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                                                             on Gopher (inofficial)
  HTML Visit Hacker News on the Web
       
       
       COMMENT PAGE FOR:
  HTML   Gamedate – A site to revive dead multiplayer games
       
       
        throwatdem12311 wrote 12 hours 8 min ago:
        This is amazing.
        
        Would love for this to take off instead of having to join a bajillion
        LFG discord servers.
       
        andai wrote 12 hours 42 min ago:
        The developer made a video explaining the project:
        
  HTML  [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFBCNnOhYgs
       
        integricho wrote 12 hours 55 min ago:
        I thought this is a sort of campaign / kickstarter site to prioritize
        which dead games are in highest demand, in pursuit of reverse
        engineering and building servers for them.
       
        arm32 wrote 13 hours 44 min ago:
        I absolutely freaking LOVE this UI. Bravo.
       
        david3289 wrote 14 hours 4 min ago:
        I like that this is targeting forgotten games with low player counts
        (since im new and not famous)
        Have you considered gamifying session creation (e.g., showing estimated
        wait times or crowd-sourced player counts) to make join-up easier?
        And I also like your 98.css style!
       
        DonHopkins wrote 14 hours 7 min ago:
        I want to recreate the server for Peter Molyneux's "Curiosity: What's
        Inside the Cube?", but put a life changing Rightward-Facing Cow from
        Ian Bogost's social commentary game "Cow Clicker" inside the cube,
        instead of a huge disappointment and a pack of broken promises and lies
        and hype and literal promises of godhood and credits and royalties. [1]
        [2] DonHopkins on July 4, 2022 | parent | context | favorite | on: Cow
        Clicker (2010)
        
        A decade ago attempted to troll Peter Molyneux at the Unity3D "Unite
        2012" conference after his insufferably vainglorious keynote
        presentation of his "Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube?" Cube Clicker
        game, jokingly guessing that the big secret inside the box was a cow,
        but he just didn't get the joke, even after I explained it: [3] [4]
        DonHopkins on Sept 5, 2020 | parent | context | favorite | on: Bullfrog
        After Populous
        
        His Cube game was the epitome of dopamine addiction games, all that was
        wrong with Zynga/Facebook games, the rage at the time. Nothing at all
        original about that: a total cop-out of game design.
        
        When Peter Molyneux gave his insufferably vainglorious keynote
        presentation of Cube at the Unity3D Unite conference at
        Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam, I chatted him up afterwards and
        attempted to troll him by guessing that the big surprise in the box was
        a cow.
        
        I don't think he got the point that I was trying to make an ironic
        reference to Ian Bogost's Cow Clicker, which is a parody of and social
        commentary on dopamine games.
        
        I tried to explain the joke to him, and he still didn't get it. At
        least Ian Bogost had the self awareness to design Cow Clicker in the
        service of making a critical statement about game design, and the
        capacity of shame to be embarrassed when it was an accidental run-away
        success.
        
        Unite 2012 : Keynote - Founders & Peter Molyneux (The BS starts at 1h
        8m 21s -- It's been 8 years since I saw this live, and it's much worse
        than I remembered, especially now knowing how it turned out!) [5] >1h
        48m 06s, with arms spread out like Jesus H Christ on a crucifix:
        "Because we can dynamically put on ANY surface of the cube ANY image we
        like. So THAT's how we're going to surprise the world, is by giving
        clues about what's in the middle later on." [6] [1] >In the wake of a
        controversial speech by Zynga's president at the Game Developers Choice
        Awards in 2010, Bogost developed Cow Clicker for a presentation at a
        New York University seminar on social gaming in July 2010. The game was
        created to demonstrate what Bogost felt were the most commonly abused
        mechanics of social games, such as the promotion of social interaction
        and monetization rather than the artistic aspects of the medium. As the
        game unexpectedly began to grow in popularity, Bogost also used Cow
        Clicker to parody other recent gaming trends, such as gamification,
        educational apps, and alternate reality games.
        
        >Some critics praised Cow Clicker for its dissection of the common
        mechanics of social network games and viewed it as a commentary on how
        social games affect people. [8] >Life really is a game—with a lot of
        clicks—and then you die
        
        >Curiosity is just the latest in a series of social experiments that
        rely on user interactions with seemingly no point. Of course, Zynga is
        the king of this phenomenon, providing games full of sticky and
        addictive action that encourage more clicks for the sake of clicks.
        Arbitrary value becomes real value, even when it’s not meant to. Just
        ask Ian Bogost, who created the satirical social game Cow Clicker that
        went on to such absurd popularity that he felt compelled to continue
        developing it, trapping himself in an ironic loop that refuses to end.
        In Cow Clicker, you literally click one cow every six hours to collect
        Mooney, which lets you buy other cows to click on. [9] DonHopkins on
        May 29, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: Y Combinator backed
        MMO metaverse game is a blatan...
        
