Question: Would it not assist players to know the number of people online?

[goodgrief999]

For those of us interested in the demographics of an MMO - how many people are we engaged with? It has always been an interesting question to me, I suspect the numbers online at any given time may be concealed for a reason.
But not just for sociology or socialising; it is a real cash economy, in order to compose a business plan, this information is vital. No?

 

[Few Scars]

Unfortunately this has been discussed many times over the years. The active population is estimated based on EntropiaLife data to be between 3-5000 active players. Of this group you can look at the top 100 hunters, crafters and miners and there are only a few recurring names that pop up on the ATH HOF list each week. Scattered between Caly and Arkadia.
This isn't a huge MMO but the dedication of the player base keeps the game funded and the economy running. MA have been asked to put a player counter on the client loader but they never respond to this request.

So yes great idea, but the illusion of 900000 active accounts needs to be maintained...cough

 

[ermik]

First hour of the VU that introduced the player register it was possible to see the entire number of active accounts in the database, this "feature" was removed fast since the number wasnt in line with marketing figures

Id say EU would benefit from a public player counter just as much as the handgun market would benefit from melee amps beeing introduced.

 

[moondog]

looking at the global chat EL and knowing how often I global at my own level I would concur that 3000 - 5000 active players sounds about right. Also with a regular player base of 900000 it would be unlikely that you would regularly bump into players you know, yet this happens to me all the time even with soc mates who I have been chatting to for hours and then randomly bump into.

Check out twin peaks and camp icarus and you will always see familiar faces, one of my desciples is always at icarus and I know 2 or 3 players who I can guarantee will be @ balcony

 

[Ludvig|MindArk]

First hour of the VU that introduced the player register it was possible to see the entire number of active accounts in the database, this "feature" was removed fast since the number wasnt in line with marketing figures

No, it was removed because lots of people opening (and thereby loading) a list with the names of all avatars ingame created way too much server lag (especially since it also checked online status for everyone in it).

 

[ermik]

No, it was removed because lots of people opening (and thereby loading) a list with the names of all avatars ingame created way too much server lag (especially since it also checked online status for everyone in it).

It would have been more MA style to charge 2 pec for each player register search instead of fixing it.