UT2004 map statistics

I’m not sure exactly what made me do it, but this morning I went to http://ut2004stats.epicgames.com/ and checked on the online status of my UT2004 maps. RobotFactory, Metallurgy, Serenity and Conduit have together hosted a staggering 908,434.00 minutes of online game play – that’s over 1.7 years! My community maps – the maps that I created and freely released to the UT2003/2004 community – have supported a combined total of 225,756.40 minutes of online game play. Collectively, my UT2003/2004 maps have supported 2.16 years of online game play.

My involvement in the development of UT2004 remains one of the highlights of my career as a contract level designer. It is gratifying that, almost two years after its release, UT2004 is still being played ( seventh most popular online game according to Gamespy stats - http://archive.gamespy.com/stats/). It is profound to acknowledge that my maps have, in effect, been played for every second of that two year period. It is worth recognising that one UT2004 map, ONS-Torlan, is over 13 times more popular than all my maps combined!

For me, this information is evidence of the magnitude of online gaming as a form of entertainment. I think it is also testament to the value of including mod tools with commercial games. I suspect much of UT2004’s success is due to Epic’s overt and genuine support for the mod community through the availability and ease-of-use of UnrealEd.

In many ways the creative process is its own reward, but it is also gratifying to see other people gaining pleasure from one’s creative endeavours.


AS-RobotFactory - 340,923.4 minutes -http://ut2004stats.epicgames.com/mapstats.php?map=10
DM-Metallurgy - 283,203.6 minutes - http://ut2004stats.epicgames.com/mapstats.php?map=19
BR-Serenity - 47,865.4 minutes - http://ut2004stats.epicgames.com/mapstats.php?map=426
DOM-Conduit - 10,623.0 minutes - http://ut2004stats.epicgames.com/mapstats.php?map=1271