Rocket Arena (mod): Difference between revisions

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'''Rocket Arena''' is a user-created multiplayer [[modification]] ("mod") for the seminal [[First Person Shooter]] game [[Quake]] (and subsequently for a number of games). Released in [[1997]] (less than a year after Quake's debut), Rocket Arena (often simply known as "RA") is one of the most successful and influential amateur-created game modifications.

Rocket Arena's gameplay is similar to the standard [[deathmatch]] mode, where individual players chase one another around a virtual world, trying to slaughter one another with a variety of weapons. The Rocket Arena mode aims to correct some of the weaknesses many foundperceive inwith conventional deathmatch. In particular, in deathmatch, slain players are reincarnated in a relatively weak condition, and must dodge their better prepared opponents while searching for the upgrades necessary to compete successfully. This can lead to conditions where one (or a small number of) player can dominate the game, hoarding all the game's upgrades and repeatedly killing their perpetually disadvantaged opponentopponents without ever dying themselves. Such domination isn't a particularly good reflection of the dominant player's skill - it frequently reflects their having been fortunate in getting into the dominant position first, or having more experience of the particular setting (i.e. knowing where specific upgrades will appear).

Rocket Arena aims to level the playing field by giving reincarnated players full health, weapons, and armour. No further pickups are available, so each player's condition monotonically decreases through the game, until they are killed and reborn. Once a player is [[frag]]ged, he or she is removed from play, and allowed to spectate. Depending on the specific mode, they player must wait until their team wins or loses, until the queue of players waiting their turn for combat has been exhaused (the "round robin" mode), or they are immediately returned to the game. The nature of RA rewards accuracy and the conservative use of ammunition, and encourages fluid, open play rather than some of the static conditions in which ordinary deathmatch quake can sometimes decay; tactics such as hiding, sniping, and camping (seen my many as unsportsmanlike) lose much of their effectiveness in Arena-mode combat. Many players consider Rocket Arena to be the best and fairest showcase of a player's skills, where effects of luck and unsportsmanlike play are largely mitigated.