The Sadness of Gaming Nostalgia...

[zombi]

Anyone that has played multiplayer games for a while now should be able to relate to this...

Everyone once and a while, I get the urge to play and older multiplayer game. A game that I feel nostalgic about and I want to relive to good times that I spent playing it in years past. A time when servers were active, players were plentiful, and the gaming experience was great. Many of these games come from what I consider the "Golden Age" of multiplayer PC gaming (single player is a different time period). This would be around the time the Quake 3 and GoldSRC (Half-Life) engines reigned supreme.

I get the urge to relive a past experience, I install the game, install the patches manually (remember doing that?), load it up, and I go to look for a server and....nothing. Either there are no servers, few few servers, or there are servers and there is no one playing. I don't know what it is, but this really makes me sad. It just hammers home the fact that I will probably never be able to relive these experiences again, and it's a damn shame.

I can't be the only one that this happens to. And because of this, I've always had an idea that I would love to get off the ground, but I know it probably wouldn't be realistic. I always thought it would be nice to rent a server for each of these old games that I miss playing. A server that would remain up and allow those that are looking to relive the gaming experiences of the past to be able to do so. Even if it's the only server available, at least it's something to keep the game's multiplayer alive. If people were into it and supported the idea, then a community could be built around it. I feel like this idea is really boom or bust. It will either be a big success or a huge failure. I think the latter is a much more realistic result. Maybe when I get the extra cash to start this, I might actually give it a try.

Does this ever happen to anyone else?

 

The games that I am referring to in particular are:

• Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• Aliens vs. Predator 2
• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
• Day of Defeat
• Counter-Strike 1.6
• Half-Life MP (and mods)
  • Zombie Panic
  • Firearms
  • Hostile Intent
• Call of Duty (United Offensive Expansion especially)
• More that I can't think of at the moment...
   

[atari]

Unreal Tournament.

 

I have never had so much fun in an online shooter... Domination (i think that was the mode) was a hell of a good time.

[Mr K1tty]

oh god... doing Iron Mans in UT2003 railgun/instant gib ... first person to 1000 frags won.... 6 hours later I could barely move my mouse hand... epic

[MGSgt.Reaper]

Yeah UT and Quake were fun the one game I really miss though is DAoC that and UO. UT3 was pretty cool but I think the system requirements might have taken away from it getting a big base of players.