The room is spinning...

[DarkED]

...when I close my eyes. Help!

LOL.

BuF needs moar people. It seems like all I ever see here are Manticore threads for birthdays and Plumb being drunk. My 30th birthday is in a week and I'd much rather have something more memorable than a birthday thread.

What can we do here? Is Unreal really this dead?

If that's true, maybe we should make something new. Thoughts?

 

[Hunter]

I think everything is in limbo. UT3 wasn't nearly as popular as UT2004 was which meant a lot of mods didn't get made which meant a lot of players would have gone elsewhere for gaming entertainment.

As UE4 games get released more people will start paying attention to it and if UT can be a massive hit when it arrives then people will start appearing!

 

[Balton]

Plumbs been banned for some time but I agree, those birthday threads need their own section.

 

[-Jes-]

It doesn't help that a lot of UE4 talk has migrated wholesale to the UT board.

 

[Al]

I got my tonsils and adenoids out yesterday and my throat really fucking hurts right now.

Also, my uvula is very swollen and opiates (yuck!) make you constipated.

 

[Manticore]

Thanks. Nobody's forcing you to come here. Do you want a link to the UE4 forums so you don't have to be here?

Don't fucking blame me if this place is dead. All I did was try and keep it alive.

I suppose I could be an inebriated fuckwit like the guy you mentioned in the same fucking sentence as me; which I consider a fucking insult.

You want a fun forum? Fucking contribute something instead of complaining.

Fuck this shit.

 

[Jacks:Revenge]

lol Manticore there's no need for the attitude, ED was just making an observation.
he's right; your birthday threads are the only new content this place sees anymore. it's not blaming you. or anyone. it's just what it is.

there's nothing left to do.
place is in purgatory until further notice.

I mean, nobody new is going show up because the series itself isn't active. no one has any reason to come here (or even seek it out) except for those of us who were already hanging around. why would they. it's going to take a serious reboot of the Unreal franchise to revive this community. it's not up to any one of us. there's nothing we can do.

there's no amount of gimmicks we could take up that would make this place turn back into what it was circa 2008.
people have moved on. life has moved on. I'm finished with school. I'm pretty busy, for instance, so I'm not sure how often I would post anymore even if we had an Unreal Tournament 2015 to play with. nowadays my 'online life' has moved to places like GTAForums.com, SomethingAwful, and the Jalopnik forums. you know, slightly more general forums, with constant activity and new faces.

BuF is too specific to maintain that kind of presence without new games in the series.
it's over for the time being....

 

[Al]

You want a fun forum? Fucking contribute something instead of complaining.

Word up. All everyone does is complain that BuF is dead.

 

[Balton]

Thanks. Nobody's forcing you to come here. Do you want a link to the UE4 forums so you don't have to be here?

Don't fucking blame me if this place is dead. All I did was try and keep it alive.

I suppose I could be an inebriated fuckwit like the guy you mentioned in the same fucking sentence as me; which I consider a fucking insult.

You want a fun forum? Fucking contribute something instead of complaining.

Fuck this shit.

Dude, just relax. His observation isn't even correct considering Plumb's been banned for some time. If anything at all it shows how superficially he's scanned off topic. I for one really appreciated your words of positive encouragement in my recent thread about me quitting tobacco... which reminds me that I could post a little update.
I think Jack's slightly correct when he says that there are no new users and all the old timers are too busy with work/life.

 

[Manticore]

Word up. All everyone does is complain that BuF is dead.

That's my impression.

I apologise for turning up here since 2003.

And yes; mentioning me in the same sentence as Plumb Drumb is fucking insulting as far as I'm concerned.

 

[DarkED]

*sigh*
No matter what you do, you're always going to piss off someone.

Thanks. Nobody's forcing you to come here. Do you want a link to the UE4 forums so you don't have to be here?

Don't fucking blame me if this place is dead. All I did was try and keep it alive.

