I’ll be getting my good Kick-Ass Gateway Computer back this weekend. It is the cats pajamas as far as speed, memory and all that good junk. I’ve been giving some thought toward looking into on-line gaming (I’m not sure which game, so don’t ask, but feel free to give me suggestions). BUT, I have no broadband connection and I’d still be operating via 56k modem.
Ordinarily that isn’t that much of a hardship. I don’t download that much stuff, and what I do download generally isn’t big, and what I do download that is big I don’t mind waiting for … but I digress.
The question I’d like to axe the Teeming Millions is this: Is on-line gaming 1)-possible or 2)-worth it, connecting with a modem?
I guess it depends on what game. I play Midtown Madness 2 on a 56K and its great. Some games are faster than others.
What type of games are you interested in? Racing,RPG,Shooters,etc? As far as I know it should work well with all games.
I play Half-life: Counter-Strike & Team Fortress Classic on-line and while there are 56ker’s out there they generally have much higher ping/latency than those w/ DSL/cable. But there a few dedicated game servers out there that cater to 56k users. While I’ve never played Everquest I think RPG may be a better than FPS/action titles for your situation.
Good Luck and happy fraggin’.
I play Age of Empires II: The Conquerers online frequently at the MSN Gaming Zone. If anyone cares, my zone name is Atreyu_Kin. Some snot beat me to the name I wanted.
My computer is less than a year old (purchased last October), and my connection is through a 56K modem (with an AOL account, no less). I’ve never had a problem connecting to others online to play the game to which I’m so addicted. While I’ve had some great battles interrupted because of other players getting dropped due to lousy connections, I’ve never had that problem happen because of my own connection. Seriously. I suspect the quality of a 56K connection will depend greatly with the number you are connecting at.
My computer was made by Dell and it rocks. Don’t have much experience with Gateway, though.
ninja is correct. A 56k connection for FPS’s like Counterstrike is laggy and you’ll find yourself missing more than you hit. For games which are not quite so twitch-intensive (like most real-time strategy games) a 56k modem isn’t ideal, but it’ll get the job done. (BTW, if anyone plays the new Battletech online demo, I understand that it’s JUST fine over a 56k connection.)
As far as which game I’m interested in, I’m not sure yet. I’ve never experienced on-line gaming before. It just intrigues me.
One of my LJ Friends (look in the Pit if you want to know if either one of us is narcissistic :rolleyes: ), mentions EverQuest a great deal. It sounds interesting. My RPG experience is somewhat limited though. I’ve only really dabbled a little with console RPG’s.
I much prefer driving games, but so far I’ve found consoles have fared better in this arena.
I will no doubt be doing a little more research, and keep those cards and letters coming.
56k is perfectly fine for almost every game out there as long as your aim is fun and a little competition here and there. If you want to be great, you’ll need broadband. This holds especially true for FPS type games.
Lower pings associated with broadband are definitely an edge exploited by many. If you and another person of equal skill face off and one has a ping of 50 and another has a ping of 250, more often than not, the one with 50 ping will win. Also, broadband offers smoother gameplay that makes everything seem easier.
56k can offer similar quality gameplay as long as you can sustain a certain upload/download rate and ping in a decent range (less than 300). And in order to beat someone of significantly lower ping, you just have to play THAT much better. That said, I use 56k on an AOL connection and I can play FPSs like TFC and CounterStrike with few problems. This has much to do with the miracle of streamlined netcode and lag compensation (Really, this is a godsend for 56k users). Sure I get beat if I’m in a server w/ a lot of low pingers, I think that helps me get better.
Also, some games like Tribes 2 are so large that you NEED broadband to play, no exception.
Watch out for EverQuest, unless you don’t have any hints of obssessive/compulsive disorder at all. It tends to be a huge time-suck, and people get way way way too involved in it. I played it obsessively for about two weeks, then got frustrated with it, cancelled my account, and never missed it.
As for driving games, I think there’s where the 56K modem is going to hurt you, since they demand a speedy connection.
I don’t play that many games online, mostly because I have very low patience for the boneheads that seem to dominate lobbies and game-matching areas and such. The only online multiplayer game I’ve spent any significant time with was Diablo II. I played only over a cable modem, so I can’t say whether it requires a faster-than-56k connection or not. I can say, though, that you’ll get my cable modem from me when you pry it from my cold dead network port; I love the thing.
Back before I had broadband, I only bothered with Quake 2 and Jedi Knight. UT and the various other new games were way too laggy. Ultima Online worked fairly well, if you were on a server without too many people on it (I don’t have the monthly service–custom shards are where it’s at). Nothing else new really worked out that well for me. Of course, I was regularly getting 26.4 kbd connections, so your mileage may vary.
I think online gaming as an occasional diversion is a worthy activity, but speaking from experience, it’s only an exercise in frustration with a modem. If your budget permits, investigate DSL or cable, you will find that you do make use of the added speed. I put in on for a free trial, and I am never going back.
I only own a couple games, but if you want to try a FPS I’d suggest Unreal Tournament, and for RPG the upcoming Neverwinter Nights sounds like a promising online experience.
Alas, neither my budget, nor logistics can figure in DSL or Cable right now.
I did a little research and found out that a lot of on-line games require additional fees. Like I don’t pay my ISP enough as it stands? Doesn’t anybody give anything away for free anymore?
Actually what I went and did, was buy a game that I wanted anyway. A side benefit is that there is free on-line gaming with it at EAGames.com or something.
Shogun - Total War - The Warlord Edition. I just got it yesterday and I’ve only begun to understand how everything works. So far it is very fun. As soon as I get my turds wired tight, I may check an on-line opponent.
