(edit: doh! Suncho beat me to it.)
No offence Sol, but you missed the point. It's not a question of whether or not they'll install the game, it's a question of how they'll even find a copy of the game to buy in the first place.
The whole "How will newbies find us without pxo" side of the argument rests on the assumption that people are just picking the game off store shevles. But at this point, with the exception of a handful of bargin bins and a few obscure online retailers, where is anyone going to find the game
if they're not already looking for it. And given the lack of Descent3 advertisements around, if they're already looking for it odds are they've been told about it by someone who already plays it. Which means they already have "insider" information, so they won't be totally lost when they don't find anyone on pxo.
Bottom line: With a complete lack of advertisment and very little store shelf presence, the only way new players are likely to find out about the game at this point is by word of mouth.
In order for that to work, those that know of the game must socialize with those that don't. One good way to encourage that would be for the active online players to
play somewhere where other games are played. i.e. the multiplayer interface must service multiple games, with an open chat system that allows all users to communicate regardless of which game(s) they have/play. GameSpy (although I despise their ad-ridden interface) is a service that fits that description. PXO is not.
(I shouldn't talk, of course.. since I'm not exactly the "social" type.. Heck I can count the number of people I've told about the game on one hand.. but that's beside the point.
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