server population

[Spitty]

Here's some logic for you, Safon - you noncontributing zero.

You're the scum, the pathetic mold that's grown on p99 over the last few years and made this place inhospitable to anyone who isn't a complete trainwreck of a human like yourself. You and your kind have taken a perfectly good MMO environment and made it into an ex-community that literally drives decent players away.

Plenty of people would still be actively playing and contributing here, but having to put up with complete failures like Safon just to get some classic EQ in? Not worth it. There's too many ways to better spend one's time.

Eventually, the population will be reduced to nothing more than a sad collection of rage-filled Safons who won't leave EC or group with each other. And then, of course, Velious will drop and they can all enjoy not grouping there, too. What a delight that will be.

[Nuggie]

Expect 1500 pop on Velious release. And lag.

[Lagaidh]

Originally Posted by Nuggie [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Expect 1500 pop on Velious release. And lag.

Well of course I'm going to be there for the Velious release. It's my personal favorite EQ expansion!

[Bewk]

Originally Posted by Peak [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

people joined, people left, people joined, ib quit, others quit, others began, vd quit, some vd stayed, people quit, people began

the population has lost a good 200-300 or so players (on at peak times) since i first began here mid-2010, mind you.

nothing lasts forever my dears
velious will bring back a high population again though! hee hee exciting times

Don't forget the RMT and/or boxing bans. I'm sure that quite a few of the people who get an account (or more) banned for these things don't stick around with a different account. Amelinda said she banned 40-50 people just last week for RMT, and that many of them were newer players. Lord knows if I were new to p99 and I got an account banned, I sure as hell would stay gone.

[batkiller]

I have a lot of experience with these kinds of servers so this is my view. There was always going to be a lot of interest in a new server, people who haven't tried EQ for a decade who want to give it another spin again. Many of whom realise it was better in their memories and leave after their weekend down memory lane.

The most important statistic though, is the population that the server settles at. There are some emulators that I know, whose populations have held steady for around 8 years. This server can be the same, but it's important that the population is not only steady, but high enough to support the size of the world, and when Velious comes out, it will be even more of an issue. The population will peak again, but then settle again, and if it settles to a low number, then you are going to end up with a very top heavy server which is very unwelcoming to new players, and that will harm the influx of players, which over the long term, will drastically shorten the life of this server.

The most important thing with these servers, is that people have a nice time. There are always going to be people leaving, no matter what, but if the server is well respected, there will always be new people joining too. These kinds of servers crop up in conversations all over the place, so there is always a trickle of new people, and on good servers, this trickle is enough to cover the people who leave.

But this totally relies on the "having a nice time" thing, because word of mouth will not spread as well when the players are not content. To make sure the players are happy, it takes effort from both the staff AND the players, and I gotta be honest, but after just 2 months on this server, it doesn't seem good on both counts. Firstly, petitions cannot go unanswered for weeks and months on end. You can always make the excuse that it's a free server and nobody pays to play etc.. but that is of no concern to the average player, and you will find yourselves still making those excuses the day the server shuts down for the final time. There are good people who are willing to work for free, to aid a game that they love, but it's your job to find these people, and the shittier the server gets, the harder it is going to be to find people who care enough to spend their free time supporting it. If you do things right, you can end up where a petition is answered same day.

The other side is down to the players. Everyone knows that when you have the mental age of a 12 year old, it's fun to be a little bastard to people over the internet. And you probably don't know or care what the consequences are to that. No you can't get punched in the face, unfortunately, but you can harm the game you have chosen to spend your time playing. Even the most self destructive idiot, must deep down realise that if you want to keep playing this game, you stand a better chance if the server remains popular and new people tell their friends about a cool server they just started playing on, and they tell their friends etc.. And trust me, that will not happen when such a high percentage of the population acts like assholes.

Good luck.

[LethalLogic]

Originally Posted by batkiller [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have a lot of experience with these kinds of servers so this is my view. There was always going to be a lot of interest in a new server, people who haven't tried EQ for a decade who want to give it another spin again. Many of whom realise it was better in their memories and leave after their weekend down memory lane.

The most important statistic though, is the population that the server settles at. There are some emulators that I know, whose populations have held steady for around 8 years. This server can be the same, but it's important that the population is not only steady, but high enough to support the size of the world, and when Velious comes out, it will be even more of an issue. The population will peak again, but then settle again, and if it settles to a low number, then you are going to end up with a very top heavy server which is very unwelcoming to new players, and that will harm the influx of players, which over the long term, will drastically shorten the life of this server.

