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Community Recruitment & Retention of players

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#1: Community Recruitment & Retention of players Author: ActionJacksonDX,

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:46 pm
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(formerly known as topic "we need advertisement")

this site has more than a thousand registered users now. how many of them are active at GSA? some dozens maybe. and what we need is more players to keep the game alive.

i think it would be a good idea to have a big fingerpoint at the possibility (and joy!) of online battles on the main page.

#2: Author: RunningMan,

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:35 pm
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w0rd !

#3: Author: CSO_Sbufkle, Location: Canada

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:50 pm
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The CSO over the past 8 years have had the same issue.

Most registered users, even at one point clan members arent active.

Many are 'one hit wonders' who register when they just find the site, (Either CCS or CSO) but then never come back.

Fact is you cant push people, even if only 1 of 20 new users becomes a regular, it beats soemthing like demanding activivty from users & scaring people off.

Plus going over the list & deleting unactive members is not only time consuming, but youd be suprised how many people do eventually come back later on. You have people who get RL in the weay or are themselves in the Military ect ect.

What I will commend is that there are people still wanting to address enrollment & activity int he CC community.

Understand this game is old in the very fast paced world of computer gaming. Its things like RSR, a new direction mod & the other mods & mappers (pats himself ont he back) that keep this thing going.

There is a distinct fracture of the CC community in groups though. CC2, 3 & 5 which are the most active of the series of games. (I love CC4 by the way) All have separate communities in where they meet, organize & play. The common thread of the very active boards like at the CSO or the Dls from here & the CSO bridge the versions no question,buty to only a certian degree. The fracture is still there. You cant compare apples & oranges althought hey are all fruit.

EXAMPLE-Mafi has pumped out some SERIOUS tools for CC lately, but people assume its CC2 related, which is half true, most of his tools are used for multiple versions, in fact they are breakthrough tools that some arent looking at because of the 'CC2' factor.

So basically in a nutshell,(& back to the main topic) while it does bother me of the amount of one shot wonders in the CC community, its been a fact for years & years now. The million dollar question on how to deal with it hasnt been answered, & in reflecting on it now, can or should it be dealt with when all is said & done its a delicate community.

Now.. that being said, the CC community has always puttered on, it seems when the priest is reading the least rights on all of us, something comes along. So personally Ill keep the faith that things will get better.

#4: Author: ActionJacksonDX,

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 5:13 pm
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hey, i never intended to demand anything from poeple, nor did i complain about dead accounts or anything. just a little advertisement, nothing more.

#5: Author: CSO_Sbufkle, Location: Canada

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 5:50 pm
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lol! I know you didnt! Just wanted to bring you up to speed on the fact its been like that for years!! lol!

I know hwere your coming from totally!

Just mentioned the 'demanding activity' thing because back in the days there were clans,(LOTS more than today) most got rid of you if you werent active, the only open clan really was the CSO, which is still around, but has gone beyond a clan really. Those dedicated folks at the BR clan are also still hooked on CC2 it must be pointed out!

Fact is how do you advertise a game thats latest version (PLEASE DONT INCLUDE RTB) was released years ago. Its a tough sell... unless a good gimmick comes out! Smile

Again.. I agree with you.. just wanted to share some info!

#6: Author: mooxe,

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 9:22 pm
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Theres a few things I'v tried to do over the past year to help...

- I have had the GameSpy and BHQ logos up at TH for about a year now... I am sure its helped a bit.

- When CC3 was discontinuted on the zone I emailed about 2500 people that were registered with TH CC2 section about the change, and where to go play. I mentioned GS as primary, BHQ secondary and Zone Misc. room as thier 3rd choice.... It turned out that alot of the people thanked me for emailing them but in the end I am not sure if it helped. (After all the arguing, GS turned out to be the spot to go play.)

I have a few new ideas for now...

- Place the GameSpy icon on the main page of CCS... I did this somewhat successfully a month ago but the icon would not center itself so I took it down.... I will work on this more.

- Mailing list... "State of Series from a gamers persepective"... With whats new, wheres everyone playing...stuff like that. Right now I have close to 8500 email addressess of people who play currently and have played in the past. Emailing all these people would be borderline spamming.... but you could also justify it as the last stand to get people back to the community. I would say out of those 8500 emails..... 2000 still (semi)actively play online or at home and 1000 emails are bad now or never existed in the 1st place. Combine this number with the 2800 registed in the CSO forums and the 1300 registered at TH Forums and you have around 12000 people to email. The actual number of people you'd reach is far lower than that because of dead emails... same people regged at all different places... spam guards... who knows what else...

