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?