I suppose I could be an inebriated fuckwit like the guy you mentioned in the same fucking sentence as me; which I consider a fucking insult.

You want a fun forum? Fucking contribute something instead of complaining.

Fuck this shit.

You took my observation entirely the wrong way. I really appreciate that you take the time to make birthday threads for all of us! It just seems like those are the only new threads I see here anymore, that's all. I was not trying to lump you into the same group as Plumb Drumb, that was just a coincidence.

For what it's worth, I am trying to contribute. I have enjoyed coming here for the last ten years and I'd like to help find a solution to the halls being empty. There has to be some way we could re-invigorate the community? Maybe we could do what Tcom did and re-brand? Re-center the focus on some newer game series, or something. That seems to have worked for them.

lol Manticore there's no need for the attitude, ED was just making an observation.
he's right; your birthday threads are the only new content this place sees anymore. it's not blaming you. or anyone. it's just what it is.

there's nothing left to do.
place is in purgatory until further notice.

I mean, nobody new is going show up because the series itself isn't active. no one has any reason to come here (or even seek it out) except for those of us who were already hanging around. why would they. it's going to take a serious reboot of the Unreal franchise to revive this community. it's not up to any one of us. there's nothing we can do.

there's no amount of gimmicks we could take up that would make this place turn back into what it was circa 2008.
people have moved on. life has moved on. I'm finished with school. I'm pretty busy, for instance, so I'm not sure how often I would post anymore even if we had an Unreal Tournament 2015 to play with. nowadays my 'online life' has moved to places like GTAForums.com, SomethingAwful, and the Jalopnik forums. you know, slightly more general forums, with constant activity and new faces.

BuF is too specific to maintain that kind of presence without new games in the series.
it's over for the time being....

At least someone gets it.

Word up. All everyone does is complain that BuF is dead.

Because... it is? I'm just saying, maybe now is the time to decide whether we should try something different or just pull the plug altogether. I'm sure this is costing someone (Brizz?) money, and we're doing him a disservice if it's just sitting here unused.

Dude, just relax. His observation isn't even correct considering Plumb's been banned for some time. If anything at all it shows how superficially he's scanned off topic.

Yes, that's true. I check BuF OT at least once a day, but I never post anything because there's been almost nothing new to talk about for months. This is why I think we need to shift the focus of the community to something that is relevant.

I think Jack's slightly correct when he says that there are no new users and all the old timers are too busy with work/life.

I'm not too busy. There's just nothing going on here to keep me (and presumably a lot of other people) interested. We used to at least do community events (like fragbu) and that helped keep things interesting for a while, and people used to actually post threads about things instead of inane ramblings. That does still happen once every few weeks, but you have to agree that it doesn't happen often enough to support a userbase.

That's my impression.

I apologise for turning up here since 2003.

And yes; mentioning me in the same sentence as Plumb Drumb is fucking insulting as far as I'm concerned.

I apologize for turning up here since 2006.

I wasn't even trying to insult you, but if that's really the way you want to take it maybe it is time for me to move on.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Settle down ya sillies.

Back when the site was popular, it was for a few reasons. First, FragBU drew in quite a few people. Second, the fact our community was not insane to the point of ridiculousness about individual skill. Third, the forums were just plain a lot of fun to be around and we posted news that was interesting to the community we had. It should be noted, I don't think BU has been "popular" since 2005 and in 2005 the admin team talked very seriously about shutting the site down (and then in 2006 and 2007 and 2008).

I would really like to see interest in BU go up, but there is really only one way that is going to happen organically right now and that is if we start doing FragBU again. In order to do so people would have to make a concentrated effort to show up to play every Friday night so that the server is populated in the server browser. Without that aspect, I just can't see people from the existing (small) UT community ever bothering to find us right now.

Another way to draw people in would be with interesting UT-related conversations happening here even if sparingly. The few UT conversations that have been going on don't get a lot of activity.

