Why to they seem to want us to play online so badly?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Adamaw11
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MatskiMonk
Yes I can imagine. I don't even want priority though. I just want the game I buy to not be **** because the developers want online numbers. GT is not so bad because they cannot monetize their online gaming presence so readily.. the likes of GTA... forget it.
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Fair enough.

As one who is usually quite quick to jump on the "conspiracy theory" bandwagon, the whole "the motivation behind online play is to make money" sentiment is one I just can't get behind.

There are absolutely more ways for a company to make more money from online features than offline....but I still think people's desire for online connectivity is the main motivating factor behind the shift in game development (which, ultimately, is about more sales...so yes, I guess it does all boil down to money, but what doesn't lol).

I'm sure that PD is keeping tabs on how far through the game people are progressing...either via trophies, or other means. Creating a fun, engaging, well rounded career mode which satisfies a large number of people seems like a huge task to undertake...and for what? To see a majority of players never finish it? Of those who do get 100%, how many do so more than once?

So it becomes a balancing act. Do you spend resources on aspects which most players will only use once? Or do you spend resources on aspects which can literally add years onto the games lifespan?
 
I see this as simply the easiest way to add new events and thats it, no conspiracies.
 
MatskiMonk
Yes I can imagine. I don't even want priority though. I just want the game I buy to not be **** because the developers want online numbers. GT is not so bad because they cannot monetize their online gaming presence so readily.. the likes of GTA... forget it.
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I don't think it's solely due to developers wanting online numbers rather the new generation (which most games are catered to) want a vast online game. I've read some other forums where new players (new generation) will not buy a game that doesn't have online. So it's not just the devs that want the numbers, it's also the players.

Online gaming and being connected all the time has became the norm and I feel it's not going away - ever, it's just going to grow.
 
Bluntified
I don't think it's solely due to developers wanting online numbers rather the new generation (which most games are catered to) want a vast online game. I've read some other forums where new players (new generation) will not buy a game that doesn't have online. So it's not just the devs that want the numbers, it's also the players.

Online gaming and being connected all the time has became the norm and I feel it's not going away - ever, it's just going to grow.
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Shame.

Surely the market for busy 35+ professionals with money, but not time, to chuck at a game could be lucrative.. oh wait, I guess that's what micro-transactions are for! :lol: :lol: but seriously, I could spend $50 a month on DLC for GT and not care, but I can't throw an evening at just getting in 1 or 2 decent races.

Whats not funny is story driven games like GTA, paying less attention to the plot, to just become a run around shooter for 10 year olds.
 
The game surely needs to keep an offline mode but they really need to focus more on the online stuff than they have already. It is fine to race against AI to get used to a track, to earn some credits, win some cars and such but the real draw to a racing game is racing with other humans rather than some lame AI. They need a full leaderboard system, a way to invite friends into your races, quick matches, more options for setting up races and searching for races, more stability in online races and so on.

Personally if the game were offline only I would not own a PS3 nor would I have bought GT5P GT5 nor GT6.
 
MatskiMonk
Shame.

Surely the market for busy 35+ professionals with money, but not time, to chuck at a game could be lucrative.. oh wait, I guess that's what micro-transactions are for! :lol: :lol: but seriously, I could spend $50 a month on DLC for GT and not care, but I can't throw an evening at just getting in 1 or 2 decent races.

Whats not funny is story driven games like GTA, paying less attention to the plot, to just become a run around shooter for 10 year olds.
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I'm sure the market for younger players surpass (by far) the number of 35+ professionals....they have way more time with mommy or daddy's credit card (no offense to anyone). Money will be spent regardless of age. Have you seen the COD community, they pay for one game twice (game and seasons pass) and it's mainly kids! BTW, I'm 32 but not blind to the facts.

Cater a game to someone who plays once in a while or to someone who plays everyday?

To get the most out of any online game (console), a decent friends list is required. When you (not directly at you) start venturing into random lobbies, that's where it get frustrating. Here's a tip, if you find a decent lobby with some decent drivers, add them to your friends list. You're not obligated to socialize with them or anything but at least you'll know that there are some decent drivers online when you go on. I have tons of people on my list that I haven't said a word to in years but at least I know when they're online, I'll have a good time without the need for searching for lobbies.
 
