PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Illysia on June 22, 2010, 11:41:05 pm
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Just a quick note that player numbers are rising again and now is a good time to take advantage of that. There is more RP going on in general and more people to work with if you feel like running events. :thumbup:
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On Saturday June 19 I saw a max of 82 players. On Sunday we had over 90 and on Monday we had 96. Hopefully we will be cracking 100 online at the same time real soon.
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People seem to have been coming back more snice around the beginning of July, it's good
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It's almost as though there's a season of the year during which millions of young people have very little to do and are therefore more prone to spend their time in pursuits such as computer games. Could it be... summer? Keep watching to find out.
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Yeah, it's undoubtedly because of summer. I say impress some of the kids so that they'll want to play more even when school comes back around.
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No it's because people are losing their jobs faster than ever before. Bad for the economy and children, but good for PS. Yay, the children are suffering! \\o//
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No it's because people are losing their jobs faster than ever before. Bad for the economy and children, but good for PS. Yay, the children are suffering! \\o//
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I actually laughed at this
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No it's because people are losing their jobs faster than ever before. Bad for the economy and children, but good for PS. Yay, the children are suffering! \\o//
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That is very true. My mum now plays more FarmVille than ever because she lost her job ...
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When I left the game, we'd had 200 on at a time pretty consistently. What happened?
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how long ago was that? faster internet availability as well as cheaper and bigger memory plans and the current saturated free MMORPG market might have something to do with it, if you're talking about years.
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there was a major release which had some techincal issues during the beginning ;)
however nearly all of them should be solved by now.
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Coincidence for me. I'm back, but not much to do with the onset of summer. :P
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When I left the game, we'd had 200 on at a time pretty consistently. What happened?
i remember that time too, and i think it was around when the tutorial showd up that the numbers took a drastic dive to say 150 then 100
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When I left the game, we'd had 200 on at a time pretty consistently. What happened?
i remember that time too, and i think it was around when the tutorial showd up that the numbers took a drastic dive to say 150 then 100
Yea i think it was the tutorial that made a difference, it is way to hard for even a non- noob could do, i tried doign it without cheats with and alt...No success
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No it's because people are losing their jobs faster than ever before. Bad for the economy and children, but good for PS. Yay, the children are suffering! \\o//
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That is very true. My mum now plays more FarmVille than ever because she lost her job ...
lol...
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When I left the game, we'd had 200 on at a time pretty consistently. What happened?
Some players had issues with raising hardware requirements (Pixel Shader 2.0 graphic cards).
Some players had issues with raising differences of opinions about the meaning of teamwork in the staff.
Some players had issues with raising numbers of leaving friends due to the first reasons...
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That's quite a sugar coating.
The portion of the decline that I experienced since feb 08 was due to bugs that prevented people from being able to play and an erosion in rp.
I recal an outage that lasted for weeks back in 08 that erased a good chung of the population.
After that the game stabalized for a while however many good players had left.
Over time there were fewer and fewer role players in game.
We as players did what we could to stimulate rp. The outlaws ran many rp events trying to invite players as we played.
The 0.5 update came out along with its bugs and new system requirements. This erased a significant portion of the player population.
With many good players missing rp was very difficult if not impossible.
More players left as a result of the loss of players.
For the sake of ps, hopefully the players who stayed and the new ones who joined since will figure things out and prosper :)
There were many arguments over in game issues but I think the above is what caused most of the decline.
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Honestly the only thing to make the tutorial easier or better, is to add in a voice chat to the NPCs the player may never speak a word but to choose it in the talk box. I honestly think that is the best way possible.
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it's already there. mostly.
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Almost forgot:
... and Lolitra went to hospital.
;)
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I think it's that summer is too hot. And fries your brains into forgetting that you ever stopped playing PS.
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it's already there. mostly.
Not as good as it could be though :)
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I don't have a totally accurate count but I think the combined attendance at the engagement parties and subsequent search parties, in the long form rp Tues, was at least 45 to 50...
Can anyone confirm?
Also screenshots anyone?
