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The Daily Grind: When do you consider a game to be 'dying'?

Brianna Royce — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor, Miscellaneous

If you listen to internet negativity, every game is dying. World of Warcraft is dying, some folks say, because it's lost a fraction of its population after seven years. RIFT is "obviously" pushing out tons of content only because it's desperate and dying. Two million players and queues in Star Wars: The Old Republic also mean the game is dying. A game goes free-to-play? Dying. Keeps a subscription? Dying. Box on sale? Dying. Moves to Steam? Dying. Merges servers? Dying. Doesn't merge servers? Dying!

It's true that some games have gone under, but many more are hanging in there after a decade, even if they aren't blockbusters that impress people used to seeing populations in the millions. If World of Warcraft dwindled to as few players as, say, Asheron's Call, I still wouldn't call that dying. It might be small, but it's still alive and still getting updates, and that's more than I can say for some games.

What about you -- when, exactly, in a game's timeline do you consider that game to be dying?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: When do you consider a game to be 'dying'? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Performance tweaks coming to Fallen Earth

Matt Daniel — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fallen Earth, Bugs, News items, Free-to-play, Post-Apocalyptic

We announced just last week that popular post-apocalyptic sandbox title Fallen Earth had been released on Steam. Well, opening that can of worms seems to have taken its toll on many of the game's more populated areas, causing performance issues and crashes for some players. Needless to say, GamersFirst is not about to let that fly.

In fact, GamersFirst's Napalm stopped by the game's official forums earlier today in order to notify players of some small tweaks that are being made to the game in order to solve these performance issues. For starters, Embry Crossroads and all starter towns are being moved onto "much, much beefier hardware," which "will have an immediate impact, and should decrease the amount of lag that players are seeing in those areas." Improvements are also being made to server memory management, and the studio is even upgrading to a "more capable branch of the xScape engine" that should hopefully allow the game to handle a higher number of players in any given area. For the full details on the improvements, just click on over to the official announcement below.

Performance tweaks coming to Fallen Earth originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Should MMO companies reveal server loads?

Brianna Royce — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

As long as I've been playing MMOs, game companies have been obfuscating server loads. Oh, sure, you can make a pretty good guess as to how many players are playing on your server. You can look at one of the MMO charting sites, use a tool to parse how many people are in various zones at set times, or wave a calculator at the fine print in quarterly earnings reports, but those methods are admittedly imperfect. We're usually left with vague categories like low-, medium-, and high-population, terms that aren't comparable from game to game. High-pop for EVE Online doesn't mean the same as high-pop for Warhammer Online, after all.

I can understand why studios want to hide the numbers. Players are bitterly cruel when it comes to data like these, and a small reduction in population one night could lead to a snowball effect of self-fulfilling doom-and-gloom prophecies. Still, players like to know how many other people they can expect to encounter on their server since that helps them plan which server (and which MMO) might be right for them. What do you think -- should MMO companies reveal the precise numbers behind their server loads?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: Should MMO companies reveal server loads? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TERA consolidating servers in Japan [Updated]

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, TERA

While highly anticipated in the West, not all is sunshine and rainbows for TERA overseas. Under assault by bots and bugs, NHN Japan announced that it will be reducing the number of open beta players currently in the game down to 33% by consolidating servers. Players in Japan shell out $38.50 per month to test the game.

TERA's been testing in Japan for five months now and has shown promise, with over 48,000 concurrent players logging in at one point. Even though the beta test is shrinking in players, NHN is making tweaks to the game to improve the experience for those who remain. These improvements include doubling the amount of free time for new players and cutting the cooldown time of dungeons in half while increasing the amount of loot dropped.

NHN Japan says that the population decrease will help to improve the game's performance as it progresses in testing: "Although the CCU has been decreased from the initial start, it is now more stable than we expected. The server consolidation is to promote better cooperative play."

The Korean beta test of TERA conducted a similar server consolidation last May.

[Update: While the developers are currently consolidating servers, TERA is no longer in beta testing in Japan. TERA launched several months back as a subscription-based game. We apologize for the confusion.]

