Thoughts on Xonotic?

Hi guys. I'm doing a project for my university in which we have to write a review for a “recent” game, and I have chosen Xonotic to review. Seeing as this game is a community driven project, I felt that some community input would enhance my review remarkably.

My current idea is to add your input as pull quotes around the review article, or if it's something detailed, I could put it in the article text.

I have put together a questionnaire that you can answer, but if you don't like answering these questions feel free to share anything you like.

Thank you.

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them?

1. Both.

2. Movement/physics.

3. The limited number of open, medium-sized CTF maps.

4. Flick-shotting someone through the gap in the middle of evil-space_ctf, while we were flying on the jumppads on the different sides of the map.

5. Other similar games are fun once in a while, but Xonotic never gets old. The gameplay is unique & exceptionally fun, every match is different.

6. Unimportant.

7. For the most part, the community is nice and welcoming, most players are friendly and happy to play. The ones that aren't happy to play most maps can be hard to ignore though.

8. Super fast enjoyable gameplay.


Good luck with your project, hope this helped.

Time to jump in here

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?

I consider myself a gamer only, while I've made a few maps here and there, it's not the same as being an actual developer.

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?

The gameplay, and community. Gameplay reminds me a tiny bit of cpma, especially with newer balance, moving around the map is a joy and weapons are fun to use. Community is also very fun to play with.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?

The lack of people willing to play/learn weapons. There is an abundance of minsta players during most hours of the day, but unfortunately that's not the case with weapons. I know that game server won't be populated 24/7 but, compared to other games; ut2004; quake live, there are much less players at all hours (weapons mode).

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.

I've had a few, but the ones on the top of my head are some duel wins against thimo, and a 3v1 CA win I had against some quite good players on an EU server. Non gameplay related, when making player towers with a few players on minsta servers, and some few times when we've used voice chat to talk and mess around ingame.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?

I find that xonotic scene is not as competitive as ut or quake, but that is due to lack of players. Besides that, it's similar to quake (cpm) in some aspects due to the air control you have. Ofcourse, unreal tournament shares some very small similarities with xonotic, but aiming at least can transfer over from those games.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?

I find that the free status of the game makes it very easy to invite players, and the open source nature of the project makes it very welcoming for people that want to add new maps/sounds/etc. to the game.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?

I honestly can't think of much I dislike about the community, at least most players, they're fun to play, usually don't act in weird ways (aka. I'm the best, and you only won because of x reason). I say most, because there are a few exceptions of course...
Besides that, the one thing I dislike is simply the lack of a larger community!

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the community, what would be the most important reason you would give them?

I would tell them the game is not very hard to get into, there are a lot of gametypes on the common servers to pick from, and that the competitive community is very nice and helpful.

Good luck on your project!

1. I'm gamer only, done some tiny contributions but I'm not a developer.

2. I like the gameplay and the community foremost. Gameplay is like a perfect combination of cpma and UT. Balance is also finely tuned for competetive play, which is important for this kind of game IMO.

3. Lack of players and unpolished. If xonotic needs to be a serious option for a bigger audience of players we need more consistency and a bigger initial community so new players have people to play with in the modes they like.

4. I've had several great memories from chatting with people on XDefrag early on in my Xonotic "carrier". Also playong TDM with kojn specialone and kammy was great experience, first time I really "got" TDM. So many others here on forums and in game and in IRC channel.

5. It's the small differences that matter. Xonotic offers uniqe experience with the physics tother with the weapons and the maps. Not just one thing makes it different but overall it got a completrly different feel and a bit different skill aspects.

6. Very important. If it wouldnt it would be different people here.

7. The community is 60% of the experience, it's suoer friendly and lots of great people from different cultures around the world. What I dislike is a recent meme that Xonotic is dead since it has lost activity lately (most notable in pickup) and some top players have left. But honestly that is utter bs imo, get off your chair abd add up on pickups instead.

8 . If they either already play games in same genre and seeks a more up-to-date expwrience or to people who want a real challange learning this game.

