Do you think TC should have Multiplayer?

[sigma1987]

platinum kinda touched on my thoughts. Who's played freelancer? it RAWKS multiplayer. sure, you'd have issues with your assets being destroyed while you slept, but in all seriousness, what that should do is just change the way the player economy works. suddenly its actually going to be worth buying alot of laser towers to defend your station, maybe some fighters too. I think it's certainly doable, though the AI for player-owned stuff might have to be upgraded so stations can launch fighters. I basically think that X is what single-player freelancer should have been. And I certainly think it's doable.

[pjknibbs]

It was ment for it, it's not there yet, it shouldn't go that far yet, but maybe it is time to impliment a little multiplayer action, even if there's no "lobby" to connect to a public game (ala Freelancer) or one massive universe (ala EVE). I just want to see small TCP/IP multiplayer games. (ala.... hmmm.... Diablo II using the TCP/IP connection )

That would be fun.

The problem is that adding "small TCP/IP multiplayer" takes just as much effort as implementing full-blown multiplayer. All the same problems have to be solved. And, as I said earlier, I think Egosoft should concentrate on the single player aspects of the game.

[PlatinumTech]

The only real problem I can see with a TCP/IP game is SETA. Here's an easy fix:

Scrap SETA for multiplayer, keep it for singleplayer.

Any other issues?

Egosoft has said that each X-game has the intent of getting closer to the massivly multiplayer universe. Maybe this one should take the first step into the realm of multiple players at the same time. Maybe we should get our feet wet, see what works, and what doesn't. Singleplayer is great, focusing on single player intent is awesome, but a step in the next direction would be wonderful aswell.

I think being able to build an empire with my friend would be more rewarding than a few more single-player trinkets. Hell, if X3TC was nothing more than X3 with a TCP/IP multiplayer, I'd buy it agian, for more than what I paid for X3. X3 alone has worked out most of the single player aspects of the game.

[Hunter PRIME083]

This is probably gonna get me a verbal beating but i would LOVE to see MP in X3, its a real shame its never gonna happen though

im no coder but i dont think MMO X3 would be possible, i mean the changes that would have to be made would be HUGE, the universe would have to be made about a 100x + larger and seriously, having your entire empire destroyed over night would not be fun

'Inviting' another player into your x universe for a while over a LAN would be awesome but once again difficult to implement (SETA would be hell)

A single sector doge fight would be fun for quite a time and a good way to settle disputes about who would pwn who in a X3 battle but it just doesnt capture the essence of X3, i feel its more about exploring and making a name for yourself rather than killing everyone

Ultimatly it boils down to practicality i think, and would you rather have egosoft allow you to wiz around for 10 minutes killing you friend at a lan before going back to showing him your trade empire or work on expanding the universe you love so much?

1 more thing just for the record: i voted yes

[CBJ]

The only real problem I can see with a TCP/IP game is SETA.

You seem to have totally missed the point. The issues with developing a multi-player game have nothing to do with piddling little gameplay features like SETA.

The big issue is, as already stated, money. Creating a multi-player game requires a whole host of code associated with network communication, game state replication and synchronisation, and functionality to handle latency issues. Even with off-the-shelf technologies to help it still takes a lot of hard developer work.

To reiterate yet again, this is not a technical issue. Multi-player is perfectly possible. It just takes a lot of time and money to develop, which means two things: first someone (a publisher for example) has to be prepared to stump up the cash, and second they have to be assured of a financial payoff that is worth their while. LAN-based multiplayer simply doesn't provide that. There is absolutely no way that the additional sales that would be made by adding this feature over and above the sales that would be made for a single player game could possibly hope to cover the cost.

So, once again: the only way LAN-based multi-player is ever likely to see the light of day (short of a very rich benefactor with no interest in getting their money back!) would be as a spin-off from the development of something that could be financially viable, and currently the only candidate for that would be an MMO.

[Paranoid66]

One more vote for no. I also think ES should stick to single player not waste their effort trying to make X into something it plainly isn't.

Just my opinion in case anyone - gets all steamy under the collar - but if you want to play multiplayer games then find one - dedicated multi player games are sure to do it better!

A single player game only works as it does - because it is single player - anything else is likely to be a limp hybrid at best, and at worst a different game altogether all dreamy wishful thinking aside!

[maphys]

Besides, I would get utterly sick of people PMing you on the ship to ship channel to say:
"I'm Julian, and so's my Wife!"

M

[Wingwalker]

No to MP in X3.I have been playing EA 2142 Great game made bad buy Hacker and cheats.

[Saber15]

Just a two player mode, any more would be hard to run and probably end up failing.

One player joins another's game (and brings only one ship, but the first player can give him ships) and work together (or dogfight) would be fun. The second player would only be able to see OOS for the surrounding sectors, to lessen the strain on the host's computer.

It's not going to happen though.

[Baratheon79]

Yet another "no" vote here.

Aside the technical issues (which I'm not going to go into), and the financial side (which CBJ covered quite well), there are few enough strictly single player games out there. No need to water down this series too just to add multiplayer functionality.

If I want to play with other people, I log into one of the online games I'm semi-active in. When I play X2, X3, Oblivion, or Morrowind, I'm not looking to deal with other people (which is most of the time nowadays - might have something to do with my full-time job in a retail store ).