I was mowing and trimming the lawn. Then I was playing StarCraft II.
A side note: I was excited about UT3's release mainly because of the Warfare gametype (since I <3 Onslaught in UT2004) and I've been waiting for SC2 for over a decade now. I still plan on returning to Unreal Mondays, but right now I'm enjoying the popularity of SC2 multiplayer. I play UT3 primarily because I enjoy playing games with other ToJ members, not because I'm that fond of the game's deathmatch gametype.
Same thing happens all the time. A new game comes out, people can't wait to blow their $60+ on it and everyone flocks to it.
There certainly is a tendency among gamers to flit from one new game to the next, especially when the market is oversaturated with quality titles. But people return to games with quality multiplayer.
TF2 was almost the end of the UT chapter at one time. It was one of the main reasons there isn't an active CoD chapter anymore. TF2 put their gamenight the same as CoD's and after that it pretty much died.
Actually, Infinity Ward's inane decision not to include dedicated server support in Modern Warfare 2 and waning interest in CoD4 (now a 3-year old FPS) were the death knell of our CoD chapter. There's enough difference in style between TF2 and MW2 that I'm confident our CoD chapter would have flourished had IW and Activision not made such a horribly short-sighted decision.
Also, the only reason TF2 chapter staff re-scheduled game nights when they did was so that our competition team (which comprised a fair portion of the game night regulars) could play in the public game night and still play in matches (which were set by the ladder in which we participated, not by us).
Activity in our UT chapter has fluctuated throughout the years, but given Epic's missteps in developing UT3, I think it's a testament to our community that we're still regularly playing UT3 together.
Yes, it seems most of the gaming world is currently entrenched in SC2 (myself included), but people will eventually start dividing their time between SC2, UT3, and other titles more evenly in the coming weeks.
You can't be too surprised when one of the most anticipated sequels in PC gaming history comes out and other chapter events aren't as well-attended for a short while. It's a temporary shift, but not unexpected.
Since SCII came out our UT3 Gametracker rating went from 39th to 80th. I'm not surprised since FPS always seem to take a backseat here at ToJ.
I think "take a backseat" is overstating the point, though I admit we see more activity in our Role-playing Section (World of WarCraft, Guild Wars, Everquest II, etc.). It's also not relevant to the popularity of SC2 since our Strategy Section has been without a flagship chapter for years now. In terms of numbers, activity across our active Shooter Section chapters (UT3, TF2, Left 4 Dead 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2) is far greater than our Strategy Section.
The UT chapter will, of course, survive, as will our other Shooter Section chapters. But keep in mind that among the games of our active FPS chapters, UT3 has the smallest player base.
That's why UT chapter staff has greater difficulty in packing out a server than other chapters--not because of any lack of effort on the part of ToJ staff. The UT chapter has, historically, been a smaller but more cohesive chapter, with fewer members (most of whom possess greater-than-average skill) who enjoy playing the game with each other.
On a related note: The Unreal Tournament chapter is currently without a Chapter Recruiter. If anyone's interested in serving in that role, send a PM to Captain_Tea and ColdSteel and copy me and Elihu (ToJ's Staff Manager).