Maybe we should rename the Thread:
"What am i talking about ?"
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Yes, of course many players will play for improving their skills rather than for fun.
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i think they like the game, and have fun getting better at it. or simply want to get better for it, for whatever reason
foe competition i think some maps are better suited than others, but at least the standard maps and the ES maps ensure this to a certain degree
a good map would surely be more or less fair (but still offer some variant) for example
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I just won't expect them to constitute the overwhelming majority of zoners. But then some just do have fun playing the same map over and over again. Apparently, so many are entertained by Castle Blood despite how unfair it is.
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i get only headaches from castle blood. but thats another story. ever thoght why people play chess always on the same 8x8 Board. and still its not boring. and there are also not many different figurines or whatever.
i guess its the dozns many combination make it interesting for the people
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In any case, it would be interesting to do some sort of survey about the motivations of players - whether they care about their skills or not.
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i guess they simply want to have some fun.
so they choise a map they know, or in case the are expertz, they chose a map from that they exspect an interesting game -
or in case they play ultra random, the yplay to be surprise, but og course it must be ensured that the maps are playable -
nobody wants to waste his time with a crappy map
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Of course, most people who went to the old AoKH forum parties came to have fun, not to improve their skills. And the settings at the AoKH forum parties (run a search for forum party under topic in these forums) are extremely rare in the game.
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so, you see ? people play different settings occasionally
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As for low resources, variance on 1v1 open maps are extremely low because the flush generally tends to counter the fast castle.
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on open pure-land maps perhaps.
but thats not the problem, you get excatly what you want if you play a certain map-type.
if you play closed land map, you get imperial battles
if you play coastral - you can grush, flush, go FC with fish, FC without fish - ...
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And what variances are there on low resources on team maps anyways?
You can try...
Flushing
Fast castling and getting knights to attack
booming like a newbie does
Doing other fast castle attacks that are risky and hard for non-newbies to handle.
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but who cares anyway about newbies ? what do you want for a game ? a game where newbies can do whatever they want and still succeed or somethin` ?
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Speaking of which, some players might be really good in just a couple of maps. They can't necessarily be called experts - they can be called overtrained in that map in particular.
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they can be called expert on that map. however, i my opinion there are settings and/or maps which are superior/better because a good player at that map can always adapt more easy to other maps/settings
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Indeed, Age of Kings map generation is predictable and given enough 1v1 Arabias, anyone whose levels of dopamine and adrenaline are not too low can do reasonably well - although those blessed to have the fastest response rates will be the best.
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so what ?
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Really, isn't there less variance with rushing? The flush is restricted to only a few basic units - and castle age rushes usually involve knights, although some experienced players resort to unusual but very risky methods. If people didn't rush all of the time, there would be plenty of strategies for large imperial age armies to attack each other - and plenty of directions.
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flush is restricted to the units which can be trained in feudal CastleRush do not offer more units - additionally there are dozens of flush variants - you can go fast to castle or take your time -
flush != flush - so there is no prob
and even if two players do the same, its still different
if yu want imp battles then play DM or a closed map, r a map with walling like mongolia
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As for regicide being popular - in the last few times I've been on the Zone, I haven't seen a single regicide map being offered. But then I could always host one.
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if i am on the zone i only host regicide and nobody joins
but wo cares about zone
player play LN also becasue (they think) it offers MORE variety - and have more fun with it
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Yes, a survey to learn of player motivations would help settle the debate.
*yes, evolutionary psychology can be blamed for our problems *
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i ask myself is there need for a debate ?
is there a problem ?
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So let's go to the two remaining active rooms. Now one day's sample is certainly not representative - but a few samples can trigger some interesting discussion.
These games are available (at Medieval Siege):
17 LAND NOMAD MAPS.
3 Black forest
2 n00b only maps
1 1v1 arabia map.
Two slots for advertising empireslegacy and aoezone.com
At Uneasy Alliances...
Rated Room 5: Full of 1v1 Arabia and Land Nomad. And a few bad rooks games on BF and Michi. Then virtually nothing else.
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main problem probably is that you don`t find people that want to play the settings you offer, or that there are few people who offer "something new" or somehting that you want to play.
what can i say ? perhaps it will be difficult to find excatly the maps you want to play
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Furthermore, I am only commenting on the current state of the Zone. It's less diverse than it was in the past.
Indeed, who are the people who stayed in AoK, and who are the ones who left?
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i smell more problems and more need for debates
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One hypothesis: Most of those who stayed in AoK aren't particularly receptive to change and this nonreceptiveness extends to their choice of map selection.
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perhaps. perhaps they like the game, or are still not bored "playing the whole thing over and over" -
who knows
[This message has been edited by Doktor Mabuse (edited 05-25-2006 @ 08:55 PM).]