How long will GoI last? What happend to May players?

[Redorio diVario]

I'm beginning to get a bit worried about the game. I've started playing GoI on April 21 and at that moment when playing usually about 21:00 - 23:00 (GMT+2:00) game had about 80-150 players waiting. In May there was this sudden influx of players caused by YouTube advertisements by known game reviewers. Average number of players waiting at that time was about 400 reaching sometimes even to 1000 or more. But now I don't see them. When I've been playing recently (well I don't play every day but let's say 4 times a week) I've noticed again just 70-150 players waiting. What happened to those players from may? Where are those 1000? Or even 500? And if they left then why?

That rises another, not really pleasant, question: What is the lifespan of GoI? How long will the skirmish mode be fun? Adventure mode is planned on July 2014, right? Does the current game really have content to provide fun for over a year to majority of players? It's normal to say that, as everything, GoI can get boring after a while. I'm already noticing it with my friends. I started to play GoI with 9 friends. After a month only 3 of them are still playing it. Maps are slowly getting known, same with ships. Are there enough ideas for skirmish to be released before Adventure Mode in order to keep the game entertaining?

Because if no, then... is there any pessimist scenario?

[Imagine]

After every spurt of advertising, sale, whatever, there will always be a spike in player numbers, followed by a dropoff a few weeks later. People's gaming attention span is always split between many different genres, types, so this should come as no surprise, in fact I'd say that a 1/3 retention rate among your friends is actually a pretty damn good amount. I wouldn't worry about it too much, even if Adventure mode isn't for another year new maps are getting released all the time, and we'll be finding ourselves with a new ship fairly soon as well.

Let me put it this way, when I bought and played this originally many months ago, there was maybe at the most 10-20 people in the lobby at a time, the numbers that are around now are far superior.

[PzychoDude]

i can only speak for myself but i'm not playing much atm cuz i wait for a new patch to arrive. could be the same for many people i guess...

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Actually the game is a lot healthier than it was when I got it. When I got it back at the beginning of the year you'd be lucky to find more than a dozen people on. Then the Russian invasion hit and sales came. Populations around those times have really jumped. You don't really get a sense of it because the lowbie matches sorta hide half the population from the others.

The patch did impact some. 1.2 has been probably the messiest patch I've seen since I started. Partially because that massive surge hit and the servers tanked. Then theres just retention rate. Out of all the copies I've gifted, at least 2 ship crews worth + my original 4 pack. Only 2 of them kept playing. Rest tried it, then went back to other games. At least one had game ending bugs which crashed his game every time. I told him to contact Muse on it but he's more involved in CS:GO so he just never did. One got in a dozen hours or so then wrote a bad recommendation of it and went back to heavy CoD playing so that tells you a lot about his attention level.

[Echoez]

I don't realy write this happily, but honestly, this game will probably never be widely popular despite how much I want it to be. People today just lack the attention span to play anything that requires even half the teamwork levels of GoIO, most will just join in, get owned and leave without even trying to improve cause they are too spoiled by every second generic shooter out there that doesn't require your brain to work at optimal levels to perform well at it. Basically, GoIO is just not as casual as your average game, it sure looks like it, but it isn't. People will just go to their 'main game' after some matches and it's realy sad.

At least that's what happened with most of the people I know, out of the 7 people that bought it, only 2 of them play it anymore and only if I personaly ask them to, so that's enough to prove to me that they aren't realy interested by themselves and just do it to play a game with me, nothing else. One of them said it got boring like anything else 'we tried' and went back to just playing League of Legends like most of them did.

We have been playing that damned game for over a year now and I've already been fed up by how fucked up MOBA games are since DotA 1 for pete's sake, I'm so sick of that game so I'm realy happy I found GoIO at least.

/rant

[Lord Dick Tim]

There is a lot, and I mean a lot of speculation, research, time and money poured into the question of why people leave a game in droves all of a sudden.  But the amount of time it takes is fairly consistent, about 1 month.
Thats the time frame any game really has to see that huge population boom, a month.
It kinda begs the argument to be made, why invest in server technology for people who aren't going to stick around and play?  You already got their money, they had the experience of play, they move on.

Some have described this as the rise of the casual low risk high reward kind of game play.  Many marketers are pumping money into that part of the industry along with industry giants to try and make a killer profit on what use to be considered, and justly named, "Shovel ware".

Muse themselves have even made some killer mobile products for cash injection, http://www.creavures.com/ is a good example of high quality art paired with a simple but entertaining mechanic.  But it's designed for limited interaction, play it for awhile, forget it.  We've got a huge generation of gamers who have been raised with that principle and they've got tons of choices to go and play with.
It's no longer the days of Baldurs Gate being one of 4 CRPG's that would release in a 2 year span. 

