20 replies to this topic

[lordlazarus]

the indicator for the number of people online? i miss knowing how many people are actually online , when you log into eve ccp show how many are online , i know most are afk lol but i was wondering why pgi removed it from the info screen .

[Rifter]

Well the obvious reason is the numbers were to low that they thought it would stop people from spending money on a sinking ship.

And since they have dodged and avoided answering all questions as to why they did it it makes it much more likely that the above is the true reson. I mean really if they had a good reason they would just tell us and put a end to it once and for all, but they didnt...

[Riktor Voshek]

Rifter, on 31 December 2012 - 01:17 AM, said:

Well the obvious reason is the numbers were to low that they thought it would stop people from spending money on a sinking ship.

And since they have dodged and avoided answering all questions as to why they did it it makes it much more likely that the above is the true reson. I mean really if they had a good reason they would just tell us and put a end to it once and for all, but they didnt...

You mean like this thread here, with the really detailed answer?

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/85895-bring-back-the-player-online-counter-please

[Thirdstar]

Riktor Voshek, on 31 December 2012 - 01:29 AM, said:

You mean like this thread here, with the really detailed answer?

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/85895-bring-back-the-player-online-counter-please

Thanks for that, I hadn't actually come across that before. That being said all he says in the post is that number were removed because they might have been misinterpreted by players and outside agencies and would adversely effect their business. AKA numbers were low and investors would get jittery if they saw said numbers.

"For those curious we had a record day on December 18th and continue to build week-over-week."

And seriously that line says nothing at all. Was it a record high number? If so, compared to what/when.

Edited by Thirdstar, 31 December 2012 - 01:35 AM.

[GODzillaGSPB]

It can't be that low. I played three hours last night and never saw a player twice.

...I think.

[Rifter]

Riktor Voshek, on 31 December 2012 - 01:29 AM, said:

You mean like this thread here, with the really detailed answer?

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/85895-bring-back-the-player-online-counter-please

That was a total non-answer, nice try though.

Seriously, we removed them because we know what they mean and you dont? you call that a answer?

Not to mention they had no issue with including it untill the numbers dropped then all of a sudden poof gone. If there reason was indeed true we never would have seen the numbers.

[PANZERBUNNY]

It sucks, but the truth is it does more harm than good.

[Timelordwho]

Rifter, on 31 December 2012 - 01:40 AM, said:

That was a total non-answer, nice try though.

Seriously, we removed them because we know what they mean and you dont? you call that a answer?

Not to mention they had no issue with including it untill the numbers dropped then all of a sudden poof gone. If there reason was indeed true we never would have seen the numbers.

because open beta numbers mean a significantly different thing to investor than closed beta numbers. I could go into why, but it's complicated, and is the same reason why long term investors do better when they aren't looking at the stock market every day. (non-DTs)

Edited by Timelordwho, 31 December 2012 - 01:45 AM.

[Felix]

Rifter, on 31 December 2012 - 01:40 AM, said:

That was a total non-answer, nice try though.

Seriously, we removed them because we know what they mean and you dont? you call that a answer?

Not to mention they had no issue with including it untill the numbers dropped then all of a sudden poof gone. If there reason was indeed true we never would have seen the numbers.

yeah that made my eyebrow quirk as well.

Im sure it has nothing to do with the people they drive away with stupid design decisions and all the bad word of mouth about them...

[Thirdstar]

Felix, on 31 December 2012 - 01:46 AM, said:

yeah that made my eyebrow quirk as well.
Im sure it has nothing to do with the people they drive away with stupid design decisions and all the bad word of mouth about them...

Tell me about it. My extended circle of gaming buddies have all tried MWO and I'm the only survivor. Most of the gaming forums I frequent also have serious MWO PR issues. Word of mouth is deadly.

My opinion of course is that they got cocky after the Founder's Program and the counter was good for bragging. Should have never made it into the game at all. Not until maybe 6 months after release.

Edited by Thirdstar, 31 December 2012 - 01:50 AM.

[Felix]

Thirdstar, on 31 December 2012 - 01:49 AM, said:

Tell me about it. My extended circle of gaming buddies have all tried MWO and I'm the only survivor. Most of the gaming forums I frequent also have serious MWO PR issues. Word of mouth is deadly.

In my group of friends we are all KIA, and a few of em are quite pissed at me for talking them into Founders packages ~.~

Ah well, maybe PGI will learn, probably not though.

[Heeden]

Given how worked up people are getting over the number when it doesn't even exist, I can see why PGI would want to keep it away from the typical forum-dwellers.

[Rifter]

Thirdstar, on 31 December 2012 - 01:49 AM, said:

Tell me about it. My extended circle of gaming buddies have all tried MWO and I'm the only survivor. Most of the gaming forums I frequent also have serious MWO PR issues. Word of mouth is deadly.

