Quote from Macfox :

Don't like the topic, then find another one. No one is forcing to participate.

Who are you talking to?

This topic is so dead

Okay macfox, I do think you're being more than a little ott but since we ultimately want the same thing I'm not going to argue with you any more.

Absolutely, who doesn't want more LFS. If vs When.

Quote from Macfox :

Absolutely, who doesn't want more LFS. If vs When.

Steve Myers

Quote from DANIEL-CRO :

A Little Less Conversation

thats where this thread is for

The whole "LFS is dead"-thing is plain silly since it's just in your head. If you think so, you are dead, as a racer. LFS is still alive and kickin as it has always been. Goes over my head how to blame your own lack of engagement on a product that is still the same fantastic piece of software that it's always been.

It's alright to loose interest, people do that. Whether you ski alot, surf alot, baking cookies or making babies alot, you may loose interest and move to another ego-expansion hobby. It does not mean skiing is dead, or baking cookies or making babies is dead, does it?

No offence, but some peoples way of thinking is beyond me...

LFS has never been dead. Ok,it's getting old and senile,but it's far away from being dead. But unfortunatelly it has been infected with a virus lately (few idiots,who have available too much internet resources for their tiny brains),it might not be lethal,but it could make a nasty impact on LFS's health...

Put it simply, if you can't see the massive deterioration in the games popularity, then you've got your head in the sand. It would be pointless debating any other points with such a naive position.

I care less for those that use labels/stereotypes or personal insults/attacks in their posts. Doesn't add anything to the credibility of the point (maker) and really shows what this forum has boiled down to. I guess it excusable for some that weren't around from the start to appreciate that and many other aspects the game has lost over the years. But don't let that get in the way of your self cultured views/points.

It is quite pointless to carry on arguing on this, LFS is dead or not, since it is a subjective matter how each and everyone "feel" about the game and the community .
The facts show the popularity is now in comparison to 2005-06 (regarding online activity) and I did not see anybody saying it was dead back then. On the contrary.
On the other hand the trend was positive then (growing no of servers), whereas now it is negative. Another fact is that I do not need to race against 1000's of friends, 10-15 is enough for me and they're still out there enjoying the game every now and then.
Hopefully, the work Scawen, Victor & Eric has recently invested will boost the community once released. Perhaps we'll see the 2008-09 figures once again .

Quote from ingolf :

it is quite pointless to carry on arguing on this, lfs is dead or not, since it is a subjective matter how each and everyone "feel" about the game and the community .
The facts show the popularity is now in comparison to 2005-06 (regarding online activity) and i did not see anybody saying it was dead back then. On the contrary.
On the other hand the trend was positive then (growing no of servers), whereas now it is negative. Another fact is that i do not need to race against 1000's of friends, 10-15 is enough for me and they're still out there enjoying the game every now and then.
Hopefully, the work scawen, victor & eric has recently invested will boost the community once released. Perhaps we'll see the 2008-09 figures once again .

+1

Quote from Ingolf :

The facts show the popularity is now in comparison to 2005-06 (regarding online activity) and I did not see anybody saying it was dead back then. On the contrary.

The make up of those numbers are vastly different today, keeping in mind LFS is a racing game.

Quote from Macfox :

The make up of those numbers are vastly different today, keeping in mind LFS is a racing Simulator.

fixed

Quote from CodeLyoko1 :

fixed

It's a racing game under the simulator genre.

Fixed.

Quote from matrixi :

it's a racing game under the simulator genre.

Fixed.

