How do we get game time requirements down.

[Swirvin' Birds]

Didn't mehul originally intend for Utopia as more of a casual game? The amount of time required to be successful at this game is astounding. This is manly due to the stacked kingdoms. To beat them you have to stack your kingdom and have 24/7 devoted players. It's a snowball of activity and 24/7 IRC hangout...

Then I read this from the 'Tweet' announcement on a link.

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According to a new piece of research undertaken by Park Associates, the casual gaming market is set to be worth more than one billion dollars per year, by 2013.
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We have lost the casual gamers and play to they hyper-active. To me this statement by Park Associates shows that Gamers are getting older, getting families, getting jobs etc and that doesn't leave time for the hyper-active gaming anymore. There is a big market for more casual games and and that is where you need to look for growth if you really want to grow the player base. Not catering to they people with way too much time on their hands.

If 2 kingdoms have equal skills, activity wins out. If equal activity exists, skills win out. Makes hyper-activity a must.

How do you fix that? Should it be fixed?

[Ishandra]

Add peasants, soldiers, increased GC (or give free credits if pop is an issue) to the log in bonuses. Add a smaller bonus at 10hrs too, so people can get the bonus, play for 2 hours, log out for the next, play for 2 hrs, etc.

Make the 20hr bonus even bigger, would alleviate pumping too somewhat.

[Palem]

How do you fix that? Should it be fixed?

Even if you make the game even more geared towards casual play, the end result will be the same. The more dedicated you are, the higher up you will get.

[dicoe]

well Ishandra, the bonuses doesnt really matter, only oow really..

Its in wars its noticeable, and thats where its needed. You have to be on constantly to work on your gbd province or other things. Having 2-3 attackers per day is definately needed.

Its what you say swirvin, its all about activity. Its too easy to bring down provinces nowadays, its all about gangbanging and the one with most attacks win..(yes, there are exeptions)

I do not have a solution to this, but it is a problem, especially since this stupid tradesystem was implemented. For every age that turns, more and more players will leave, and fewer begin. How are you supposed to see the fun in the game when its 90% chance you end up in a lowprovved kd that stands no chance to other kds?

this needs more thoughts...

[Shockwave]

the more ads that are viewed, the more money the owner makes. so why would they want to gear more towards casual play and in turn lose money? that's a poor business move and will most likely never happen.

also, the game has always been this way, even since the betas. mehul never did anything to make it "easier" to be in the top, it's always been about dedication.

[Ezzerland]

the more ads that are viewed, the more money the owner makes. so why would they want to gear more towards casual play and in turn lose money? that's a poor business move and will most likely never happen.

also, the game has always been this way, even since the betas. mehul never did anything to make it "easier" to be in the top, it's always been about dedication.

If by slowing down the game it allows 10x the amount of people to play.. which is more profitable?

100k people playing once a day, or 20k people playing five times a day?

chances are with the 100k people, the 20k will still be playing 5 times a day. Even so, the 20k are less likely to generate ad revanue that 100k unique individuals are.


Though, imo, slowing the game down isn't what would draw more people.

[TheRock]

the more ads that are viewed, the more money the owner makes. so why would they want to gear more towards casual play and in turn lose money? that's a poor business move and will most likely never happen.

also, the game has always been this way, even since the betas. mehul never did anything to make it "easier" to be in the top, it's always been about dedication.

Shouldn't you be out making love to or feeding your horses?

[Ezzerland]

Oh, and about the "never did anything to make it easier to be in the top"

thats not true.. he removed 80k players form the game. That made it a lot easier.

[Palem]

Oh, and about the "never did anything to make it easier to be in the top"

thats not true.. he removed 80k players form the game. That made it a lot easier.

I lol'ed

[Ishandra]

well Ishandra, the bonuses doesnt really matter, only oow really..

Its in wars its noticeable, and thats where its needed. You have to be on constantly to work on your gbd province or other things. Having 2-3 attackers per day is definately needed.

Its what you say swirvin, its all about activity. Its too easy to bring down provinces nowadays, its all about gangbanging and the one with most attacks win..(yes, there are exeptions)

Add peasants, soldiers, increased GC (or give free credits if pop is an issue) to the log in bonuses.

Bonuses would aid recovery in war for those who have been hit.

Add a smaller bonus at 10hrs too, so people can get the bonus, play for 2 hours, log out for the next, play for 2 hrs, etc.

You can still make 2 attacks a day and recieve bonuses for not being on the entire time between those attacks.

Make the 20hr bonus even bigger, would alleviate pumping too somewhat.

People only able to make 1 hit a day would get a BIG boost of GC/Solds/Pess when they log in, making it slightly easier to compete with people just above their activity.




Failing all this..... half log out times for bonuses while in war. 6hr and 10hr are easy to get and promote being logged off for longer than your logged in for, during war. Massively reduces needed activity for warring, especially if you add the peasant/sold component to bonuses.

[Bytes]

Wrong forum?

But since its right up my alley, I will join in.

I agree that in order for Utopia to grow in player numbers once again, it needs to become more casual friendly. The easiest solution to do so would be to increase attack times to 20-22 hours. There still should be benefits for the 'hardcore' gamer that is able to login 10 times per day (or once every 2 hours after the auto-logout) but the extra attacks should not be the main advantage for hyper active players. What these benefits should be is something for the game developers to come up with.

Bytes

[Someone]

Actually, i dont think its right to just remove the activity-factor from the game. Afterall its the activity of people (aka talking to them) that we/I enjoy :P

[citadela01]

give back 20hs attack times an toss out all attack time mods including rax, personality bonus and qf

[0papa]

SwirvinBirdin are you Monarch?

It is possible to log once a day in peace & grow strong

During war all provs need 2 logs per day

If ya war average once per 2 weeks thats 6-7 wars

This won't be a SK but much fun can still be had.

The secret is to NOT play just for wins. Play for acres & honor. Explain to your ppl max acre gains are all that matter. Take max acres from every prov in the enemy KD that your guys can hit. After 48 hrs ask for MP, if they say no, withdraw with your acres/honor.
You will lose less army in a short war, so it takes less time to rebuild.
Play elf, gnome, human, dorf. The races that can turtle with elites at home.

I have done this a few times & had some of the best ages ever.
Too much preasure is put on winning wars anyway.

[rosedragoness]

and some noobs might decide to stay in war even when they losing, because they don't know why they should withdraw. :P