ISI's marketing duty to subscribers

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Nand Gate, Sep 25, 2013.

  1. Nand Gate

    Nand Gate Banned

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    True - but that is part of the problem. Endless development, at a snails pace. We have literally been waiting for years. Unless ISI makes some decisive CUSTOMER-based decisions regarding rF2 (finalising release goals for a version, polishing/packaging, marketing, official servers/mods etc) - instead of solely technical goals, then there really is no point any more.

    We don't want to simply pretend that we are driving, in the same, demo-like software, in near-empty servers - forever. We need goals, we need racing exposure and we need competition. That requires drivers and leagues. That requires ISI to market (with something usable). If a racing sim cannot offer that, then it is basically useless. And that is where we are at.

    No pizazz, no hype. No influx of new drivers, no excitement, no expectation of a bright future.

    Highest population in any current server: 3
     
  2. TIG_green

    TIG_green Registered

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    It's night in America and day in Europe (read: all are sleeping or at work). Anyway, situation in online is poor but not that bad :p

    As for the marketing, Star Citizen are doing quite well even though they don't have anything to offer atm other than great promises and pre-alpha hangar module (they have raised already 20 000 000 dollars). Just saying.

    rf2 could also market its potential by making some preview demo videos...
     
  3. Woodee

    Woodee Registered

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    and the reason the list is full of servers with no drivers? Because many of the server admins have set up their servers and left them going without even checking if people can join. On most they have not set up the GetMod feature properly so no one can download the content to join.

    If you want to see numbers in the server list then how about some of the server admins try and host something simple with ISI content which is easy to find here! Meganes at Mills works, because everyone has them!!
     
  4. Jamezinho

    Jamezinho Registered

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    Two good posts here.

    For starters the game needs more content that appeals to the mainstream audience. The Megane and Clio are two of the most popular cars online, so with that in mind the BTCC car should be released as a priority.

    I realise licensing is difficult for a dev with limited resources but more big tracks like Silverstone will always create more interest in the sim.

    Secondly, give players something to do offline. A basic career mode and custom championships, for instance.

    Finally, give the game some polish and aesthetic appeal. All gamers like good-looking games, those that say graphics aren't important are kidding themselves in my opinion. Graphics are one of the layers of immersion alongside physics, force feedback, and sound.
     
  5. peterchen

    peterchen Registered

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    At this point I can´t agree.
    1. I very much doubt that the mass of content was higher in the early 90´s.
    Most games have had ONE series or issue and that was it. Look at rF1 from 2005 or actual pCARS or others:
    They all have EXTREMLY much content! I think that is something you just don´t remember correctly.
    2. You can´t expect this high amount of content in rF2 at this stage. However content base is HEAVILY
    and actually pretty fast growing! I find it astonishing that we have already 100+ tracks to use.
    What does it mean "if you can't do anything with it"(physics)??? What prevents you from using these physics?

    In this point I agree x1000!!
    I don´t understand that the range of racing sims lowers instead of raise!
    Now we have even to fight for a implementation of a championship or career-mode! That´s sad!

    Greets
    Pete
     
  6. Thomas

    Thomas Registered

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    I was not here for a long time, wich has different reasons. so, today i thought i came back an do some read on the forums and what should i say... I'm shocked how ISI reacts to simple questions of a paying costumer. It really is a shame and im asking my self what went wrong with this? I mean i loved rf1, was driving in a league and had the biggest fun i ever had with a game/sim. As i heard, that ISI is planning to do rf2 it was like christmas.

    What came after this? Nothing but frustration.... And im not the only one who thinks like that.

    But, u want to know what the problem is with this sim? It is just not what everybody expected it to be. So ISI, u have to options:

    1. keep going like u did for the last years. Do the things u think is the best for the sim and be raedy with it in... let me say 2020.

    or

    2. listen to ur customers and do what they want from u! It's that simple. U have to listen to the community! Its all about us and what we want. It is not about what u think rf2 should be, its about what the community thinks rf2 should be.


    But in honest, u dont have two options. the only real option is the second one, if u dont want the game to be born dead...
     
  7. deak1944

    deak1944 Guest

    ISI has my vote for the way they do things. Thank you for what we have so far!
     
  8. Denstjiro

    Denstjiro Registered

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    Yeah, in all fairness guys, and especially those bitching about the lack of and/or unsatisfying responses. ISI can't do good with the neg's anyways. as soon as they are more clear or even answer basic questions we will see it being hold against them in a later stage.
    So they will get flamed (by a small minority) no matter what they say. so why bother? better to just focus on their own path and plans.