[Veyka]

I have only been playing since february, but this seems to be the life cycle of the game, drop and rise, and repeat, I joined on a steam sale and the population was a good number, dropped down to less than 10 at around midday UK time, spiked again due to a sale and the russian stuff, dropped, spiked for TGS, dropped, spiked a bit more for 1.2, and dropped again. I wouldn't be too worried, and I have never actually been unable to play when I have wanted to.

[JaceBoojah]

The secret to never wanting to stop is joining a good clan like the ducks, and getting into the competitive scene.  There is no other game I know of where I can compete with the absolute best players in the game.

Also being a part of the games development is nice.

I also feel like if I stopped playing I would be missed.  Ive never played a game like that.

[Squash]

Jace is right, I often say that either you play competitively or you stop playing, and while that's not strictly true, joining a community is essential to keeping interested.

[Darcain]

The heavily team-oriented play in the game makes it so that even non-pros can keep up with the competetive players, that and you don't have limitless potential, something I notice with engineering, particularly on the Pyramidion, I can only run so and so fast and I can't be everywhere at once, much of the engineering anyway comes on routine, which is kind of relaxing to be honest, and yeah joining a community is a good idea to keep interest, particularly with team-based games like this, personally I am trying to join the gents after some short discussion with one of their higher-ranked members, can't quite remember the name though, maybe MasX, I've definitely played on the same team as him though.

Man, I'm long-winded.

[Squidslinger Gilder]

Its a one of a kind competitive scene in this game.

Think about it. FPS titles, RTS, and DOTA stuff rely on reflexes and speed alone. This creates a huge barrier to entry into competitive scenes. I've seen the competitive guys play SC2 and they just move so blistering fast that I just always scratch my head and ask "how is that fun?"

It is a generation built upon instant gratification gaming. CoD, mobile games, and the like. People rage about games with less than 6hr storylines but often times folks don't seem to want more than that if even close to it. Can tell based on the impatience in players forming lobbies and the overuse of the quick join button.

But this, you fly or die based on your team. Takes effort, takes commitment. Some folks can't stand the idea of relying on teammates. Heck it was a slight mindset change for me from Battlefield where I do simply fight alone. Mostly because no one I know in it likes to play hardcore mode. No one talks or uses voice either. Better in those cases just to use allies as meat shields.

It does get frustrating in Guns having a fail pug crew. But what is great is...the ones who listen can quickly improve and go from fail to fantastic. Part of the problem isn't them either. Most of the time they share horror stories of bad pilots they had to endure. Folks can't really get decent in this game when they fly under pilots who park in front of hwachas.

[Darcain]

Its a one of a kind competitive scene in this game.

Think about it. FPS titles, RTS, and DOTA stuff rely on reflexes and speed alone. This creates a huge barrier to entry into competitive scenes. I've seen the competitive guys play SC2 and they just move so blistering fast that I just always scratch my head and ask "how is that fun?"

It is a generation built upon instant gratification gaming. CoD, mobile games, and the like. People rage about games with less than 6hr storylines but often times folks don't seem to want more than that if even close to it. Can tell based on the impatience in players forming lobbies and the overuse of the quick join button.

But this, you fly or die based on your team. Takes effort, takes commitment. Some folks can't stand the idea of relying on teammates. Heck it was a slight mindset change for me from Battlefield where I do simply fight alone. Mostly because no one I know in it likes to play hardcore mode. No one talks or uses voice either. Better in those cases just to use allies as meat shields.

It does get frustrating in Guns having a fail pug crew. But what is great is...the ones who listen can quickly improve and go from fail to fantastic. Part of the problem isn't them either. Most of the time they share horror stories of bad pilots they had to endure. Folks can't really get decent in this game when they fly under pilots who park in front of hwachas.

yeah I see impatient people all the time in the lobbies, they join, wait for a minute or two at most while not even saying a word, then leave, I just don't understand them, sure, instant gratification is fun now and then, but that most games nowadays need you to basically be The Flash in the form of a gamer to be competetive just is disappointing, I like better slower-paced games like this where if being an engi you can relax if you get into a good rythm with the hull and side engines(all on the pyramidion, I love being a hullgineer on that ship.) and maybe even the balloon if the placements are right.

Basically I like that the game needs planning and jolly cooperation to do good and not just "insane haxor speed skillz"

[HamsterIV]

There have been many surges and drop offs in my time playing GOI. After each drop off the number of residual players are always more than the last drop off. GOI is a very Niche game, it won't appeal to everyone, but as far as I can tell we still haven't reached all the people that it will appeal to.

[MasX]

Roy and I where talking about something like this earlier.  Been playing for a while and I think icarus is getting boring gat/flak
Icarus needs a ton of new content to keep ppl wait for adventure mode

[Redorio diVario]

Ah, so in general there is no need to worry that in 6 months there will be no one to play with ^^.