At the time of writing Warsow has been released for just under one week. The response in general is very positive, and I know that the development team are not only flattered but surprised at the lack of complaints and moans.

The game last night already saw the first match on public display, between mote (one of the best players Warsow has to offer right now), and the well know PK and CPMA player, vo0.

There's no real secret as to why the game has taken off like it has. It takes elements from so many games, and slyly nods in the direction of others. This, I believe, has a strange effect; gamers obviously find it hard to leave the games they love, and i'll use last nights shoutcaster iTG`Tosspot as an example here. Being an Ex-RTCW & ET player he is obviously a teambased guy. It's hard to move from that background and that playstyle, and many gamers are like him. On his shoutcast last night he explained the rules of Warsow CTF, and how just one minor gameplay change can not only flip the mod on its head but brings in so many more players who would have originally stood back. And I believe the reason why Warsow can make such daring gameplay changes is because basically they haven't got much to lose. When you're not getting paid to produce something, and doing it because you have a passion for it, then you're going to include elements that you think are worthwhile and only add to the attraction. If id released Q4 with a 10second countdown on the flag, I think the reaction might have gone something along the lines of 'wtf'.

But what is the downside of releasing a great game? Well mainly the bashing. Take, CPMA for example. Not famous for it's... attitude towards other games/mods. The mod lost a huge amount of players simply thanks to the fact that the players who first got hold, really liked telling people from other mods (cough, OSP) that their game was inferior. As a result CPMA lost a bigger potential player base, and even a chance to become the new standard mod (which is a shame because LOL @ OSP.. jk).
I'm worried that Warsow will follow a similar path. 'Shooting the shit' at each other over different games is good fun, and we've all done it, but there's an invisible line. Warsow is in a very important stage: the stage of gaining a solid player base. People running around shouting "loeol!WSW > Q4" are not giving off a good attitude. Sure point out the good and bad points but don't go telling people their opinion is wrong.

The game needs work for sure. Right now many people have a problem with the sound, and electrobolt (rail) is thought to be too dominant. Maps especially need to be made and released soon to keep interest at stable level. But I believe that everyone is in a general agreement that this free of charge, 60mb game is coming along very nicely indeed. What needs to be remembered is that it's in 0.11 and that is a long way from being finished. If things continue along this path then we're in for something that i think many of us have been looking for for a long time.