Its an idea. If someone wants to get together with me and do it... It will be done.

- Last idea is a push for all clan and misc game sites to promote GameSpy for CC3/4/5 and BHQ for CC2. It could be a simple line at the bottom of your webpage or something bigger.

#7: Some of my thoughts Author: Pizzaman,

Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:02 pm
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Quote:

Fact is you cant push people, even if only 1 of 20 new users becomes a regular, it beats soemthing like demanding activivty from users & scaring people off.

So true. One of the reason I don't bother with TH is the demand in filing reports. Another wargame group I once belong demanded activity reports once a month, plus battle reports. Simple as it was, I just couldn't be bothered. . .

Quote:

youd be suprised how many people do eventually come back later on.

Again true. CC is my favorite game, but sometimes other demands deny time to play, sometimes for months. CC2 & CC4, at msngamezone I think, was really active once. I was also part of Platoon Clan. Six months later, when I returned, msngamezone nolonger catered for CC, Platoon Clan had ceased.

I followed some suggestion on CSO to find players at BHQ and GS. BHQ turned out to be dead, and GS, everyone was playing CC3 or CC5. I was even reluctant to join closecombatseries for a while, because it looked less active the CSO. But after I while I learnt that CCS was a far superior site. I hardly go to CSO anymore, except with tech probs sometimes.

Mooxe,

You doin a great job. Personally I hope you keep casual. No emailing, activity demand etc. . . Anyone looking for good squad level WWII gaming will naturally gravitate here IMO.

#8: Author: CSO_Sbufkle, Location: Canada

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:59 am
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But the e-mail addys of the 12000 are from 4 different places.. good chance that youll have the same e-mail addys repeating 3 or 4 times.. so its not as tough as 12,000 mails.. although still 4000 to say 7000 isnt anything casual.

#9: Author: Pzt_Wruff, Location: Pzt Befehl Hauptsitz

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 4:37 pm
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Pointing people in the right direction can do a lot.
I believe that many people simply don't know that we play CC5 at Gamespy.
They end up playing AI or a friend that has the game via I.P.
The CC5 CD still says "Zone" on it, not Gamespy. It's up to us to show them.

They stroll through the community without even knowing where to go.
Gamespy needs to be linked off of all CC5 sites.
I added a Gamespy link today to the Pzt site:
http://www.geocities.com/panzertruppen1/PztCCGruppe2.html

Pzt_Wruff

#10: Author: bkp_mik,

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2005 7:25 pm
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i know a few ppl from polish cc community. did not know there are so many of them. on a polish forum i tried to advertise GS a bit, but noticed ppl are still lazy. they prefer to play via direct thanks to announcements on the forum and then using net communicators than through GS. probably some just find one person to play so they dont need place like GS for meeting people.
anyway i feel advertising is useful, i think a few people came to spy thanks to the ad i placed.

#11: Author: Thatoneguy, Location: California

Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 12:01 am
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When you first buy CC5 and install it it says you con play on mplayer.com. I tried that and it takes you to gamespy im pretty sure.

So if people buy the game who want to play online, they will click on the mplayer link go to gamespy, and either decide to download it, or figure no one plays online anymore since the site is gone. However I think having the gamespy logo and a link to gamespy on the main page might get a few new users.

#12: Bump for review Author: CarpeNoctem,

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:02 pm
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I know this thread was basically finished a year ago. But I'd like to get it going again.

The reason being is to address the problems (depending on POV) that plague gaming sites.

First off, look at it like any other organization competing for business. Even a community center has the same problems getting people to visit and stay.

In order for CCS or CSO to have a nice member list that returns and participates the game has to be replayable. Address this objectively - without a personal position - CC really doesn't have the replayability that other games do. Even the replayability that it does have has been dried up with the lack of new versions. yeah there are mods, but general users don't like mods. Or rather feel they are too complex. Look at general install packages today, a user doesn't have to do anything really and many times the install gets hosed somehow.

Once a game has this, member sites and forums are busy busy busy. To keep that going is a basic business topic, getting and keeping customers. My personal feelings are to provide more than the other site. Everyone has forums, everyone has a mailing list (for who knows what use) and everyone wants to be the most technically advanced in their field of interest.

