So many people quitting S&F - Do you think its a coincidence?

[moreum]

I've been on and off playing the game and I think it's just that people might not have time to play the game in general.

[wravzilla]

here is a simple consideration... my play time is seriously reduced to to an increase in my work responsibilties and work load because to keep my job i have to do the work of 3... but i play as i can... others just do not feel the need to make that time in their day.... ban hammer aside... the dedicated stay the casuals will always run... eventually... it is the reason we all moved past Pac-Man and now have sky rim... better games are coming... and Playa is moving in the right direction

[lspiderl]

theres some other considerations

1 theres no real long term goals

2 theres minimal player interaction

3 for many people esspecialy early on theres a definate feeling that you cant progress without buying mushroom ( even though its not entirely true there is a definate impression of this)

4 too many servers . opening new servers and everyone leaving to flock to the newest server has caused the low number servers to be nearly empty and people meaninglessly race to try and hold some rank on the new servers

[Lady Java]

Hard to say BMWGuinness so I haven't voted yet, but I will before the deadline. btw this is a similar poll to my banhammer one lol.

However I do have a theory which I will elaborate on in another thread.

Edit: Voted. Went with legitimately, but I do agree with Spider's number four point.

Originally Posted by Visitor

People quit cause the game is too simple and boring

You know Visitor I really appreciate how Dastard responded to your comment in a nice way and since I intentionally picked my name to keep myself acting lady-like I will try to word my next sentences carefully.

I notice a trend with you Visitor (love the simplicity of your name). In the chat you don't really say anything constructive. You like saying things like "blah-blah" and "whatever" (no other words just these).

If you find the game and chats to be so boring then why not go and find another game? With the multitude of games out there I am sure you could find something to excite you. However, I am assuming that you are a mature individual and not some bored little kid with nothing else better to do with his time than make inane remarks.

[Gynx]

I think the answer to this poll is fairly simple and yet complex; It all boils down to people quit because they are bored. I dont think its any other reason, including being afraid of the banhammer. For some reaosn, BMWGuinness seems absolutely stuck on this idea and has mentioned it in numerous posts.

The game itself, is not THAT interesting to a wide audience, because there is no end and its obviously incredibly repetitive. From a game standpoint, you can either strive to be the #1 player, be in the #1 guild, collect all items for your scrapbook, attempt to conquer all the dungeons, and/or simply meander along at your own pace, maybe chat in a guild..etc.

That said..many of the other issues presented by most of you remain valid; some people will be quickly bored doing 100 thirst, killing the same old glompfs and upgrading their boots and gloves to ones with slightly better armour or CON/DEX..etc..
Others will be irked that they didnt start on a server early enough, so they have little chance to be number one or top 10 unless they hope that those early adopters finally become bored and quit.
And many people do quit..because the game itself isnt THAT interesting.

I play because I am here for the chat. So I disagree that player interaction isnt present. I have some VERY good friends I have made on a few of the servers.. I know others in my guild have done the same..perhaps its because I try to encourage chat, perhaps there are simply some terrific individuals in this guild, perhaps its because I also try to foster a lot of interaction with guildmates outside of the game (an offline forum, email, phone, trading photos and videos..whatever). I dont know the answer, but I do know that in the guilds I have been a part of, I see a lot of chat and people having a good time and chatting, and if you combine that with the competitive nature that many of us have, it can make for a rewarding experience.
Add to the fact that Playa strives to add new equipment, dungeons and other features from time to time, it helps keep the game from becoming too stale (for me at least).

So if you arent competitive..and/or maybe real life gets in the way, you'll likely quit.

[polopoloyuuu]

I agree that chat is important, i'm surprised Playa hasn't implemented a better chat system...

[dearl]

I agree with Gynx in that I feel you get out what you put into it. I have been around a long time because I totally enjoy talking to the people in my Guild! The game is OK but I would not want to leave the friends I have made from all over the world for any reason! If you get bored and leave then you didn't get to know anyone here well enough to really care about them!

