This is not I a hardcore Quake2 player saying QuakeWorld is dead, but I`m asking this question: Is Quake, the series of games dead? Will by the end of this year, or even before the end will players still be playing Quake 1, 2, or 3?

A large proportion of the quake players I known have moved onto other games, most of which are team based. With Tribes2, and TeamFortress 2 just around the corner, team play will be the future of gaming. Gone are the days of 1 player against 8-10 others. Deathmatching is dead, and with quake being heavily based on this it to is dead. (At this point SAS puts on his flameproof suit)

Most of the players I`ve spoken to are fed up bog standard deathmatching. After a few years of it players want a fresh challenge, something new for them to sink their teeth into, and from what I`ve seen most players feel the same. There is evidence for his. In the evenings check the game servers. You`ll probably find as I have the quake3 ones are either half empty or deserted. Then check the other games. Counter-Strike always full, Tribes full... You get the picture :).

Teamplaying offers a lot more to a player. Since quake is not aimed at team play, as shown by the weak CTF and TP options in Quake3, what do other games offer to the players?

[This is the bit where I give 3 examples of games I was in. To try and show you what makes team playing interesting and challenging. Think of this as a bit where your grandparents pull out the old slide machine at home and force you to watch them :) ]

Public server Game: Counter-strike, map: de_dust

I entered a server mid game and joined the counter-terrorist side. (In case you`ve not played cs the aim of this map is to stop the terrorists planting a bomb at one of 2 bombsites). The terrorists were winning 3-0, and the players on my team were saying things like I give up, what can we do! After 3 more rounds I saw what was happening. Usually on this map the counter-terrorists would rush forwards and hold positions on a ramp and within a T shape corridor section, where the terrorists will then have to break through, but in this game the 7 terrorists where working as a solid `team` they would from the word go rush forwards and storm through any single lone counter-terrorist they came across, plant the bomb and within a space of 1-2 minutes win the round.

After the game reached 7-0 I checked the scoreboard. All of the players on my team were still on the server (rare as usually in team games players will leave if losing badly). I knew something had to be done so I started to issue plans. Since my team had no chance in hell of taking on the terrorists as they charged forward I screamed at them to split up and hold the bombsites, and to forget trying to counter attack. If we could block the terrorists from them by camping around the bombsites we would win, since the main objective is for the terrorists to bomb the targets. All the counter-terrorists had to do was stay alive for 5 minutes, or wipe out the terrorists who tried to enter the bombsites :}.

What was interesting about this game was only 2 players on my team where talking. The others did not say a word yet they all understood what I asked them to do and did there job. The first time we used this team tactic we stayed alive longer than we had in the past rounds. This seems to raise the spirits of my team (think of it as rallying the troops :) ). The round after we won. Although in the end we did lose the game overall we had won 4 rounds, and ever round after the counter-terrorist team were `rallied` we put up stiffed resistance and enjoyed every minute of it :).

Public server Game: Counter-strike, map: de_dust

Same map as before, and I was a counter-terrorist again. There are only 2 points between the CT and terrorist start points on the map, 1 being the ramp, the other the middle corridor. In this game I was in the corridor with Davej (creator of the map, and guy who allowed me and a few others to test his new map that will appear in beta6.5), and one other guy (I`ll call him mr_x). After a minute of the round had passed I had a gut feeling and checked the scores. Only the 3 of us were left alive on the CT team, yet there where 5 terrorists alive still and there was only 1 I could see holding us back in the corridor. This meant one thing, the terrorists had broken through the ramp area and where now swarming behind us! There was no time to chat to my teammates as mr_x was gunned down by an ak47 from a charging terrorist and another came rushing around the corner near me. As Davej fired his Para and dropping the terrorist, I dealt with the other, and sure enough he to fell. All the time this was happening there was still a terrorist in the corridor, he had heard the gun fire and then made his move I got hit 2-3 times from his mp5, but luckily Davej was there to stop him and the 3rd Terrorist went down. At this point the dreaded "The bomb has been planted," echoed around the server. This left 45 seconds for the counter-terrorists (only me and Davej left) to defuse it. I ran to the bombsite closest to me and saw the bomb flashing away. Usually the terrorist who planted it would hang around the area to attack any CTs trying to defuse it. The bomb was still ticking, so I had a quick look about (no sign of the terrorist) then started to defuse the bomb. This meant facing down on it and watching the defuse meter slowly rise (I had no defuse kit either :( ). After 50% of the defusing was done I heard footsteps. This left me with 2 choices.

1) Stop defusing the bomb. Kill the terrorist then go back to defusing from 0% again, or 2) carry on defusing and hope Davej was around covering me (I had not seen him follow me to the bomb site so I had no idea where he was). If I stopped defusing then I would never had time to start again as it would have blown so I carried on and gritted my teeth, 2 seconds after I made this decision I heard what I was dreading, the terrorist was near me and I heard 2 shots from his ak47 which he had started to fire :/, but then I heard Davej`s Para opening up and by the time the terrorist had dropped to the floor the bomb was defused :).

Public server Game: Tribes

On the other team there was 3 clanned players in heavy armour `skiing` across the small map and wiping out any defences the team I was on had. Time after time they would ski backwards and forwards across the map with my teams flag and capping it. One of my team mates soon saw it was pointless defending the base, after all no one could stay alive long enough to start repairing the defences, so he had an idea. Half of us do what we could at the base, the rest attack. There is a saying attack is the best form of defence and in this case it was true :).

While the 3 heavies skied towards the base where myself and one other tried desperately to defend and block them from the flag, the rest of the team along the flanks would make their way to the enemy base and while the 3 guys launched yet another attack my 5 of my team would then attack it (It was 7v7 so only 4 players where left defending there base). Due to superior numbers my team started to get the enemies flag. This made it harder for the 3 skiing heavies who could easily get my teams flag, but could not cap it :). The game started to even up as the 3 clanned players had to change tactics.

Summary

Teamplay is the future. Gone are the days of 1 man v his computer/console, or a single player battling with other single players to claim the top spot on the score board (i.e. deathmatching). With consoles now having access to online gaming they to will start to see more team play type games. Teamfortress2 and Tribes2 will both be huge games and have a lot of new players join their ranks.

Quake will be still be played in leagues, and in some competitions, but the days of quake online are over.

Do you agree or disagree? Have your say on the forum thread here :).

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