State Of The Community

[FoxxyFrost]

Hello my gamer friends, my uo boys, my snipers and no lifers. 

How come we dont play Arma 3 anymore? Is UO dead, or does the problem lie within the game Arma itself? Discuss.

[Darksidesix]

Feel free to answer this interest poll so we can gauge how many people still want to play Arma and are willing to try some Friday sessions in the future...

Spoiler

https://www.strawpoll.me/19130877

UP is not kil, just recruitment is kil.

[ThePieSpy]

Speaking for myself, I think it's more the game itself. The engine and gameplay is starting to age and my patience for things like falling through floors and flipping tanks on map objects has reduced. I don't think the community should die as a result but probably contract and simplify until a new ArmA or competitor game is released.

[znoop]

I don't want to play Arma 3 anymore. Arma 4, when?

[Boondocksaint]

We were always meant to be a multi-gaming community. I would suggest we foster a new game the community can get behind if ARMA is no longer fun for everyone. Subgroups like BMS thrive others can also. 

[znoop]

We are playing many different games in the Gulag, a big chunk of UO is playing ECO at the moment on a server set up by i9.

[VPope]

On 1/4/2020 at 6:47 PM, znoop said:

We are playing many different games in the Gulag, a big chunk of UO is playing ECO at the moment on a server set up by i9 VPope. 

FIFY

[znoop]

I thought it was set up by lord commander impulse, 9th of his name? I'm sorry Mr. Pope.

[silencer.helling3r]

Would love to play more arma, with lots of people! Especially TvTs!

[Haribo]

It's genuinely disheartening seeing the community like this, each time I have tried to join, no one is playing. Iv been so bored I have learned how to spell. sorta

[Rye]

It almost brings a tear to my eye.

[MistaCow]

Is it true? Are the ARMA sessions really completely dead?
I've never posted here on the forums, but I used to play with UO quite a bit. Recently my desire to play ARMA resurfaced, and I've been itching for some tactical play with a large group. I also want to show my friend who has just got into it what real Arma is like.
It was tragic to hop on these forums and see the dwindling activity... this truly breaks my heart.

There really was no other group like UO out there. I loved that you could just hop in, and as long as you were willing to learn and listen everyone would welcome you.

I hate to even ask this because I just want to play with you guys again. But if the sessions are really dead, is there some tactical group that anyone is playing with that at least comes close in spirit to what UO represented?
I really want my tactical fix, but every group I've found assigns you a "rank" or requires commitment to weekly sessions. Something about that just feels off and isn't what I'm looking for.

Really the greatest news would be that despite the look of things there are actually some people hopping into the server on weekends. I'm beginning to doubt that more and more though...

[PaxJaromeMalues]

Yes they have ended.

Some people said its due to ArmA3 being too old loosing its steam and the UO core playerbase becoming older and more involved with AFK.

Personally I think the second might be true, but the first was simply not true in every aspect. ArmA3 continues to flourish in other places very well. So do the mods.

[Mustang]

I'm equally bummed out that UO isn't as active now, but I get it.  Folks get older and have other responsibilities.  Hell, I think i'd been AFK for almost 8 years until just coming back.  I always think back to the good times i always had on the server.

Lately I've been playing on either the Volition or NAK servers because they're not passworded and you don't have to join a clan.  Crappy thing is that they don't go into different channels on TS, use ACRE, or they just all talk in group.  It's a cluster for sure.  The next event we have I'll do my best to get on for sure.

[Cake]

This community sorta just killed itself with policies and group think and is going to continue that way. As someone who watched UO as an outsider popping in and out to play Arma every few years, I noticed a few things that basically killed Arma gameplay over the years and I believe UO will fall into the same traps if another game gets picked up.

The first big issue was that whenever any semi influential member said they were leaving in the mission selection/slotting screen, they would rip away a handful to a couple dozen players from the server following their footsteps. This was especially apparent with the Gulag channel because once one Gulag member left, they all left. I believe this type of transient play style with major community members stunted the growth of new members and turned people away from UO.

I think another big inherent issue with UO is the regular structure and what they can vote on. From my observations, people who never actually played Arma would be the most vocal ones on the forums and in policy discussions whenever Arma related changes ever came up. The fact that people who never actually played on the server would be in charge of it seemed off.