(written with my phone excuse typos and such)

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
I am both, though due to the lack of players I tend to spend much more time creating new content.

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
Just the fact that this game is purely community driven which gives control to the people who actually play it and know what needs to be done a certain way.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
Of course that players are missing, but also that new players seem (that is my own impression) to give up quiet quickly learning the weapons and instead just play Minsta (this game mode actually doesn´t fulfil the complete experience of Xonotic, in my humble opinion...)

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
The Beginner´s Cup was really exciting for me. I had my best games there, very close ones (that´s what I like the most), never even thinking that I could win this! GG!

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
In comparison Quake is limiting your movement or at least it´s harder to get into it. Both Unreal Tournament and Quake seem to emphasise more the tactical part of the game. Not saying that Xonotic is less about tactics but it´s simply a different way to play it.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
They are very important. Xonotic wouldn´t be Xonotic if it wasn´t open-source. It´s the reason why I am developing/creating things for it. If it were closed-source my hobby as a Level Designer wouldn´t be nearly as much enjoyable as it is now.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
Most of the community members are VERY helpful persons who also make Xonotic an outstanding project. Try to find those kind of people in other games.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the community, what would be the most important reason you would give them?
A unique and fast gameplay with the best and most helpful community out there.

Thank you Mario, kammy, machine!, and Maddin for your replies.

Thank you Mario, kammy, machine!, and Maddin for your replies.

I also suggest talking to Samual or DiVerent or some other core member of the team, they might be able to point out some stuff to think about when writing the review I would presume. You can probably PM them here or talk to them on #xonotic at freenode or quakenet.

1. Both i would say, as i made some maps for the game, not that much active in any of those areas recently...

2. It's fresh, it's free, it has small, but nice, friendly community

3. relatively small playerbase

4. ridiculously long pickup ctf match on Attic, with about 10 overtimes. Awesome.

5. I don't have much experience in other similiar shooters. Xonotic is the only one of it's type i play.

6. I don't know, not that important for me to be honest. I mean, i like it being "open-source" and "community-driven" but that is not the key thing for me to stick with it.

7. Like - friendly, helpful for newcomers, i've known some of the guys here for few years already, so i actually think of some of them as "friends"

Dislike - it could be bigger and more active (meh, me included for that "active" part...)

8. I would say: "Hey dude! This game is kinda oldschool, but it's fresh at the same time! It's free, it's fast, it's fun!"

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?

Occasional Gamer. Not much time for actual game playing these days, but I do try to set aside time.

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?

The music and maps. Those were two things that made Nexuiz stand out for me, and I like that it has continued in Xonotic. I also love the movement.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?

The player models and animations. I feel there is no sense of style with the player models, they are too generic.

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.

Played an instagib game against some regs a while back, and held my own despite being rusty.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?

It's faster, the movement is really fun. Visually, I think it's comparable to Quake III(with better rendering though), but falls short of the detail of UT2k3/4.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?

The open sourced aspect of the code is very important to me.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?

There are a lot of good people here, and they have persisted through some bad mojo(with Nexuiz). Not much to dislike.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them? Wink

Quake Live is dead

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
I'm a gamer, trying to contribute with what I can but I'm no developer.

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
The community, there are some awesome people in it, and very many people show rationalism and politeness all the way. It's just great to enjoy a game with people that act mature and relaxed and don't get excited over losing a match against you even if they consider themselves to be a better player. I experience a lot of respect, tolerance and politeness in this community, which is the form of communication I like best (though some copy-a-troll mania has recently made its way into Xonotic but I hope that's just temporary and the supposed coolness of that will fade soon).

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
It's sad to see so few players on the public servers, especially on the weapons servers, but I'm also worried about the communication habits of some member of the core team.