Where each fall short is providing the basics. You first need to get your customers and to maintain a steady stream of newbies. This is accomplished by catering to the newbie. Basic articles concerning newbie things come to mind, bugs and patches, tactics, unit explainations, how the game is organized and played (not a manual retype but filling in the details )

Once you are populating your user lists, you can go from there. Maybe extend your articles in intermediate series. Such as a "how to" on a great implementation of a strategic level properly implemented defensive battleplan (the complete defensive battle plan that is, not just a 'defense')

Really beyond that is icing on the cake, implement a ladder system and maintaining / upgrading it. Clan organization manaugement tons of things, but all of which are useless if you don't get new users and if you don't keep the ones you have.

If you are able to do that, you'll have a system in which feeds and provides for itself. I.e. the user base provides incentive to the producers to put out bigger and better products. (only reason DOOM, QUAKE, ETC has the user base it does is because of the user base it has had)

-CN

#13: Author: mooxe,

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:33 pm
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CarpeNoctem very good insight. A thread like this never ends. Some of the problems you mention are being addressed, some are not.

Quote:

Where each fall short is providing the basics. You first need to get your customers and to maintain a steady stream of newbies. This is accomplished by catering to the newbie. Basic articles concerning newbie things come to mind, bugs and patches, tactics, unit explainations, how the game is organized and played (not a manual retype but filling in the details )

Heres what we do at closecombatseries.net

Catering to the beginner. This was the fundamental idea that got us started on this site. At the time we made this site (Aug'04) we and many others felt no site out there was really catering to newbies, staying current with respect to mods and really was not actively participating in keeping the community going. All these points together made it obvious another site was required.

Our goal was to provide the community with a clean, professional, efficient, up to date and useful Close Combat server. Which we did and has been successful. How we do this is by the following;

1 - With each major mod release, an installation guide is created for it. The guide is written for a newbie starting from nothing level. Ie; games not even installed.

www.closecombatseries.net

www.tournamenthouse.com

Here are some plans for CCS coming up to generate and retain more users and help beginners;

full retail version of CC2

Thats about all we can do. CCS is only a 5 man show, 4 of which do the work, and one 1 who pays his share of the cost. So far we've done a great job I think, or so we've been told. But there is still alot we can do ourselves and with volunteers.

Quote:

Thats a very good point, and very true on CCS. We do cater but I guess not good enough. I suppose articles and how-to guides need to be re-showcased every now and then. This makes sense because new people coming wont necceserily see the stuff published for the new users 6 months ago, although it still is in the site. How would we go about doing this? Thats a question for you CarpeNoctem and everyone else reading.

#14: Author: CarpeNoctem,

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 3:15 pm
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Thanks for replying to the post I made. I hope that noone takes my post as a flame or finger pointing.

While staying current with mods and such is a good plan, I think that caters to mostly the advanced members of the 'demographic' so to speak. With several years of CC pseudo-experience I don't consider myself advanced, more of a newbie because my experience with CC is less than a hobby.

I do really enjoy CC very much and I am now taking more of a hobby approach to it. But in trying to research the basics, I find newbie tutorials on gameplay few and far between.

Let me give an example of how 'newbie' I am, and keep in mind that I am an IT professional for more than 10 years now.

With CC5, I obtained a copy of it secondhand without the manual, so what really? I had CC2 and CC3 already. How much different can it be? I have had CC5 for several years now and didn't know that in a GC you could move your battlegroups each morning. How lame is that? Sad

But thanks to CCS, i was able to download the manual and determine that. I am now armed with knowledge. Let me tell you, the game is totally different now. (I don't know if there is a tutorial about the BG screen, I stear away from the lesser tutorials in the game considering they are repeats of previous tutorials and they take a long time to complete; besides severly lacking in the thought process of why you do something.)

My next research project is finding tactic tutorials. Now here, they seems to be a black hole. Part of the reason I see is 'they' stopped putting out strategy guides with CC3? Very disconcerting. Anyway, I had hoped to find masses of tutorials on the web.

I found 'references' in forums to compiled tactics, but following links produce page not found errors because the author has let things go. Not putting them down, life has responsibilities, maintaining tutorials on a game should place last on someones list.

I did find an 80 page article from some Army officer describing Company, Platoon and Squad tactics and makes reference to CCM, but this is kind of hard to read due to the military origin. A good article nonetheless.

