CM Then and Now

[Mad Russian]

So what now?

POS has his mini-tournaments, there are some regular tournaments, intersite tournaments and ladders.

At the moment though that seems to be slowly eating away at the faithful. Slowly they are moving away.

What would bring back the excitement of the early days?

Nothing?

Campaigns?

Short tournaments?

Long tournaments?

New ladders with different scoring?

What do you think?

Good Hunting.

MR

[Ratzki]

Some new ladders with more scoring options that would keep everyone happy. Mabe some better ways of searching the ladders. I haven't given it too much thought, but a good campaign would be great.

[jawsconan]

Hi,

I still enjoy playnig CM because i haven't find other games which are so complete and realistic as CM.
So, i will continue playing it with passionate players. No matter if there are not new tournament, new big campaigns, and all these things...
I love this game, that's all, and i think the blitz is a good support to meet players and having great discussion about this game and strategy.
Thank you to those who make this site living !

If i had to suggest something about tournament, i appreciate individual tournaments, like an good old Vulture's one : "The Soft Underbelly".
I note that many team tournaments and very bit individual tournament.
Why ? I don't know.

Cheers.
Hubert

[Fubar]

Isn't a gradual decline in the numbers of people playing a computer game only to be expected.

It's been interesting for me having only recently started a new job, to talk to my fellow employees about the types of computer games they play. Of the 30 odd people i now work with about half play games and not one of them has heard of CM. :angry:

They ALL play action based games and when i try to explain how CM plays they just laugh and say i'm a boring old sod, a few said they played games like SP long ago but would never go back to that type of game. The current trend it seems is for FPS's, RTS's and online RPG's.

Maybe the age of the wargame is coming to an end thanks to our 'sound byte' generation. :(

Still....it's my new mission to get at least a couple of them to at least try CM.

[Mad Russian]

Agreed that we are in the minority.

But there still seem to be enough of the core around to keep CM moving along. If you take other games such as TOAW for instance, they still seem to be doing quite well. Of course the time period is much larger than just WWII.

What would you want to see that would make you stop and take a second look at the series and consider getting involved?

While the dispute posts in some of the threads draw alot of attention and they are good for an entertainment value they shouldn't be the threads that get the most attention.

On a daily basis the CM memberships around the community seem to be slowly going to sleep.

We need a wakeup call. I think that POS' mini-tournaments are a very good example of what a little innovation and some thought can produce.

What else is there that could be done? Surely CM isn't dying. ASL hasn't died and it's the parent game. So why is CM seemingly going into hibernation?

Good Hunting.

MR

[Antoni Chmielowski]

I play on both the ACOW & CM ladders and can agree with what MR says.

However, both games are different and I play both games BECAUSE they are different !

[Rico (FGM)]

MR makes very valid points... but wargamers were always a very small minority and successful PC wargames expanded that pool dramatically pulling in players that would never touch an old hex-boradgame or the tabletop miniatures.

CM probably pulled a lot of gamers from the action/FPS/realtime strategy mould into wargaming for a while... but with lack of development of the game, they are moving on, leaving a dedicated core behind.
With few chances currently of CM being upgraded to the eye-candy prevelant for latest generation games, keeping the game fresh will be in the hands of creative CM gamers, tourney developers and organisers and all the campaign ideas being developed.
(what keeps me optimistic is the amazing longevity of the Steel Panthers game, which is archaic by current standards but works damn well because of it's brilliant design) -- the argument here is a bit like wanting to upgrade and redesign Chess, because we're getting bored with it???...

[Jobu88]

Would be interesting to survey the average age and gaming experience of the CM community both here at the Blitz and at the other well-known clubs that shall remain nameless. My theory is that the average CM loyalist is between 40-50 years old, grew up on Avalon Hill / SPI board games, and has WWII as his principal hobby, not gaming in general. i.e he plays WW II games of all kinds, including CM, but not a whole lot of non-WW II games.

I work in a large office with ages from 22 to 72, and among the younger folks that I talk to (under 30) it's all role-playing or FPS games, plus mainly video games ( X-box etc). The older folks 35+ there are more traditional wargamer interests, WW II and the U.S. Civil War being the most common. And interestingly above about 50-55, there is virtually no electronic gaming interest of any kind ( computer games, X-box , etc). Bridge, chess, and backgammon rule among this age group in my office.

[Der Kuenstler]

My theory is that the average CM loyalist is between 40-50 years old, grew up on Avalon Hill / SPI board games, and has WWII as his principal hobby, not gaming in general. i.e he plays WW II games of all kinds, including CM, but not a whole lot of non-WW II games.

That would be my bio exactly...

[PoorOldSpike]

I like flight sims too, here's me coolly bringing a Stearman into Watervliet Field, Michigan in FS 2004..