If Stratics is a primary forum for UO, and there are...

[AesSedai]

- If Stratics is a primary forum for UO, and there are...

around 100-200 people here at any given time,

And there are (just for fun) 10,000 individual UO players

Then we account for 1-2% of the UO population...

So, somewhere between 2% and 0.1% (if there were 100,000 unique UOers) of the UO population is reading Stratics at any given moment.
And I'd further propose that a good 60% of UO Stratics viewers are regular posters...

*Ponders...*

I'm intrigued by how many significant additions have begun from proactive UOers posting thoughts here, alone..
We create worlds

This PSA was brought to you by: a random thought.
Thank you for your time. And now back to your regular visual schedule.

 

[Taylor]

Maybe it's not a statistically significant sample size, but it's the single biggest forum-based sample available. Gotta work with what you've got, I suppose.

 

[Basara]

And, consider that you have to put in "non-asian" as a qualifier. There is a small minority of users from Taiwan, Japan, and Korea (And even places without their own shards such as the PRC, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. - half of whom prefer playing on the non-Asian shards) on Stratics, but most use their own native-language forums.

We are a much greater percentage of the game population that the main design team doesn't require translation for.

And, our Asian equivalent players, on their own forums, do have some influence as well, via the Japanese UO team, that passes ideas on to the Americas.

 

[Uvtha]

Pretty much all polls in the US represent way less than 1%, and are fairly accurate.

Theres a point where larger sample sizes stop mattering, and stratics probably touches quite a bit more than 1% of the UO population. Definitely way more than 1% of the north american subs.

 

[Basara]

Pretty much all polls in the US represent way less than 1%, and are fairly accurate.

Theres a point where larger sample sizes stop mattering, and stratics probably touches quite a bit more than 1% of the UO population. Definitely way more than 1% of the north american subs.

I agree with that except that there's one polling type that is not all that accurate - the televison viewership rating system (as there's too many factors causing variance in viewing, let alone whether people are actually watching what they say they watch.)

the playstyles of UO are almost as varied, so one has to worry that too many of a small sect can skew things (like Cal's crazy idea that people only do Peerless in order to get peerless ingredients - ignoring things like CCs, Crystalline rings and the more common ML Minors that have been the primary draws, after people got tired of recipe items).

 

[Fink]

I'm intrigued by how many significant additions have begun from proactive UOers posting thoughts here, alone..
We create worlds

Did you intentionally quote the Origin slogan?

 

[Lord Chaos]

Pretty much all polls in the US represent way less than 1%, and are fairly accurate.

That would be like polling in Chicago every time and saying the results represents the entire USA.

To take the same small community every time, is a bad way to get any accurate picture of the whole. Also, its even worse, as trolls, alts and people who don't play skewer the picture, especially since the devs have no way of judging who is who.

 

[Basara]

Not quite that bad, LC (After all, the dead routinely vote in Chicago), as the slice of life that is Stratics is fairly representative of the players of 3 continents and parts of 2 others.

However, the same people likely to answer a poll are the same types likely to take part on a forum, and polls will typically under-represent those in the "I don't want to talk to people about the game, I just want to play, dammit!" crowd.

Typically, about 90% of the player base of any game, computer or paper-based, fall into the latter category, and only a few of them awaken enough to create a forum account and scream when their version of the game suddenly changes without warning (because they weren't reading the 6-12 months of detailed information about the changes, including calls for input on the design method).

 

[Lord Chaos]

Well, alt accounts rutinely vote on Stratics...so they're kinda our dead voters.

All they get here is the screams from forum users, who does not really represent the player base, even if somewhat diverse. Hopefully they listen to the logic of things, instead of treating a majority of Stratics as representing the majority of players.

Too bad they won't just make an in game polling/questionnaire or heck, in game official forums. One vote per account.

 

[Trebr Drab]

I think any message board is skewed heavily towards powergamers or others who seek information. There's a lot of gamers who don't go to boards much, they play instead.

I used to be like that. When UO was being developed I found it and spent a lot of time on boards. When it was released, I just played and stopped visiting boards much. Then when I found out about it's depth in lore, being played out in game, I started watching the boards again. I think the average gamer is much more like the me who stopped visiting boards very much and just played.

That would mean that their voices aren't being heard.

