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The GameSpy Stats Project
Tracking the GameSpy Stats Brings Interesting Results
By - Gary "Dantes" Koltookian
Statistics. The word makes me shudder. How well the three-syllable word can conjure up nightmares of dreary classrooms, moldy textbooks and endless, pointless quantification is beyond belief. But not all statistics are stale, and not all are found in classrooms. We here at GameSpy use them to check out what games people are playing and when they play them. Behind the numbers, behind the graphs, some insights can be gained. The mission, and I chose to accept it, was to take a look at our stats page for over 24 hours and see what I could learn from the numbers.
I started looking at the stats page on Wednesday, at exactly four o'clock. While jotting down my data vague and inconclusive theories began to take shape. Let's take a look.
One fact that simply cannot be disputed is that GameSpy users love Half-Life. All forty times I checked our stats page, Half-Life sat atop the number one position, never once feeling close to
threatened. The average number of users for Half-Life over a twenty-four hour period was close to nine thousand users. Quake III Arena and Starsiege Tribes, which constantly battled each other for second place, only managed to scrape up around four thousand users on the average. How does a game over two years old beat up on Carmack's newly released legendary title you ask? The answer is simple: mods with a stellar fun factor. The vast chunks of Half-Life players were either doing Counter Strike or Team Fortress Classic. Counter-Strike should come as no surprise. Since its first beta release in June of 99', it has been the most popular user-made mod for Half-Life. A testament to its greatness is the fact that it scores more players these days than most commercial releases. Not bad for a free mod! People want tried-and-true game play, amazing models, and quality maps that rock. The mod also sets players against each other in two distinct teams; the terrorists versus the anti-terror strike force. Deep down in everyone there's a desire to wreak a little havoc or save the world once and a while, and Counter-Strike lets us live out both these fantasies. As far as Team Fortress Classic is concerned, it needs no explanation. It's only a souped-up edition of the greatest mod ever created. Two forts, two flags, lots of players and lots of character classes. Head-to-head doesn't get any better than that.
The second place games were Q3A and Starsiege Tribes. Tribes would always establish dominance after the hour of five in the evening, always keeping a few hundred players above Q3A. Tribes offers players vast areas in which to fight, and it has established a solid reputation and fan base in the time since its release. The impressive Q3A is certainly no slouch when it comes to delivering the commensurate deathmatch experience, however it is still the "new kid" on the block. Most of the games' players were playing CTF, followed by deathmatch. Tribes throws various armors, vehicles and variety into the mix, while Quake III appeals to die-hard traditionalists choosing to emphasize good skills and steady hands as the keys to CTF victory.
Now, you ask, where was Unreal Tournament in all this? Unreal Tournament would constantly try to overtake Q3A, always failing by such a small margin of defeat. UT would place no higher than third, usually only one to three hundred players behind Q3A. Countless reviews have compared the two games against each other, a topic which I will not rehash. Simply stated each game has a devoted following of equal proportions. Depending on my mood, I choose Q3A when I want fast, mindless blasting. If I want a little strategy, a little CTF and teamwork, I'll choose UT. Many players I have talked to, either at a LAN party or at the office feel the same way.
Now we come to what I call the "middle of the pack" positions. These positions were held faithfully by such games as Rogue Spear, QuakeWorld, Quake II and Kingpin. Movement amongst fifth through ninth place was as stagnant as a mosquito breeding ground. Quake II held fifth place pretty faithfully. No one can forget the game's ground-breaking graphics and atmosphere. The only reason it's fifth is because its sequel has hit the shelf, and people are moving on. It's hard to go back once one has tasted the good life. Rogue Spear held sixth place admirably, offering over one thousand players their tactical fixes for the day. I feel that tactical games aren't for everyone. Many players play games to have fun and to buck reality for a while. In
Rogue Spear one shot usually equals one kill. Perhaps there are fewer players who crave too much realism, considering that the six o'clock news is rife with hijackings and hostage abductions.
It's ironic that the most heated battle for any position was situated down at the bottom. Baldur's Gate, BattleZone II and Dirt Track Racing swapped places over five times for tenth place. All three titles failed to score higher than one hundred players at any given time. Baldur's Gate held the position usually at late hours. Due to the length of the game and the depth of the role-playing involved, I am thinking that most people home from work want to do a little less thinking. That is why Dirt Track Racing held the slot from the nine-to-five crowd's dinner time to bedtime.
Not having a degree in game psychology, I must ask forgiveness if my theories and assumptions are not to your tastes. They are just what they are - assumptions. On the other hand, hard and impartial numbers do not lie. They tell me that lots of people are out there playing, and the fact that the total number at any given time is in the thousands show that quality gaming is here to stay, and that we'll always be wow-ed in the future.
- Dantes
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