There are other things we could do like bring the podcast back (kind of dropped the ball on that thanks to TWD's personal life), post more relevant news and op-ed pieces that people are interested in, etc. but due to the essentially death of the UT community none of these options has a guaranteed chance of doing much right now today. However, I think the one thing that has a decent chance at it would be to get FragBU going again especially with Teamspeak.

 

[hal]

Is Unreal really this dead?

Yes, sadly it is.

I can't understand why this once mega-popular series was left to die. The new Unreal Tournament "project" that they have going is not drawing interest because the effort seems half-hearted from the mainstream public's point of view. The whole development is being drawn out far too long to hold interest, just like their other title, Fortnite.

With Gears out of Epic's fold, UT relegated to minor-league status, and Unreal simply MIA, all that's left is some mobile development and a couple of beta games that are confused about what they want to be. This site, this forum, have both lived and died based upon the pulse of Epic's games.

The good news is that there are still a lot of good people here. Many who have been posting back and forth for years. At this point, BU is largely in your hands.

 

[Jacks:Revenge]

it's not like we have to break up with BU or anything.
it's just here in limbo, as far as relevance, but everyone is here unless they explicitly walk away.

I simply wish that there was another UT.
an open-source, open ended, arena-style, futuristic scifi FPS full of over the top action with trippy, multidimensional, nonlinear level design. there's really nothing like that anymore and it makes me sad sometimes.

short of a new installment from Unreal I don't know what keeps this place too active.
BuF is too narrow right now, you know, because it's just about Unreal... which has no traction at the moment.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Yeah, I'm not sure how to shift the focus really. The site is "built" around the engine so we could technically focus on any Unreal Engine game but it requires more than 1-2 people to really cover the full gamut of what the site could support. There is also no reason the site couldn't support the competitive side of UT to some degree.

 

[DarkED]

Settle down ya sillies.

Back when the site was popular, it was for a few reasons. First, FragBU drew in quite a few people. Second, the fact our community was not insane to the point of ridiculousness about individual skill. Third, the forums were just plain a lot of fun to be around and we posted news that was interesting to the community we had. It should be noted, I don't think BU has been "popular" since 2005 and in 2005 the admin team talked very seriously about shutting the site down (and then in 2006 and 2007 and 2008).

I would really like to see interest in BU go up, but there is really only one way that is going to happen organically right now and that is if we start doing FragBU again. In order to do so people would have to make a concentrated effort to show up to play every Friday night so that the server is populated in the server browser. Without that aspect, I just can't see people from the existing (small) UT community ever bothering to find us right now.

Another way to draw people in would be with interesting UT-related conversations happening here even if sparingly. The few UT conversations that have been going on don't get a lot of activity.

There are other things we could do like bring the podcast back (kind of dropped the ball on that thanks to TWD's personal life), post more relevant news and op-ed pieces that people are interested in, etc. but due to the essentially death of the UT community none of these options has a guaranteed chance of doing much right now today. However, I think the one thing that has a decent chance at it would be to get FragBU going again especially with Teamspeak.

TeamSpeak is pretty easy. If you guys need a server I think I can provide, I'll have to check my VM host's ToS.

We could start doing a podcast again. I can both contribute (I have studio-grade recording equipment) and I can do all of the editing. I'd be happy to help with it and I have a lot of free time.

Community-run YouTube and Twitch channels might be a cool idea as well. I'd be happy to lend a hand with editing, and with my new build I can record/stream high-quality gameplay footage.

I don't think that alone would be enough to draw new users and pull the old ones back, though.

Yes, sadly it is.

I can't understand why this once mega-popular series was left to die. The new Unreal Tournament "project" that they have going is not drawing interest because the effort seems half-hearted from the mainstream public's point of view. The whole development is being drawn out far too long to hold interest, just like their other title, Fortnite.

With Gears out of Epic's fold, UT relegated to minor-league status, and Unreal simply MIA, all that's left is some mobile development and a couple of beta games that are confused about what they want to be. This site, this forum, have both lived and died based upon the pulse of Epic's games.