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
With Xonotic it's probably a very good duel with three overtimes and still taking the time to say "n1" or "ty" while none of us were trying to hide if in the lead during overtime. If we're to include my Nexuiz history, I'd say that would be a match on a public server with some people that I've already known for long even at that time and someone just started to sneak up from behind without shooting me and to follow me - at first it scared the heck out of me when I noticed someone close behind me but then I really had to laugh my head off when that player continued and we were going like "stop fumbling my bum" and "no I love you" and I was trying to run away with all the other people playing a regular deathmatch and we were just busy with chasing each other while also protecting each others from other attackers.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
I never played Quake and only played a bit of UT 2004 and UT3, but never online. So I guess this is the only FPS I really play. I checked out a bit of Warsow, and I like the movement, but somehow I'm so used to Xonotic movement that I feel it is even faster and more agile than Warsow (which is probably not true but I am just experienced in Xonotic movement).

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
Free of charge is good for promoting it to other players. Not to be connected to commercial interests is even more important to me, as it makes the entire game much more trustworthy and likeable. Free as in freedom is also a very important part for me, as I like to be able to contribute and to know contributions don't follow commercial interests but the goal to make a good gameplay experience.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
I already described that above - tolerance, respect, politeness. Sure there are exceptions, but there always are and overall the general consens is focused on those values. I just feel at the right place here.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the community, what would be the most important reason you would give them?
Fast gameplay, steep learning curve, gameplay depth, friendly and helpful community - in that order (the community usually is not a reason to START playing a game, but makes you stick to it once you started to like the gameplay).

You are asking Xonotic players here of course, so you are of course aware that a "survey" on this forum will return only biased opinions :o) Good luck with your review!

You are asking Xonotic players here of course, so you are of course aware that a "survey" on this forum will return only biased opinions :o) Good luck with your review!

Surprisingly, fans of a game usually have most thought out criticism as well.

I'm going to start writing the review now, so if you reply it might not go into the review. I'll try to post my review here after the submission date is over.

Thank you all for your replies.

AA, why didn't you say you were the one who gonna make review when we played, could showed you some tricks!

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?

Gamer for most part and sometimes an enthusiastic spectator. Xonotic is actually very fun to just watch too.

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?

Intensity, speed, instagib and maps. Community is small and you get to know pretty much everyone over the time. It's also nice how well people are connected to other communities in other similar games.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?

Too much overthinking and nerfing in weapon balance.

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.

Winning of Xonotic Quick Cup #24 3v3 CTF with team OHSNAP! Fun times.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?

Xonotic feels kinda like the embodiment of all the good parts from other arena shooters combined.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?

It's great considering how much more content it has compared to most modern commercial games, with content I don't mean dazzling graphics.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?

Most games have the 'map dilemma' like "The big 3" in Quakeworld, Edge in Q2, campgrounds is Q3/Live, Deck in UT99.. fucking bipbeta2 in Warsow etc. In Xonotic there's nothing like that by far I know. It's hard to get bored when and if there's 300 maps in the map pool which also gets played when everyone usually just goes with the flow.

What I dislike is the playerbase being so persistent on their favorite mods (Yes there's a 'mod dilemma' instead). Instagibbers don't wanna learn/play vanilla and vanilla guys think Instagib is boring/easy. Xonotic has lots of cool mods, and even designed maps for those mods that wouldn't work on other mods necessarily. Everything should be tried at least once with open heart and crotch.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them?

You advance by skill, not by how long you've played and by having an advantage solely because some XPs. No, you have the guns, the maps and players. You shoot each other, simple as that. The game is free and has more content than every Call of Duty combined.

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
-> Just a gamer, shooting dying respawning =)


2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
-> The speed definitely and the fact that its not too difficult to get into it. And the community that accepts you to its pickups and cups with any skill-level.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
-> Movement feels a bit too much like you're jumping underwater, for me personally it kills a lot of enjoyment from it. Also, cant get to play the gamemode i love the most via pickups or publics or anywhere. These points actually drove me back to UT once again.

