What Makes GoIO Different?

[redria]

What makes Guns of Icarus Online different?

(warning - long wandering OP presumably followed by long personal responses - if you don't feel like reading, sorry)

When I buy a game bought games, I used to look for the single player experience. I grew up not knowing that I would ever really be able to play with somebody, so I treasured games with a strong single player experience. This usually involved a story line. Once you beat the story, the game tended to be over and I would move on to the next game, proud of my accomplishment.

Then college happened, and if I was playing a game, odds were that someone else in the dorm would be looking to play too. I was introduced to steam. I made a lot more close friends that I spent time doing things other than video games with. Games got a lot more fun, but at the same time, I lost a lot of the desire to play games alone. However, I still trended towards games where I was progressing towards something with a friend, unlocking actual game scenarios, finding loot, etc. I played some FPS games for a bit (Halo Reach for an entire summer. Woo!) but when I played, I was still looking to level up my account - to progress. The gameplay itself wasn't too terribly varied.

But then again, for a FPS where the big thing is PVP, the gameplay doesn't have to be too varied. People will play whichever one they find the most interesting until the next version comes out. Then the old one gets mostly abandoned and everyone moves on. Because the games are made by companies that release a full game then start making the next one. There is always another coming out. Another entirely new game to move on to.

In games where single player is the main feature, you complete the story, then you move on.

The only games that haven't really followed that trend that I know of are the big MOBAs: league of legends, dota, etc. And surely they will come out with sequels eventually (if not already and I just never noticed).
Also, minecraft, but that is an entirely different beast in my opinion.

So where does our beloved GoIO sit?

We have a pvp game, made by an indy company that, let's be honest, probably won't be making a GoIO2. If/when they make more games, I would bet they would expand into different regions, as they are doing with Creavures and that hamster fighting game.
There is adventure mode and co-op coming out eventually, which may change things. Although until that happens I don't really know how they will fare.
But realistically, this is it. This is the game.

So I have 2 questions really.
1. Why are you still playing?
2. Where do you see GoIO in the future?

Regarding question 1, this is just curiosity. I will share mine, but I want to know why other people are still here as well.

Regarding question 2...
The forums currently have 218490 members as of writing this. As far as I know, you can only be a member if you bought the game.
In game, I rarely see more than 100 people waiting online. If each person stays only for an hour, and we triple that number to account for people in games/hidden somehow, and 100 stays constant all day, and then we round up a lot for no apparent reason, then we probably have no more than 10,000 people that ever play the game on even a semi-regular basis.

After over a year of this game existing, we have less than 5% of buyers playing. There is a competitive scene that is watched mostly by people who are in the competitions during their off time. There will be co-op and adventure mode, but I just don't see much new entering into the pvp game in the foreseeable future.

It is hard to say what will happen when co-op and adventure mode hit. I am curious to find out. But I feel like pvp is going to stagnate. We have mostly the same teams playing each other in competitive, and most new players don't stick around long enough to get hooked like we are.

So I guess I'm just curious if other people see something different. If someone sees a future different than the one I am seeing. Because I'm not interested in finding a new game. I am hooked and want to build on this game.

TL;DR: I'm sentimental about this game and can't take my mind off it during the day, so I want to talk about it with other people that feel the same way

[redria]

You sort of have my answer to question 2. So in response to 1...

As I mentioned in the OP, I was never too big on pvp or multiplayer for a long time. Then suddenly I graduated. I was in a new city, no friends, and a waning interest in single player games. There were FPS games of course, but they didn't really interest me too much. A little too repetitive.

I had this game in my steam library and finally had a computer that could run it, so I started playing. Naturally, I was enamored at first because airships. Awesome.

Then I found a few captains that talked to me and liked having me as an engineer. So I stuck with them. If noone was takign the pilot slot I would grab it and do my best, but I wasn't that great.

As I played a little more with the pilots I considered good, I learned how they abused their engines and how, with a good engineer, engine abuse gave you a leg up.

I started getting better at piloting, and it was all still pretty new and exciting. But I hadn't found the community yet. Mostly just a couple players.

Then one day I joined a lobby with this guy named Miau, along with Puppy Fur, Menealata, and company. They were all talking and having a blast. I hung out with them for the night and had fun. The next day I logged in and they all suddenly had a clan tag and said they were competing. I watched the first Sunday Rumble and saw them actually win.

Now, I am a person who had no interest in actually joining a clan. I never really wanted to align myself with a single group of people. I'm sort of like that IRL. I have those few close friends, but I tend to have several groups that I split my time between. Sort of a trend since spending all of my time in a non-school sport when I was younger.

That said, I kept flying with these guys, because they were fun. We joked and laughed. We won a lot, and enjoyed ourselves. They dragged me in to competitions and eventually I just stopped taking the tag off after competitions.

Now half the fun of the game is finding my friends and hanging out with them. Seeing what build they are taking, helping them get achievements, shooting mines at them, competing with them, etc.

I hardly play for the game anymore. I play to find people online that I like and hang out with them.

