This tool (link at bottom of the post) allows you to conveniently switch Q3A version that you are using. GOG version is by default 1.32, but 1.31 and 1.16n are also worth trying.

Each version has different, incompatible network protocol, so you can find different servers and players on them. It's a whole different world! My favourite is 1.16n, it always had reputation of having most laid-back community and heavy usage of mods (especially various instagib flavours).

I've installed Q3 yesterday after many years of hiatus and I immediately felt right at home after switching to 1.16n. Unfortunately it's not 2005 anymore, so sometimes servers are a bit empty, but you can still find some active ones. Maybe GOG release will help it? For example, one good 1.16n instagib freeze server I've found is 87.117.203.203:27960, but there are others.

Link: www.clan333.com/downloads/utils/ofxq3switch205f.exe

That's interesting, I had no idea. What's so different in the earlier versions that they're worth a downgrade? I recall that they changed the physics a bit at some point and that it didn't please everyone, is that it?

I've checked some (1.32) servers a few times the past few days but have only seen like one actual person apart from bots. I'm also using ioquake3, it might complicate going down versions :/

EDIT: Makes it impossible, it seems. since id only released the source for the latest version. Too bad.

There were some technical changes, but they weren't that important (except for PunkBuster introduction in 1.32 which really outraged some people and made 1.31 popular). Some people stayed on those versions, because certain mods work only on certain quake versions, e.g. 1.30 with its InstaUnlagged (unfortunately looks like quake live killed it). Others didn't want to part with their favorite servers and admins of these servers didn't want to part with their users which was a bit like catch 22.

Another important factor is that 1.16n is compatible with 1.11 which was retail version and many newbies never bothered to upgrade. Certainly at any given time there are at least dozens of real humans playing 1.32 and 1.16n. Maybe external server browser would help? Why don'y you just use "normal" quake 3? :) Are you on linux? Many people seem to forget that there are official quake 3 binaries for linux, you just need download point release you want, extract it and add pak0.pk3 from windows quake. Unfortunately they are pretty old, 32-bit (so you usually need multilib), expecting OSS instead of ALSA, but it is possible to get them to work, there are guides in the web. Most quake 3 dedicated servers are using these binaries.

I am, I even have the original Linux version of Quake 3 in a tin box that I pre-ordered back in the day :) I just thought that ioquake3 would be less of a hassle since it's available in 64-bit and with support for sound interfaces other than OSS. I also don't think the original had positional audio on Linux, but ioquake3 does.

Oh well, might have to check out how to get around the OSS problem at some point.