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
-> This is hard one. Maybe our 2v2 quickcup victory against all odds with my good friend Kankipappa =)

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
-> There is no scene, like Xonotic scene. Really friendly ppl around. Movement on Xonotic is definitely easier to learn, which is a good point for new ppl to try the game! Same with weapons, tho sometimes they indeed feel slightly underpowered. UT rocket, for example, feels like a Nuclear Launcher compared to xonotic RL. Xonotic also is defo more beginner-friendly. Easier to step-in when there are no 90% players with 15years of experience with perfect aim! If you are looking for more competitive action, cups or organized pickups, then you might find yourself playing quite a few games.
Also, you really need to have some flexibility with gamemodes, if you want to get more games on a small game like xonotic. Clan Arenas, CTF, instagibs, other stuff. Its worth pointing out, that Xonotic is very much 1v1 oriented, when UT for example is almost only teamgame-modes of some kind. I was and i'am still only Team Deathmatcher, so there was not enough activity for me there. But surely regular players will find more fun from xonotic! I recommend the game for every FPSer i see still!

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
-> Oh, its important. To be honest, i'd never been playing, if it wasnt free. Respect for all the programmers, designers and coders out there, who keep using their free-time to get it better!

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
-> As i've said it on the previous texts, its really positive. It is a first thing i praise to the ones i've invited to try the game out. Keep it up, boys.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them?
-> Easy to learn and really casual-friendly. Small quick-cups for all skillevels and some activity on public servers. Game is free and ppl are friendly, so why not to try it out, especially if you enjoy other similar fast-paced FPS games!

AA, why didn't you say you were the one who gonna make review when we played, could showed you some tricks!

I got a strange feeling machine was refering to me....

What do you mean, machine?

-> Oh, its important. To be honest, i'd never been playing, if it wasnt free. Respect for all the programmers, designers and coders out there, who keep using their free-time to get it better!

Free in what sense?

AA, why didn't you say you were the one who gonna make review when we played, could showed you some tricks!

I got a strange feeling machine was refering to me....

What do you mean, machine?

Nope, I meant vizhu. For some reason my phone formatted "Ah" to "AA". o.o

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
>gamer

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
>freedom of movement, action, general gameplay

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
>fragmented community, unreasonable modifications to the game, small amount of new players, mostly empty public servers, undergroundness/underratedness of the game, game is incomprehensible for many newcomers - no tutorials etc

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
>killing someone by causing them to impact against the ceiling

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
>faster, more intensive, xonotic is much more vertical/3D, movement is unpredictable

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
>I would gladly donate/pay for xonotic. (as long as development continues)

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
>Tiny compared to other games, its easy to recognize most of the players, generally nice, some individuals are stranger than most

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the community, what would be the most important reason you would give them? Wink
>gameplay I guess

-> Oh, its important. To be honest, i'd never been playing, if it wasnt free. Respect for all the programmers, designers and coders out there, who keep using their free-time to get it better!

Free in what sense?

In the beer sense.

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
>gamer

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
>gameplay, weapons, community

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
>Too many minsta/overkill players compared to vanilla (I like overkill too, but vanilla should gather more people).

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
>Maybe when I won some duel beginners cup.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
>I only played UT, but I prefer Xonotic physics & weapons.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
>Very important, I try to use as many free (as in freedom) softwares as possible :p

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
>Small, but nice and involved community. Most players really enjoy the game and are courteous. Unfortunately, some trolls just keep complaining there's no vanilla activity while they are mostly inactive in-game (and refuse to play when we can organize matches).

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the community, what would be the most important reason you would give them? Wink
>Amazing gameplay, nice community and players.

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
gamer

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
fast-paced gameplay, interesting weapons, community

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
too many minstagib players, not enough vanilla.

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
When stdi took 3 hours out of his day to show me the ropes when I first started

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
I think Xonotic is more fun than Quake, I never played UT

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
I would be willing to donate to help progress the game to completion. I wouldn't mind paying for a game I enjoy this much

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
Xonotic community is pretty small but the majority of players are really helpful and friendly. First day I ever played Xonotic, stdi took about 3 hours of his day to show me the ropes. I was hooked after that.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the community, what would be the most important reason you would give them? Fast-paced gameplay, plus the community is pretty awesome

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
I'm nowadays a lot more rather developer than gamer. Too bad I don't have much free time anymore on my hands to be both

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
The community of course. I've met so much talented and good guys during the almost 10 years now, I cannot even count them. Also, I like the fast paced gameplay, and the numerous features the game offers.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
Development slowed down, as people who started the project simply grew up, finished schools and started to earn their own daily hamburgers, have families, and don't have that much free time on their hands for their hobby anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually happy for these people because their real life is on a good path, however this is not good for the game itself. We simply just need more active developers developers developers developers developers...