What gets me is that I keep finding more people I like. The more I interact with other clans the more people I find.

I keep playing not because there is always a new scenario or fight I want to have. I keep playing because I want to see what shenanigans I can get up to with friends. GoIO just provides an excellent place to find new people and mess around.

[HamsterIV]

Since Redria graced us with some of his personal history so shall I.

I started gaming on flight sims when I was very young. I was too young to understand the complexities of flight aside from stick back to go up, bank to turn, and stalls are bad. I did learn how to lead targets and am quite proud of that skill to this day.

I played a lot of Starsiege Tribes during my high school and college years. I am not that good with twich reflexs, but am very good at anticipating a player and ballistic shooting. Like GOI tribes had customization options that were available from the get go. The advantages of certain weapon and armor choices were situational instead of just numerically superior.

While in college I got it into my head that I could make games with this computer science degree they gave me. After a few years unsuccessfully trying to get into the industry and a couple of self published games I landed a programming job outside the games industry and contented myself with the knowledge that I would be better able to enjoy games if I weren't so busy trying to make them. I look at the fine folk at Muse living my former dream and can't help but cheer them on. The fact they are so involved in this community only makes me want to support them more.

1. Why are you still playing?
I like to teach people stuff. I like it when people tell me "You are the best captain I ever had." I like knowing that some where in the world some one had a mind blowing experience because of the decisions I made today. I also like winning, and GOI is one of the few games I am really good at (compared to most of the game's player base).

2. Where do you see GoIO in the future?
I fear adventure mode would split the community where newbies would gravitate to PvE when they realize they aren't any good at PvP. I fear a soulless copycat studio would duplicate the aesthetic of GOI, fill the game with skinnerbox instant gratification mechanics, and rob GOI of its niche market. I fear the day I will login and see 0 lobbies or worse yet that Muse has taken the servers down permanently. Until that day comes I am going to play the heck out of this game.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

1. Hope. Hope for a return of the fun game I never wanted to stop playing before 1.2. Then...what else is there? Sitting around playing BF3 alone or questing in SWTOR on another alt...Really is no games that can replicate GOIO.

2. I see it becoming a pseudo MMO. I can see it becoming something that offers the best of both worlds, MMO and non MMO. This brings with it a whole bag of new problems. Community splits will take place. That is a given. But I do not see Muse as being able to carry the project into that realm without help. Unless they get help, or really get some new investors, this'll likely take a decade to reach when a bigger studio could do it within a year or two.

Not that I want Muse to whore themselves out to someone like EA or Activision. But they're going to need a larger staff if they want to secure GOIO as the market leader for it's genre. Otherwise, they will be surpassed and they will be overtaken by bigger competitors who take notice of them and pop out in a short time what Muse has taken a long time to build.

[Coldcurse]

1. I play GoIo because its a great game with a great community.

2. We all blame shinkurex. I hope the game gets more players and advances into something amazing.

[Ariden]

GoIO was introduced to me by my best friend, who used to play it together with his buddies. I jumped headfirst into it, determined to prove that I, a girl, could become better at a video game than 4 guys put together. Naturally.

Now before I started GoIO I played a game called RuneScape for (*counts fingers*) 8 years. Four of those years I spent in a minigame named Barbarian Assault, which focused entirely on teamwork. This teamwork created something that can be found in any game that requires great amounts of working-together-ness. And that's a bond.  A bond between a whole bunch of 'pros' who keep coming back day after day to play with the same people they played yesterday. And because of that we became the best of friends (cue "imagine me and you, I do" to start playing).

Eventually I quit RuneScape (successfully, after about 20 attempts). And then I downloaded GoIO after wandering directionlessly around the Internet for a few months.

I stuck around the first few months because of competition. Being considered 'one of the best' in Barbarian Assault brought this stubborn attitude about. GoIO was one of those games where you could hang around the lobby and show off your levels, and people would go 'woahhhh that's a level 8 (levels were different back then), better jump on his ship!' I wanted this. Recognition, admiration, everything I had in RuneScape. I was a conceited penguin. I still am. Bow to me, young padawans. *awkward pause*

Anyway.

One beautiful, sunny day (who am I kidding, I don't even know what 'sun' is) I found myself in a match where people were using their mics (I usually played with the beginners before, so I could learn the game before I hung out with the experienced people). Specifically, I played with the Ducks who were Vatic - when he was still a duck - and another guy with a British accent who doesn't play anymore - his name also started with V, but I can't remember it for the life of me. They were totally drunk. And utterly hilarious.

And that's when I realized that this teamwork-centered game was just like my old one.

So I went out in search of friends. GoIO friends because, who needs real friends anyway? I started using the mic. Being incredibly shy, at first I could manage only to choke out a few 'testing's and maybe I could squeak out an 'okay' to an order. I also began leveling up and was able to play with higher levels, who were more liberal with their mic usage.

And then I met Tropo and some other people who don't play anymore and I became who I am now and I don't care so much about competition but rather friendship and teamwork and that's why I keep playing. Cut short because who reads this anyway?! I know you will Redira and thank you for sympathizing with me, here have a cute baby and a dog: http://i.imgur.com/4a8OVzb.gif.

