BattleMaster Community
BattleMaster => BM General Discussion => Topic started by: Tom on July 29, 2013, 12:46:29 PM
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Here's something I did today for the Facebook page, because I want to show people that BM is a game that really keeps people interested for years:
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/1000198_550659348326985_883978811_n.png)
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That might actually be a turn off, since it really shows that only a very small percentage actually stays past 1 year.
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That might actually be a turn off, since it really shows that only a very small percentage actually stays past 1 year.
How many browser games do you think actually achieve a 50% 2-year retention? This is actually quite amazing.
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How many browser games do you think actually achieve a 50% 2-year retention? This is actually quite amazing.
To someone who is knowledgeable of the statistics, sure, but for purely a public release, not so much.
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I dunno, it's better than nothing.
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The graphs mean little by themselves, as it could be that 10000000000 people played 11 years ago, or 50 people played, and are all still playing. Both would mean entirely different things.
Percentages would work better.
"30% of players that started playing 11 years ago are still playing"
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The graphs mean little by themselves, as it could be that 10000000000 people played 11 years ago, or 50 people played, and are all still playing. Both would mean entirely different things.
Percentages would work better.
"30% of players that started playing 11 years ago are still playing"
I think the y-axis refers to number of current players.
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Shush you all! I wonder if I get counted at 9 or 10 years at 9 years and 10 months...
And how many players are even older... :)
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The graphs mean little by themselves, as it could be that 10000000000 people played 11 years ago, or 50 people played, and are all still playing. Both would mean entirely different things.
Percentages would work better.
"30% of players that started playing 11 years ago are still playing"
Precisely. It could also be that there was a large influx a year ago and those people are all still playing.
edit: I'm sure the data doesn't also include players who've come back and accounts were gone either.
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Here's something I did today for the Facebook page, because I want to show people that BM is a game that really keeps people interested for years
Facebook wasn't even around when I started playing!
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Epic stats, Tom! :D
I wonder what happened 7 years ago... :P
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The graphs mean little by themselves, as it could be that 10000000000 people played 11 years ago, or 50 people played, and are all still playing. Both would mean entirely different things.
Percentages would work better.
"30% of players that started playing 11 years ago are still playing"
What Wolfang said.
When I first saw the graphic first thought was that this is not good for BM image. % will work better than numbers.
Also, I would turn the graphic to show it increasing. Looks better.
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The percents will be very very low. Even assuming even growth over the ~12 years we've had ~35,000 different accounts created.
So to put that into perspective we have 2.9k new accounts a year, in other words less than 8% in the past two years, and it just drops down from there (to if we're being generous for people in my class less than a fraction of a %). If you mean percentage of the whole player base that's not what was originally said.
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Epic stats, Tom! :D
I wonder what happened 7 years ago... :P
BM got Slashdotted. I was trying to find the article the other day, but couldn't find it.
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When I first saw the chart, I thought it was playerbase per year, showing a deep decline in the second year of the game and a steady downwards drop since. Of course, that wasn't it, but when I look at it, I still see decline more than anything, even if that's not at all what it means.
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Oh, i didnt even realize that people could read it "backwards".. but now that i think of it, i guess turning it to go from left to right would be a bit more clear.
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I think you should use a pie chart instead.
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I think you should use a pie chart instead.
+1. It would make a whole lot more sense this way, as long as the pie shapes are in order by year, and not size. So that people can add up the slices to say "40% of players have been playing for 6+ years".
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Tom, graphics tip:
Make it a pyramid up instead of a slope down. So a base at 0, the 1s on top, the 2s, etc. Like classic population demography charts.
Also, as a stats nerd, what I see in this graph is that BM isn't struggling to retain new players that much: if we get'em, they stay for a year. Where we're struggling is the 1-2 year range. We get people for a year, then they drop out. That's NOT the story we've been getting from talking on the forum, asking peoples' perceptions, etc.
Alternatively, maybe the 2-years-ago group was outrageously big, or maybe the current year group is abnormally small.
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Tom, graphics tip:
Make it a pyramid up instead of a slope down. So a base at 0, the 1s on top, the 2s, etc. Like classic population demography charts.
Also, as a stats nerd, what I see in this graph is that BM isn't struggling to retain new players that much: if we get'em, they stay for a year. Where we're struggling is the 1-2 year range. We get people for a year, then they drop out. That's NOT the story we've been getting from talking on the forum, asking peoples' perceptions, etc.
Alternatively, maybe the 2-years-ago group was outrageously big, or maybe the current year group is abnormally small.
Was thinking the same thing as Vellos. the X and Y Axis should be switched.
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Also, as a stats nerd, what I see in this graph is that BM isn't struggling to retain new players that much:
Wrong. I cut out accounts that were less than 30 days old. There are a LOT of people who play for a few days and then disappear.
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Wrong. I cut out accounts that were less than 30 days old. There are a LOT of people who play for a few days and then disappear.
That will always occur: people try out the game for a day or two and figure out it's not for them, it's normal.
It would be a problem if the player count dropped at 2-3 months, this would mean people are initially interested in the game, take the time to actually play it, but actually drop after a few weeks out of disinterest.
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Wrong. I cut out accounts that were less than 30 days old. There are a LOT of people who play for a few days and then disappear.
