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Please give your opinion: Server Populations and You!
FoeHammerJT
Member Posts: 148
This is a poll looking at server population size.
I am curious to learn how many people on this forum would play a game with a smaller population per server. In the 500-1k players; no smaller world per se. Just a lot more space between players and mobs that were more logically spread out or grouped up.
All other features/aspects of the game were those that you liked! (Cause we all like something a little different.) I am just curious about how server population impacts desire game desirability.
Please feel free to comment as well!
Comments
"I am curious to learn how many people on this forum would play a game with a smaller population per server. In the 500-1k players; no smaller world per se."
That's not smaller. That's where most mainstream MMOs are right now.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The number of people alone doesn't tell me how I will be interacting with them and that's what I think I'd need to know to have an opinion.
Assume you would be interacting with them in whichever ways you current do, or would like to in a game.
This is a study purely in server population size to be separated from every other faucet of a game.
Most mainstream MMOs have much larger individual server sizes and many offer cross realm/server instancing that connects players to many hundreds of thousands of players.
Please name a AAA title with a pop cap of 1k per server/world.
The problem is that I see populations caps as more of a technical issue than a design intent.
Some days I want a wilderness area all to myself. Some days, I want to be in the middle of sprawling gathering of as many people as the servers and clients can handle.
So in my dream game concepts tend to be organized around zones rather than servers. So you could share one zone with a large number of people, but have another zone all to yourself.
That is certainly an interesting take. My larger concern overall is that instant cross server queues and large server population have deteriorated the community. People don't tend to treat each other with respect because the games feel very anonymous and there is little consequence or repercussions for treating others poorly.
So for me its about a lot more than just how many people are standing around me atm.
I never claimed any MMO had a cap of 1k. What I wrote is that the average player pop of most mainstream MMO servers is around 500-1k. Also, you state that this is a study purely in server population size to be separated from every other faucet of a game, but then when I give you server size you bring up that many offer cross realm/server instancing that connects players to many hundreds of thousands of players.
It almost seems as if you're not looking for facts or discussion and just want validation of personal beliefs. Let me know which it is as I'm up for the former, but no real affinity for the latter.
Although it's been years since developers have allowed reliable /who systems in their games or gave out per server ACUs (ex: Asheron's Call, EVE), some have done a decent job of extrapolating the information from the data available and others have done of consistent job of providing a number that helps assess a rough estimate. The numbers consistently - especially after the first 90 days - come out to a range of about 600-2k PCU, putting the ACU certainly in the 500-1k range, if not lower.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Can we at least agree about mainstream MMOs: WoW, GW2, Rift, Eve, SWTOR, FF14 ARR, Aion. I think this is porbably a top 7 player base. Can we agree those are mainstream MMOs of today?
I am not talking about games 10-15 years old.
Today's top 7 however, boast per server populations of over 5k in every single case. This stated by the developers themselves, this isn't anything I am making up.
I also mention cross server instancing because that directly changes the effective player pool size of each server. Which is what I am specifically asking people their opinion on so it completely relevant to the topic. Cross server instancing increases the player base.
What I seek are other peoples opinions about whether or not population size is critical.
Please sir, give me your opinion or vote in the poll!
Yeap. Even more, in most cases you don't even realize it, when a server does have 1k or 5k or 10k for that matter. Though, it is different, when you play like with EvE on one server with all the world.. but much more because of multilanguage, and because there is just one server. But beside that 1k is as good as 10k and most player don't realize it anyway. (sidenote player activily playing at one server and not players registered at one server.. THAT is a huge difference.. because usually 1/10 is just playing at any given time, maybe more on some special events/days)
If you do have below 1k, just 500 or less you slowly realize the difference, because regular players will know almost all players on the server at some point. And if you do have something like RvR you will not get such huge battles anymore.
Btw. I personally always thought, that small population servers with just 500 players and the option for private servers with let say 200 players, with private rulesets, possible modding and modding scene would be a good addition to MMOs.
This number may the number of accounts per server, not player actively playing at one server.
In WoW servers do have around 500-1200 players online. Source: http://www.warcraftrealms.com/activity.php?serverid=-1
Edit: And i guess the number of accounts per Server are even higher, most probably above 10k for most.
Spot on. During the first few months the ratio is higher, but after that, having 10-15% of a server's playerbase on at a time is about the norm.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
The validity of this data are questionable at best, irrelevant at worst. Further, the specific game you are talking about utilizes a cross server queuing which completely distorts the size of the player pool. On WoW 7 years after release some servers have at most a couple of hundred players online right now. This game was designed and marketed for a much larger player pool per server and that was again amplified by cross server technology.
This is a poll thread, seeking opinions about player size relevance to a player's decision on whether or not they would be interested in a game. Not a discussion of current player populations on games. IF you want to talk about current populations ,lets do that elsewhere please.
Whatever you want. It's your thread.
I just said, that most people couldn't tell the difference between 1k or 5k, and that a lot of servers don't have more anyway, and provided even more some evidence.
But it is your thread, your question.. so if that isn't valid for you.. then wait for some "more valid" answers.
This is so true. Even in vanguard, since everyone was following their own quest hub chains, and out of combat regen left no time at all to socialize; and the world was so spread out; I rarely saw the same player more than once. They could have been random NPCs and it would've made no difference.
Luckily, i don't need you to like me to enjoy video games. -nariusseldon.
In F2P I think it's more a case of the game's trying to play the player's. -laserit
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
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With the "mega server" trend, it is getting kind of moot now.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
One issue I have with a smaller population is timing for others to be on ... lets face the facts that people are always in diferent time zones and work at varring times.
The other issue is ... Gold Spammers ... Out of your 1K population .. how much may be gold spammers?
I play on low to high populated servers, but do prefer low to medium simply for getting away -- when going in country is country, not a suburb so filled it resembles a McDonald's drive-thru after the game on Friday night.
Tried a few of the largest servers in WoW, and it has zero community. Have to get a chat addon to even read trade chat as it's filled with bot guild ads. If you're used to living in NYC or LA or London or Berlin it maybe your cup of tea, but actual community is more important to me (why play a MMORPG without it?), and you'd know your neighbors with a glass of lemonade on your porch...literally.
In WoW 1k per server is low pop. My main's server is medium-high with about 5k toons on it, yet it feels more like 1k actually play.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
The lack of community on those higher population servers isn't due to the number of people but rather to the lack of tools to allow them to divide into smaller communities.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
For me a large population means a number of bad things. While I do really enjoy the strong economy a large pop should indicate I have trouble sorting through all the kiddy spam and adolecent "testing" that goes with it.
I happen to enjoy some of the smaller comunitys I have found like uncharted waters. This is a game where the majority of your time is spent looking at your ship travel along (slowly at 1st) and enjoying the comunity. And honestly I found the small comunity a big benifit even in a "trade based" game
But when it comes to instanced dungeons and raiding and group finding and areana style pvp.. high pop is.. worth the rablle to get to the gaming. So IMO it really depends on weather it is a gaming game or a comunity based game.
I have played games with just qa handful of people in it, with maybe 10-20 regulars and peaking at 50, simply because i liked the game's features and saw potential.
It is a two-edged sword though:
The smaller the game's population is, the more impact has that "bad apple".
On the other hand, the small community can... get together more easily.
So no, small populations doe not deter me, especially if the game offers what i seek.
In the long run though, low populations are bad for both the Devs/publisher and the gamers.
I prefer a well-sized population but wouldn't play a game simply because that many others do too.