Thanks for the participation in this thread, and I hope that the information gleaned from it is put to good use. I'd like to offer any help I may, but please realize that I am a newbie myself and I have a family.

Best regards,

CN

#15: Author: platoon_michael, Location: Right behind you

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:20 am
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The best thing I have seen from here is the option to join and play with other members.
While I havent done so,it is a great option.

Having a team GC where one can grab the file and play as time permits suits us older fellas much better.
With work (real work) Home,then homework for the kids,dinner, playing goes to the back of the rack.
Now your stuck trying to find/play that one maybe two people who are on your same time frame.

Having a list of people interested in such a GC is great,having thier MSN,Yahoo or whatever handle to add to your favorite instant messenger is even better.

The only problem is people who put to much focus on winning and beating the newbies to death when they loose an important map.

If you are a newbie reading this dont be upset if your first or maybe second clan isnt working out for you.
Finding one you like is most important,one thats fair and play honest would be a good start.
If the guys are hell bent on winning no matter the cost,you might want to bail out.

#16: Author: SAS-Recon-Maj, Location: Stevenage, Hertfordshire

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 5:32 pm
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Thanks for the email mooxe been away for a while, been involved with other games i.e. Call of Duty joined a clan and been generally busy with fitting in with them. I still have all the Close Combat games on my hard drive with all their mods and maps, wouldnt want to loose all those after all the work it took get it all running properly. What im trying to say is you cant beat the Close Combat series and would always come back and play again even if it was a long time since I last played. By the way have only ever played them on GameSpy. Smile

#17: Author: aikmen, Location: Toronto Canada

Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:01 am
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just bored reading through threads trying to find someone to play with on GS!!!; mooxe what you have done with ccseries is just fantastic, i dont know how to generate interest in this game really.... I cant even convince one person that I personally know to play with me, but GL

Aikmen,

#18: Author: rufus,

Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 12:11 am
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make no mistake im a hard core cc player,and ive got a reguals opponent to play cc online so it isnt a problem for me,but i feel that if ur new to cc online and u cant get some to fight
ur get bored waiting at GS and give up.i to find this problem when my pals are off line,so ill play COD not because its better but because i know ill get a game.whilst playing COD ill mention "has any body heard of close combat" and the most commen reply i get is"that is soooooooo 90's dude"so basically ive given up mentoing cc to other on line players(fed up with the ridacular)and being accused of being and old fart(which is fine by me)it seems to me that now a days people just want a game when u rush, kill an move on.the less thought the better,dumbing down big style.its a pity but this ccv has been around since 98,how many games have been around that long?lets hope all this talk about cc6 will regenerate interest in this truley classic game,not for our sake but for all those ignorant masses out there who think that it is soooo 90's

#19: New members Author: Wavell, Location: Horsham, West Sussex, England

Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 11:02 pm
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I have tried to find out more about membership of CCS unsuccesfully. It seems that a registered user is not a member, but the site does'nt make it clear what you do to become a member. Not to me, at any rate, and perhaps not to others.
What's the difference between a registered user and a member, what are the benefits of membership, and how do I become a member if i want to?

#20: mmm Author: ANZAC_Lord4war, Location: Sydney Australia

Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 5:01 am
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if u have registered then u r a member!
as for benefits they send Xmas cards.

#21: Help! Author: Wavell, Location: Horsham, West Sussex, England

Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 5:07 pm
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I played CC3 and CC5 many years ago, when the games were new. I'd be quite interested in playing CC again, but the CCS site does not make it clear, to me at any rate, how to do this.
Do I need to have the original disks to play others on the CCS site? I've found my old CC5 disk but I can't find my CC 3 disk. Can I download the full install of the games from the CCS site? If so, where from?
How do I manage to find opponents on the CCS site? None of this is clear to me, although I've played many other games over the net without these difficulties. Overall I don't think the CCS site is friendly to new users.
I have received a private message from someone but, when I go to my "private message" inbox and click on it, nothing happens. How am I supposed to read private messages?
Wavell.

#22: Author: mooxe,

Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 6:24 pm
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Quote:

but the CCS site does not make it clear, to me at any rate, how to do this.

At the very top of CCS you will see this link "Download Game Spy and play online!" You can play CC3/4/5 on GameSpy. Go to www.tournamenthouse.com/CC2 to find out how to play CC2 online.