TERA consolidating servers in Japan [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Analyst claims SWTOR could already have 1.5 million players

Matt Daniel — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

It's not exactly a secret that big things are expected of BioWare's recent entry to the MMO market, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz speculates that the game could have up to 1.5 million players already, even though the game doesn't officially launch for another day. This conclusion comes about based on the fact that EA had 140 servers running by last Saturday. If that's the population right now, we can assuredly expect that the game's official launch will see big numbers indeed. We'll just have to wait one more day to find out.

Analyst claims SWTOR could already have 1.5 million players originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DCUO producer's update says login fixes are coming

Jef Reahard — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, Business models, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, DC Universe Online

Sony Online Entertainment has released a new producer's update to keep disgruntled fans in the loop regarding the overwhelming demand for DC Universe Online. The superhero title, which opened the free-to-play floodgates a week ago, has been beset with overcrowding, huge load times, and "load screens of death" that leave would-be players stranded in no-man's land as they try to log into the game.

Producer Lorin Jameson says that SOE is working hard to alleviate the problems, and the company released a PC client patch last night while a PlayStation 3 patch is awaiting Sony approval.

"In the next couple of days we will be deploying other improvements like priority queuing for Legendary and Premium players, and soon we will be releasing Game Update 6 which has the conclusion to the Fortress of Solitude raid series and other game enhancements," Jameson wrote on the game's Facebook page.

DCUO producer's update says login fixes are coming originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DC Universe Online boasts 1000% playerbase growth

Matt Daniel — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, DC Universe Online

DC Universe Online has been free-to-play for just under a week now, but SOE is already reporting huge spikes in player population. SOE president John Smedley has been tweeting constantly since the transition, with the most recent tweet announcing that population is up 1000% from its pre-F2P numbers.

It's not all sunshine and butterflies over in DCUO-land, however. Players have been experiencing a number of issues with the F2P transition, such as astoundingly long server queues, endless loading screens, and other gameplay-inhibiting problems. Smedley says that the team is "on it," though.

If you want to be part of the game's booming playerbase, just head on over to the game's official site (or download the game on Steam) and jump on in.

DC Universe Online boasts 1000% playerbase growth originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Anvil of Crom: AA resets, tradeskills, and hardcore PvP stagnation

Jef Reahard — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, MMO industry, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Anvil of Crom, Crafting

Welcome back to the Anvil of Crom, dear readers. After the content explosion of the past couple of months, it seems almost strange to be relatively relaxed when it comes to Age of Conan. I'd gotten so used to scrambling around re-writing columns at the last minute -- and polishing up interviews and impression pieces -- that I had almost forgotten what it feels like to settle into a comfortable gameplay groove.

In looking around for interesting topics this week, I realized that it's been quite some time since I turned the column over to the community. So without further ado, join me after the cut to see what's on the minds of Hyborians at home and abroad as we power through the week's hot topics.

Continue reading The Anvil of Crom: AA resets, tradeskills, and hardcore PvP stagnation

The Anvil of Crom: AA resets, tradeskills, and hardcore PvP stagnation originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Heatwave CEO talks Gods and Heroes population

Jef Reahard — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items

Fans of Heatwave Interactive's recently launched Gods and Heroes MMO will be happy to note that the dev team is not sitting idly by now that the game has launched. Heatwave CEO Anthony Castoro has penned an update post on the official forums that features a lot of frank talk about the game and its immediate future, including the need to "begin a promotion that will drive thousands more players to the game and turn Baccus, Mars, and Jupiter into communities bursting at the seams."

Castoro doesn't elaborate on what the promotion might be, but he does say that even though Gods and Heroes doesn't need 500,000 users to turn a profit, "our current growth rate isn't good enough." Finally, Castoro notes that the game has "an awareness issue and our pricing model doesn't seem to be tantalizing enough."

Whether Heatwave is looking at a freemium conversion or simply a price reduction coupled with more advertising, Castoro's post makes clear that the team is in it for the long haul. Check out the blurb on the official forums for a list of Heatwave's immediate priorities.

