Is everyone leaving?

[Bigby]

Ok, I haven't been on the game for a while. But, from character sales etc. it looks like everyone is slowly taking their leave... How is the population during peak hours? Still ~650? Or is now closer to ~600?

[CrystalTears]

Eh, seems like it's more in the 400-500 range.

Although lately I've been getting quite a few whispers from people whom I used to play with a lot asking me if I remember their main as their alt. It's still quieter than I'm used to. The rogue guild depresses me how empty it is.

[Bigby]

400-500?? You're kidding me! I remember just 6 or 7 months ago there being 600-650 on at prime times. Wow, if this is true then people are leaving in droves. Hrm... I might have to rethink returning then.

[Warriorbird]

Eh. I think less people are rocking their full multiaccount armies is all.

:chuckles:

[Gan]

I'm still playing. I've just minimized my investment, like a cash out option. And I'm also finding more enjoyment in not having an MA crew when playing, it spurs more interaction and roleplay.

[Sypher]

A 150 person drop is a BIG drop in the course of less then a year. I'm curious what triggered it, to meet those numbers nearly all the MA'ers and then some would need to stop using their secondary accounts. Plus, not only that but the secondary Cash/GS markets have been awful as of late (perhaps reflecting a trend...)

Hrm, I know this has come up again and again... but is Gemstone finally starting to die out?

[Warriorbird]

Told yah. There's a secret gauge to whether accounts are being shut down in droves or not. They aren't.

[CrystalTears]

I returned and I'm having lots of fun. My rogue's lockers are totally full and I'm afraid to open them, but I'm enjoying the adventurer's guild, rogue skills, cman and running into new people. Meh, you get what you want out of it.

[Sypher]

Told yah. There's a secret gauge to whether accounts are being shut down in droves or not. They aren't.

Whats this gauge? Average people on peak hours is in my opinion a fairly accurate gauge... you can get a pretty good sample size just from that.

[Gelston]

Or it coul be that less people are playing but still have open accounts. Off prime time(When I usually play) numbers are the exact same as they've been since I can remember.

[Sypher]

Or it coul be that less people are playing but still have open accounts. Off prime time(When I usually play) numbers are the exact same as they've been since I can remember.

150-200 out of 650 is a big statistical drop, especially in such a short period of time. I usually play during the wee morning hours and I haven't seen a big dramatic change (but when you got a couple hundred guys on it's not very accurate to judge from those numbers).

Plus, you gotta consider if people aren't playing but still have their accounts open as you say. Then really, how soon do you think those inactive accounts will turn into cancelled accounts?

[CrystalTears]

The game isn't going anywhere. The numbers will drop, rise later, fall again, and people will keep on playing even if they drop down to plat levels.

[Warriorbird]

Secret = I don't want to get anybody in trouble.

[Bigby]

i noticed they got rid of the ### are adventuring in our lands! on their homepage. DR still has it's up. im not going to say its dying just yet.... but its showing some symptoms.

[CrystalTears]

It still shows it.

306 players are adventuring in GemStone IV right now!

[Lianon]

I've checked the numbers later in the evening at around 7pm or 8pm CST and seen it in the 600+ range a few times.

[CrystalTears]

Summer is also over so more people are back in school and not available in the game as often.

[Anebriated]

Yes, everyone is leaving. You should drop what you are doing immediately and start panicking. This is a new thing. It has only begun recently. You should fear for the lives of your children, if you have none fear for those that might have been. It is almost the end.

[Sean]

Do you and Sypher get together and hold mutual masturbation sessions to the thought of Simu going under or Gemstone shutting down?

[Martaigne]

Do you and Sypher get together and hold mutual masturbation sessions to the thought of Simu going under or Gemstone shutting down?

Obviously his sarcasm went right past you.

[Latrinsorm]

A 150 person drop is a BIG drop in the course of less then a year. I'm not saying CT is a liar, but Jesus, dude. One person takes a stab at a range and you go with it? Then you want to talk about statistics? :\

[Stanley Burrell]

i noticed they got rid of the ### are adventuring in our lands! on their homepage. DR still has it's up. im not going to say its dying just yet.... but its showing some symptoms.

You're stating this like you know it as an irrefutable fact that you've done your vector calculus number analysis on. Um, your estimates, inquiries, and all things GemStone-related have been more than questionable from what you've posted up here on these forums, no offense...

Disiregardlesslishy, welcome/not welcome back.

[CrystalTears]

Obviously his sarcasm went right past you.
I think Sean was referring to Bigby and Sypher, not Anebriated.


