Opinions, concerns, etc. regarding this forum...

[jdtrainman]

Please feel free to use this thread to express your opinions (pro or con) on the multi-player forum. Basic rules of good manners and respectful debate will apply, however....

Jim Duncan
Forum Moderator

[SVTS]

Jim,
In a nutshell, we didn't need this forum. Everyone thinks we need a forum for every little thing, and all that ends up happening is the newly created forums , such as this one, hender a otherwise growing hobby. By that I mean, not everyone checks every forum. Most like myself check the General, MSTS and screenshot forum, and every so often, the route developers forum.

Anything goes on the general forum, so it was a perfect place to announce new sessions. Attendance was up at most sessions, including my first TP II session. The second TPII session, announced only on this forum, had but only a couple players. Was that the reason? Not sure.

My take on this? I don't visit this forum but maybe a few times a week now. The sessions are now but only a few here and there, and intrest has declined, just as it did the first time we had MP's, early last year. The future of MP's success rested on the wide open general forum, not a exclusive forum. Now there is little if any mention of multiplayers in the general forum.

I appluade you for taking the action to have Nels to create this forum, and you have done a super job running it, but I think we could have done without it. So what if the general forum was being over run by MP announcements. More and more people saw these announcements and it peeked thier intrest.

People also say we need a forum for those that have problems with something. This is also a bad idea. So many people with knowledge visit the MSTS forum, your almost assured at least one answer, if not more in mere moments. A perfect example was a problem I had creating a activity. I first took it to the activity forum. And waited.....and waited. For 3 days. No bites. I posted the same problem in the MSTS forum, and had my answer in under one hour.

Solution? Not sure if there even is any. Is the forum at fault for a decline in MP sessions? Perhaps. One thing is for sure, when dispatchers call a session, and people sign up and dont show, that leads to dispatchers calling it quits. Such as the case was with me. It takes a lot of time and work to make one of theses sessions run smoothly, and I guess I too have lost intrest in this for the time being. I still hope to run a session over the ADFRR soon, maybe I will give it one last try, maybe next week or the week after.

I hope you look at what I said with some open mindness. You have done a terrefic job here, I'm just not sure we were ready for this yet.

[jdtrainman]

Well said, Chris.

As I said in the D&H thread the hope in starting this was to have a central point and I never intended for sessions to ONLY be posted here, at least not until there is a strong following of MP operators and that MP sessions are well-publicized and a part of the mainstream.

Clearly there are those who will disagree (as we have already seen in the D&H thread!) and those whose opinions probably don't have anything to do with MP anyway.

I have noted the drop-off in traffic but also realize that it's summer and if train-simming is anything like model railroading (which I think it is!), then most people are doing outdoorsy things and would rather be outdoors than tied to a computer this time of year. Heck, I'd MUCH rather have the party-barge out on the lake (but the motor's got a problem right now and the right pontoon is leaking!).

Lately all of the flame wars have created a lot of "hands off" attitudes toward train-sim.com and that hurts us all. We've been fortunate to not have any flame wars started or spill over into this forum and I sincerely hope that we can continue this track record!

I hope that we can all help to publicize the forum AND the multi-player sessions! Personally, I get a kick out of designing sessions (model and sim!) and try to design line-ups, etc. that will keep the operators busy and interested.

Please continue to post your opinions and suggestions. I'm here, moreover the FORUM is here to build interest and support this exciting part of train simming.

JBD

[jdtrainman]

Frank:

When I first heard of Multi-Player I said "what's the point?" You don't really get to interact with trains run by real people and this is one of the great short-comings of M$TS-I. Without turning this into a debate about the merits (or lack thereof) of M$TS-I, let me tell my story....

Multi-player probably isn't for everyone. It wasn't for me until I found out that there was a conscientious effort on the part of the organizers to plan realistic sessions and the real-time communications which helped to make this possible in this limited platform.

I designed a set of 13 Multi-player activities for the GM&O Northern Lines route with this kind of operation in mind. The AI trains included in those activities are designed to come close to simulating the actual meets with other scheduled trains.

Will it ever be true multi-player? Not now but it IS a start and I look at our current incarnation as a means of sharing an evening with fellow train-sim enthusiasts and appreciate the comaraderie associated with these sessions. I have come to enjoy these sessions nearly as much as I do when I go to one of my modeler friends places and do prototype operating sessions!

Is it for Frank Martin? Only you can say. MP isn't for everyone but we ARE trying to make it more accessible and publicly known. I would encourage you to drop in and listen in to one of the CSX M&M route sessions sometime. You'll hear a dispatcher who knows the territory giving the same type of directions the prototype dispatcher does and that helps to create an air of authenticity and realism to running trains on a route. It's ALWAYS fun when someone hits the ground and we have to go through all the mess with dealing with FRA, the local emergency services, etc.!

A lot of times it just boils down to everyone sharing an activity that they enjoy with like-minded others.

Stop by sometime and take a listen. You may find yourself drawn to marking up for a run!

JBD

[3DRailHound]

Hi Jim,

Recently I participated in a MP session, and it was a hoot..so I'm looking forward to another one when I have time.

Regarding this forum, yes, imho it is needed, however, I also agree with Chris about it being buried with all the other forums which won't help MP grow.. so here are a few suggestions which would help attract some attention to MP; First make some kind of news announcement about the new forum on the Train-Sim.com home page with a link to some kind of FAQ page that explains more about MP..and then finally, maybe a direct link to this forum under the main one in Nel's Train Simulator page of the Train-Sim.com website..its worth a shot I think.

Best regards,
Brad Brown

[andykeffer_2]

I made a post yesterday in the MSTS forum called "Multiplayer" and told about it. Maybe it will bring some people.