Heatwave CEO talks Gods and Heroes population originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 10 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Anvil of Crom: Would F2P solve the population problem?

Jef Reahard — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Business models, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Anvil of Crom

Howdy folks, and welcome back to another installment of The Anvil of Crom. This week I'll be taking a short break from reporting on my CMA activities. I took a bit of an impromptu vacation last week and as a result didn't get to play Oakarm much at all. He's still hanging out in his mid-30s, looking for dungeon groups, and training me on those pesky melee combos, so look for more on that tangent in the weeks to come.

Today I'd like to indulge in some speculation regarding a potentially free-to-play Age of Conan. I know, I know, I've talked about this on multiple occasions before, but a recent conversation I had with a buddy (and former AoC subscriber) got me to thinking seriously about the pros and cons.

Hi-Rez Studios' recent announcement of its Global Agenda F2P re-configuration also factored into my choice of column topics this week since I made extensive use of GA as an example last time. Anyhow, hop over the cut and let's chat about it.

Continue reading The Anvil of Crom: Would F2P solve the population problem?

The Anvil of Crom: Would F2P solve the population problem? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Tattered Notebook: Station cash, server merges, and musings from the community

Jef Reahard — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook

Welcome to another chapter of The Tattered Notebook. There's a ton to talk about this week, as our favorite game has been making news left and right, in both its traditional and free-to-play flavors.

Pull up a chair and grab a cup of your favorite beverage as we delve into our semi-monthly look at what's turning heads and generating discussion in the EverQuest II community. As it turns out, nothing stirs the pot more than server merges (and maybe Station Cash), and in this week's edition we'll highlight a few noteworthy conversations you may have missed.

Turn the page for more.

Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Station cash, server merges, and musings from the community

The Tattered Notebook: Station cash, server merges, and musings from the community originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lost Pages of Taborea: What's in a server?

Jeremy Stratton — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic, Lost Pages of Taborea

Welcome back to another week of Lost Pages of Taborea. I'm switching gears and answering some reader mail. I'll answer the question to the best of my abilities, and then I want to expand the topic to cover server density and personality. Roger Ringo has returned to Reni from a hiatus which prompted the following question.

Roger Ringo asks: I was wondering if you could give me a rundown on the population and community of the servers you have played on. I would really appreciate it.

This is a great question about server populations. How populated are the Runes of Magic servers? For that matter, how do we go about finding the number of people on any MMO's server? It never seems to be a cut-and-dried answer with one almighty server-status site to feed us the numbers. A lot of our own perceptions can sway answers to these questions too. What days and times a person logs in, his playstyle, and what he pays more attention to in-game can all affect an opinion of whether a server is a ghost town or a small but happy community. Do my conclusions match with yours? Find out after the break!

Continue reading Lost Pages of Taborea: What's in a server?

Lost Pages of Taborea: What's in a server? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A look into the nuts-and-bolts of EVE Online's single-shard architecture

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics

Have you ever wondered why MMOs have multiple servers and limitations on the number of people that can be squeezed onto each? It's a good question, especially when you consider EVE Online's impressive single-shard (single-server) setup, where tens of thousands of concurrent players can log on in the same environment.

CCP's Kjartan Emilsson wrote an article for Gamasutra explaining why most MMOs choose to separate their population onto several severs. The main problem, Emilsson said, was the issue of avatar density. Too many players in too small of a space creates a miserable experience for all involved. So either the game has to put limits on how many avatars can be in an area, or create a playing field that is so large as to render this issue null.

Emilsson went on to argue the case for single-server games that create a united society instead of a fractured one. He detailed the setup of EVE's server architecture, which is held together by a single database at its nucleus and has been steadily growing and improving over time. If you love to read the nuts-and-bolts of the underlying technology that makes games like EVE run, then do yourself a favor and give this article your time.