Quote:

Do I need to have the original disks to play others on the CCS site?

You do not play people on the CCS site. You play people on GameSpy or Power Lobbies for CC2. And yes ofcourse you do need the original disks to play.

Quote:

Can I download the full install of the games from the CCS site? If so, where from?

No, and I dont know.

Quote:

How do I manage to find opponents on the CCS site?

You find opponents on GameSpy or PowerLobbies. You can however use the forums to ask to play someone.

Quote:

None of this is clear to me, although I've played many other games over the net without these difficulties. Overall I don't think the CCS site is friendly to new users.

This website was setup with the sole purpose of attracting new users. There are many guides on various topics and instructions on how to download and install the mods. There are many other smaller details we've taken care of to to make this easier for someone to start playing.
Use the search functions on CCS. You will find them in the forums, downloads, topics, news and just about any module. We do not attempt to hold anyones hand through the entire process of getting the game running. You do need the basic rudementry skills of installing the game and navigating a website to take part here.

Quote:

I have received a private message from someone but, when I go to my "private message" inbox and click on it, nothing happens. How am I supposed to read private messages?

Nobody else has experienced PM difficulties and I do not know of any current problems with it. I suggest you check your browser.

#23: Author: Wavell, Location: Horsham, West Sussex, England

Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 10:35 pm
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1. Yup. It does indeed say "download GameSpy and play online". But it does'nt say that you need one of the original disks to do this.
2. How is a newbie to know that you can't play CC on the CCS site? The process of needing the original disks and playing via GameSpy is not clearly explained anywhere. As for "of course you need the original disks" well, today a lot of games can be downloaded from their sites, usually but not invariably in exchange for a fee.
3. If the site was set up to attract new users I don't think it's succeeding very well. This view is supported by the apparent lack of new CC players using the site. If you want to attract new players I suggest you need to explain more clearly what CC is,and "holding a person's hand to get the game running" is precisely what the site should be doing.
Also there is no need to be rude. I have the basic skills of installing (and uninstalling) games and navigating websites and have been doing this for many years. My browser works well, thank you. And I can spell "rudimentary"
You seem very complacent about the site. It really does'nt work very well for newcomers, which may explain why it's not achieving it's objective.

#24: Author: mooxe,

Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 1:23 am
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Ok,

I took for granted that people would know that you need the original CDROMs to play any game from the CC series. I apologize if I seem arrogant but sometimes its frustrating explaining things. The site is succeeding in attracting new players, through new user signups and bandwidth stats that is evident. The people it is not helping are the people who do not ask for help. The greatest source here is not how-to guides, its the people who respond to questions in the forums. Use the forums and you will find out most answers to almost anything.

Quote:

You seem very complacent about the site.

The crew and I do what we can, as best as we can. A how to get started guide has been in the works for quite some time. Many other activities go on in the background that you may not be aware of.

#25: Author: ZAPPI4, Location: Belgium Liege

Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:49 pm
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Lol Wavell ... Our goal when we created this Site was to make a site dedicated to CC Series, especially created for newbee ... Apparently we fail that .

of course Game need original Cd to play it ... You speak about new game than u can download it from the web ... But u will may to buy it then. A lot ( and maybe all of them) of new game is simply protected to be unplayable without the original CD... So maybe u spoke about old game avaiable online for free. Maybe that's possible, but not for CC... Well of course you can found any game( and then CC too) for free on peer to peer or this kind of things... but that's never official.

Also there is no need to be rude... << Dont you fell than maybe you were rude with us?? Rolling Eyes

Anyways welcome on CC front line ... The best way to be helped like Mooxe told you is using the forum ... And like he told you too, check out the guides, articles, etc .... A lot of your question would be solved by reading older articles than we posted some month or years before ..
Cheers

#26: Newbie Night Author: Starker,

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:43 am
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Greetings All! I know that you have done a magnificent job keeping this site lively and interesting. And I don't find it difficult to use.
I went to Powerlobbies and logged in and had a nice conversation with some chaps before trying to host a game. But I ran into probs (a mod was select to start, instead of the original game), and one looks a bit foolish when that happens.

My short and simple suggestion would be to send emails to newbies, and invite them to a newbie night. Use PL for CC2 and/or a TeamSpeak channel with directions for people (on how to use TS, the channel, etc.)
Some experience players would 'host' the night and pair up with newbies for practise sessions.