    Also a lack of response does not mean they have no idea what they are doing, they might be just reluctant to share it with us. wonder why?

    And if you (we) are going to use silly arguments (current online population: 3, and allot more of those) to try and get a message across, all you are achieving is that you are likely to get ignored. If you feel passionate about the subject at least communicate in a sensible manner, that will always work best. Its not about you being right or they being wrong, its about getting this thing on the road for all of us, and imo we can help with that as a community.

    As for a lack ISI servers being such a culprit, really??
    If ISI-only content or meganes/clios are such an important thing, why aren't we doing it ourselves then? why aren't there at least 5 or 10 servers dedicated to this glorious idea 24/7?

    Because pickup racing is not where the money is. it never has. unless a new 'awesome' mod has been released, then the numbers go up for a while. but that's it. the real racing is done within leagues and communities, not on random servers with the easiest cars/tracks. it never will be, even if we get a billion new users.

    For those whom don't know, drivers, leagues and communities have been going through the same thing with rf1, having to deal with new builds, broken features, having to figure out how things work as we used the product already. Took us all years to get it right.
    Heck, after all these years we are still teaching drivers how to setup rf1, discovering different ways of using it, etc etc. and we are still answering basic questions in the ISI rf1 forum up to this day.

    Its just a tad disappointing we have to go through this all again.
     
  9. Guimengo

    Guimengo Guest

    Regarding existing customers, the people who have been backing rF2, usually early adopters get "shafted." When it comes time to having to pay for the right to play online or give the additional $40 for the lifetime license, those people can always just skip it and use a different title for online and offline. It'd be great to have some kind of reward for being an user right now compared to someone who joins in maybe a year from now, when things hopefully are better.

    I honestly believe I paid $44 for an offline title that depending on development, will never get any use due to what's planned for single player support. By the time there's anything set up for multiplayer, or proper mods and servers, my license will be long gone and that will suck for me, because I barely touched rF1 and that was $40 thrown away.
     
  10. Steve Serpant

    Steve Serpant Registered

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    I feel the same as @Guimengo by the time my license runs out if I still can't make a vmod and there are no other servers to join its pointless me paying for it again.

    I have had three threads at least in the pass trying to solve the problem but after about 9 months of no one able help and no one for ISI even answering my threads it feels like all I have is a single player game.
     
  11. Woodee

    Woodee Registered

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    Many of you act like RF2 is broken, beyond repair!!

    If the majority of users weren't on here complaining and bickering between themselves on things (in the bigger picture) that don't mean a thing then maybe there would be people on those servers!

    Pickup racing has never been a truly popular affair. Find some likeminded friends, play some online races, maybe even google a league or two and get behind that steering wheel instead.
     
  12. MarcG

    MarcG Registered

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    try contacting via e-mail to technical support.
     
  13. MarcG

    MarcG Registered

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    Precisely, RF2 is perfectly playable as it currently is and is improving each build.

    Sure there are some things I wish ISI did differently, I think we all have our own visions on that. But at the end of the day ISI will do what ISI want to do, it's their game and they will progress with it as they see fit, they do listen to the Wish List forum and have improved in areas that have been suggested by community members so it's not as if they're 100% ignoring us.

    The recent "League Admins" thread asking what improvements need to be made for League racing is a perfect example of their willingness to listen and further inprove the product, once those first suggestions get laid into the game (and maybe after a few more content releases, both official and community made) then maybe Leagues will start slipping over from rf1 and Pick-Up racing will improve.
     
  14. Steve Serpant

    Steve Serpant Registered

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    Ha ha I've just tried to fire RF2 up to see if there are any servers I can join and now it crashes my pc or gives me a runtime error so yeah I'm going with broken beyond repair.

    Thanks @MarcG if I get it running again I'll give that a try :eek:)
     
  15. costamesa

    costamesa Registered

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    Just checked the online servers, 92 players on 32 servers. Most I have ever seen :)

    however most of the players are on private servers though.
     
  16. 88mphTim

    88mphTim racesimcentral.net

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    You didn't ask why anything (except what was answered in my previous posts), and yes I chose to answer those whys when responding to someone else. Yes, you are and have been rude now, and that in itself allows me the free will to observe that a solution to the lack of online participation is not improved by me responding to you. The solution isn't going to be a forum post that for some reason you're acting like will immediately bring about world peace and increased participation.