A look into the nuts-and-bolts of EVE Online's single-shard architecture originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's the end of EverQuest's 51/50 server, but players feel fine

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Culture, News items

Generally, MMO players don't like giving up even the smallest advantage -- but sometimes having a special server isn't as important as having people to play with. That's certainly the case for EverQuest, and it's resulted in a scenario where the game's special Mayong server is being merged with the Tunare server on September 6th. Mayong is generally known as the 51/50 server, as a character starts at level 51 with 50 AA points already earned. The intent when the server was created was to allow players who wanted to skip the level grind a chance at getting straight into the meat of the game.

As it stands now, however, the server is dramatically underpopulated. After several community discussions, the development team made the decision to merge the server, preemptively shutting down the special creation rules on Mayong. Player response has been almost universally positive -- few players are upset by the potential slowdown this implies. While the server merge itself isn't due for another month, the days of creating 51/50 characters have already ended, and players are able to get slightly discounted transfers off of Mayong if they want to move early.

[ Thanks to Jason Davenport for the tip! ]

It's the end of EverQuest's 51/50 server, but players feel fine originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vanguard US server merge complete [Update]

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, News items, Vanguard

It's been a rough ride for players of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes over the past few months, with the dreaded "maintenance letter" back in December that left players uncertain about the game's future. That uncertainty wasn't helped when rumors began circling that the game would be merging servers, followed by a confirmation of same. As of now, the server merge is complete, with the game's population all concentrated on a single server dubbed Telon.

The good news for players is that the merge, on a whole, went fairly smoothly. There was a slight extension of the expected operation time, which is really normal when dealing with a large-scale operation. It should also help the game's players enjoy the game with a larger population to draw from. The bad news is... well, a server merge is never exactly a comforting fact for any game, and we can only hope that the long-term benefits for Vanguard outweigh the negatives.

[Update: This does not affect the EU server which is set to merge at a later date. Thank you to everyone who tipped us on this!]

Vanguard US server merge complete [Update] originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlanetSide merges last two servers into one

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, PlanetSide, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, PvP, News items, MMOFPS

In an e-mail that went out to the community earlier today, the PlanetSide team has announced that the game's final two servers will be combined into one to preserve the balance of fighting between their three armies. The merge will be conducted on August 25th, so this is ample warning of the things to come.

Now, normally people would be complaining and unhappy over hearing the words "server" and "merge" being put into the same sentence, but that's not the sentiment over at the PlanetSide community. This move has put the veteran players into a state of happiness in their anticipation of the merge. Old outfits are preparing for a resurgence as former players are returning to the game once more.

Continue reading PlanetSide merges last two servers into one

PlanetSide merges last two servers into one originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Market research firm predicts population explosion for virtual worlds

William Dobson — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, MMO industry, News items, Virtual worlds

We all sort of knew that virtual worlds usage would continue to grow over the years, but a new report put out by Strategy Anayltics has given us some numbers to think about -- and they're pretty darn big. They've predicted that by 2015, the overall population of virtual worlds will go from what it is now at 186 million people all the way up to 640 million, or more than triple today's userbase. Here's the firm's breakdown of the populations today and in the future:

"Kids" in this case refers to those aged 5 to 9, and as can be seen in the above table, this group is predicted to grow the most over the years. As for how companies will cash in on all this growth, subscriptions are still listed as one of the key drivers of revenue, but 86% of revenue in 2015 will come from microtransactions -- this equates to a growth from 2008's microtransaction figure of roughly $1 billion, to $17.3 billion in six years time.

[Via Virtual Worlds News]

Market research firm predicts population explosion for virtual worlds originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another round of Warhammer Online free character transfers begins

James Egan — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, PvP, Warhammer Online, News items, Races

Maintaining a balanced server population is always a tricky issue in Warhammer Online, hence the periodic need to have characters transfer to different servers. Mythic Entertainment has announced that another round of free character transfers begins today, February 19th.

The source and destination servers are: (Red Eye Mountain, Ungrim --> Monolith, Iron Rock, Ironfist), (Sylvania --> Volkmar, Gorfang, Vortex), and (Azazel --> Volkmar, Gorfang, Magnus). As an incentive to get players to make the jump to these servers, they'll reap a 20% experience and renown bonus for a limited time. Have a look at the Warhammer Herald announcement for more details, as well as their FAQ on free character transfers.