The good news is that there are still a lot of good people here. Many who have been posting back and forth for years. At this point, BU is largely in your hands.

You've pretty much summed up what I perceive the state of the series to be, yeah. UT4 (is that still what we're calling it?) seems like kind of an inside joke on Epic's part that only exists to placate the small community that is still hanging on. It's been obvious from the start that they're not too serious about it, and with singleplayer going the way of the Dodo I doubt we'll ever see another story-driven Unreal game. It's far more cost-effective to make MOBAs and comp shooters.

Which brings me to ...

Yeah, I'm not sure how to shift the focus really. The site is "built" around the engine so we could technically focus on any Unreal Engine game but it requires more than 1-2 people to really cover the full gamut of what the site could support. There is also no reason the site couldn't support the competitive side of UT to some degree.

Okay, then fuck Epic.

It's pretty obvious that they are only interested in being an engine company these days. They probably make far more money on the tech than they did on their most recent releases. Couldn't we find something new to build a community around? I'm sure there's at least a handful of games the majority of us enjoy playing, and some of those are probably even free and still relevant. I'll try anything if I have a group of friends joining

Barring that, let's make our own damn game! This community is chock full of talented artists, programmers, level designers, and game developers, probably more so than any other online community I've seen. Not only that, with the kind of people we all associate with we could easily do a successful Kickstarter campaign if we activated our social networks. If a hundred other small indie teams can put out a successful product, there's really no reason we couldn't.

 

[Manticore]

Excuse me for turning up here since 2003.

At least I bothered to show up long after the circus had left and make an attempt to keep this (and other forums) happening in my own way instead of whining about how dead the forum is.

Basically the only reason for coming back here is because this used to be the premium site for one of the great video game franchises; those were the days.

Apart from what has been mentioned about the franchise running off the rails and not reigniting; this and most forums are dead. Why?

1. Facebook and Twitter (which make instantaneous spamming, blogging and whining , in some people's cases, possible).
2. Stream Community and Workshop.
3. Dedicated mod sites (even map sites have failed now).

Just don't fucking come here and lay the blame for anything at my feet. In fact don't come here at all if all you are going to do is whine.

 

[DarkED]

Seriously? Get over yourself already, and stop acting like you're the only one that cares. I'm still here, I never left. I check this forum almost every day. Nobody is 'blaming' you for anything. I'm only trying to help make this forum active again. Your join date is three years behind mine - big fucking deal. That doesn't entitle you to de facto control over anyone else's opinions. Whether you are willing to accept it or not, this forum is dead. But it doesn't have to be. That isn't whining, that's just fact.

If you want this forum to stay the way it is/has been for years, well, that's just not sustainable anymore. Unreal is dead. Things have to change to bring in new blood or there's no point and we should all just pack our bags now, because the trickle is going to get slower and slower until Brizz is the only one left.

Lots of forums have no problem staying active in the age of social media. Look at SA. All we need is relevancy and this community could boom again.

 

[JohnDoe641]

Just don't fucking come here and lay the blame for anything at my feet. In fact don't come here at all if all you are going to do is whine.

Mant, step back and take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale.

I think you're seeing negative in something that isn't.

 

[N1ghtmare]

I really wish Epic would devote more resources to the new UT and get it up. Right now a bunch of ideas on their forums appear, people pick favorites, and when they come to a decision half the community is upset. Anything that people are upset they say "the marketplace will have more options".

In the end it doesn't matter; they need to get a cohesive plan and implement it. The slow development and permanent alpha state/early access that plagues so many games these days prevents communities from forming and people leave the scene before anything reaches beta.

If they don't, then the gaming scene will move on without them. E-sports are huge right now, and even old games are making returns. It will not stay like this for long, big money is going to catch up and the industry will change as it always does. Epic needs to seize the moment for UT.