Hope that is not some tired old idea you've done before, but if it is, sorry to waste the bytes!

{KAOS} Starker

#27: Author: Cowmando,

Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 2:45 am
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I have been playingb the CC games 1 player for years, I must have played CC1 first when i was about 9 years old (am 20 now so i might be out on how long ago it was but deffinately b4 i was 11) and loved it. Then i played CC2 and that was even better. I played them both so much but due to being young i had little money to buy computer games and such. then recently i remembered how much i loved those games so went looking for them on the internet (found a torrent for them all at mininova as .iso i dunno if you indorse this sort of thing so feel free to moderate it) unfortunatly i could not get CC5 to work (although I know some one who knows more about computers who did make it work) anyway i played CC4 and this reminded me even more how good the game is so i went on ebay and bought CC5 for £3. Anyway now to come to my point I would love to get involved with playing it multiplayer especially some of these long running campains i see posted in the post battle reports and on the mercinarys thread. So I was wondering how to go about this have tried going on gamespy but have only come across one person once to play. So some pointers on how to get involved with playing multiplayer would be great, or is idleing on game spy the best way? Also if you do run into me on game spy i must warn you my router does not like it so i will have to meet you on game spy and do a direct ip connect (yes i have opened the ports). It is odd even though the ports are open ingame it still tells me my gateway is my ip (although i can find out my ip).

P.S. yes i do know how to install mods

P.P.S. Go easy on me I am a multiplayer newbie and the AI on CC5 is so bad it is hardly real practice for fighting real people.

#28: Author: JohnDee,

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:07 am
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I'm relative new to CC, only play(ed) CC5, and i would probably stopped playing it very soon if it wasnt for MultiplayerGames, i.e Gamespy, because the AI is utterly useless, i snuffed them easely even tho i had almost zero understanding of the game..

just wanted to say, this site is great and helped me with my little problems i had at first.. so if something is unclear to you just open a thread about it and wait, i'm sure peops will help as quick as in my case.. simple rule really; if you dont ask you wont get an answer.. logic no?

and most fellas on gamespy are pretty laid back and noob friendly, yea it could be more crowed at times, but then not everyone has as much time at hand as i do Very Happy

and Cowmando;
you only saw one player on Gamespy? well that could be because you didnt went into the Mainlobby, just like i did at first..hehe i only went into those other 2 or so rooms and there nearly always empty.. you have to open gamespy then under mygames click on CC5, a window will open, and now you click on Mainlobby - and voila your in multiplayer heaven.

incase your looking for someone not to bad ass when it comes to skillz, i would love to play GC against you, drop me a pm or find me on gamespy (BlackSn)

#29: Author: Cowmando,

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:01 pm
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Thankyou for the info about the main room will aim to be on game spy soon (after i reinstall it my bloody spyware scan deletes it every time without even asking). I have managed to play a few games against people on game spywith people who are willing to direct ip connect as I can't get my router to actually connect with other people via game spy and i few who refused. I have tried googleing to see if i can find a way to make it. All the results i seem to get are forum posts on random forums from other people with the same kind of router as me (westell) with the same problem and no answers. Yes the AI is bad on CC5 it was better on the older games especially considering the other games around at the time.

Although now i have just tested it clicking main room seems to take me to the same place as clicking play multiplayer.

#30: Author: Cowmando,

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:29 am
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woohoo played around with some more router settings and managed to make it work though game spy (although have not tried hosting yet)

#31: Author: JohnDee,

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 3:26 am
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congrats fella, now would you care to elaborate a bit on our game status ?

see its pretty much straight forward, if you dont want to continue a GC you say excately that.. capitulate and tell me your pissed off cause ya lost some tanks and whatever the reason is that makes you ignore me since our last battle..

never mind that we're only 4 battles into it, also you could simply pull your bats back and let me do the attacking, your russians so you hold most of he map means you win if it ends like that.. but no, instead of that or simply beeing straight and telling me you give up, you choose to act like we never played ?!

seriously man, if you cant even tell a random dude on the net what you think then god help you in real life.. :lol2

a shame really, since your new like me, so we're pretty much on the same level and on top of that your from the uk aswell, wich is quiet handy Gmt wise..

#32: Author: Cowmando,

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 3:52 am
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Have not been avoidinig you am perfectly willing to carry on the campain

#33: Author: Guest,

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:37 am
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well, you havent answered any of my msg's even tho you were in the lounge all the time and even playing with someone. i guess that was what gave me the impression your avoiding me..

but yea fair enough, looking forward to continue the GC, was interesting so far.