Mythic has announced the first expansion to Warhammer Online! Check out the announcement itself, the two brand-new classes coming to the game, and the enormous new dungeon/zone slated for a few months away! Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

Another round of Warhammer Online free character transfers begins originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WAR population numbers revealed, but what do they mean?

Brooke Pilley — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Culture, Warhammer Online, Opinion

When Mythic Entertainment released Warhammer Online on September 18, 2008, it quickly became the fastest selling MMORPG ever. A month after release, they announced WAR had registered 750,000 players and people were buzzing that it may actually make a noticeable dent in World of Warcraft's armor. But as the expression goes: good things usually don't last.

Box sales in your first month are one thing, but what matters most for a subscription MMORPG is player retention. Since October 2008, EA and Mythic have remained completely silent about WAR's numbers, something that is never really a good sign. Player and industry speculation was rampant given consistent reports of an in-game exodus of players. The speculation that WAR was losing players was confirmed by a financial report released by EA stating that WAR had just over 300k subscribers as of December 31, 2008. Let a new round of speculation about what these numbers mean begin.

Join us after the cut where we'll discuss the reasons I think WAR lost so many players in such a short period of time. I'll also chat about how I think Mythic can regain those lost subscriptions and perhaps grow even larger!

Continue reading WAR population numbers revealed, but what do they mean?

WAR population numbers revealed, but what do they mean? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Faction populations largely balanced in Warhammer Online

James Egan — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, PvP, Warhammer Online, Races

When Warhammer Online launched, one of the pressing concerns players had was population imbalance between Order and Destruction. Some of the measures Mythic Entertainment has taken to remedy this -- like free server transfers -- seem to have worked, according to Mythic's Jess Folsom.

A recent dev blog by Folsom at the Warhammer Herald addresses the concerns WAR players continue to have about faction imbalances, and paints a decidedly bright picture of the current state of play.

Percentages shown for the average of all North American servers shows a near equal balance in active accounts per faction (49% Order vs. 51% Destruction), and an even 50/50 split between factions in terms of average experience and renown point gains.

Continue reading Faction populations largely balanced in Warhammer Online

Faction populations largely balanced in Warhammer Online originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Counterpoint on Warhammer Online's Fortress siege population caps

James Egan — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, PvP, Warhammer Online, Opinion

We reported earlier this week that Warhammer Online has been having some issues with Fortress sieges, and opted to implement a solution -- population thresholds. That solution has led to fewer Fortress-related crashes and overall improved performance, but not everyone is as enthusiastic about the changes Mythic has made to Warhammer Online.

A good example of this type of dissent among the WAR ranks can be found at MMOCrunch in a criticism written by Paragus. He takes aim at the Tier 4 campaign changes to Fortresses and states that imposing population thresholds diminishes the very thing WAR bills itself as -- a massive realm-vs.-realm game. He doesn't pull any punches when he states, "The fact that they are trying to spin this by saying 'to allow even more players to participate' by capping population in a given area only makes me feel better about pulling my guild out of this game. I'll be waiting for the flames from Warhammer fans."

Continue reading Counterpoint on Warhammer Online's Fortress siege population caps

Counterpoint on Warhammer Online's Fortress siege population caps originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XI devs threaten players with forced server moves

James Egan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Guilds, MMO industry, Opinion

Server populations in massively multiplayer online games can be a delicate balancing act. Popular servers are very much the hubs of these games, where players can easily forge bonds with one another in a lively social environment. But log into a desolate server and you'll wonder what the point of playing an MMO is when there's no one else around. Many developers try to balance server populations by offering free server transfers, and sometimes bonuses of one type or another as a reward for making the jump. This has been an issue for developer Square Enix with Final Fantasy XI and the overcrowded Odin server. However, their efforts to disperse the crowds have been unsuccessful, leading them to take a more drastic measure: forced emigration.

