Dear PA Devs, So when you say offline...

I must be getting old, in the days where LAN multiplayer was more common than Internet games the existence of servers and games with dedicated servers were common knowledge and enough gamers kept some older pc around to serve as a dedicated host if need be.

I remember things making the shift to less and less LAN enabled games, I noticed the trend in the past 7-ish years... So either I'm also getting old, I'm oblivious, or it's a somewhat new trend. I give all 3 even shots.

I blame matchmaking services. They are awesome to have (spot friends instantly), and they solve a load of problems getting people connected to internet games through firewalls that they don't (or can't) maintain, but they do get people hooked on the idea that you need internets to play multiplayer.

From a dev perspective, you also get to use hosted servers and matchmaking services as a form of DRM; you just need to write the server to authenticate clients prior to letting them connect, and you get ongoing visibility of how popular your game is over time (as well as shoehorn in some micropayments, if that's your thing).

To be fair, I play SupCom 2 quite a lot with friends, one in the same building (LAN) and one at their own house (internet). Using the integrated Steam matchmaking is a doddle and we needed exactly zero config changes on firewalls to get all 3 into the same game. We've recently switched to SupCom: FA (nostalgia trip), and that required config changes on firewalls to get working properly using the current Steam version. Not a problem for us old farts with root on the firewall (and enough sense not to just open ports to the entire internet), but when your user base is used to one click connect using exactly the same kit, it creates a negative perception that a perfectly good game somehow doesn't know how to network.

Personally, I'd say the utility far outweighs the cost in that respect, even if it does mean an entire generation is missing out on the beauty of 100 sweaty nerds in the same venue all arguing over which games to play :mrgreen:

Full disclosure: I have been one of those sweaty nerds at LAN parties, more times than I care to remember

Brilliant, now I have to design my own CD case art and CD art.

I am more modern. I don't like to socialize as a nerd when I usually instead do other things, but when I do feel like video games and given my deep understanding of computers, I usually look up what internet-connected-lan servers there are for games. There is a lot for GTA4 servers running using Tungle as the program to connect to a lan over the internet, for instance.

You don't need to somehow gather hundreds of people physically together anymore for LAN games. With current technology and software, it only requires the finding them part, because they can connect to a lan anywhere through the internet. That is simple enough by just making a post on a popular site.

Absolutely, which is exactly what built-in (SC2 Steam) or external (SC1 GPGNet client, Tunngle) matchmaking services also allow for. They negate the requirement to get people together on the same LAN just to play.

Which is already a good thing. Having been one of those sweaty nerds, I can unreservedly say that being in the same room as 100 sweaty nerds is not my preferred way of playing computer games. I may have been ever so slightly tounge-in-cheek when I referred to "the beauty of" the LAN party