UO, actually, being an old game, probably has a larger percentage of posters to players than other newer games. Others in a similar position would be the other old games (EQ, DAoC, AC, SWG) and some others, because the player base is mainly made up of players who are really into their game while the others have been leaving.

Overall, I don't think you can go by polls on boards. Those reflect more what the heavy users think and not what the average user thinks.

 

[Lady CaT]

-
I'm intrigued by how many significant additions have begun from proactive UOers posting thoughts here, alone..
We create worlds

One persons create is another persons destroy.

 

[Merion]

The Problem is, that most stratics users think they represent the majority of players. Which simply isn't the case. I think I'm the only stratics forum user in my whole alliance. Most of them don't even know stratics exists, nor do they care. And their take on things is usually a lot more mellow that the typical uhall whiner.

Most players expect to be informed via the town criers or the patch screen - quite the irony, isn't it?

 

[AesSedai]

Did you intentionally quote the Origin slogan?

- Aye, I did.

 

[AesSedai]

- One point I was trying to make was that X% of UO players are participating here at any given time.

Another was that we are a minority representation, yet an effective group; and I tend to believe that we at Stratics, as a group, have done much more good than harm (~ like many of you seem to have taken from my random thought).

 

[noxxle]

Where does the 100,000 number come from? Has EA ever revealed the number of subscribers?

 

[Black Sun]

Has EA ever revealed the number of subscribers?

No and they are unlikely to do so.

 

[AesSedai]

- That's a completely imaginary number that I came up with.

It is also the last rough ballpark figure that I think Cal made ~ I think Cal said something like, 'we are above or around the 6 figure mark' - a year to 18 months ago - but don't quote him on that because I cannot recall just how he phrased it, or when he might have written it.. but I do seem to remember something said along those lines. This was regarding the number of accounts, not the number of unique subscribers.

x: Now that I think a bit more, I believe the phrase was more like 'we are healthy above the 6 figure mark' when the question was whether we had as many subscribers, oops I meant accounts, as the last time we heard a loose ballpark figure (yeh, rough and loose figures ).

 

[Nok]

Has EA ever revealed the number of subscribers?

No and they are unlikely to do so.

Officially, like in a financial statement or a press release? No, they haven't.

But over the years various producers and devs have unofficially said things in interviews, town halls, etc. that the UO population is around... whatever it was at that time. Sometimes people have mentioned it's a little up or down.

But the truth in UO's subscription rates... month to month, events & expansions they vary like every other game; but year over year UO's subs stay pretty consistent.

 

[G.v.P]

I'm intrigued by how many significant additions have begun from proactive UOers posting thoughts here, alone..

Well, when I went to the Fairfax Town Hall, Cal knew me by my posting name of G.v.P (he mentioned to me in the hall that he knew me from boards, haha). And consequently, called me by that name during Q&R. So I think your proposed 60% have made a dent ... maybe not the OT people though, hahaha. Beta and Focus groups reign supreme, but the luxury of playing a "smaller" MMORPG should be having a clearer voice, no? ;P

 

[Petra Fyde]

hmm, my personal opinion.
Will the dev team be influenced by what we post? Yes, if our ideas and suggestions make sense to them and strike them as good, workable ideas, they might give them some consideration.
Will the dev team be influenced into doing something they're not happy about because of a poll on Stratics? Most assuredly not.

Polls on forums only ever show the opinions of the people who choose to actually vote on them and should never be taken as a 'majority' view, because most of the time they're not.

 

[Uvtha]

That would be like polling in Chicago every time and saying the results represents the entire USA.

To take the same small community every time, is a bad way to get any accurate picture of the whole. Also, its even worse, as trolls, alts and people who don't play skewer the picture, especially since the devs have no way of judging who is who.

I don't think so. They player base here is pretty varied. There are vocal groups for pretty much every playstyle. And from what I've seen in game its fairly accurate demographics wise. Not perfect, but pretty good.

I certainly don't think its radically skewed opposed to the view of every player being represented.

Anyways, I really doubt that the feed back they receive here is the only, or even the more heavily weighed feedback the team has to work with. And in general I assume they do what they think is right first, and utilize their creativity and experience (theoretical and applied) to develop the game more than anything else, which is just how it goes.