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
Hmm, there's no such no1. moment I'm afraid. Probably the most exciting was the founding weeks and months, when the back-then core team and the invited community members were brainstorming on ideas, we were full with excitement and willpower to create some awesome things, and game progressed very fast compared to the late Nexuiz times. Also, the last few months and even the last days before the 0.6 release, in which I was most involved in. Sleeping 3-4 hours daily for a week beside real life just to pump out the release in time (didn't happen IIRC). Heh, fun times
However, for me Xonotic is a continuation of Nexuiz too, and there are tons of fond memories from those times too, like the first days after Nexuiz 1.0, playing the game with the handful of people from the forum and IRC, my first map being released, winning a mapping competition, seeing how as the community grew and people really finding FRIENDS here to the point of meeting each other in real life (had the experience myself too). Long talks into the night about rather serious issues of real life, like friendship, love, loss of a beloved one, politics, whatever. Countless fun hours on the Peace Brothers server, where the whackiest stuff happend like someone setting the actual rocket model as playermodel, and flying through the map etc. All in all, tons of fond memories and fun hours, that I truly don't mind I spent on this game, because it was not just about that, but the people involved in it.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
It's really a mixture of both. It inherited the movement style of Quake, but the weapon arsenal is a bit more like the Unreal series, especially with the secondary fire modes present.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
For most gamers, I think the b33r aspect is more important, because you can simply download it, you don't need to pay a cent, get cracks to run it etc. You can just try, and if you don't like it, you can simply delete, no loss anywhere.
As for a developers point of view, free as freedom might be an important issue. It certainly helps to get involved, our tools to set up a development environment is brilliant and very easy to set up (however, it could be a bit more better documented, but maybe it's the best documented of everything).
On the other hand, it can very well be a show stopper too, especially for visual artists, like 2D or 3D artists. We require the sources, and modelers don't like to give away those.
For me personally Xonotic being open source might be more important, not just because the idea of freedom behind it, but I'm rather a tinkerer, I like to learn and know how things work and I also like to create things. The easy access of the sources is a vital aspect in this.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
The most friendly, helpful, respectful and open minded gathering of the internet EVER. Sure, there are occasionally heated discussions, however those are very rare, and the differences can be most of the time worked out. Very easy going on newcomers, everybody is welcomed here. Also, I personally don't mind it's small yet. Imho the game is not that mature to present it to larger audiences.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them?
Though we're living the time of social networks thats' main job should be to help interact people more easily and often, my experience is that the relative ease to do so actually made connections shallower, and this resulted in people not to care that much about a community anymore. So my first advice would be to try to interact as much as you can, and stay. Try to know people more before making a decision of staying or leaving. Read along the forums first, introduce yourself, listen, and fear not to interact! Next stop would be joining the IRC channels, especially the the main xonotic channel: #xonotic @ irc.quakenet.org, and the pickup channel where games can be organised ##xonotic.pickup on quakenet.

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
Player only.

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
Duels, and their fast gameplay and strategy. CTF looks even better, but I have never actually played a CTF game that was not the minsta/hook silliness.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
For the game itself - how there are always a few dominant weapons (Nex, RL, maybe Mortar). I have seen more of the others since the last update, but those are still the most important.

