Excellent post maxie.
It has inspired me to reply in spite of my sensing an ever so slight bellicosity on your part. But that is my problem and I am certainly not lashing you in spite of my sensing an ever so slight hostility from your good self.
In some ways you are answering your own questions. It could also be said that you have engineered a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy by asking the questions about people using the lobby to disagree with game physics. By asking those questions you have opened up further opportunities to b... the b...s of the ex-developers. (I'm censoring myself to try to avoid being frog-marched off to the dungeon or being erased again by Crow.)
I am supposing you have read through the posts in reply. If you have then let me suggest you ask a follow-up up question...
"Why, specifically, are some of you disenchanted, bored or feeling that PG is kind of stagnant?" I'd be very interested in hearing the reasons as well.
But to answer your questions in my own case - I last hosted an online game in the lobby about two months ago. I don't know why. It was probably prompted by something that was said in the forum and I may have been trying some experiment but I sat there for about half an hour without a bite. (The fishing analogy is apt don't you think. I gave up fishing as a six year old for that same reason.) Anyway I sat there and dozed off a couple of times - little micro-sleeps. My mind started wandering to many subjects. The thing was that I couldn't get up and make a drink or go to the dunny because PP haven't applied an alarm system if someone joins your game. Ah!! That's another thing I have to put on the list. (See below) Anyway, I gave it up as a bad joke. Look, admittedly there was only about 65 people in the lobby and the hordes that swamp the place later when the lobby swells to 103 players hadn't arrived.
Nevertheless, in the good ol' days I played quite a bit. I even entered tournaments at OGT before the price went up. I have been coming here since May 2014. The game hadn't been early released yet of course but when it did I enthusiastically played - a lot. I started forum tournaments (encouraged by Mike) when OGT was a twinkle in Z's eye. I've got a sticky post called "Ted Ball's Swing Clinic and Golf Tuition" visited 18,000 times. I've raised questions and stimulated conversation numerous times over the years. I've praised the development of one of the greatest innovations in PC golf - the RTS-M. Slowly but surely the novelty wore off. Boredom, stagnation, disenchantment. It hit me a lot earlier than other original 'members'. I was actually surprised when well known old enthusiasts started admitting their own lack of regular play. Recently there has been more and more discussion about TGC and people are actually saying they prefer playing there. What is this telling you maxie?
You see PP doesn't need people b...... their b.... on the forum. Their lack of significant development over a long period would attract criticism if there wasn't a forum. I was amused by the statement here that 'neither game is perfect, but only one is broken'. The amusing part is that PG has never been fully-formed or finished. Therefore, you couldn't actually say it's not broken when it wasn't whole in the first place. Let me just remind you of how unfinished it is.
no career mode, no female avatars, no left-handed golfer, no elo ladder in the lobby, non-realistic wind, no 21st century graphics, a dodgy 3C meter, stupid AI, childlike UI, un-realistic difficulty, no unplayable lie relief, non-regular development updates, slow upgrades, non-regular lobby tournaments, no crowd ambience, the inability to disappear the dude, the inability to disappear the HUD as a setting, all GB's multiplayer concerns, recorded round problems, no fixed personalised cams, no fixed personalised FOV, no real-time Real Time Swing, an unfinished game....and no lobby alarm!!
I've said this before...PP knew how to make a playable golf game (that's almost the easy part you could say with the greatest of respect) but they couldn't or wouldn't make a game that was compelling and held people's interest.
Your last question is the best one maxie.
Yes, it has become a hobby to hang around the forum. I see it as more of an education in forum writing. Learning how to deflect the slings and arrows from irate forum members and the ability to insult without appearing to be insulting. This is the first place I come to every morning. A rich source of humour, pathos, bathos and varying opinions. Hopefully it will continue for a long time.
Oh, by the way...I would also like to know the point you proved and how you proved it. Just asking.
OK. I'll be in the dungeon.
