Make the game alive again!

[Wormii]

Hello.

This is my request to Nadeo, and especially Ubisoft, to make this game back what it was. TM2S is working rather fine nowadays, it has its spot in ESWC, and it has a fantastic community. However, when we look back in time for like 4 years, the community is just a way smaller and has sometimes hard time to keep the joy up due to the tiny size of it. Why?

There are several reasons. Of course TM2S and the new era dropped some old players out of the scenes, just like happened when CS 1.6 was left as the main game, and CS:GO came to replace it. However, the amount of players has decreased since the transition, and you don't need a lot math to find out the reason: there aren't many new players. Let's take my own country as example, since we have always been small, and already a lack of 10 players has an effect: In 2008 when I started the game, we had 3 big teams; UMF, MKL and DFF. I set up my own team, and there were other small teams as well. During the next year, the amount of teams decreased but only a little, and even the UMF as Finnish-only team achieved the ESL's highest division, and won the ESL TMUF with Finns only. In 2012, UMF was quite dead, but DFF was going strong still, and there were some smaller clubs, but already it already was easy to see that we didn't have that many new players.

How is it now? We have zero teams who can compete even on 3v3 leagues for stadium. We don't have 3 trained players in DFF for anything, and the average age of team members is just growing. We have tried to recruit new players, but the problem is that there aren't any to recruit. Surely in 2012 MiQuatro stepped in, and you can see how well he has evolved to drive in one of the top teams now, but he is the only new guy in Finnish competitive scene since 2 years.

Okay that is end of the blabla, now it's the key point: Why aren't there new players? Why doesn't anyone do something to improve the amount of players and get the game running outside France and Germany as well? To me it seems like Ubisoft just doesn't care, and Nadeo has no big will either. In Ubisoft website, you can even find information about Trackmania 2, since it is not in the list of their games at all - Shootmania, however, is mentioned in the end of the list. I haven't seen any piece of advertising the game. Adding it in steam doesn't mean that people would know about it, and having it in ESWC mostly is visible to people knowing it already. New environments don't fix the problem, better graphics don't fix the problem, those just divide the community more in different titles. We need new players. We need noobs. Noobs will once be casual players, new community members, pro players etc.

We have a nice community with TMX/MX, league organizers, streamers, many high skilled players and a lot fun people everywhere. But we have no future. As you know, the game doesn't stay alive, if old players quit to live their life, but new guys don't step in. This game you have created since 2003 is the best format of a racing game and I hope it will be it in the future as well. Nadeo please, this series has been my favorite, and it's sad to see the community once was full of life fighting to survive. Advert it, support it, break the chains of not caring set by Ubisoft. Only you can do it.

Thank you.

[seb9138]

Wormii.

This is Seb from LDLC-PyRo.
I have exactly the same concern, it is time to do something I and aAa will release something about it, I will translate and share in your post ok?

Waiting for that you can add me on skype if you want to talk about it (precise pls when adding: sebgadelle).

Seb.

[Hubby]

Nice thread wormii ! Your concern is valid and I feel about the same way about the 'evolution' of the game.

I stopped playing daily to 2-3 times a week. Why ? As you said , there are hardly any good servers to be found with more than 5 players , It's just not that FUN anymore to play it. There is just something missing , you can feel it. Like some of the 'magic' that made TMNF so popular.Where is it in TM²?

I don't understand Nadeo's strategy for their most popular game, they need to advertise it MUCH more, But we all made several suggestions, but it seems they don't care enough about that, and it saddens me.

Still SO much potential for the game, but now it all seems a bit like a waste of time IMO. Only the hardcore and pro players stick with the game, most either quit the game or have returned to TMNF. Yeah, The community is split up AGAIN ! That doesn't help boost the game in popularity now, does it ?

Someone, somehow must come with a 'golden solution' soon ! Otherwise I think the game will continue to be less and less attractive for new players. The game NEEDS NEW BLOOD !

