Closing Islands ?

[Tom]

Just a thought, but before doing anything too dramatic, what about issuing an in-game GM announcement appealing to players who aren't currently using all their playable character slots to use them to create a new character/s on a islands where they don't normally play?

We don't need more characters, we need more players.

[Tom]

If there is a new map,

There will not be a new map, period. There is no point in continuing a discussion looking for new maps. I won't even argue the point, please just accept it. No new map, period, end of discussion, over my dead body, if hell freezes over I'd still not to it, you can hand in a petition signed by the president and every god ever invented and I'd throw it away - clear enough?

[Stabbity]

There will not be a new map, period. There is no point in continuing a discussion looking for new maps. I won't even argue the point, please just accept it. No new map, period, end of discussion, over my dead body, if hell freezes over I'd still not to it, you can hand in a petition signed by the president and every god ever invented and I'd throw it away - clear enough?

What if C'thulu hands you the petition Tom?

[Kwanstein]

We don't need more characters, we need more players.

We need both. Characters for game play reasons, players for matters of interaction.

[pcw27]

Which is the bigger problem, retention or influx of new players?

For retention it might help to bring in some of those estate features we've discussed in the past.

For influx, maybe we should organize a Battlemaster Promotion day, in which everyone posts a link to Battlemaster on their Facebook or other networking site in order to bring in more players.

[Anaris]

Which is the bigger problem, retention or influx of new players?

Pretty much both.

[Indirik]

Every player who has a facebook account should join the battlemaster account there,  and Like every post Azerax makes in the group. This kind of thing gets battlemaster more notice on facebook, and can he'll it google ranking.

[Chenier]

Something to keep in mind: let's say, theoretically, that we cut down regions per continent to about 70... How many realms can viably sit in that space? On AT, the top 3 realms total 81 regions (9 of the smallest to get 80). On Dwi, the top three total 77 regions, or bottom 7 for 72.

Do we really want continents where there are only a handful of realms, somewhat like the Colonies? Where everyone only has like one or two neighbors? Would that really be an improvement?

[Kwanstein]

Every player who has a facebook account should join the battlemaster account there,  and Like every post Azerax makes in the group. This kind of thing gets battlemaster more notice on facebook, and can he'll it google ranking.

Since player retention is a problem, it ought to be solved first. With a retention problem, you are bound to lose a large portion of whoever you succeed in advertising to, so that leaves little reason to advertise in the first place. What is at the root of the retention problem? Looking at whatever statistics you happen to have would tell you a lot. Determine points in time in which retention was high and then look at what in-game circumstances were like at that time.

The same method could be employed in figuring out the ideal way to gain players. Determine when player build up was at it's highest, then look at what was going on at that time.

This isn't a perfect method. It doesn't take external circumstances into account. But it's a good starting point for developing a strategy for dealing with those problems.

[pcw27]

One thing that might help is indicating which continent has the most lordless regions when players are selecting their continent. Getting a region early on can definitely be incentive to keep playing.

[Frostwood]

Something to keep in mind: let's say, theoretically, that we cut down regions per continent to about 70... How many realms can viably sit in that space? On AT, the top 3 realms total 81 regions (9 of the smallest to get 80). On Dwi, the top three total 77 regions, or bottom 7 for 72.

Do we really want continents where there are only a handful of realms, somewhat like the Colonies? Where everyone only has like one or two neighbors? Would that really be an improvement?

Nope, I choose Dwilight for its size and rp atmosphere, reducing permanently it will probably make me leave battlemaster.

[Tiridia]

Seems to me we are debating whether to cure gangria by amputating or by using medicine. Amputation would fix things instantly, but the patient would never be the same. The pills on the other hand would would result in keeping the body intact, but rotten spots here and there.

In both cases there will be loss of life (players). We just need to know which kind we hate the least.

[vonGenf]

It stems from the relatively high optimal character-region ratio that Anaris started with. 3.5 per region is a lot in today's game. Think about Dwilight in particular. The ratio there is more like 1.5 characters per region. To reach a ratio of 3.5 characters per region, greater than 50% of Dwilight's regions would have to be turned into wasteland, something over 100 regions. And I'm only including regions currently under a realm's control (not including the Zuma).

The exact percentage of regions lost on any given island will depend on its current character density. The further from 3.5 characters per region it is, the more regions would need to be removed to increase the density.

In the end this just goes to show how bad the problem is and how thin the character population is getting.

On Dwilight, there are 437 characters in the character list (I think that includes paused ones and adventurers) and ~340 on the statistics page; let's go with 340. There are 239 regions including the rogue ones but not the Zuma lands.

To reach a 3.5 characters per region we would need to shrink Dwilight down to 97 regions. This is removing more than half of the land. You'd need to remove the whole western island, all islands in the inner sea, and remain with nothing but Morek, Swordfell, Corsanctum and Luria (or conversely if you keep the western side instead). Dwilight would become similar in size to the Far East Island.

I agree that a player density a bit higher would be good, but this is butchery. If this is the scale we are looking at, then I would rather see islands removed then see them reduced to that extent.

[Chenier]

In any case, I think merging the game worlds into one, where continents are traversable by sea zones, would be a good first step towards whatever other measures are required, though I suspect it would require a massive overhaul to the code and DB.

[Anaris]

Something to keep in mind: let's say, theoretically, that we cut down regions per continent to about 70... How many realms can viably sit in that space? On AT, the top 3 realms total 81 regions (9 of the smallest to get 80). On Dwi, the top three total 77 regions, or bottom 7 for 72.

Do we really want continents where there are only a handful of realms, somewhat like the Colonies? Where everyone only has like one or two neighbors? Would that really be an improvement?

Reduced by 70 regions, not reduced to 70 regions.