Bluntified
I'm sure the market for younger players surpass (by far) the number of 35+ professionals....they have way more time with mommy or daddy's credit card (no offense to anyone). Money will be spent regardless of age. Have you seen the COD community, they pay for one game twice (game and seasons pass) and it's mainly kids! BTW, I'm 32 but not blind to the facts.

Cater a game to someone who plays once in a while or to someone who plays everyday?

To get the most out of any online game (console), a decent friends list is required. When you (not directly at you) start venturing into random lobbies, that's where it get frustrating. Here's a tip, if you find a decent lobby with some decent drivers, add them to your friends list. You're not obligated to socialize with them or anything but at least you'll know that there are some decent drivers online when you go on. I have tons of people on my list that I haven't said a word to in years but at least I know when they're online, I'll have a good time without the need for searching for lobbies.
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Don't mis-understand me, I'm not suggesting they should cater to my demographic over another. But, I don't have the patience to get spun out by twatards 8 races out of 10 hoping I'll find some decent racers.. heck I don't even know how I know what people on my friends list are doing. The moment my gaming experience depends on others, it will most probably go down the toilet. Great for you if you have the time and inclination, I'd rather they just made an effort to maintain the integrity of the off-line experience (i.e. what is on the disc I pay for), rather than make a token gesture, then chase mommy and daddys teeny credit card balances.
 
MatskiMonk
Don't mis-understand me, I'm not suggesting they should cater to my demographic over another. But, I don't have the patience to get spun out by twatards 8 races out of 10 hoping I'll find some decent racers.. heck I don't even know how I know what people on my friends list are doing. The moment my gaming experience depends on others, it will most probably go down the toilet. Great for you if you have the time and inclination, I'd rather they just made an effort to maintain the integrity of the off-line experience (i.e. what is on the disc I pay for), rather than make a token gesture, then chase mommy and daddys teeny credit card balances.
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That's a good point about the gaming experience depending on others.

I don't mind that aspect of GT's online mode, but I see where you're coming from.
 
I wish they would add back the option to turn collisions off. I have played that way on Forza quite a lot and while it does take a bit away from the racing it solves the issues with people just crashing into everyone and also helps if someone is lagging a lot. I rarely go into any public rooms on Forza where collisions are on and have only been in a few public rooms on GT6. If they would put back the option to turn off collisions online then I would be much more likely to run in public races.
 
I don't like it that they don't put much effort in offline mode anymore. The times/days I can play and the length of a play-session varies too much too enroll in a league or something. The only option for me is the open lobby, but it's very difficult to find a room to my taste and have a good race when I've got only an hour that day. It's very time consuming to search for a room with for example 70s era sports cars, on that particular track, 450-500 pp, sport hard tyres, no driving aids, weather and day/night change, and a dozen other options.. How am I going to find that in 5 minutes?
 
Adamaw11
Some current seasonal events seem a lot like basic non-racing car races against AI. They might as well be offline races.

They give bonuses just for logging in every day.

They don't seem to put as much effort into the single player aspect of the game any more.

It seems pretty clear they want us to login and play online regularly and play offline less.

I have my theories as to why, but why do you think it is?
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Could you elaborate a bit because I don't recognize that picture.

The log-on bonus is a bonus for playing the game every day. You don't need to play online to obtain the bonus, you get it even if you only play the career races. Your PS3 needs to be connected to the internet and you need to be logged in to PSN, but that's it.

When you say that they don't put as much effort into single player any more, what do you compare with? Was single player better in GT5? Why? Or in GT4? Why? What did they do that they don't do any more?
 
NixxxoN
I have 100 times more fun playing online with other players compared to playing against the soulless, boring AI
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To be honest, some players online are quite soulless as well...
 
To make their Ai logic smarter... PD is still working on it... thats my theory...

Having just run the international A 15-minutes race on Apricot Hill, the Ai seems on another level than this seasonal, https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/thre...ss-non-racecar-challenge-apricot-hill.312191/ , it makes me think that there are different AI logics.

I am thinking that for this seasonal,and any others, PD might beta testing some sort Drivatar that is based on the reactions of average online players... just like Forza...

But because they cannot announce it officially, they (PD) might could be still developing the system...


What do you all think?
 