Search parties are still looking for the kidnapped bride... lots of stuff still happening in game... join in!
RR
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You can review the numbers in the graphs on the server stats page (http://planeshift.skylabhost.it/index.php?page=stats).
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I know I only come back ever so often after major updates and dabble around a bit to see what is new. Summer is the reason why it peaks, not because mommy lost her job playing farmville at work.
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in fact that's not true. Mostly in the summer players play less cuz they go out there and enjoy the sun, swim, catch a drink, go on vacation etc.
It has an other reason
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I can believe the hardware reqs knocked people out, but I mostly believe the peak is seasonal to the summer.
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It is impossible for me to speak of definite reasons; as my experience is new here. However my experience of battling with hardware requirements should indicate what is keeping many new players from joining at this stage. Granted my tech was old so this is not meant as a complaint; yet it took buying a couple year old previously enjoyed desktop to get to a comfortable gaming experience. That stage cost $200+. This allows me a reasonable gaming experience in cities and towns. The wilderness is still a dark brown mud until the next step of upgrading my graphics card with a previously enjoyed geforce 9600 or so. Probably put me back about $50. Bottom line is about $275 to get into the game. Such persistence cannot be expected from everyone that happens along to Planeshift. They will try it; if it doesn't work then move along. The potential of a true RP experience is what kept my eyes on the prize.
On the positive side, if development will now focus more on fleshing what is now there and keeping hardware demands somewhat static, then we should expect most users to have at least my present tech in the very near future.
That time line would work well with the time line which fleshing out could take.
It is my firm belief that once the present upgrade settles down that the user base will continue to rise.
- Nova
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No it's because people are losing their jobs faster than ever before. Bad for the economy and children, but good for PS. Yay, the children are suffering! \\o//
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i lol'd
idk if it was me, but i thought i saw higher numbers when looking at the number of players
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However my experience of battling with hardware requirements should indicate what is keeping many new players from joining at this stage. Granted my tech was old so this is not meant as a complaint; yet it took buying a couple year old previously enjoyed desktop to get to a comfortable gaming experience. That stage cost $200+. This allows me a reasonable gaming experience in cities and towns. The wilderness is still a dark brown mud until the next step of upgrading my graphics card with a previously enjoyed geforce 9600 or so. Probably put me back about $50. Bottom line is about $275 to get into the game. Such persistence cannot be expected from everyone that happens along to Planeshift. They will try it; if it doesn't work then move along. The potential of a true RP experience is what kept my eyes on the prize.
On the positive side, if development will now focus more on fleshing what is now there and keeping hardware demands somewhat static, then we should expect most users to have at least my present tech in the very near future.
it's all a matter of choice as well, however building up a system that works with PS isn't that hard if you ask someone who somewhat knows what to get or not to get.
e.g. I helped a mate some months ago to build a budget system - it was about 200$ and was quite decent (quad-core @2.6GHz, decent mainboard with an ATI HD 4200 onboard (which is sufficient for PS) and some RAM which was definetely enough for PS as well - all new parts)
building a budget system isn't exactly easy, but surerly possible
anyway, I *do* think higher hardware reqs knocked out some players, but imo they're still low enough (hardware already being a few years old is still sufficient) and it's a move in the right direction, as higher requirements allow us to do a lot more interesting stuff engine wise - especially on the graphic side :)
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Not everyone thinks "I need to build a system to suit a small OpenSource Game I haven't discovered yet" when they're building a system though. Hence, new players are being slowed down by the hardware reqs, players who already play PS kinda know these things already.
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Not everyone thinks "I need to build a system to suit a small OpenSource Game I haven't discovered yet" when they're building a system though. Hence, new players are being slowed down by the hardware reqs, players who already play PS kinda know these things already.
Pretty much anyone with a good gaming rig should be able to handle PS (minus gfx driver bugginess). However, RPers don't exactly seem to be the types to shell out mucho cash for gaming-class HW. :P (you and I are the exception to the rule btw, Akaiddo)
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That's kinda my point Kaerli, PS attracts Rpers who don't know much about gaming until AFTER they spend some time in PS.