#34: Author: Cowmando,

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:17 am
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Yeah I tend to leave mt computer running 24/7 and have a bad habbit of not setting away. Although I tend to be pretty good at replying assumeing game spy or my computer did not crash.

#35: Author: CavScout,

Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:09 am
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Wavell wrote:

1. Yup. It does indeed say "download GameSpy and play online". But it does'nt say that you need one of the original disks to do this.
2. How is a newbie to know that you can't play CC on the CCS site? The process of needing the original disks and playing via GameSpy is not clearly explained anywhere. As for "of course you need the original disks" well, today a lot of games can be downloaded from their sites, usually but not invariably in exchange for a fee.
3. If the site was set up to attract new users I don't think it's succeeding very well. This view is supported by the apparent lack of new CC players using the site. If you want to attract new players I suggest you need to explain more clearly what CC is,and "holding a person's hand to get the game running" is precisely what the site should be doing.
Also there is no need to be rude. I have the basic skills of installing (and uninstalling) games and navigating websites and have been doing this for many years. My browser works well, thank you. And I can spell "rudimentary"
You seem very complacent about the site. It really does'nt work very well for newcomers, which may explain why it's not achieving it's objective.

Wavell,

Have you not been online enough to understand the concept of a fansite, and the difference between a fansite and a player-matching site like GameSpy? CCS is a fansite, which means fans of the Close Combat series of games can come and chat about the game, learn about new (and past) developments of the game (like modding), find other information, stories, news as well as download patches, mods, tools and other things directly realted to the game. GameSpy on the other hand, is a player-matching site which allows you to connect with other players through the use of their software to play an online multi-player game. Every PC game out there has fansites, official websites, and tools and tips sites. And for every game that has multi-player capability, there is a site/place to go to hook up for a game. MSN Zone and GameSpy Arcade are examples of large player-matching sites.

Quote:

I played CC3 and CC5 many years ago, when the games were new. I'd be quite interested in playing CC again, but the CCS site does not make it clear, to me at any rate, how to do this.

Did you purchase these games in the original box? If so, they came with a manual and explained how to connect with other players online. There is a manual available to download from this site if you did not purchase it in the original box. This is an old game so things have changed a bit from its origial release. The manual directs users to MSN Zone which no longer supports any of the Close Combat games. GameSpy is basically the only player-matching site that supports CC, aside from Battle HQ.

Quote:

Do I need to have the original disks to play others on the CCS site?

You only need the original disk if you plan to play the game in it's original form (unmodded). If you have the game still installed on your hard drive, you can download any of the mods and be able to play without the disk.

Quote:

How do I manage to find opponents on the CCS site? None of this is clear to me, although I've played many other games over the net without these difficulties.

As I stated above, this is a fansite. You cannot play anyone directly from this site. You need to do this on a player-matching site, in which most of us use GameSpy to hook up to play. So if your are interested in player multi-player, I would suggest going to GameSpy and downloading their software that will allow you to meet up with fellow CC gamers. Otherwise make a post stating you want to play someone, what times are good for you, and leave your MSN, AIM or other instant messanger address so they can contact you for a game.

Quote:

Overall I don't think the CCS site is friendly to new users.

Quote:

3. If the site was set up to attract new users I don't think it's succeeding very well. This view is supported by the apparent lack of new CC players using the site. If you want to attract new players I suggest you need to explain more clearly what CC is,and "holding a person's hand to get the game running" is precisely what the site should be doing.

I have been a CC player/veteran for many years, and this has been by far one of the best sites to come along for a game this old. I feel that this site is a very newbie-friendly site and is well maintained for a fansite ran by a couple of CC players who do this in their spare time and from money out of their own pocket. The amount of information and resources available here for Close Combat is just astonishing. And if you can't find what you are looking for, there are more than enough members who can point you in the right direction - you just have to ask the questions in the right manner.

Hopefully I've made this make more sense to you, and you can go from being a register user to being a member of the Close Combat community.

#36: Author: Cowmando,

Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:25 am
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this is a message to all those I have ongoing campaigns with I am sorry I have not been on game spy much. I have just been playing a Der Kessel campaign against a real life freind in almost all of my free time. I honetsly don't mind loseing and aim to be on game spy more soon.

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