How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

This question came across my mind a lot and I figured I'd ask it here. I feel like even after AGDQ, Stepmania is still declining in terms of activity and it just seems like there's barely a reason to play anymore. For me, I've been super busy with track/school and what not but even when I get the chance to play, it just doesn't feel the same anymore.

I really wanna keep pushing boundaries for this game and having fun with it but nothing's really convincing me to do so atm

















or i'm just being a bitch lol

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

Most games played on AGDQ only temporarily get popular and get right back to where it was. Stepmania is no exception. Like only speedrunners play Super Mario 64 and it will stay that way.

Some people are quitting stepmania since it's just the same thing over and over and get stale. Others quit stepmania because fewer simfiles and scores are being made. It's a downward spiral...

It's been that way since like what 2010 so I'd say stepman community struggled good enough

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

we're getting older and busier every day and next generation probably won't care as much about stepping stuff. i mean a LOT of us that played SM/FFR since like, 2005 have moved on. like, some of us have kids, full time jobs, spouses to deal with. etc. everything just comes and goes, and SM/FFR will just be another statistic.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

Never.
Part of that being my computer harddrive broke, but if i really wanted i could have gotten a new computer by now. I work 6 days a week but thats not the reason, ffr just got boring to me. Nothing interesting ever happens, too many songs getting added, too many changes etc.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

i play and create simfiles quite frequently still!

generally i'd say it looks like about the same activity as ever as long as i've been on the site, just the sm scores thread is so beefy with godlike scores that no one bothers to post their own accomplishments anymore. i think there are a lot of people that still play this game but just don't participate as much in the forums ya know

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

there are a bunch of people who tried/are trying to pick up the game in the wake of agdq
they do not post here

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

Strangely enough, I mostly play Stepmania in airports nowadays.

I can't bring myself to purchase the airport Wifi access, and I don't like waiting idly either, so I'll usually just find some private/quiet corner, plug in my laptop + headphones, boot up SM, and play a bunch of songs until it's time to board.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

I still very much enjoy this game and play here and there, not near as much as I had been for the past 3 years though due to work etc.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

Like Icy, I play pretty often and have been charting a lot as well. That being said, Badman's input should not be overlooked. When you look at the general age of those players who played when Stepmania was really thriving, they are all in their mid to late 20s now, if not even early 30s. Stepmania, and other rhythm games get the backseat when you have to deal with things that were already mentioned above. I don't think that this is the only deal breaker when it comes to SM, though. I remember people used to be a lot more supportive of others' scores, and they readily sought to be encouraging--this was the general attitude even with the best players. That simply isnt the case anymore. Also, something that should be mentioned is that when you look at groups like the d7 chat and other "elitist" type groups, SM isn't even a serious topic of discussion. When it is brought up,it is laughable at best. What do you think is going to happen if you treat the game as a running meme/joke? The general attitude of the best players has undoubtedly changed into this strange cesspool of uncaring pseudo-intellectual egomaniacs. This is of course fine, if you play the game for yourself entirely and play to attain personal goals. If that is all you do, and you simply dont want to play anymore, quit. But if you are playing for the community, this is a HUGE problem. Also, files have gotten a lot more uninteresting, with patterning AND song choice, and stepfile authors simply just try to make it so their files are easy to score on. Ive talked to Eze about this in detail. If you look toward the past, this was also NOT the case. Files were made so that you had to try extremely hard to attain a good score, and patterning was very unique (look at someone like Cetaka), which made the game a lot more fun as well. This is not just MY opinion. This is the opinion of others that I've talked to, like Isaac, who was a top tier player when the game was still going strong.

Also, this post was not made to attack or hurt anyone's feelings, I am simply trying to answer the question you posed.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

almost every day

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

Barely anymore because lollifehappened.

I also have trouble pushing myself to play as well considering it's been the same thing over and over again. Occasionally I boot up SM, but the session doesn't even last longer than 10 minutes.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

that's not really anything new IMO. pretty much what ODI was in a nutshell.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

I stopped playing cuz work and cuz my fingers would start hurting when I tried to play anything too difficult

still a fun game. still the same game it's always been.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

This is pretty true and I really hate it lol.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

something about weaboos and 2015 having lots of packs and nobody ever really played the game in the first place

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

to be clear, a fucking anime weaboos

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

I still play and step files every so often. It's hard for me to play because of my wrists, but I still try and involve myself in the community.

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

I disagree with this actually! Although I tend to step geared towards stamina drain marathons, others have their own kind of way of stepping too. I think the problem we're facing is all patterns possible on 4k have been done to death, and nowadays people step files to cater to certain skillsets like jacking or jumpstream..... it's really not a problem imo, since it's easier to build skill now than ever before o.o

Re: How often does anyone play this game anymore?
 

This could also be adding to the problem that I am perceiving, but to your second point, I do think that people should start moving away from single skill files to multifaceted files.

Not to say that this is entirely a "bad" thing, but most files people play nowadays are straight 16th js files for 4 minutes.

So now what we have for these newer players are people who think that files people played during this supposed golden age of stepmania are now just cancerous poorly patterned files, which I dont think is true.