        Is Peter Molyneux a scammer? Or just a pathological liar who believes
        his own hype? He made some fantastic games in the past, but then...
        [10] The Lesson of Peter Molyneux [11] Peter Molyneux - Dreamer? Or Con
        Man? [12] Peter Molyneux Interview: "I haven’t got a reputation in
        this industry any more" [13] >RPS: Do you think that you're a
        pathological liar?
        
        >Peter Molyneux: That's a very...
        
        >RPS: I know it's a harsh question, but it seems an important question
        to ask because there do seem to be lots and lots of lies piling up.
        
        >Peter Molyneux: I'm not aware of a single lie, actually. I'm aware of
        me saying things and because of circumstances often outside of our
        control those things don't come to pass, but I don't think that's
        called lying, is it? I don't think I've ever knowingly lied, at all.
        And if you want to call me on one I'll talk about it for sure.
        
  HTML  [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Clicker
  HTML  [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31981916
  HTML  [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity:_What%27s_Inside_the_C...
  HTML  [4]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24380418
  HTML  [5]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24AY4fJ66xA&t=1h08m21s
  HTML  [6]: http://www.cowclicker.com/
  HTML  [7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Clicker
  HTML  [8]: https://qz.com/34024/life-really-is-a-game-with-a-lot-of-click...
  HTML  [9]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27324466
  HTML  [10]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Molyneux
  HTML  [11]: https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/15/the-lesson-of-peter-molyneux...
  HTML  [12]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-J4KDMAIk&ab_channel=Shott1e
  HTML  [13]: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/peter-molyneux-interview-godu...
       
        emmelaich wrote 14 hours 13 min ago:
        In Australia we have [1] monthly.  Physical presence and remote is OK.
        
  HTML  [1]: https://dadlan.au/
       
        wao0uuno wrote 14 hours 14 min ago:
        Dystopia just refuses to die huh. Another cool source engine based
        cyberpunk themed multiplayer game is NEOTOKYO. No idea if it's still
        alive tho.
       
          saidnooneever wrote 11 hours 58 min ago:
          wow neotokyo such memories streaming back in totally forgot it =}
          followed it from starting as a tiny mod out on some dev forums
          wayback when..there were some cool mods back then but this one always
          stuck in my mind!
       
          the__alchemist wrote 14 hours 3 min ago:
          Oh wow! That was a fun one.
       
        mentos wrote 15 hours 7 min ago:
        Ha funny I had a similar idea I was calling ‘GameFlock’ but game
        date is much better.
        
        To the creators I think there is something here worth continuing to
        push and try to find traction. As a game developer this is just a
        matchmaking algorithm with a week to month long wait time :)
        
        My plan was to try to prime the pump with a few popular games and
        reaching out to existing communities to make them aware and possibly
        help organize the software/tools to help onboard new players.
        
        For example Ultima Online has Outlands. Tribes2 has a popular discord
        that arranges matches. I imagine WoW classic and I know C&C Generals
        have active communities on Discord and I think they’d be willing to
        work with you to help prime the pump.
        
        Then once you’ve got that critical mass of usage hope that players
        will participate in other games outside their main passion to make
        other game dates a success.
       
        xandrius wrote 15 hours 23 min ago:
        Really cool initiative! Just created one for tonight for Warcraft 3 TFT
        custom games. Just to see.
        
        I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm doing it!
       
        evilhackerdude wrote 17 hours 29 min ago:
        that early steam UI aesthetic has sent me down a bit of a rabbit
        hole... [1] a rabbit hole, at the end of which is an imgui theme, and
        me was^H^H^Hspending entirely too much time extracting actual fonts,
        color codes and other minuscule details.
        
        what's better, i have absolutely no issue with that theme being my new
        default!
        
  HTML  [1]: https://archive.org/details/steam_10-08-2004
       
          RestartKernel wrote 16 hours 9 min ago:
          I love how stylised it is while remaining more responsive than the
          vast majority of websites today.
       
        efskap wrote 18 hours 20 min ago:
        Reminds me of a 2011 reddit post (obviously in the format of a rage
        comic) that led to the formation of r/playdate, although that shifted
        to just looking for people to play games with over the years. [1] I
        love seeing the original concept brought back with a cool UI.
        
  HTML  [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/j8hpz/idea_for_subred...
       
        notenlish wrote 19 hours 33 min ago:
        I hope this becomes popular
       
        slowcache wrote 20 hours 12 min ago:
        This is a cool website, and it looks great too
        
        But it definitely could use some better moderation
       
        8cvor6j844qw_d6 wrote 21 hours 24 min ago:
        Would love to see Steel Sentinels by FubOrb on here.
       
        Razengan wrote 21 hours 40 min ago:
        StarCraft 1 let you take your computer to anywhere and connect on the
        LAN with anyone, or even dial-up directly to your friend's phone
        number.
        