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
Playing on Aero with someone whose name I did not recognize, who I only saw once, and getting fragged out without getting a single point, and half the time dying to curve rockets as soon as I spawned.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
Never played any UT games, but in terms of Quake it is most similar to Quake 1. This is due to the railgun-equivalent in Xonotic being much less overpowered than the ones in all the later Quakes, so people move around much faster and more freely. However, Xonotic's weapon dominance problem is much less than it is in Q1, and the movement mechanics are much better (in my opinion).
Also, in Xonotic everybody is much more durable than in the Quake series.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
If the game were not gratis (free beer), I would have likely never played it; on the other hand, I would gladly pay for it today.
If the game were not open-source in its current state, I would probably still play it, though likely not be as willing to put up with its lack of players. However, community-developed games are almost always better than commercial ones, so Xonotic would likely be a worse game if it were not open-source.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
The Xonotic community, at least as far as I have seen, is one of the better ones; most people are helpful and almost all are mannered.
However, it has deep divides between its mod players and 'core' players (meaning they play the standard game, there are actually less of them), which causes a lot of problems with the small numbers.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them?
The gameplay which is fast and skill-based while also being very strategic and mind-gamesey.

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
Player (inactive at this moment).
2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
Speed and dynamic.
3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
Too smal playerbase, this game deserve much more.
4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
My win in lower brackets finals against Spike
5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
I play QL, and i find xonotic more dynamic than QL, but QL more balanced game.
6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
Not so important, but it's good when community can change game content.
7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
Xonotic community probably best community ever, i always glad to have some trash talk in IRC with guys like Mirio, thimo, Spike, Diomedes, Debugger and others (sorry if forgot someone). Also community very loayl to new palyers, somoene always can find time to explain ropes and features.
8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them?
First of all it's community, then dynamic and fast gameplay.
Summary:For me Xonotic best arena shooter (Yeah, i like it more than QL) with great community.

Hi guys. I'm doing a project for my university in which we have to write a review for a “recent” game, and I have chosen Xonotic to review. Seeing as this game is a community driven project, I felt that some community input would enhance my review remarkably.

My current idea is to add your input as pull quotes around the review article, or if it's something detailed, I could put it in the article text.

I have put together a questionnaire that you can answer, but if you don't like answering these questions feel free to share anything you like.

Thank you.

1- Would you describe yourself as a Xonotic gamer, a developer, or both?
I'm a freakishly hardcore gamer, though I haven't been too active in Xonotic lately

2- What do you like most about Xonotic?
The combination of things that made Unreal Tournament 99, Quake III:Arena/Warsow, and some of Tribes really good in addition to having it's own weird identity and style not seen in other shooters.

3- What is your biggest gripe with Xonotic?
I don't have too many gripes with the game itself actually, save stupid AI and a minor issue here (some gun models could be switched out, voices probably aint the greatest) or there as well as the lack of a tutorial and the weapon system could use a touch up (which is already planned). My current issue with Xonotic is really the lack of players and the fact that most newbies have difficulty learning how to play the game (which will hopefully be fixed with a proper tutorial) making them easy targets for even rusty players such as myself.

4- Describe your most memorable Xonotic moment.
My most memorable Xonotic moment actually goes back to when I first discovered Nexuiz (the game Xonotic is a successor to) and got heavy into grapple hook CTF. I had moments on there where I just got physically worn down to the point of sweating and falling asleep at my desk immediately after closing the game. None of the other thousands of videogames I've played has ever done that to me.

5- How would you compare the Xonotic experience to similar shooters such as Quake and Unreal Tournament?
It's got the depth and gunplay of UT99 with the fluidity of Warsow and a hint of Tribes. It's art also has a certain crazy weirdness to it not seen in other games.

6- How important are the free (as in free beer) and free (as in freedom) aspects of Xonotic for you?
Very important as that's what has made Xonotic, Xonotic. In terms of quality it is very much capable of putting up a fight with commercial games, but this game came into existence because of it's open source nature.

7- How would you describe the Xonotic community? What do you like and dislike most about it?
The community is probably THE reason I've followed this game for as long as I did. It's very positive and easily the most mature of any gaming community I've ever seen. The thing I dislike about it is that it sometimes becomes it's own enemy at times and the occasional infighting may happen during controversial changes, but the community has gotten over it every time that's happened.

8- If you wanted to invite someone who doesn't know about Xonotic to the ocmmunity, what would be the most important reason you would give them?
I'd want to expose them to one of the finest arena FPS games ever built and expose them to a very positive community.