:d

So... as this is some kind of topic to talk for the sake of talking :P then i'll write a bit. As I've not been here for a bit, is there ANY chance for an update in few months? It's awfully quiet. Any rumours? Played LFS today since very long time and.... it would be such a pity if they would stop any improvements on it, it still has great potential. Read some of Scawen's answers to different posts recently, he seems bitter :/. I understand that some behaviour of some people here is... well... inappropriate at least, but still, didn't he brought it on himself? Either he works on it, but the lack of any kind of presentations(even showing bugs would be great) is rather puzzling, or he isn't, not because he doesn't want, but maybe because he doesn't have the inspiration or time, and because of that maybe he feels "guilty". Honesty is the best cure, don't be a politician Scawen :P. What's more "impressive" is that for 3 years we see nothing about S3 content. It's not that you did nothing right? It's because you don't want to show something and then say it won't get into the game? Umm.... well, if you're working on a car/track/anything for three years i suppose you won't say suddenly "ah i don't like it, let's do something different", right? There are people here who would gladly help you with models and new cars! If there is... Scawen some kind of "communication" problem with Eric... it would be nice to know, but I understand that you keep it private. Still have to say it's a unique game, with great functions, best ui ever and still really good physics. Everytime I visit the forum by heart starts to beat a bit faster and unfortunately i'm dissapointed everytime. I just hope that there will be that one day when good old Scawen(talking about his garden;p and asking great community for tips and tricks ) will be back, and we will be good old LFS family. Hah.... damn my biggest post up to date. At least I did it, now i can rest in peace.

Quote from Byku :

Read some of Scawen's answers to different posts recently, he seems bitter :/.

That's the real tragedy of the situation. Scawen admitted he lost inspiration/motivation sometime ago and that's understandable given the difficulty of the task he's set for himself. Not much word on that since.

If only they would decouple the no content until physics are finished policy, LFS would turn around. What is there to lose at this stage? More players, more positive community/forum, more excitement about this once celebrated game and surely a boost dev inspiration and motivation, not to mention the cash-flow.

Eric and Victor haven't been fulltime LFS Devs for years, and I hope Scawen hasn't been aswell, I mean he has to feed at least a family of four to feed.

One thing I just noticed looking for user counts is this, "we"/LFS lost around 200 licensed hosts ~4 month ago, guess lots of admins just didn't renew their server slots. Its not really a bad thing, we still have like 6 servers per licensed racer atm (480 servers vs. 68 licensed racers online atm)

That will be 500servers inexplicably disappearing from LFS that cursed the 200 servers to vanish.

I think it was that, and the fact 5laps.com closed at the end of the year. They had quite a lot of hidden servers iirc.

Less servers the better as it will concentrate players. 420 servers for 64 players is a waste of money and resources.

I think it was said sometime ago there was conservatively speaking at least 100K licenses. Presumably that info came from LFS world, but actual licenses isn't published AFAIK. But it seems reasonably right based on total players and the demo/license ratio of 7:1. Right now using the same calculation it would be about 165K licenses.

Translates into (right now)

0.04% active licensed players. (80)
0.02% active demo players. (184)



If anyone actually knows the license count (historically) it would be interesting to compare.

Would also make some sense to calculate this for Rfactor and Netkar.

Or wait..

I give them right away;

0,000%
0,000%


LFS, after 10 years.. Still is one of the more popular driving simulators on the computer. (GTA not included). Things like GT on Playstation and Forza on Xbox make it more complicated though.

What?! No one plays RF/NK(P?) any more?

Quote from Macfox :

Hate to burst you bubble. But it has already. The high point of LFS's popularity was before you joined the forum (06).

This is interessting. You are registered since 2003 and on LFSW you have driven 7573 Ml.
I know a friend registered 2012 and in one year drove twice than you in several years. Isnt it strange that during "the end area of LFS" people play more than you did during the "high point"?

---

Quote from CarlLefrancois :

you start up iRacing and there you are, given the schedule of races for the car/track you're interested in. Go sign up for a race and practice in the meantime. in LFS or Minecraft you start the sim and you're sitting there at your spawn with no fixed goal, just a simulated environment.

Hm, in LFS you can sign up for leagues too. The only difference is that in LFS the organization is done by community while in iRacing it is done by publisher. (as far I know)
Maybe it is too hard for players to find organized racing so they only know about the public servers like cargame or demo servers?