I'm not saying CT is a liar...
You totally are. :tongue:

But yeah, I was just throwing the numbers I was seeing sometimes. Don't take what numbers I say, or anyone else's numbers, as fact. Just observations, nothing more. I don't think they really mean anything seeing as we have no idea how many active accounts there are.

[Martaigne]

I think Sean was referring to Bigby and Sypher, not Anebriated.

If so, my bad, the lack of a quote confused me.

And I'm easily confused.

Look, a kitten!

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Martaigne
If so, my bad, the lack of a quote confused me.

And I'm easily confused.

Look, a kitten!

Thats amusing considering you didn't bother to quote anyone either. Omg who missed whose sarcasm?! There was no quote to reference!

Signed,
Confused

[Martaigne]

Thats amusing considering you didn't bother to quote anyone either. Omg who missed whose sarcasm?! There was no quote to reference!

Signed,
Confused

I know not of what you speak.

:waves hand: This is not the hypocrite you are looking for.

[Savageheart]

I just got back... and I'm kind of a big deal. People will not leave, they will in fact embrace my greatness and more will follow. :irule:

[Celephais]

I just got back... and I'm kind of a big deal. People will not leave, they will in fact embrace my greatness and more will follow. :irule:
Haha, love it... "I don't know if you know this... but I'm kind of a big deal."

[Gan]

...
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3/3strangedays/warf.gif

[Anebriated]

I feel like I need to go punch something or eat a steak while drinking the biggest beer I can find. I looked at CT's avatar and found myself thinking aww, thats cute.

[Celephais]

I feel like I need to go punch something or eat a steak while drinking the biggest beer I can find. I looked at CT's avatar and found myself thinking aww, thats cute.
It is very adorable...
http://www.beerzombie.com/images/cookie.jpg

[CrystalTears]

I could always put the bitch-biting-boob one back on there. :D

[Goretawn]

I feel like I need to go punch something or eat a steak while drinking the biggest beer I can find. I looked at CT's avatar and found myself thinking aww, thats cute.
Only way to fix that is to watch porn for 3 hours and see if you can outnumber the money shots.

[Drew]

Told yah. There's a secret gauge to whether accounts are being shut down in droves or not. They aren't.


I'm not so sure it's a secret, you just have to be a little smart to use it.

[Gan]

I'm not so sure it's a secret, you just have to be a little smart to use it.

If it aint so secret. THEN SPILLIT BITCH!

:thanx:

[Drew]

If it aint so secret. THEN SPILLIT BITCH!

:thanx:



Oh sorry, you must not have read the whole post, it's not secret but you have to be smart to understand it.

[Savageheart]

:thinking: I think it has to do with Theatans....

[Celephais]

I'm not so sure it's a secret, you just have to be a little smart to use it.
This refering to the invoice number?
http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?p=600105#post600105

[Drew]

Yeah that's what I was thinking of. Maybe WB has another method.

[Drew]

Although it is worth noting that SIMU was invoicing about 10.5k three years ago.

[Anebriated]

10,500 - 8,600 = OH NOEZ THE GAME IS ON THE DECLINEZ

[Anebriated]

That invoice is probably for all Simutronics subscribers though. So you have to subtract like 100 from that number to get the GS accounts...

[Sypher]

most of that 8600 are DR accounts, DR has a higher pbase then GS.

[CrystalTears]

most of that 8600 are DR accounts, DR has a higher pbase then GS.

:lol: Where did you get that statistic from?

[Celephais]

:lol: Where did you get that statistic from?
I linked to my amazing deductive skills post... SIMU puts invoice numbers on all of the bills in billing history... if you go back month over month you can see how many bills they gave out between your last bill. It's not fool-proof but it seems to hold water.

[CrystalTears]

Bah, didn't mean you. *bangs head and edits post with quote*

[Anebriated]

I think CT meant where did Sypher get the notion that the majority of the Pbase is in DR.... Which I dont think has EVER been the case and it will be a sad day when it is.

[Latrinsorm]

Even if we suppose 70% of those accounts are DR (and .01% are the rest of the peons), that leaves over 2500 accounts in GS.

[Celephais]

Bah, didn't mean you. *bangs head and edits post with quote*


I think CT meant where did Sypher get the notion that the majority of the Pbase is in DR.... Which I dont think has EVER been the case and it will be a sad day when it is.
Woops... looks like I'm the asshole.

Anyway I think it's safe to say that the 8.6k number is not just GS (because the invoice isn't specific to game), and DR does have a pretty solid player base if you go by the whole "playing right now" stat... looking at them right now they're pretty even (with DR having a ~40 person edge).

http://www.play.net/playdotnet/resources/user_count.asp

Has the user counts for all the games.

[TheSmooth1]

Is this a bad time to pop in and state how much better DR is than GS?