Pilitev
I don't like it that they don't put much effort in offline mode anymore. The times/days I can play and the length of a play-session varies too much too enroll in a league or something. The only option for me is the open lobby, but it's very difficult to find a room to my taste and have a good race when I've got only an hour that day. It's very time consuming to search for a room with for example 70s era sports cars, on that particular track, 450-500 pp, sport hard tyres, no driving aids, weather and day/night change, and a dozen other options.. How am I going to find that in 5 minutes?
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Well you could always create your own lobby either public or private. Some friends who enjoy the same type of racing at times when you want to race is also very helpful. Shame that GT does not provide a way to invite your friends to the lobby. Also a shame that PS3 does not allow chat across games and/or outside a lobby.

These are two things that the XBox 360 does better than the PS3.
 
HBR-Roadhog
Well you could always create your own lobby either public or private. Some friends who enjoy the same type of racing at times when you want to race is also very helpful. Shame that GT does not provide a way to invite your friends to the lobby. Also a shame that PS3 does not allow chat across games and/or outside a lobby.

These are two things that the XBox 360 does better than the PS3.
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You can invite them by sending a message through PSN. Just hit the PS button.
 
eran0004
You can invite them by sending a message through PSN. Just hit the PS button.
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Yeah you can try but that really is not a good method and is often not even noticed by the person you try to send it to. There is also the issue of not having a PS button on my wheel which means it requires using the controller and typing in a message. On Forza and other XBox games there is a simple invite to game option that pops up a message on the friends console asking them to join. Almost impossible to miss seeing this on the XBox, very likely to miss a message coming in on the PS3.

Of course you could also call them on the phone and talk to them while playing, or you can fire up the xbox and chat with them while playing on the PS3 ;)
 
HBR-Roadhog
Yeah you can try but that really is not a good method and is often not even noticed by the person you try to send it to. There is also the issue of not having a PS button on my wheel which means it requires using the controller and typing in a message. On Forza and other XBox games there is a simple invite to game option that pops up a message on the friends console asking them to join. Almost impossible to miss seeing this on the XBox, very likely to miss a message coming in on the PS3.

Of course you could also call them on the phone and talk to them while playing, or you can fire up the xbox and chat with them while playing on the PS3 ;)
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Sure, if you have their phone number why not?

But yeah, you need to look at the screen while the message comes up. If you're busy elsewhere at the time you'll miss it.
 
I'll start playing online the day they'll bring back shuffle races
 
I miss those seasonal events that were fun and had good payments. There was this one event in GT5 that was a race with European touring cars. With 200% bonus and first place you could get $900,000-$1,400,000 every time you did the event. And back then you could replay seasonal event races as much as you wanted. That was my money making technique. Now I see no reason to do seasonal events unless it offers a free car.
 
The leading reason developers continue to improve and encourage players online is all about retention. Technically online never ends, stays fresh, and can be addictive. Especially if you get into the social aspect. Most anyone here who has joined a good racing league sees the game take on a whole new life.

The GT6 contradiction is the lack of priority of the online "clubs" feature.

The long term goal of game developers is to continue to seek a more seem less online/offline experience. The opportunity for GT 6 would have been making all the career events be on or offline, using the single player structure for online. GT 5 could have made b-spec career work this way but instead did some completely different mode that people quickly realized was pointless.

Traditional developers have made this more difficult for themselves by creating separate online dev teams within the same studio for ease of production management and to ensure ownership of the feature. But designers all want to prove themselves and don't tend to get along on teams so you end up with 2 games in one.

Or dev simply doesn't get into the online until later in the schedule. There really are many circumstances but these are the easiest to highlight.

Some of the better examples of a hybrid game are the rainbow 6 series, crack down, left 4 dead, etc. coop is a great way to do this but its very hard work.

Some bad examples are assassins creed, previous iterations of wolfinstien (I haven't played the new one) or basically any game that seems like 2 games in 1.

There are unique examples like the Dark Souls series... That is an amazingly unique way of merging online with off and adding to emersion. Seeing people's ghosts and even summoning or invading games. It's one of the more innovative designs I've seen in years... And likely made zero sense on paper... So of course it took a Japanese team to succeed at doing it.

GT 6 really has a lot of opportunity to succeed at this but it requires strong structure and the elimination of most things that keep people offline in the first place. Lots of design, not PD's strongest suit in recent GT's. Just having clubs that can create their own events that other players can register to compete in would mirror real world. Championship ladders is also a big step in the right direction.
 
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