I believe another reason why new members never actually stayed was that the big Green R's and Blue O's couldn't be bothered to stay on the server for more than 2 matches. If the people wielding the power wouldn't stick around in game, why would new members stay? Officers, GM's and Regulars were never the core players of most Arma matches during my playtime in Arma 2 and 3, what's even the point of those positions in a community where they get a majority of say on what happens to the game they don't even play? I get the whole multi community argument, but why not put the people who actually played Arma to be in positions of power to make it better?

There wasn't really enough GM's around during certain periods, or if there was, they couldn't be bothered to fix the server. The policy behind limiting the amount of GM's sorta hurt the Arma community long term and didn't really allow for the servers to flourish on their own. What even was the point of making GM a coveted rank if they would proceed to not even do the job?

I believe the biggest issue with UO is that new regulars weren't sought after and those that made the Arma community great weren't really listened to and were ignored. This community was downright petty as fuck and I believe that was the final nail in the coffin for UO. The establishment regulars basically created their own space and didn't really see a need for new players to come in unless they became their close friends. Regular ship wasn't actually about being a regular in the community, it was more about being friends with the in group.

There's my shit post on UO's Arma history, I'll probably get called out for being dumb or not recalling everything the same way a regular did.

Thanks for the memories UO, Arma 2 and 3 were fun.

[TwoFace]

On 2/20/2020 at 12:33 PM, Cake said:

This community sorta just killed itself with policies and group think and is going to continue that way. As someone who watched UO as an outsider popping in and out to play Arma every few years, I noticed a few things that basically killed Arma gameplay over the years and I believe UO will fall into the same traps if another game gets picked up.

The first big issue was that whenever any semi influential member said they were leaving in the mission selection/slotting screen, they would rip away a handful to a couple dozen players from the server following their footsteps. This was especially apparent with the Gulag channel because once one Gulag member left, they all left. I believe this type of transient play style with major community members stunted the growth of new members and turned people away from UO.

I think another big inherent issue with UO is the regular structure and what they can vote on. From my observations, people who never actually played Arma would be the most vocal ones on the forums and in policy discussions whenever Arma related changes ever came up. The fact that people who never actually played on the server would be in charge of it seemed off.

I believe another reason why new members never actually stayed was that the big Green R's and Blue O's couldn't be bothered to stay on the server for more than 2 matches. If the people wielding the power wouldn't stick around in game, why would new members stay? Officers, GM's and Regulars were never the core players of most Arma matches during my playtime in Arma 2 and 3, what's even the point of those positions in a community where they get a majority of say on what happens to the game they don't even play? I get the whole multi community argument, but why not put the people who actually played Arma to be in positions of power to make it better?

There wasn't really enough GM's around during certain periods, or if there was, they couldn't be bothered to fix the server. The policy behind limiting the amount of GM's sorta hurt the Arma community long term and didn't really allow for the servers to flourish on their own. What even was the point of making GM a coveted rank if they would proceed to not even do the job?

I believe the biggest issue with UO is that new regulars weren't sought after and those that made the Arma community great weren't really listened to and were ignored. This community was downright petty as fuck and I believe that was the final nail in the coffin for UO. The establishment regulars basically created their own space and didn't really see a need for new players to come in unless they became their close friends. Regular ship wasn't actually about being a regular in the community, it was more about being friends with the in group.

There's my shit post on UO's Arma history, I'll probably get called out for being dumb or not recalling everything the same way a regular did.

Thanks for the memories UO, Arma 2 and 3 were fun.

Couldnt have said it better. The only thing i can add is that it got boring over time because always the same people accepted the same mission requests from the same people so you would always play the same big tank platoon mission.

The push to require Apex killed most of the Community and the rest silently died over time.

[Mikee]

Hey guys, I tend to lurk on forums once in a while because I miss you all. 

I think lack of activity on UO servers has to do with us growing up and having other commitments. I wouldn't really expect anymore new "meeshuns".

That being said, we could pick a date to meet on Teamspeak / Discord to just talk the old times, catch up and find out what games is everyone playing now.

[Evan]

Same, Mikee, miss you bud.

It's been over five years since I played here regularly. With my summer plans cancelled, I would love to come back and play some Arma 3 if there are any other like-minded individuals.

[MrPink]

I'm 100% down for some Arma

[Rye]

On 2/20/2020 at 9:33 PM, Cake said:

[...]

There's my shit post on UO's Arma history, I'll probably get called out for being dumb or not recalling everything the same way a regular did.

Fair criticism, in my opinion. And succinctly put.