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There are many reasons for the player loss. The obvious ones have been mentioned already, such as hardware issues with the upgrades and things like the tutorial that turn off new players, as well as a lot of the mechanics just not being fun or deadlocked in 'grind' territory.
Other issues are as follows:
Problem: Game expansion. It is counter intuitive to think that making a game larger with more area to 'explore' will actually reduce the number of players, but it is a fact under certain circumstances. Expanding the area people can/have to(in the case of quests and hunting) play in reduces the population density to the point where the game seems abandoned. An MMO needs a certain perceived level of use for most people to think it is worth playing. This also affected established players as their RP base became too diluted to gather the crowds, or even small groups that they felt they need to RP.
Solution: Get rid of some of the road maps, put the towns closer together, and even close down some towns if the population is too low.
Problem: Loss of 'Alpha' players. These are the players that don't just go ingame and play or look for things to do. They go in and make things happen. Every time you saw them or one of their characters, you just knew something was going to happen. A few that come to mind are Proglin, Xillix, and myself. Once we started an event, it was hard not to get involved in it in some fashion. However, it is exhausting trying to put on the large, complicated events that really bring in a lot of players. Small RPs are fine and great, and I love them as well, but they don't really bring in the numbers, and generally the large events give fuel to the small RPs (if the large events are designed right).
Solution: More tools that make it easier for players (and GMs) to put on events.
Problem: Changing feel to the game. Everyone who has been around for a few years knows what I am talking about. Part of it comes from the game itself, with each little change you feel like you are losing a part of 'your' game. Part of it comes from the player, losing that feeling of newness and seeing people you played with leave the game. It is a complicated equation.
Solution: There is no easy solution to this one. You have to keep adding to the game while keeping a familiar feel to it.
Problem: "Just another grind game." Let's face it, anything that does not involve roleplaying in PS is generally a complete grind. There are a lot of 'free to play' games out there right now that offer the same grind, more players, more polish, and more things to do besides grind. Even though you are severely limited in what you can do in those games unless you start paying, you still have more things to do than PS offers.
Solution: PS needs to offer something unique and fun that comes from the game (roleplaying comes from the players, and often ignores the mechanics, so does not count towards this). What that should be, I don't know.
Problem: Time-in-making. People are impatient. If something is in development, they like to see progress. PS has sometimes gone for almost a year with no visible progress at all. This does not mean progress is not being made, just that it is not being publicized. People simply don't know what is going on, or if anything is going on. For a lot of people, it is not worth playing if you don't know what is being worked on, or what changes are planned. The 'surprise' factor of new features/art/quests/whatever does not mean much if you are no longer around to see them.
Solution: PS has a lot of hard work in front of it if it is to overcome the 'verge of vaporware' feel it gives off. It needs to get people excited about things that are being worked on as they are being worked on, not try to surprise the few players that are left after long periods of apparent stagnation.
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I have to say, that last post was inspiring. Nice positive criticism, and I can't say I disagree with it.
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@ Under the Moon, I agree, so >much< with what you said. Especially the remark about "vapor-ware".... I was envolved with that once... and it did, indeed, turn out to be "vapor-ware".... much to my embarressment. (sp?)
In addition, I am going to "shell out" over 600$ (usa) for a new system.... I must admit, my system is 4 yrs old... But, just to play a game? I must be crazy... and glad to have found this game.
Just flesh out what you have, devs.... and give the "requirements" a break for a while (at least 'till I can catch up again!!)
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I agree people are very impatient and they don't always notice changes unless they are "in your face". PS needs some new art especially new models for Races without models like Lemur ;) , I also know this takes time. The other thing may be to push development on more customization of characters like adding clothes. I know art stuff is harder especially due to Licensing issues.
I am glad to see there re many background changes happening like new crafting items, review of items costs, NPC armours etc.
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I wouldn't say it's the licensing holding back contribution in art, though it is a factor. It's really the sheer commitment.