (you can even see my respond was the last in the topic VCMP for mobile). Hanney was also cruising there and probably Aaron/Gulk too.

[stormeus]

Unfortunately, we don't use much the VCMP section at GTAF, it's more abandon but I think we should reactivate it somehow.

Exactly, and it'd also provide a place for people outside our (relatively) sheltered forums here to see progress, and potentially bringing in more players, which would mean more motivation to develop VC:MP, right? And it would also be nice to have people there when these forums go down every six months. Moreover, we could establish a larger presence at other GTA fansites (GTAGaming, The GTA Place) by uploading versions of VC:MP there and possibly even making threads for information about it.

[[AoD]NC]

Seriously, the player count will definitely not increase much, even if you stand on your head.

I counted, there are 12 posts posted for 4,5 months at the GTAF-VCMP section, which is definitely not much.

[stormeus]

So basically,

• We have no players that want to play, as shown by the 13 pages of discussion asking why they can't play 0.4.
• We have no developers that want to do anything, as shown by bakasan reappearing on the forums.
• There is absolutely no point in trying to promote the mod as it's already dead.

Insightful. Thank you for your positive outlook on the future of VC:MP.

[SugarD]

Seriously, the player count will definitely not increase much, even if you stand on your head.

I counted, there are 12 posts posted for 4,5 months at the GTAF-VCMP section, which is definitely not much.

Ya, considering the forums were previously attacked, no one knows the URL to VC:MP's website, and no one has released an update in years. That is why the mod and it's web services have lost popularity. Nothing more. Hell, the forum wasn't even using a modernized version until a year or two ago. The website itself barely stayed online, and contained no links to the forum. Blaming the mod for something that is a failure of advertising makes absolutely no sense.

[[AoD]NC]

@SugarD: no hyperlink to THIS forum on the main website vcmp.com? I got lost .

@storm: of course I could write something like "tomorrow every player migrates from SAMP to VCMP and everyone will be happy", but we know that won't happen. I wrote what is likely to happen in the near future, when nothing changes.

I don't remember if I mentioned it already, but looking after all those posts here... You guys think that VCMP is indestructible, it will always survive? People think the same about others. No one thinks that tomorrow someone who we know can die, but this happens.

[stormeus]

I'm not saying that every SA:MP player will migrate to VC:MP if 0.4 is released, but you act as if the buggy state of the client has absolutely no correlation to the loss of players and the lack of enjoyability. You also act as if promotion will do absolutely nothing, therefore there is no point in trying.

News flash: people are still playing Vice City. They've bought the Steam versions, they've bought the mobile versions, and the more hardcore group probably still has their discs. They're not going to automatically know about VC:MP's existence, even if it would interest them. Some people might not even know they wanted it; it's basic marketing.

Maybe more scripters would also be attracted to VC:MP if it were more compatible with the features available in SA:MP (not entirely, but more), but:

VCMP has maybe 100 functions if not less (wild guess), while SAMP has many more.

They probably still wouldn't play it if it crashed, lagged, and lacked in features, though. Nor would they be too enticed to play if they came on the forum and found its beta testers saying that it's pointless in going any further, that development is completely dead, and there is absolutely nothing that can be done.

[SugarD]

@SugarD: no hyperlink to THIS forum on the main website vcmp.com? I got lost

Indeed, you did. I said there didn't used to be one prior to the website being updated, which I nagged at everyone about, by the way.

[dynavolt71]

Split again ? It over 100 post

[Glock22]

The thing is the game engine. Look at Liberty Unleashed/GTA3MP, they have an active team and a good client, but the game engine itself is what puts everyone off. And what is VCMP, just a bright and sunny version of GTA3 set in a different city, the same game engine. Even if VCMP had a better client than SAMP, its still the game engine/

[Darfy]

The thing is the game engine. Look at Liberty Unleashed/GTA3MP, they have an active team and a good client, but the game engine itself is what puts everyone off. And what is VCMP, just a bright and sunny version of GTA3 set in a different city, the same game engine. Even if VCMP had a better client than SAMP, its still the game engine/

Now you're implying that the game engine is 'the thing' when it comes to popularity. Then how do you explain VC-MP being more popular than Liberty Unleashed for example? Because you just said they both share the same engine, and they do.
I sincerely don't see where you're going with this, if anywhere..

[Glock22]

The thing is the game engine. Look at Liberty Unleashed/GTA3MP, they have an active team and a good client, but the game engine itself is what puts everyone off. And what is VCMP, just a bright and sunny version of GTA3 set in a different city, the same game engine. Even if VCMP had a better client than SAMP, its still the game engine/

Now you're implying that the game engine is 'the thing' when it comes to popularity. Then how do you explain VC-MP being more popular than Liberty Unleashed for example? Because you just said they both share the same engine, and they do.
I sincerely don't see where you're going with this, if anywhere..

Probably because people think VC is somehow more advanced that GTA III when it barely is. Maybe because the GTA III graphics are slightly worse. It could be the name, I myself had a hard time finding out where to find a GTA III multiplayer and I was actually looking and searching around for it. Also I believe VCMP is older than it, much older.

[Darfy]

Probably because people think VC is somehow more advanced that GTA III when it barely is.

And what's wrong with that? Doesn't change the fact that VC-MP has more players than any GTA3 multiplayer mod and as long as it stays that way I'm happy, regardless of the reason why people actually choose so. Not saying it's a bad thing if for example LU some day reaches the same player counts as we do, not at all, that would be fantastic.
Again, you're going absolutely nowhere with your arguments. Why don't you let it be already? It's more than clear that VC-MP is not dead and won't be anytime soon. I'm not saying VC-MP will be popular until the end of time because it won't. Every multiplayer modification and their communities die, eventually. However that is not and will not be our concern in the near future, that I'm sure of.