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Most Popular Free, Arena-Style FPS?
anomalous cohort writes "I am a casual gamer. Go or Chess are my games of choice when I am up for a serious intellectual gaming challenge. Otherwise, I just want to blow off some steam in a free, arena-style FPS such as Alien Arena, Nexuiz, Sauerbraten, or Tremulous at the end of a long day. Either way, it is very rare for my gaming experience to exceed 30 minutes. The problem is that attendance for these games has dropped off over the years. Finding a game with about two humans and two robots is perfect for me and very rare these days. My question is this: What is currently the most popular free, arena-style FPS for the casual gamer that you know of?"
That reminds me, how is the Quake Live beta coming along?
Take the plunge and spend a one-time purchase on Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead (US$20 and US$50 respectively). Lots of fun, free DLC is still being released for 'em, and lots of people play them.
Doesn't fit your definition of "free" but AFAIK all the free FPSs have been exhausted in this thread already and all of them are pretty old. Experimenting in something a little more recent could be interesting and fun. They're not very "casual" but if it turns out you don't like TF2 you're only down $20.
Switching to console (e.g. XBox 360) games will solve the lack of participation problem. The problem then is that there are perhaps too many people. Until you build up a list of cool people to play with you'll be gaming with the dregs.
Pro tip: Carcassone is a great way to meet cool folks.