Content Transition Notice

Summary

From approximately 1st November 2007 I will be removing a large percentage of the content. I am focusing the site on a smaller number of games. This is to ensure that the quality of content continues to increase.

Update

I have decided to also remove the Unreal and Unreal Tournament sections. At first this may seem like a big mistake but in reality most of the information is missing and there are better sites available for Unreal/UT Single Player. (Unreal SP.org and Unreal SP Vault) I woke up this morning and asked myself “Will I really play all these maps and mods and update the details with screenshots and reviews?” The answer is, of course, no. I want to concentrate on HL stuff.

I have a small confession to make. I am still seriously considering removing everything except the HL games , Chase and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. When I add the Prey map yesterday I did it because I felt obliged to, not because I was interested in playing it. In fact I hated the Prey demo! I actually got bored with both Doom 3 and Quake 4 and didn’t finish either. Why should I spend time adding maps and mods for those games when other sites do it better? (doom3.planet-multiplayer.de)

Which Content is being Removed?

I will be removing ALL of the game posts, including the sub-categories except of the few reviews and previews which will be moved to the General category.

I will be removing many sub-categories and posts from the General category - “Actually some of this has already been done”.

I will also be removing ALL of the single player maps and mods except for the following games:

  • Chaser
  • Blue Shift
  • Doom 3
  • Doom ROE
  • FarCry
  • FEAR
  • Half-Life 1
  • Half-Life 2
  • Opposing Force
  • Prey
  • Quake 4
  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein
  • System Shock 2
  • Unreal
  • Unreal Tournament
Other

I will also stop work on a number of smaller projects like the Custom Search and the Database. There were also some other unannounced projects that will be dropped. The Gaming News is also gone for good. In fact anything that distracts me from my primary objective.

Why?

I want the site to be more focused and have better content. With so many games that’s impossible.

The Reasoning

In the past I have focused on quantity rather than quality. That is about to change. I want to play nearly every map or mod I add to the site. I also want to try and create more original content. For too long I have been trying to cover too many games and doing a bad job at it.

There are too many maps and mods listed on the site that only have the title and almost nothing else. There is no way I will ever be able to update all these maps. With the transition, hopefully every map and mods will soon have a description, screenshots, a review and a working download (Except for Unreal, which will take a bit longer!)

When I learn about a new HL2 map the first thing I want to do is play it. But if I hear of a Quake or some other map I feel obligated to add it. Not because I enjoy playing mods from that can but because the site covers that game. It shouldn’t be that way.

No Updates

There will be no updates other than to the games listed above and the non-map categories.

Complete List

Before I delete anything I will of course create plenty of various backups. I will also create a .csv file of all the SP maps and mods listed on the site and this will be available from the Filecloud Server. I WILL NOT be deleting the files themselves from the Filecloud Server. These will stay as long as I have an account with Filecloud.

Phase 1

This is phase 1 and there may even be a phase 2. If I feel that there are too many games listed I won’t hesitate to drop some other games, the only games that are completely guaranteed to stay are the Half-Life Universe ones.

Apologies

I’m sure this will cause some readers a little concern but I have to do what’s best for the site and this is what I believe is best. In a month or two Crysis will be released and hopefully so will plenty of SP maps and mods. I have to start thinking about the future not the past and the old games.

Take the Mantle

If somebody wants to start their own site I will happily provide all my current resources i.e. complete list, including the post details and screenshots. You may need to filter the list to suit your needs but that is up to you.

About this entry

Published:
17th October 2007 at 10:28 am
Category:
Phillip's Blog
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