Where did all the Quake 3 servers go? Every time I go into one, it's just bots.
There's no humans. What happened?

It's maybe because there are no humans that have joined the server you were on and replaced them with bots until a human joins and is active on the server. Other than that, I can't think of anything else wrong.

Edited 19 seconds after the original posting.

Most people play Urban Terror, Excessive, instagib, or Freeze tag. There are a few who still play the game vanilla, and I've seen less and less the more years go by. You should join a server and wait for somebody to join in.

I remember back in 2010 that there were still servers running 1.30. I switched to 1.32 after they all disappeared (there weren't that many anyway). Most people play on servers with mods such as Urban Terror, Instagib, Excessive, or Freeze Tag. This tends to leave the servers with plain Quake 3 empty. Its sad, as I liked the days where I can play a match with people without it being on a mod that I don't enjoy.

Edited 516 days after the original posting.

It would be great if Quake 3 could come back to life again and be noticed. Just like the old days where legends like Fatality & ZarkZ were around. Man those were the days!

Well, to set up a server that other people can get to do i just set it up, or do I have to do something more?
(like Team Fortress 2)

Cuz I'll set up a server for all us people, and then Quake 3 shall LIVE!

The vanilla and casual scene pretty much moved onto Quake Live and OpenArena, both include TA stuff (nailgun/prox/chaingun) so it's not really 'vanilla' vanilla :( The latter also lacking the original maps and a noticeable lack of Adrian Carmack, Steed and Scott... so it's an acquired taste at best.

Who knows, there could still be a small amount of people playing the 1.11 demo. (especially since it's easily available through Steam).. lol. I know SOF2Test and UT2004 demos still had a scene that lasted long.

Edited 2.57 minutes after the original posting.

I wasn't quite too fond on Vanilla anyway but since Q3 is heavily modified, its more popular with the Railgun especially Instagib mod. Back on topic, I mainly am on the server ''I Can't Aim :('' the server has Instagib meaning up to 32 people can join but I don't find it as fun as the ''Jobb3rs'' server & ''NastyHotShots'' server. Brings back the memories of xFM/ Vs xSF/. God! Take Me Back! xD

Edited 5.01 hours after the original posting.

Catch me on this server daily! 85.17.81.166:27965 (I Can't Aim :( Server): www.gametracker.co...7.81.166:27965/. I'm xFM/MajorX

Edited 1 minutes after the original posting.

I remember when I started playing the Quake 3 demo online back in 2005, the servers were always active. Sure I was pretty newbish back then, but it was always good fun! Nowadays there is barely any servers that aren't just filled with bots. What I don't get is why there are some servers which are filled with a dozen or so spectators and the only ones playing are bots?
I've seen a few Quake 4 servers still going, I haven't played on them much but there was usually 4-8 players.

@Kyall: The servers are slowly dying out because there aren't really any active players except a considerable few that started playing the game a long time ago and I'm talking about like in 2005 +. It's heartbreaking to see such a legendary game die out slowly but it happens to every game once in a while

@FragTastic: I agree. One thing that is great about Quake 3 Arena is that there are bots you can spar with without needing human players to play the game. Games like Halo CE, Star Wars: Republic Commando, and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory lack that without custom addons such as the Halo Custom Edition that allows you to play certain custom maps that have AI "guardian" enemies to fight, and the bot mods for Wolfenstein ET. Republic Commando is a game that is slowly dying because the creators didn't really make the game moddable, or even have a map editor to come with the game to have any communities based around it. I recall having some fun times playing the MP back in 2008 though.

In the US, Quake 3 is alive, but on a small scale. Most games are popular for only a few years, then die out because there aren't many possibilities revolving around it. Games like Quake 3, Jedi Academy (love that game), and Doom allow for addons and have so much to it that they live on for many years to come. Jedi Academy is a really cool game (uses Q3 engine BTW) because of that, and it allows you to do things like play both SP & MP without the need of human players, you can spawn NPCs etc. Quake 3 seems to go in and out of public interest. ..::LvL had a lot of activity from 1999-2011, then from the time that Frag came here and it was bustling with activity up until a certain point when there seemed like nobody was posting anything.

@KommissarReb (SW12): I agree with you on that one but to be honest, ever snce the CoD (Call Of Duty) franchise has come out, things have taken a turn on other brilliant FPS games out there. Doom, Quake and other major franchises including Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein & Unreal Tournament are beginning to lost their touch slowly. What you mean by Frag is me? Ahah I can't believe the amount of noobish comments I posted back then. I was an active player and still am I'm mostly active on Instagib servers to be honest. My clan xFM/ were the msot active clan in 2005 - 2008 but ever since these new FPS games have arrived, xFM/ have lost up to 30 - 35 members which is a big loss but nbow that I have returned, I'm gonna bring it back. Hit me up one day by going on this server. 85.17.81.166 27965. Also hit me up on gametracker.com. Here's a link to my account add me up! www.gametracker.com/kaz97/

Well that sucks. My grandma showed me Quake 3 when I was 6, so, it's been a while since I was on an actual server

I actually started playing in 2004, when I was 6. Now I'm sad that the game is dying...

A shame the game is dying, I have SO many good memories of Quake III, playing it and making maps for it.

I would like to see a new quake shooter with gameplay similar to q3 (fast paced twitch shooter with jumppads, portals, etc) but with a significant upgrade in graphics, as suggested by this screen shot of orbb. www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php
With levels and models etc that look that good a new quake would be superior to most or all other fps shooters. But i am biased however.

@Blood: That picture of Orb does look cool with the elaborate graphics. A bit hard to look at an eyeball with what holds it in place, but that's just me. I just kind of wish they went for realistic-looking graphics instead of the kind to make it the standard of 2014.

I'm in the UK and in several parts of the UK Quake 3 is very active mostly in parts of London since I live in London and know many people who play in London. It's a shame that the game is losing it's touch but online seems to be going well as there are mostly 79 servers still active and all of them contain at least 10 - 11 online players. At least the game isn't completely dying out in fact it's still has a special touch which can't be lost because Retro gamers can't give up the games which they have been playing for quite some time.