[Likaios]

And ironically, I started playing recently because the game is so simple. Ordinarily I play more complex and more time consuming games, but my life just doesn't permit regular, extended gaming sessions these days. S&F is a great solution for me-- I can slip in and play a bit when I want to and just do city guard when I'm skint for time. Point being, I don't think we can say simplicity is a conclusive reason why large numbers of people might leave the game.

Some of this is just organic, I think, in all the games. Populations fluctuate depending on time of year, new games launched, trends in that game, etc. It seems to me that most MMORPG's are complaining about a loss of gamers over the past year, which indicates to me that we may just be coming down from a peak number of casual gamers trying out these games.

One thing I've observed in other games that does seem to be a danger here is S&F competing too much with itself. I've seen clone games or new servers opened in other games to the point where populations in each game and each server were negatively impacted, and people would leave as a result of that-- too hard to find an active gaming community within that game or family of games. There are always a handful of players who will continue to play in a dead game just to be on top, even if there's not much to be on top of, but most of us play with the intent of having some interaction with other players. When that's lacking, the social players drift away.

[DominicS]

Originally Posted by Gynx

I think the answer to this poll is fairly simple and yet complex; It all boils down to people quit because they are bored.

In general I didn't disagree with anything Gynx said...not even this quote. My one thought with this, however, and I believe it may be running through BMW's mind, is that is seems that a lot of people are getting "bored" with the game soon after the Banhammer was announced.

It may JUST be coincidence, and quite frankly as a casual player, it really didn't affect me one way or the other (announcement of the banhammer, I mean), but I can understand why some people look upon the mass exodus as suspicious.

Originally Posted by Likaios

And ironically, I started playing recently because the game is so simple. Ordinarily I play more complex and more time consuming games, but my life just doesn't permit regular, extended gaming sessions these days. S&F is a great solution for me-- I can slip in and play a bit when I want to and just do city guard when I'm skint for time. Point being, I don't think we can say simplicity is a conclusive reason why large numbers of people might leave the game.

My reasons are largely similar to Lika's. I, too, came from more "complex" MMORPG, but time and cost were luxuries I didn't have any more, so the "simplicity" of SnF appealed to me. It still does. Granted, as a casual player striving to be better, the game is still interesting for me. I have met some interesting people, some of whom I enjoy conversing with, and that too is part of the appeal of this game for me.

Just a few other points I wanted to touch on. I think it was Lika too who commented on the numerous servers being opened and the danger of killing off the community because of it being watered down. I have to agree. It was definitely something I was thinking about myself, as I have lost guild members to new servers in an effort to challenge to be number one.

My last thought here is that, if it is too hard to catch up to number one once the server has been active for a while, isn't that a fault in the gameplay and shouldn't/couldn't that be addressed, instead of opening up new servers as a remedy?

ps: lol. I actually think I cast my 'vote' for "who cares, I am gaining ground", simply because it tickled me so...with a glimmer of truth behind it too.

[Darstard]

Originally Posted by DominicS

I if it is too hard to catch up to number one once the server has been active for a while, isn't that a fault in the gameplay and shouldn't/couldn't that be addressed, instead of opening up new servers as a remedy?

This is a difficult thing to balance. I am not sure if S&F has it right, but they ARE trying. They need to balance the catching up with the staying ahead. Currently leveling takes significantly longer as you gain in levels, and also includes speed-bumps at key level markers (Levels 200, 250 and 275) that last for 5-10 levels as well. That means the people ahead of you will always be leveling more slowly than you, so catching up is possible (holding shroom consumption as a constant). Making the curve steeper is going to be tough. I play max XP and it already takes me 1 week to gain a level. When I hit L300, it's going to be 2 weeks per level. If they slowed that down more, I think you'd have even more folks retiring at L200 or L250. That type of "forced retirement" wouldn't help keep the game fresher or help the community to my mind.
I think it would be great if we could figure out how to get more players into the community right away. Most of us stay for some aspect of that as opposed to just the gameplay. I'm not sure how to make the forum more effectively prominent than it is now though. Perhaps a weekly message about it in your mailbox when you're working through L1-10??
What would have brought YOU* to the forums sooner?

*YOU = the reader, not just DominicS. Post up, folks!!