Yeah tell me about it, one of the computer hardware fourms i post at has a huge ongoing MWO thread in it, thausands of posts with multiple post being made daily. The thread was always one the first page of the PC game section.

It hasnt been posted in for over a week, thats the longest its gone without a post since it was created over 1 year ago, and there have been multiple week long streatches with no posts in the last 2 months.

Fact of the matter is people are starting to realize just how much of a rushed unbalanced crap coded game MWO really is, and they are telling their friends, and it affecting the numbers, hence the removal of the counter.

[Carcass23]

Felix, on 31 December 2012 - 01:51 AM, said:

In my group of friends we are all KIA, and a few of em are quite pissed at me for talking them into Founders packages ~.~

Ah well, maybe PGI will learn, probably not though.

Are your friends sheeple? Bah! I mean BAA! How did you talk them into the founders package and then somehow take full responsibility for it all going to the toilet? What is KIA? Did you mean MIA? Also, what planet do you live on?

Edited by Carcass23, 31 December 2012 - 02:08 AM.

[Felix]

Carcass23, on 31 December 2012 - 02:05 AM, said:

Are your friends sheeple? Bah! I mean BAA! How did you talk them into the founders package and then somehow take full responsibility for it all going to the *******? What is KIA? Did you mean MIA? Also, what planet do you live on?

because I bought in and was playing, told them it was a lot of fun, then we played a few matches hot seat, they liked what they played and what I told them of my experience with my outfit.

SO yeah, I take responsibility for telling my friends it was fun then the developers ending up ****, I take responsibility for the things I say to my friends if I turn out to be wrong. I suppose that might be alien to you, but eh, glad your not my friend.

[Rifter]

Felix, on 31 December 2012 - 02:09 AM, said:

because I bought in and was playing, told them it was a lot of fun, then we played a few matches hot seat, they liked what they played and what I told them of my experience with my outfit.

SO yeah, I take responsibility for telling my friends it was fun then the developers ending up ****, I take responsibility for the things I say to my friends if I turn out to be wrong. I suppose that might be alien to you, but eh, glad your not my friend.

Yeah, lucky for me only one of my friends got founders and it was at the last min and i warned him at that time i thought things were about to go south so i dont feel bad for him.

All the other friends who i convinced to try it for free after open beta(20+ people) i have only one who remains playing.

[GalaxyBluestar]

Riktor Voshek, on 31 December 2012 - 01:29 AM, said:

You mean like this thread here, with the really detailed answer?

http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/85895-bring-back-the-player-online-counter-please

that was an interesting read. kinda cements that numbers aren't good enough for everyones eyes therefore we won't let watergate gather momentum. i felt sad reading it, it tells me pgi are scared with their success being seen mostly as lack of success.

Edited by GalaxyBluestar, 31 December 2012 - 02:33 AM.

[Buck Cake]

Awesome pun in OP.

Also, having hard evidence of depopulation would only encourage people to leave.

[Riktor Voshek]

If you have to "convince" someone to play a MechWarrior game, there's every chance that they're simply not going to get into it. I have a lot of gaming friends too, but there's hardly any of them I'd even mention the game to, let alone try to convince them to try it, because I recognise that it's a pretty niche experience. That doesn't in any way detract from the enjoyment I'm getting out of it, or make it a bad game at its core.

I'm also very aware that as a beta / minimum viable product, the game doesn't do much to sell itself to people who aren't prepared to look past that fact. As the game gets more complete and the experience gets more polished, I'll feel increasingly more comfortable getting more people to try it, but even then there's only so many people who are interested in playing big stompy robots over and over, regardless of how good it is.

I think that's why, to me, Bryan's post makes a lot of sense, especially this line:

"Chances are we (PGI/IGP) view the numbers differently than you (players), because we understand better where the numbers should be, and why they are what they are."

The game as it stands only really supports people who like driving big stompy robots purely for the sake of driving them, either because of the core mechanics or nostalgia. The game isn't yet balanced enough to really function as an e-sport, and has none of the infrastructure to really support that. It has practically no meta game past "collect all the mechs". It isn't presented particularly well.

Given all that, I suspect PGI aren't expecting particularly large numbers of regular concurrent users, and in fact would have *lower* expectations than the playerbase does. It's far more valuable for them to say to a new user "If you don't like what's there now, that's fine, but please keep checking back for improvements" than it is for them to say "Please stay and keep playing, even thought it isn't finished yet" hence a sawtooth style graph with a gradual upward trend would be their exact business model.

It's fine for some people to not like the game yet. It's fine for some people to never like the game. People like different things. Sky-is-falling threads incorrectly blaming patch to patch balance for those facts help no-one, and just create an atmophere of negativity which drive away people who would actually like the game if they spent more time playing it.

[superteds]

pig lol