        In StarCraft 2, Blizzard like every other corp wanted to see and
        control everything we do so you have to go all the way through the
        internet and lag even if you sit right next to each other. lol if the
        connection goes down!
        
        Even on the PS5 when I hand a visiting guest the throwaway DualSense I
        have to bump through a clunky UI of choosing a user or "Quick Play" and
        wait while it spins up a whole new home screen and other crap for them,
        and then warnings about DLC or whatever in Mortal Kombat etc, just to
        have a short 2 minute beat-em-up session.
        
        Sigh
       
          vjk800 wrote 18 hours 48 min ago:
          To be fair, multiplayer via LAN is such a marginal feature nowadays
          that you can't really blame the companies for not supporting it. You
          don't really need "greedy corporate fucks" explanation for this; it's
          just that you don't want to develop, support and test features that
          maybe 0.1% of the user base is going to use.
       
            LtWorf wrote 11 hours 50 min ago:
            > To be fair, multiplayer via LAN is such a marginal feature
            nowadays that you can't really blame the companies for not
            supporting it.
            
            Yeah literally nobody has kids, siblings, friends. Those are all
            things of the past! (i'm being sarcastic)
       
            revlolz wrote 14 hours 12 min ago:
            It was the "greedy corporate fucks" entirely though?
            
            LANs empowered gamers with full ownership and a better ability to
            self organize player communities and tournaments. The always online
            model was heavily hamfisted by Activision Blizzard who wanted to
            launch their esports ambitions with SC2, seeing the KR broodwar
            scene as missed revenue. Look at the failed Overwatch League (OWL),
            Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone and even reforges of classic RTS.
            
            DOTA/League spawned from lan/bnet use map settings games and
            arguably Dota rise to success started in Lan cafes before hitting
            mainstream success on bnet.
            
            I acknowledge that many likely don't ship Lan because it's being
            seen now of days as extra, but I think that's pointing to the
            consequence as the root cause what the major entities wanting
            control and ownership on their platforms. It didn't used to be an
            extra feature 0.1% used, we were pivoted into this to profit larger
            corps and it's not a tinfoil hat conspiracy, it's just following
            where the real money was and investors want to be middlemen on
            platforms.
       
            Zambyte wrote 14 hours 17 min ago:
            Every time I read something like "you can't blame companies for not
            supporting it" I think "I can blame companies for not letting me
            support it".
       
            Thanemate wrote 16 hours 32 min ago:
            To be fair, so is couch co-op and yet I always appreciate
            developers who go the extra mile of giving me the ability to play
            alongside a friend.
       
            Razengan wrote 18 hours 14 min ago:
            Games like StarCraft, CounterStrike, Warcraft 3/DotA etc were
            definitely popular at the time of SC2's launch and still are played
            in "cybercafes" etc.
            
            Hell that LAN environment WAS the reason StarCraft got so hugely
            popular in the first place, before Blizzard got jealous and wanted
            to have their fingers in everything, and people still continued to
            play Brood War after SC2's launch.
            
            Now, when the servers inevitably get graveyarded permanently some
            day, how is anybody gonna play SC2 or any of the always-online
            games?
            
            > it's just that you don't want to develop, support and test
            features
            
            Just let one player's machine host some of the same server code
            they use for their internet services?
            
            > multiplayer via LAN is such a marginal feature nowadays 
            
            WHY?? Literally everybody has phones now, but how many local
            multiplayer games are there? Imagine if you could just bop your
            phone to your friends' and immediately start playing something
            together. The technology and social saturation has never been more
            favorable than now, but as always it's corporate greed/spying which
            is the biggest antifun cancer everywhere.
       
              fragmede wrote 15 hours 37 min ago:
              jackbox.tv has some really fun party games for that, if you've
              got the audience for that.
       
            jclulow wrote 18 hours 23 min ago:
            This is not an accurate assessment in the StarCraft II case.  It
            was released in 2010, and LAN play was definitely still popular.  I
            remember because I was part of a University club/society that was
            running ~200 person ~3 day LAN parties at the time, and I recall
            the intense loathing we had for how incredibly difficult Blizzard
            had decided to make it to actually play the game you had paid for,
            on your own network.
            
            If anything, LAN play became less popular because it was
            intentionally hampered by Blizzard and other companies.
       
          stackghost wrote 21 hours 2 min ago:
          "Quick Match" and ranked queues destroyed multiplayer gaming for me.
       
        PacificSpecific wrote 22 hours 15 min ago:
        Love the old school steam inspired ui.
        
        First game I noticed was deadlock which technically isn't even released
        yet. That's fine though. Deadlock is a game that is really good to play
        with a fixed group. So I'd say this site is good for even more than
        dead games.
        
        Nice work!
       
       
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