So what happened

[Gerbie]

What happened to the idea of trying to bring in new players (and keep them here). Is that posponed to round 12 as well? I see 100 people alliances and the most complicated shipstats ever. Add to that dynamic traveltime. Or should less skilled players like me take the increased salvage and just shut up?

[-=Zyth=-]

Didnt you know? There will be a full page ad in the back of razzle magazine... :gollum:

[Cayl]

So Gerbie, have you tried Tic Tac Toe?

[Auro]

Originally Posted by -=Zyth=-

Didnt you know? There will be a full page ad in the back of razzle magazine... :gollum:

I hear, in order to reach out to new demographics, they're gonna take out an ad in Nascar Magazine.

[Kal]

the stats are still simpler than old style pa, and the eta system is better suited to less active people than it was in older rounds. A higher alliance size lmit means more players get a chance in the decent/semi-decent alliances.

[Tomkat]

The stats are pretty simple actually Gerbie. It's just a case of "which ship does each target", and then using Damage and Armour to calculate what will happen. No weapon speed, number of guns, power of each gun.

If toning down the stats and making limit on alliance numbers was the answer to getting new players, surely it would have happened in the last few rounds? Fiddling the stats to over-simplify them isn't the answer.

[Guran]

You do realize Kal that there will be 3-4 alliances at best who can reach 100 members and the rest are lucky if they can reach 70. Time will tell if this round again is dominated by those significantly larger alliances.

75 member limit would have made R11 much more interesting where skill would have counted for something.

I would be surprised if not 1up and FAnG where for the 100 limit. These two alliances who are here to help the community in various ways and are trying to get PA back on it's feets, well atleast keep their alliances biggest. You sure Kal, that you were not blackmailed into this?

[Jackal2112]

my god.. can't believe im reading crap like you post Gerbie..

i have an average (IQ) most likely below average, and I can comprehend the stats.

people who prefer free fighting over PA might as well not try it.

[fuz]

why alliance limit on 100 members?
the only ones this helps is the alliances that we know will dominate round11 with 75members too.
that 100 member limit will help new players join good and ok alliance is pure bs.

[Jonas]

Gerbie, this game isnt for 8 year olds(well I wont be shocked if there are some out there but still)

Some sort of advanced stats etc must there be. I had no probles understanding PA without reading the manual when I started, its not much more advanced now. Why do people always want it so simple?

The reason new players aint coming is because it costs money, they cant cheat and they get smackored bang0red and pwned at once they actually find time to try it. Its a bad circle. Fewer people make smaller uni and harder to be n00b. you get it.

If it was so goddamn simple, we could rather play a 10k online Ludo game.

Read and get ready?

-Jonas-

[Cayl]

Planetarion occupies a niche market. That is, it caters to people who want to play a game, can be available at an Internet connection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 2 months at a time (more in the past). Of those people, take people who are interested in science fiction, math, or political maneuvering. Those are your players.

Then to get them to return, you have to make sure they can re-up on their commitment to be active. So maybe people will play over the summer whilst class is out, but people go back to school, or jobs, or graduate, or get girlfriends.... there's just more out there than Planetarion, and the people who play to win have to make substantial sacrifices along those lines.

The cost isn't just 5 dollars, its also the opportunity cost of what else you could be doing while playing PA. We can't realistically lower the monetary cost, but a good start would be innovating new ways to reduce the opportunity cost of playing.

In theory

[Tomkat]

Originally Posted by Cayl

Planetarion occupies a niche market. That is, it caters to people who want to play a game, can be available at an Internet connection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 2 months at a time (more in the past). Of those people, take people who are interested in science fiction, math, or political maneuvering. Those are your players.

Don't skirt around it Cayl. We're all geeks, and that's the term for us. Let's face it :P

[Cayl]

Playing planetarion in this fashion by definition MAKES you a geek even if you weren't already one, but not all geeks are willing to have this kind of devotion to a game, no matter how sweet it is, or how much online social acceptance they gain from it.

[Tomkat]

Heh... so all people who play planetarion are geeks, but not all geeks can play planetarion. This calls for a Venn diagram!

Actually, the type of geeks generally who play are quite friendly and social, I've noticed. Without that social interaction, it's just a competitive game with people sending numbers to each other over a website. The discusson/argument/chat side of it is what keeps people interested on IRC mostly.

[Achilles]

Originally Posted by Cayl

Planetarion occupies a niche market. That is, it caters to people who want to play a game, can be available at an Internet connection 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 2 months at a time (more in the past). Of those people, take people who are interested in science fiction, math, or political maneuvering. Those are your players.

Then to get them to return, you have to make sure they can re-up on their commitment to be active. So maybe people will play over the summer whilst class is out, but people go back to school, or jobs, or graduate, or get girlfriends.... there's just more out there than Planetarion, and the people who play to win have to make substantial sacrifices along those lines.

The cost isn't just 5 dollars, its also the opportunity cost of what else you could be doing while playing PA. We can't realistically lower the monetary cost, but a good start would be innovating new ways to reduce the opportunity cost of playing.

In theory

It upsets me that 1up has such an insightful member of command. Don't suppose there is any hope you guys will just fold like Phra..... a deck chair at some point?

Seriously though, that's probably one of the most concise and elegant ways of describing this community and this game as I've ever seen. And it's nice to know that I fit in a niche and not in a box.

Edit: A color problem :-/

[emma]

AS a newish member, meaning i have not played pa for a while altohugh did play in round 3, I would not decribe myself as any of the above the one thing i can say about pa is the good social side of it, i have made some good friends and have a good laugh on irc if it wasn't for that side of the game I would not be playing it.
ps sorry if the Englsih is bad.

[Chef!]

i refuse to be classified as a geek

[Cayl]

have it your way nerd