Oh, now that I'm looking at the website, the ESRB rating for GS4 is funny. Mild violence? HAHAHA, right.

[Some Rogue]

I'm pretty sure it is the case. I believe it may have been stated at a simucon once or twice. Hell, look at the attendance figures for the Con. A majority are DR people.

Yeah yeah, that doesn't necessarily mean anything but it's a pretty good indicator.

[Khariz]

:thinking: I think it has to do with Theatans....

Scientology?

[Drew]

Is this a bad time to pop in and state how much better DR is than GS?

Oh, now that I'm looking at the website, the ESRB rating for GS4 is funny. Mild violence? HAHAHA, right.


Does DR have an unofficial board like these? I've looked but I can't find anything.

[TheSmooth1]

Not that I know of, but if you're trying to make a point it's not a very good one.

[Asha]

No it is a very good point. There's a huge difference between an unofficial board and official. And one more board for one game compared to another says it all really.
Besides I'd really like to know if there was a DR board that was made by the players, for the players :)

[Drew]

Actually I just wanted to make a post and ask some DR players something once and SIMU, in it's infinite wisdom, won't allow you to post on the officials unless you actually play the game.

[Warriorbird]

One really solid way, Drew. There's another one which isolates GS versus DR.

[Celephais]

No it is a very good point. There's a huge difference between an unofficial board and official. And one more board for one game compared to another says it all really.
Besides I'd really like to know if there was a DR board that was made by the players, for the players :)

Considering the majority of the chatter on this board is individuals who've left GS or who are disenchanted with it, yes that does say a lot about the one gave vs the other. That and that these boards survive because of the iron handed modding against anything anti-simu on the GS boards... likely the DR crowd doesn't need such an outlet.

[Savageheart]

Of course not because everything in DR is puppy dogs and lollypops. Actually every time you log in you get a lollypop. Anyone want to trade for rootbeer?

[Fallen]

>>Considering the majority of the chatter on this board is individuals who've left GS or who are disenchanted with it, yes that does say a lot about the one gave vs the other. That and that these boards survive because of the iron handed modding against anything anti-simu on the GS boards... likely the DR crowd doesn't need such an outlet. >> -- Celephais.

Well said.

[cronuss]

Ok, I haven't been on the game for a while. But, from character sales etc. it looks like everyone is slowly taking their leave... How is the population during peak hours? Still ~650? Or is now closer to ~600?

Actually, I just resigned up after a few years hiatus.

Just over month ago around peak time I was seeing about 600 people online.

Now, the past few weeks, my friends and I have noticed that there's been 650-700 people on at peak.

At least for my peak, which is 7pm-11pm EST.

On Sunday nights I've been seing it break 700 for two weeks in a row now.

I've also seen/heard of a lot of people coming back.

Seems a lot of people have grown sick of WoW and miss their Gemstone. ;)

[Celephais]

>>Considering the majority of the chatter on this board is individuals who've left GS or who are disenchanted with it, yes that does say a lot about the one gave vs the other. That and that these boards survive because of the iron handed modding against anything anti-simu on the GS boards... likely the DR crowd doesn't need such an outlet. >> -- Celephais.

Well said.
Well said? It's a grammar train wreck! I'm looking back at my post, WTF was wrong with me... so glad I have my coffee now.

[Anebriated]

English mistakes aside the point you made was good.

[Celephais]

English mistakes aside the point you made was good.

My point is always solid.

[Fallen]

Except when you disagree with me. Then you don't know shit.

[Beguiler]

Except when you disagree with me. Then you don't know shit.

Hey, now! <mutters> I have to go clean up my desk and my monitor, and get a fresh cup of caffeine.. Thru my nose even! Bad, bad Evarin..

Thanks for the giggle!

[cronuss]

Although it is worth noting that SIMU was invoicing about 10.5k three years ago.

Guess what else happened exactly 3 years ago (almost to the month)...?

World of Warcraft.

[Fallen]

Was there a comparable hit when EQ came out?

[Sean]

DAoC as well

[cronuss]

Was there a comparable hit when EQ came out?

Not sure.

I know myself as well as 3 of my friends quit when UO, and the later when EQ came out...

But we always came back to GS...

However, EQ was never an 8 million subscriber MMO...

[cronuss]

DAoC as well

Yup...

[Priscius]

I think the forums on smelly-cat.org are about as close as you can get to a Dragonrealms version of the PC. The website seems stupid but the forums over there have a pretty infamous reputation among the DR players from what I remember hearing.

http://www.smelly-cat.org/

[Anebriated]

DAoC was fun, but neither DAoC nor EQ or any of the others for that matter were as well advertised and had as large of a player base as WoW. WoW was truely the first mainstream mmorpg.