[haenry]

[... fourth pragraph:] In Ubisoft website, you can even find information about Trackmania 2, since it is not in the list of their games at all

You forgot a "not"? "You cannot even find information about tm2" ?

Neverhteless I completely agree with you. The player amount is too low.
So we have to ask us "why are there so few players?"

There is more than one answer to this question obviously, but my main answers are:
The complexity of the Maniaplanet system.
The split of the community due to tons of Titlepacks.
Maybe another issue is missing gameplay depth of the new environments.

All in all the most important thing is that there are a few flaws in the game that have to be fixed in order to make Trackmania attractive again
Once those are fixed advertisement could help a lot too

[Wormii]

It's not really titlepacks imo. It's the lack of players, lack of young energy. Lack of noob players to become the new experienced players.

[Soprah]

Trackmania Nations Forever was an unbelievable experience... It was just super amazing.

Since the Trackmania community was shrinking (when the freezone was introduced) I stopped playing Trackmania. I bought all TM² titles to support Nadeo but these new titles give can't provide the atmosphere, the glorious experience that TMNF offered with it's mass of people.

Maybe it's only the powerful aspect of nostalgia ''that everything was great in the past'',
Maybe it's only because almost everyone was a noobie in TM and discovered the great world of creating your own content/playing competitively for the first time.
But maybe it was because you met great new buddies day by day?
But maybe it was because nearly everyone of your friends knew about trackmania and you had to laugh when he played like a total noob?

Tools are great like that you are able to create your own modes in TM2 now. But the social aspect is one of the main reasons that made TMNF so popular - at least in my opinion. Finding new friends, helping noobies on servers etc. I do not want any new variation of facebook in Trackmania/Maniaplanet, absolutely no! Just as wormii said, the ''young energy'' is missing and that makes the new titles just boring. And this can be only accomplished by mass of people.
There were a lot topics that a f2p game would solve this issue, but I do not agree. Trackmania 2 needs an evolution to attract new players. That is what the ''2'' is usually supposed to mean. The new features are great but, unfortunately, it doesn't achieve success.

Oh man it drives me crazy that these memories will remain memories...

[novationx]

+1!

Lovely post.

[UrinStein]

+1 Soprah

I couldn't agree more.

[Soprah]

Thanks buddies ^^

[Demented]

I know many people will not like me for saying this but I am a racing fan. I like racing games. I like creating tracks and car graphics for racing games. For me the Trackmania series is by far my favorite racing game... but lately I have also lost a good deal of interest.
Why? Well, I personally have no desire to play shooters and I'm finding lately I have kind of sift through stuff I have no interest in to find what I am interested in. There are lots of people who like SM but for some of us pure racing fans it's taking away from our TM experience. I also feel like NADEO is kind of putting TM on the back burner for SM and that's why TM² development is slow. I know they've said one doesn't effect the other as far as production goes but, does it? Also, how many people have quit playing TM to switch over to SM? A lot I suspect.
Another thing that has caused my personal interest to drop is, while combining two (and soon three) different games into one Maniaplanet, aspects of one game type bleed into the others. There are things in the TM² Media tracker that are only of use in SM and trying to decipher what elements are universal, and what are local, just adds to the frustration of which elements are only used in intros, in race, end of race, podium or video shooting. This is just one example of the clutter caused by merging too many things into one.
Now, with all that said don't misunderstand my frustration with TM. It's not the games, it's the clutter.
I don't have issue so much with SM and QM but rather the way they are being blended into one Maniaplanet. In fact I'm looking forward to QM, but, It shouldn't be too hard keep unique elements separate for those who only want to use one or the other. Gray out or make invisible unused or unrelated elements of each of the games systems. Blanking out things that are only useful in SM will make my TM experience better and likely the same the other way around.
I'm trying to be constructive, so I hope I haven't just pissed a bunch of people off.