Quote:
Originally Posted by xnomad
I think it's best if we are forced to use the system that comes with the game. The more lobbies we have that aren't official the more fragmented the community will get. I'm sure there were a few new people who hit the multiplayer button in IL2 and decided there was nobody playing it anymore so didn't bother finding out where we all were.
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The community's already been fragmented and the game hasn't even come out yet.
Unless something goes horribly wrong, I think most people by far will end up using the built-in Steam-linked lobby, even if it's possible to use others, just out of ignorance (not knowing there are others) or convenience if anything.
I'm holding out for the possibility though that the built-in Steam-linked lobby will still be able to show non-Steam-linked servers (if such things are possible), and that players with Steam ID's will be able to join those servers too. I'm not expecting it to work in reverse though, as I'm pretty sure Steam-linked servers won't allow you in without a valid Steam ID.
I can remember playing Red Orchestra (a Steam game) and seeing on the server list servers that didn't use VAC (Valve Anti Cheat, one of the Steamworks features). This suggests to me those servers were just 'normal' non-Steam-linked ones, that still showed up in the Steam game's (Red Orchestra's) built-in lobby, and that even Steam users could join. You had to check a box though to enable those non-VAC servers to show up on the list, and click through a warning pop-up that told you your life was in danger and your computer might explode (
no not really) if you did try to join those non-VAC protected servers.
So, yeah, maybe, as Steam users, we'll end up with an in-game browser that allows us to see Steam-linked and non-Steam-linked servers and we can play on them all, and as non-Steam users we'll be using a third-party browser that only shows non-Steam-linked servers (or that also shows the Steam-linked servers you can't join). Who knows?