The most important thing with these servers, is that people have a nice time. There are always going to be people leaving, no matter what, but if the server is well respected, there will always be new people joining too. These kinds of servers crop up in conversations all over the place, so there is always a trickle of new people, and on good servers, this trickle is enough to cover the people who leave.

But this totally relies on the "having a nice time" thing, because word of mouth will not spread as well when the players are not content. To make sure the players are happy, it takes effort from both the staff AND the players, and I gotta be honest, but after just 2 months on this server, it doesn't seem good on both counts. Firstly, petitions cannot go unanswered for weeks and months on end. You can always make the excuse that it's a free server and nobody pays to play etc.. but that is of no concern to the average player, and you will find yourselves still making those excuses the day the server shuts down for the final time. There are good people who are willing to work for free, to aid a game that they love, but it's your job to find these people, and the shittier the server gets, the harder it is going to be to find people who care enough to spend their free time supporting it. If you do things right, you can end up where a petition is answered same day.

The other side is down to the players. Everyone knows that when you have the mental age of a 12 year old, it's fun to be a little bastard to people over the internet. And you probably don't know or care what the consequences are to that. No you can't get punched in the face, unfortunately, but you can harm the game you have chosen to spend your time playing. Even the most self destructive idiot, must deep down realise that if you want to keep playing this game, you stand a better chance if the server remains popular and new people tell their friends about a cool server they just started playing on, and they tell their friends etc.. And trust me, that will not happen when such a high percentage of the population acts like assholes.

Good luck.

I agree 100%

[achtung]

D3 just came out and a lot of people are maxing out Kunark content. It comes and goes. I've seen peak range from ~400 to ~900 and I've only been on here for a year. Yes the forums can be shitty because of rampant trolling, but I doubt that it matters to most of the people playing on the server. Having more aggressive forum administration should be way down the priority list relative to Velious, GMs, Ip exemptions, etc.

[HappyTr33z]

Batkiller droppin cold, hard knowledge up in this muh.

[LethalLogic]

When you boil it all down it is up to us to make this server enjoyable. I plan on doing just that.

[Arteker]

Originally Posted by batkiller [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have a lot of experience with these kinds of servers so this is my view. There was always going to be a lot of interest in a new server, people who haven't tried EQ for a decade who want to give it another spin again. Many of whom realise it was better in their memories and leave after their weekend down memory lane.

The most important statistic though, is the population that the server settles at. There are some emulators that I know, whose populations have held steady for around 8 years. This server can be the same, but it's important that the population is not only steady, but high enough to support the size of the world, and when Velious comes out, it will be even more of an issue. The population will peak again, but then settle again, and if it settles to a low number, then you are going to end up with a very top heavy server which is very unwelcoming to new players, and that will harm the influx of players, which over the long term, will drastically shorten the life of this server.

The most important thing with these servers, is that people have a nice time. There are always going to be people leaving, no matter what, but if the server is well respected, there will always be new people joining too. These kinds of servers crop up in conversations all over the place, so there is always a trickle of new people, and on good servers, this trickle is enough to cover the people who leave.

But this totally relies on the "having a nice time" thing, because word of mouth will not spread as well when the players are not content. To make sure the players are happy, it takes effort from both the staff AND the players, and I gotta be honest, but after just 2 months on this server, it doesn't seem good on both counts. Firstly, petitions cannot go unanswered for weeks and months on end. You can always make the excuse that it's a free server and nobody pays to play etc.. but that is of no concern to the average player, and you will find yourselves still making those excuses the day the server shuts down for the final time. There are good people who are willing to work for free, to aid a game that they love, but it's your job to find these people, and the shittier the server gets, the harder it is going to be to find people who care enough to spend their free time supporting it. If you do things right, you can end up where a petition is answered same day.

The other side is down to the players. Everyone knows that when you have the mental age of a 12 year old, it's fun to be a little bastard to people over the internet. And you probably don't know or care what the consequences are to that. No you can't get punched in the face, unfortunately, but you can harm the game you have chosen to spend your time playing. Even the most self destructive idiot, must deep down realise that if you want to keep playing this game, you stand a better chance if the server remains popular and new people tell their friends about a cool server they just started playing on, and they tell their friends etc.. And trust me, that will not happen when such a high percentage of the population acts like assholes.

Good luck.

First fucking post i fucking agree 100%.