I created this thread to continue a discussion that came up in another thread. And might be interesting discussion for those who want to join in.
Gr1m, i don't disagree with you on the behavior issues in online games. But what i am saying is, no matter how many players don't quit due to the bad behavior of others, there are a bunch who do quit for that reason. It's not possible to know how many, nor the proportions. Such info is not in a database. It's not on a spreadsheet. We cannot run a SQL query on it. It's simply a matter of opinion based [hopefully] on our own observations and experiences.
So my opinion is...if we could look at a graph that shows how the player base has gradually grown here over time, we'd see it is in fact increasing. However, if half of the people who quit were still playing, the numbers might be 10 times higher. Maybe only 5 times, but maybe 20. We don't know. I base this on what i have witnessed thus far since August. Four months seems like a fair sample of time to me. I'm not saying half the people who quit quit due to being PK'd, but some percentage quit over it. If we had those back, we might have 6000 people waiting for wipe instead of only ~600. As scary as that may seem, it would be a heck of a lot more donation money, and donations is apparently how this thing is running.
So i'm back to a simple point: we should be helping new players get a decent foothold on the game rather than murdering them with little-to-no discretion. Because murdering them with little-to-no discretion drives some of them away [and they take their donation money with them - there goes our next new server.]
I do not disagree with helping people in the game. I help players time to time, I sometimes well hand out a weapon to a noob starting out, I well help them get a tent etc. I'm not going to argue pk vs anti-pk. But I well say this many people quit for various reasons and you are right there's no such thing as a rage quit calculator
nor would it be possible. People quit for many different reason and people who have quit have their own personal reasons. It isn't ALL the result of Pkers maybe it is with some. I know a lot of people quit because they got sick of losing PvP battles, and some people who are not involved in PvP get bored or they rage quit because of the games difficulty.
I well say this myself as a PKer, When I go out and PK people I am not doing it to ruin the game or to try to block people from donating, I do it for fun and for lolz. There is a lot of idiotic things people do in this game because they find it funny to annoy other players. And anti-pk factions make people quit also because people get sick of them stomping them in the majority of PvP battles which aren't pk or anti-pk related. I am not saying that you're faction does this as being anti-pk. And I am not saying all anti-pkers cause this.
Well this is what happened in august and why it declined. Many of the seasoned players assumed that the wipe was going to be at the end of august because that's when the last season was wiped for this season. Also you cannot assume these numbers as accurate there are people, even though its against the rules, dual log. Speaking of dual logging there was a massive ban hammer on dual loggers in September (forget the exact month), I was one of them. And when these types of things happen people get more scared and do not take the risk of dual logging.
Right now is going to be a very dead time for the server because there is no point in trying to get further when the server is going to be wiped. The server is going to be wiped in the next couple of months or maybe even sooner than that once they balance out the game. This wipe is taking longer than the last one because they are changing a lot of things and making the game with a new and interesting style.
The wipe is going to bring back a lot of players, and it might draw away some people that don't like the new changes.
From my understanding server donations was so they can pay the monthly bill to the server farm to keep the game going. And I appreciate all those who donate to help keep the game going that I have the most fun playing. Donating is a personal matter and a personal decision. Some people may not have the financial status to donate, some players are kids who go to the equivalent of high school in our country.
I for example I don't have a job, you live in my country you know whats going on this country. I would donate to the server if I could but I can't find work and I'm somewhat of a PKer. I'm one of those college grads you hear about on the news.
There is nothing wrong with being anti-pk, and nothing wrong with advocating for server donations. I just do not agree putting the two together and its entirely PKers that make people not want to donate and quit the game. PK and Anti-pk is a roleplay thing, some people like to role play as somebody trying to save the wastelands, some like to roleplay a murdering thieving criminal. Fallout gave us that choice in the matter. Some don't role play at all and get annoyed by Pkers and hate them and others like to go around annoying other players that's generally what anti-pk and pk is about.
I mean just for argument sakes if you drive away the PKers that draws aways numbers also. As stupid and immoral as it seems people have fun doing this kind of stuff also.
If anything its game mechanics that cause the things that go on this game that seem destructive, Like town trolls and thieves. And its game mechanics that make people quit like dying and losing your items which is really harsh when you start out without a tent, which is why I think factions who help noobs is a good thing and I do not disagree that it keeps players around.
I started back in may or June around that time, the server had a lot of players then. August it died out because kids had to go back to school and people anticipated the wipe to be around this time and didn't want to progress further because a wipe could be at any time.
If anything the up coming wipe well bring back numbers and it well help with donations because majority of people been wanting a new session for a while. It all boils down to "wipe" this is the main reason the drop in players. And those numbers well come back because everybody well be excited to play the new season and start fresh.