FFXI-centric website Petfoodalpha suggests that Square Enix's deportation solution (or alternately, world splitting) creates more problems than it solves. Fusionx writes, "Surely there has to be a better way to deal with this than randomly distributing people from the server to others. Friendships would be broken, linkshells would be destroyed. More importantly though for Square Enix: They would lose subscribers."

When a developer identifies a high server population as being a problem, and when players don't take advantage of free server transfers or other incentives, do the devs really have any other choice but to take away choice?

Final Fantasy XI devs threaten players with forced server moves originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WAR's latest weekly realm population bonuses

James Egan — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, PvP, Warhammer Online

Mythic Entertainment announced their latest list of Warhammer Online servers to receive realm population bonuses this week. Not surprisingly, five of the seven (Core) servers listed impart bonuses for playing Order.

Mythic stated: "Great rewards await those who take up their charge and help bolster their army's strengths where it's needed the most... these bonuses are temporary boosts to help new players get into the game and strengthen their allies' efforts on servers where their realm struggles to keep up with the growing armies of their enemy. For one week, these chosen servers will bestow divine gifts upon the designated realm to help swell their ranks and give them the power to try and turn the tides of battle. Players who join the vanguard will receive a 20% bonus to renown and experience." The list of servers that give these bonuses is found in-game at the Server Select screen; the currently listed bonuses will expire on October 24th.

Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

WAR's latest weekly realm population bonuses originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What will the server merge mean for Age of Conan?

Samuel Axon — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Opinion, The Daily Grind

You may have heard that some Age of Conan servers will soon be merged in both the North American and European regions. New game director Craig Morrison made the announcement in a letter to the community just over a week ago. That revelation was a tacit admission that the game is not performing as expected, but Morrison has made it clear that he wants Funcom to brush the dirt off its shoulders and move on.

Will the mergers encourage you to jump ship, or do you take them as a sign that Funcom is aware of the situation and ready to take decisive action to improve the game? Morrison claimed that the decision was made in response to player demand; were you demanding it? And regardless of whether you plan to stick with AoC (or return, if you've already left), do you believe the game has recovery and a positive future ahead of it?

Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

The Daily Grind: What will the server merge mean for Age of Conan? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Online implements temporary population control measures

James Egan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Forums, Game mechanics, News items

We mentioned that CCP Games is working on thinning out Local in EVE Online's highsec trade hubs like Jita, but they're also looking into other ways of keeping lag at manageable levels, even if it requires taking temporary (and unpopular) measures. CCP Wrangler announced today that the latest downtime brought with it a new feature to Tranquility: EVE's stargates will check how many players there are in a given solar system and deny access if the system has hit its population limit. The temporary measures are presently being discussed on the EVE Online forums, with a few clarifications and amendments made by the devs.

There is some debate as to whether the pop limit affects Jita alone or if it affects all systems in New Eden, but regardless, the devs have stated multiple times that they're working to resolve the population issue. However, if the system population issue expands to other high traffic solar systems in EVE, this could stand to be a serious problem for the larger 0.0 alliances who rely upon their numbers to hold territory. The latest word from the devs states that only Jita is affected by population limits, and that a node crash is responsible for most of the 'traffic advisory' warnings players are receiving about multiple systems being inaccessible. These are some of the issues that can arise in an unsharded MMO, but hopefully the changes to stargates will remain as CCP states: temporary.

Update: A hotfix deployed during Monday's downtime removed the system cap from all solar systems except Jita, which now has a player capacity of 1024. CCP Explorer stated that the capacity will be raised over time as they make server adjustments. Ultimately they hope to remove the population limit altogether.

EVE Online implements temporary population control measures originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lineage II NA server merge coming July 8th

Kyle Horner — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Lineage 2, Server downtime, News items

Ever since Linage II began allowing server transfers there has been a shift in server populations that was leaving some communities worried. This has prompted NCsoft to announce the merging of a few servers on July 8th to bolster their overall population and ease the growing fears some players were beginning to have about the future of their digital homelands.