[Ariden]

Oh, and the second question. I feel like it could go places, maybe not BIG BIG places but enough places to touch enough people and create a community that is so strong today. But the new co-op thing might take people away from playing the same way they used to and this might cause a little dip in GoIO itself. I don't know.

But then again, I don't know a lot of stuff.

Here have another animal gif: http://i.imgur.com/mdM3MYK.gif.

[redria]

While in college I got it into my head that I could make games with this computer science degree they gave me. After a few years unsuccessfully trying to get into the industry and a couple of self published games I landed a programming job outside the games industry and contented myself with the knowledge that I would be better able to enjoy games if I weren't so busy trying to make them.

I minored in computer science. With a major in Mechanical engineering though, I looked for a job in my field. I am constantly wondering if I would be able to keep up if I tried looking into making a career out of programming, and whether I could make it into a game development position. If you have self-published games, I would be interested in trying them.

I also like winning, and GOI is one of the few games I am really good at (compared to most of the game's player base).

It is really awesome to play, and play well, against the best players in a game. I will admit that pride in reaching that point in a game does keep me interested. 

Now before I started GoIO I played a game called RuneScape

*has flashbacks*

for (*counts fingers*) 8 years. Four of those years I spent in a minigame named Barbarian Assault, which focused entirely on teamwork.

You must have been a member. Man. I was never willing to pay for a membership. I spent all my time dallying about in the free worlds. I got good at it too!
I don't know that I've heard of barbarian assault though. I'll have to look it up. It has been a while...

Eventually I quit RuneScape (successfully, after about 20 attempts).

I think I quit just because all my IRL friends stopped playing. And I was still in the phase of life where I payed attention to my parents' "No talking to anyone you don't know in real life" rule. A good rule for a certain age. Obviously I am past that.

I was a conceited penguin. I still am.

I'll just leave this right here. Because penguins

One beautiful, sunny day (who am I kidding, I don't even know what 'sun' is)

It is that thing that causes glare on your screen until you shut all the blinds.

Cut short because who reads this anyway?!

I do!

I know you will Redira

Dangit. You already knew.

[NallyNally]

Well hey, if it helps, I'm one of those new players who actually sticked around! Been playing for two months and I've recently joined Holy, and actually hoped to be deemed worthy of tournament play eventually x)

I actually got the game on the last price off it had, with three more copies for my friends. Two of them I don't talk to any more, and the third has too much of a smack habit with Payday 2 to actually come and learn GoIO.

Why do I play? Because it is a fun game. Airships, steampunk, skill based guns and a focus on teamwork. Fortunately, I had been a top player in Battle for Black Cove (Basically the same thing with less depth and pirate ships on sea rather than airships on... Air.) I liked the competition and I was winning often, even getting a most dangerous bounty badge on the second week I was on. So I stayed. The community was also really good. Some of the guys you call annoying in fact, are perfectly fine to me! Like mic spammers and so. Then again, I do come from a long MOBA competitive run, so I probably have literally no standards.

I'll give you the TL;DR approach on the state and future of the game according to my points of view.

Game's hard to learn, people are lazy learning games and just give up. Steam's too cheap and nobody sticks with anything to the end any more. (Keep in mind GoIO actually DOES have the old school you finished the game here is your awesome looking suit approach, like the Vice City T-Shirt!) The community is awesome and this sets off new players as well: If you can NEVER beat the more experienced players because they have no problem communicating, talking strats over, making plays and working as a team, and you're inherently worse than them to boot, there's not much to hope for. You know how much of an issue communication can be on other games if you've played them, and you know how little trouble you'll run into here. (Hold Mortar fire! Shoot! Reload! Simple as that.)

The game is built in a way that if you're good, even if you play alone, and you pick your battles well, you can win reliably. Most F2Ps and mainstream games (Think CoD) are made in a way that you have an incredibly variable chance of winning or losing and your skill doesn't really matter. Most win rates are kept around 50% and incredibly bad players keep getting matched with decent or actually really good ones. This is a sort of an attempt to keep everyone happy. GoIO doesn't have any of that. You'll win if you're good, because you're good, and if you stick with good people. And something else: If you win often, you'll KNOW you're good. This is something that you don't see often in mainstream games, where you'll keep wondering if you just got carried, or losing with your 1/1/27. (Kills, Deaths, Assists)

About the future of the game, well... I see two ways. Either nothing price and marketing related happens and we stay as we are, a small tight knit community that knows what they can and can't do in games, who communicate, and generally like each other, or we get a lot of publicity or go F2P and get boatloads of new players who are clueless but think they are not, and we get the standard mainstream approach:

-Random matchmaking for "fair" games. No dodging or sitting out.

-Ranked games pretty much anyone can get into.
 
-And of course, a report nanny system.

I'll let you fill in the blanks about how insane and retarded it can get with those three things. While I would absolutely love GoIO being picked up by the ESL or MLG, you know it brings all types of disease into the community.