Will Oolite age out?

wackyman465 · Post by **wackyman465** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:14 pm

I was thinking: Most people who play Oolite are probably around the same age; around when Elite came out. So I'm wondering: As you all age, will Oolite become an old guy's game, and nobody will play it anymore? I chose the first option here

and I wonder if anyone else close to my age plays Oolite, or if I will be the last Ooliteer...
If so, then start recruiting younglings, y'all!

Administrator: added “Above 60” option.

Captain Hesperus · Post by **Captain Hesperus** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:44 pm

wackyman465 wrote:
I was thinking: Most people who play Oolite are probably around the same age; around when Elite came out. So I'm wondering: As you all age, will Oolite become an old guy's game, and nobody will play it anymore? I chose the first option here and I wonder if anyone else close to my age plays Oolite, or if I will be the last Ooliteer...
If so, then start recruiting younglings, y'all!

Oolite will never 'age out' as it is, at it's core, a simple, fun game. It doesn't follow the fad trends of other game genres (FPS, RTS, MMOs), it just offers solid gameplay with an open universe, so that the player can choose for him or herself what they want to do. Wanna be a manaical pirate taking on all comers in the gathering of booty? you can be. Wanna be a hard-bitten Bounty-hunter tracking down and putting down the scum of the Universe? you can. Wanna be an affluent merchant whose built his trading fortune from the ground floor up? you can be.
The addition of OXPs has increased the Elite experience. It was often the case with Elite that once the missions had been activated and completed, the game kind of went plain vanilla, with the player either fighting up to 'Elite' status or earning X million Credits. OXPs mean that you are constantly taxing yourself against various new ships, on various missions and marvelling at new visual feasts.
You can also tailor the experience to your own preferences by adding ships from other genres (such as the oft-maligned Star Wars OXP or the Llama OXP).

As your experience grows, you could even add to it by writing your own OXP and sharing it with the CommOonity here (even I've written an excuse of an OXP, though not officially released).

Elite IV will have a solid contender when it (if it!) gets released in Oolite, simply because Oolite has been delivering the goods and keeping people coming in. Consider the number of members on this board, 1505. This is likely a significant fraction of the number of players of Oolite, since most players tend to download and play first, then post later when they have a problem and no-one else can help....

Oolite shall rule forever!!!

Captain Hesperus

Erai · Post by **Erai** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:05 pm

Elite will age out, eventually, that's how it goes, nothing lasts forever.

But I don't think we will have to worry about that for the near future, I am still stunned about how many forums there are about this delightful little game, and about how amazingly active they are

Star Gazer · Post by **Star Gazer** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 9:12 pm

Excuse me, but I am in an age category that doesn't exist in your poll, as I am over 60!!

But that aside, I'd like to think that any one of any age who approaches the game with any degree of imagination will get it... ...but I might well be wrong...

Captain Tylor · Post by **Captain Tylor** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:27 pm

I`m hovering too close to the 40 mark so picked 30-40.

Post by **Cmdr James** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:31 pm

Its a funny question, I guess most people in their 30s, like me, have many years of gaming left. I dont think we will run out of people for a decade or two, and it would be pretty impressive for any game to be going that long.

gogz69 · Post by **gogz69** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:54 pm

@ C.H- Well said captain!

I have wished for so long that there was a modern version of the original.
So, when I found this game and all the possibilties that it has, I have never looked back. Oolite is the game that pushes all the right buttons.

But hey, why have vanilla? When you can have any flavour you want!

wackyman465 · Post by **wackyman465** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:56 pm

Sorry, stargazer - I included 60 and up, it must not have put it in.
What I'm asking is, because all of you are in you 30s, someday there will be no more development, OXPs, nothing, cause you all are in old folks homes... Will anyone be playing oolite 20 years into the future, is what I'm asking. Will other people be around making OXPs, or will we be the only generation of ooliteers? Make your children play!
"No son of mine wouldn't play Oolite! Now, 5 kills or 200 cr or no dinner!"

Screet · Post by **Screet** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 10:57 pm

Cmdr James wrote:
Its a funny question, I guess most people in their 30s, like me, have many years of gaming left. I dont think we will run out of people for a decade or two, and it would be pretty impressive for any game to be going that long.

Hmmm. When my friends and I had Atari ST, we were playing Colonial Conquest...and found that it was a good idea, but badly done. Thus, every day I came home from school, I was working on my own version of that game. The original was so bad that everyone wanted to play my version of it even when it was in it's very first stages. That was 20+ years ago! It's just for a little more than a year now that we exchanged the old Atari we were still using for that game for a PC and a newer version I wrote recently...and it seems we're gonna play that game until someone creates something better, but nowadays noones interested in creating that type of game it seems. Games can virtually last as long as the computers running them survive - and then there's even emulators

Thus, I'd guess oolite will last pretty long. Maybe become heavily refactored...but I doubt that it would be gone.

Nice poll, though, because I'd also like to know such stats...the other poll asking which version the people here did play first is already a hint, but not as close to as this is...

Screet

Post by **Cmdr James** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:04 pm

Right, thats kind of what I meant. If we look at oolite as elite then its already 25 years old -- I am not at all sure that even games like World of Warcraft will be around in 25 years.

If the 30 year olds here keep playing until we are 50 (and why stop then?) it still gives us another 20 years. Hardly time to worry about it just yet

wackyman465 · Post by **wackyman465** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:08 pm

Yeah, but what about me, then? I'll be only 30, and then maybe Oolite will lose most of its splendor...

I feel so alone....

Svengali · Post by **Svengali** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:17 pm

wackyman465 wrote:
I feel so alone....

Buy some trumbles :-)
You can play with them, feed them - they also give some nice furs (maybe not in this universe). But the most important thing is - dinner.

BTW: I don't think that you are alone in 20 years. Oolite and the oxps is a perfect concept. It only depends on our (dev-team and all board members) abilities to keep the level high.

Screet · Post by **Screet** » Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:18 pm

wackyman465 wrote:
Yeah, but what about me, then? I'll be only 30, and then maybe Oolite will lose most of its splendor...

That's what I tried to say with the other example....the people who did play that game never stopped - they even take a day or two off and drive or fly through whole germany just for another gaming session! That was the case with the old version which has not been updated in many years, as it reached the Atari's capabilities...but it did not lose it's fun...and for oolite, there's always new people with new skills who can and will update this game, thus enhancing it even further!

Oolite made me practically stop playing all those commercial games I have...they are, by far, not as much fun. Most are played through within 24 hours or less and then they very soon become boring. Furthermore, the forum and the way bug reports and ideas get included is great - you will not find this for commercial games, as those guys focus on the next product with which they can make more money.

Screet

ClymAngus · Post by **ClymAngus** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:23 am

I personally think there's a lot to be said for a game with the build ability of say second life, without the complexity of eve or the price tag of eather. There is nothing that beats the buzz of that first hud, ship or mission that only existed on squared paper before you got off your duff and started smacking keys.

I strongly believe that this game started as elite but we all made it oolite. I think that this is one of a new wave of game construction. Where the games slowly grow and diversify over time. So the game itself may indeed age out, but the modus operandi (one of social interaction and group effort) is so human as to be practically immortal.

FSOneblin · Post by **FSOneblin** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:23 am

I'll be 14 in about 5 days, so I voted 14-20.

Don't panic: FSOneblin

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