Population is of course an important issue for any MMO and server merges can sometimes be seen as a bad thing by onlookers. However, NCsoft is assuring everyone that this choice was made purely to maintain healthy communities, something that is arguably one of the most important aspects to an online game.

We're also happy to see that NCsoft is covering all their bases and has made an official forum post covering all the important topics about the server merges. If your concerns aren't met by the current forum post don't worry too much. NCsoft has vowed to answer any concerns or inquiries regarding the merges over the coming weeks.

[via WarCry]

Lineage II NA server merge coming July 8th originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CCP releases EVE QEN, says 250k subs by Q2, and plans Gross User Product report

Mike Schramm — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, PvP, Making money, PvE

CCP has released their Quarterly Economic Newsletter for the 4th quarter of last year in EVE Online, and the word is "growth." They saw big increases in trade volume and value all over the place on the market. Which isn't surprising, considering how much their population surged late last year, thanks in large part to the well-received Trinity expansion. And the growth isn't done -- CCP expects to see 250,000 subscribers by the end of Q2 2008.

There are lots of great numbers in here -- apparently only 9% of players are out in low sec space (much lower than I'd thought). Jita is still a madhouse (no duh -- you'll already know that if you've ever tried to go in there on a weekend). Finally, they've introduced a new tracking variable, called Gross User Product, that is the value of all services and goods produced in a period of time, minus the amount of goods and services consumed. In other words, a GDP, but for a virtual world. They don't have a figure yet (because it has to be tracked over a period of time), but the next QEN should have some even more interesting information on how we might track virtual economies in MMO games.

CCP releases EVE QEN, says 250k subs by Q2, and plans Gross User Product report originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How to choose a server

Mike Schramm — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:20:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, Tips and tricks, Server downtime, Opinion

Wilhelm of AGN is one of the many players setting sail in the PotBS pre-order preboarding, and he's dealing with one of the hardest decisions MMO players ever make: choosing a server. OK, maybe it's not really that hard (choosing a class probably is), but there is an art to it.

The first thing that determines where you want to play in a multi-realm MMO has to be your previous in-game friends-- if there's anyone already in the game that you need to play with, then you want to make sure to be on the same server they are (as Wilhelm says, "go play with your friends" trumps his rules entirely). After that, everyone's got their criteria. Me, I like a server with a little higher-than-normal population-- it can't be so high that it's overcrowded, but I don't want to play on a low-population server. These are massively multiplayer games, after all. Wilhelm says not to pick the first or last server on the list-- clearly, he's a man who avoids extremes, and probably the highest populations as well.

After that, it's as arbitrary as you want it to be. Wilhelm goes for the most complicated name, but usually by the time I've punched in my criteria, the game only gives me one recommendation, and then I take it. Any other factors that go into choosing a server when you first fire up an MMO?

How to choose a server originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lead designer of Pirates of the Burning Sea Q & A interview

William Dobson — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Interviews, New titles

The Warcry Network recently had a chance to ask Pirates of the Burning Sea lead designer Kevin Maginn a round of questions about the upcoming Jack-Sparrow-simulator. The interviewer poses queries about launching with both land and ship aspects already in-game (as opposed to a game like EVE which is only now looking to add land-based play), system requirements for the masses, the beta and stress test processes, population balancing and the user interface.

Of most interest is the question on populations, regarding the different factions in the game. Players can choose to be English, Spanish, French, or the swashbucklin' Pirate. Maginn notes that, during various phases of the beta, the numbers have remained roughly the same -- 35% choose Pirates, nearly as many choose the English, and then the French and Spanish each take 15%. On this he says, "we are working on some population balancing tools, with two goals: make the game more fair if your nation is underpopulated, and make underpopulated nations more appealing, particularly to large PvP guilds".

If the incentives for one race are good enough, it might swing the population the other way entirely. We'll have to wait and see what countermeasures will be employed before the game releases, as the difference in numbers so far sounds fairly staggering.

Lead designer of Pirates of the Burning Sea Q & A interview originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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