So we have a drop at 1-3 weeks and a drop at 2 years. IMHO, the 1-3 week range isn't a crisis... every game will have people who try it out and aren't interesting. Shifting that number would be good, but I'm very curious about that 2 year mark drop.
That will always occur: people try out the game for a day or two and figure out it's not for them, it's normal.
It would be a problem if the player count dropped at 2-3 months, this would mean people are initially interested in the game, take the time to actually play it, but actually drop after a few weeks out of disinterest.
Right. Instead people stick around and play for two YEARS, then something happens. Or, as I mentioned, we have some really lumpy inflows of players.
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Right. Instead people stick around and play for two YEARS, then something happens.
The resolution of the graphic is only in years. I don't think there's a sudden drop, I'm fairly sure if I were to resolve this to months, it would be a fairly level decline.
And quite frankly, 2 years is pretty good. How many AAA games have you played for 2 years? I'm pretty sure I can count them on one hand.
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The resolution of the graphic is only in years. I don't think there's a sudden drop, I'm fairly sure if I were to resolve this to months, it would be a fairly level decline.
And quite frankly, 2 years is pretty good. How many AAA games have you played for 2 years? I'm pretty sure I can count them on one hand.
Rome: Total War
Freelancer
Red Alert 2
Team Fortress 2
Halo
Medieval: Total War
Borderlands
Sins of a Solar Empire
AstroEmpires (not a AAA title, but might as well include it)
Battlemaster (same as AstroEmpires)
Empire: Total War
Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Mount & Blade: Warband
Chess
Checkers
Rummi
Poker...
Shall I go on?
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Rome: Total War
Freelancer
Red Alert 2
Team Fortress 2
Halo
Medieval: Total War
Borderlands
Sins of a Solar Empire
AstroEmpires (not a AAA title, but might as well include it)
Battlemaster (same as AstroEmpires)
Empire: Total War
Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Mount & Blade: Warband
Chess
Checkers
Rummi
Poker...
Shall I go on?
Good heavens, how do you have time to do anything else?
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Zing!
He has a point though... You surely don't play all those games every day, or even every week, for two years straight. How often do you log in to Battlemaster?
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Every single day. Often multiple times. Its gotten to the point where I don't have time for my college, so I forcibly removed myself by pausing most of my characters, leaving only my drone character.
He didn't ask me what games I played every day, or every week. If we were to include that requirement, It would still include all the Total War games, Borderlands, AstroEmpires, and Fallout 3/New Vegas
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He didn't ask me what games I played every day, or every week.
Everyone with a cooperative approach to communication did quite well understand what I meant. You are just being a smartass and love to contradict people. That attitude, precisely, is what makes the forums such a hostile place to be. Playing the "I interpret things you say in a way you didn't mean and we both know it" game is fun amongst friends where body language and other non-verbal clues tell you when to stop. On a forum, it is just destructive communication.
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The resolution of the graphic is only in years. I don't think there's a sudden drop, I'm fairly sure if I were to resolve this to months, it would be a fairly level decline.
And quite frankly, 2 years is pretty good. How many AAA games have you played for 2 years? I'm pretty sure I can count them on one hand.
Two years is indeed pretty good, you're right: but BM is a game that can so obviously keep people for longer. And it might still be level across that period, but it won't be level across the whole period, though maybe it's a kind of bell curve.
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Everyone with a cooperative approach to communication did quite well understand what I meant. You are just being a smartass and love to contradict people. That attitude, precisely, is what makes the forums such a hostile place to be. Playing the "I interpret things you say in a way you didn't mean and we both know it" game is fun amongst friends where body language and other non-verbal clues tell you when to stop. On a forum, it is just destructive communication.
I was just showing you that 2 years isn't that long a period of time for truly good games. Most popular AAA games don't even go for keeping people for two years in the same game, instead they release a new game in a series every few years to get a sense of renewal, which is why there are still people playing Halo games or World of Warcraft.
I'm not saying we have to re-release Battlemaster every few years, but we should do something that lends a sense of renewal.
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Battlemaster is different from other games in that the time you can invest into it is limited to a few minutes per day. You can not spend all night playing Battlemaster the way you can with Alpha Centauri. So, rather than lump sums, time spent on this game is made through many short semi-scheduled daily payments. The average overall amount is probably still pretty good, but it's surely nothing spectacular.
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You can not spend all night playing Battlemaster
Challenge accepted.
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I ay not have spent all *night* playing BattleMaster, but I've definitely spent all *day* playing BattleMaster before. Many times...
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You can not spend all night playing Battlemaster the way you can with Alpha Centauri.
I once woke up in the middle of the night to check on the results of my rebellion, and spent the rest of the night consolidating my position :P
Fwuvoghor, how I miss thee...
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Hehe. If you haven't stayed up all night on BattleMaster to launch/quell a rebellion you're doing it wrong :-P
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All night? nooo but til 3am you bet I have. However most of that was just hanging out with realm mates in a yahoo chat.
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I remember an Infiltrator of Fontan... I had to stay there clicking like a crazy to deport him before he can escape. He was there clicking like crazy too... I deported a lot of Infiltrators this way. Also, many times I spend some good time playing BM while I drink a beer, etc.
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Slope this in the other direction, people perceive positive slopes as good.