07-17-2003, 06:38 PM
I've personally always found the "aargh factor" to be higher for non-realm multiplayer. The client/server model, or at least its implementation in D2, works well for the Realms, but gets annoying otherwise.
This probably has a lot to do with my playing perferences. I play with a small group of people who enjoy dropping in for games but rarely plan ahead in greater detail than "lets try to play sometime on Tuesday." Players come and go, and the type of game that is played at any given time varies depending upon who's on and what they're interested in. On the realms, with a standard game name/password convention, we have that flexibility. Without it, there's the issue that some people have computers, connections, or firewalls that make it impossible for them to host. Even if someone can host, if they have to go or lose their connection while others are still playing, the game goes poof. I realize that happens on the Realms as well, but in my experience not as often.
Realms play also makes it easy for players to find each other when they're online. We use bots and standard naming coventions, and it's easy to pop on and know who's on, what characters they're playing, and what game they're in. This is possible outside of the realms as well, but it generally requires a chatroom or out-of-game communication. That's not difficult, but for me it adds just enough to the "aargh" factor, especially when combined with the hosting issues above, to make it less desirable.
For what it's worth, I've had similar issues with other multiplayer games. I think that the lack of a central server to host games was a major reason that our group abandoned NWN, for example. Setting up games and getting everyone into a game was just too difficult. Of course, NWN had some other issues as well, but that was a big one for me.
I'm not trying to convert you to Realms play, and I realize that my perspective is based on my playing style, but I did want to point out that there are reasons to play on the realms even if one has no interest in public games.
-Griselda
This probably has a lot to do with my playing perferences. I play with a small group of people who enjoy dropping in for games but rarely plan ahead in greater detail than "lets try to play sometime on Tuesday." Players come and go, and the type of game that is played at any given time varies depending upon who's on and what they're interested in. On the realms, with a standard game name/password convention, we have that flexibility. Without it, there's the issue that some people have computers, connections, or firewalls that make it impossible for them to host. Even if someone can host, if they have to go or lose their connection while others are still playing, the game goes poof. I realize that happens on the Realms as well, but in my experience not as often.
Realms play also makes it easy for players to find each other when they're online. We use bots and standard naming coventions, and it's easy to pop on and know who's on, what characters they're playing, and what game they're in. This is possible outside of the realms as well, but it generally requires a chatroom or out-of-game communication. That's not difficult, but for me it adds just enough to the "aargh" factor, especially when combined with the hosting issues above, to make it less desirable.
For what it's worth, I've had similar issues with other multiplayer games. I think that the lack of a central server to host games was a major reason that our group abandoned NWN, for example. Setting up games and getting everyone into a game was just too difficult. Of course, NWN had some other issues as well, but that was a big one for me.
I'm not trying to convert you to Realms play, and I realize that my perspective is based on my playing style, but I did want to point out that there are reasons to play on the realms even if one has no interest in public games.
-Griselda
Why can't we all just get along
--Pete
--Pete