    You have been given some time to cool off, and I am sincerely hoping that when you return, you can ask questions that will be answered. Without the aggressive posturing.
     
  17. Cracheur

    Cracheur Registered

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    nothing to add.

    +1
     
  18. K Szczech

    K Szczech Registered

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    It's an automated message. I don't consider it to be a valid statement from ISI :)

    There are still a lot of things in rF2, that I consider good for modders but bad for racers. Accelerated rate of real road evolution is a good example. On one hand we can test our tracks in different conditions easier, but on the other hand racing in rain is completely pointless, because cars in front dry the track for cars in back of the field. This in turn defeats the purpose of even having rain in rF2, except for again, testing your track.

    That's why if everyone asks on our portal if it's worth it, I still tell them to wait, because many people who expect good online or league experience often end up being let down. If someone just wants to try out different content or create content, I tell "go ahead".

    So dated or not, many points from Gjon's post are still valid in my opinion.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 27, 2013
  19. Ddigital

    Ddigital Registered

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    Hi all. Maybe I should post from a complete newcomers perspective. I've only started racing few months ago with iRacing and looked for something to race singleplayer and stumbled over rFactor2.
    Or to be honest I stumbled over rFactor 1. The countless youtube vids. And mind you it was mostly the "cams from behind that got me", all the user created content. So naturally I picked the new version.

    Let me just tell you for a newcomer this game is very tough to understand. Yeah you old skool heads might know how it all works coming over from rfactor 1 but for me it was kind of a shocker. Where are all the cars and tracks? Where do I get it from? How do I install it? Why is the game running so bad? Oh there is forums and threads upon threads upon threads. Yes i got the hang of it now but it cost me way more time than I ever thought I needed to invest. I understand flexibility has its price but your not doing this game a favour by letting the user to go find out and collect for himself.

    I've especially been irritated with the possibilities the community has to present and handle mods/tracks/cars/leagues. This isn't 2001. People invest hours upon hours to create content only to present it in a forum thread!? It's your most precious asset! And that's all the community has? I've been thinking about this for the past few days and as a professional designer and coder I can't leave this be. I've already talked to my coworkers at my workplace and we're looking into investing a bit of our time to give the community an "appstore"-style platform it deserves where the creators can upload and share their content. It's kind of our little lab day project.
     
  20. alpha-bravo

    alpha-bravo Registered

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    I really appreciate this discussion because I hope the topic becomes more attention and helps us to become more online activity.

    I have also rF1 but did not start it since around 6 months because the driving experience in rF2 is for me much better.
    On the other side it is sad to see the poor activity. I take every day a look what happen online and the most time I see around 10 servers with online activity but here 2 drivers and there 3 drivers except the SR4L server1 with the ISI 60's and the ISR Megane server. Here you can see constant activity.
    Both servers be managed by a league and are the most time open for public access.

    Unfortunately both car types are not my favorites. Both classes are well done and I've tried it with the 60's it has nothing to do with issues or bug's. I is only a personel thing.

    So why we have no more activity?
    IMHO this is the result of home made bad publicity.
    Fact is at the moment rF2 is the only HQ "hard core" sim we can officially buy.
    Fact is for example many rF1 users was and are not satisfied with the ffb.
    Fact is most rF2 drivers are satisfied with the ffb which is one of the major things for a racing sim.
    Fact is the look and feel of rF2 (if you compare ISI stock content) compared to rF1 is much better and we have ongoing development from ISI of course at the moment not in the gfx enviroment but we have real good physics and ffb in the cars and with every new released content we can see improvments (Howston's)

    I read every day in the forum and often I see how good threads with spam and whining posts are turned into (for me) useless threads.

    My whises and hopes would:
    - More constructive teamwork of our community
    - give trolls and users which are not constructive no chance. I hope Max Angelo come back soon !!!!!
    - league managers try to establish servers with puplic access supported of league drivers. For beginners rF2 is a hard challenge and they need support (for example share a good working setup or give hints about driving technic) to become a good experience.
    - ISI please try to implement gfx improvments. If all cars would be on the level of the corvette or the F3.5 (only mean then visuals) it would be a good step forward.
    - to all ! Support the artists and mod makers. I've no talent to do this kind of work but I try to give a good feedback and if nessecary and needed I do some test work.
    - rF1 drivers. Try it you will see !!

    Hope to see you soon online :)

    alex
     

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