What has happened here?

[Delryn]

I used to play Utopia almost religiously some years ago. I can't remember exactly when and all, but I probably played for 5 straight ages starting with the age right before Undead were introduced. I ended up quiting for the simple fact that I WAS playing religiously and I realized that wasn't healthy for anyone :-) Now I'm out of college, have a wife and daughter, and figure its safe to play since I don't have TIME to play religiously :-)

I've been back in the game for less than a week and hanging around these forums at least once a day since then. And I'm sad.

When I played before, the Utopia Forums were bustling with activity. There were constant complaints of so many people asking the same strategy questions, posting their provinces for rating, and so on. There were constant topic titles such as "Fae T/M 2k acres RATE ME!!!" and the like ... Sure, some of it was redundant, but there was a ton of activity. And sure, there were trolls enough, but they were more or less just part of the scenery because there were also so many useful threads and posters to block them out.

So, as my title suggests, what has happened here? And I don't mean simply on the forums, but with the game in general? I think when I played before there was something like 50k people playing. Now we're down to, what, 17k? Have people left due to gameplay? Can we go back to the way it was? Bring back Fae, Halfers, and Avians if people liked those so much more than the new stuff?

Or is it that Utopia, like a great TV series, has simply run its course and there isn't much new and exciting left since there are so many people who have all the angles figured out, making it impossible for new people to come in and enjoy?

I really loved this game and still do. The concept is awesome and for the most part, at least in the past, executed quite well. So what is the deal now? As an old timer, I feel I can re-integrate without problem, but I was thinking it'd be cool to get some friends to join in, but since they don't have a background in the "good old days," I hesitate to bring them in, since I doubt they would stay in the midst of the cynicism (sp?) and general disgruntlement. . .

So to reiterate, what has happened here?

[VT2]

Easy.
Mehul lost interest, and stopped pouring his heart and soul into the game, so it got a bit stagnant and boring.
He then got back in full force, decared that the races and science sucked, changed both, tinkered with magic and ops, and we grew a bit, then he got bored again.

After that, he sold the game to OMAC, who promptly went on a quest to destroy the game, while angering the community like you wouldn't believe.
After a whole bunch of broken promises, outright lies, static ages, and awful management in general, the game's gone from 21k players, to just above 13k.

With the latest swap in 'developers,' things finally look like they'll change for the better, and we now have an official end-date for this long, drawn-out, boring, horrible age.

Any questions?

[Avenger]

You actually believe in the dates they posted? Last week they were talking about a "4-week"(again lol) age in august. Since yesterday they're expecting a 6 weeks one. A mere +250% delay! Not to mention that summer ages are usually boring due to low activity, and they managed to make two of em'

This kinda summarizes what has happened these last 2-3 months.

p.s.: VT2 forgot about the moderation inconsistency, that determined some people to quit posting.

[Delryn]

Easy.
Mehul lost interest, and stopped pouring his heart and soul into the game . . .

That makes me all the more sad. And answers alot of questions.

But at the same time, now that someone else is in charge, what is wrong? I mean, aside from a long age length, are there gameplay things that are driving people away? There have always been and will always be bullies, so I don't think alliances or superkingdoms or gangbanging or any of that stuff can truly be cited as a main problem because they all existed back in Utopia's heyday. And while "bad" or "inconsistent" moderation can have a negative impact on the forums (which stinks), it shouldn't realy impact the game itself, should it?

Actually, now that I think about it, the forums can impact the game, especially for players like me. Obviously, you don't just sit at your computer at quarter past the hour and wait 45 minutes for the next hour to switch over. You've already given all your orders and such, so what do you do? Go to the forums! I guess I can see that if the forums aren't much fun then the game loses some of its "activity" . . .

At any rate, I'm planning on sticking around. Seeing the present state of things and then leaving isnt' going to help. So maybe we can start to turn a blind-eye to the bad things and focus on the good and share strategies and stories and the like. I dunno. At any rate, I'd still like to hear more people's opinions as well. Thanks.

Del

[Palem]

But at the same time, now that someone else is in charge, what is wrong?

Mehul's code was only intended for Mehul to use. When he sold Swirve he sold his horrible code with it. So OMAC had to write a new code to run the game on so they could run it a lot easier. This has ment that the game has suffered quite a bit since they've taken over. But the new code is now done and in it's Alpha testing (as you can see in the blog) so hopefully the game will prosper again *crosses fingers*.

Of course there are a multitude of things that are 'wrong' with the game and contributing to players leaving, but I would say that's issue #1.

[Sir Nasty]

I know exactly how you feel.
I remember back when I played 7-10 years ago you could post a topic in the forum and if you didn't check back within 24 hours there was a chance it dropped off the board.
Back then the board held 100 topics, anymore than that were lost.

The boards were so active and its such a difference to see it now. Now its like a single kingdom forum instead of a forum for everyone.

People will suggest a lot of things contributed to the changes but honestly, the single biggest factor is likely that there is just bigger and better games out there. (lots of choices now, gaming is big money)

[Spliff]

People use the 3 move codes they got to recruit in wars now. OMAC does not enforce the "cheater laws" like Mehul did. People use these forums to simply bash people because they can't use a war forum 24/7 as there public display. For the most part, nothing changed except now we got NEW people in this game who "code hop" till they get in a kingdom with a nice little pretty kingdom page and use it as a staging ground for there immature insults to the general Utopia community.

I kinda laugh at it all and expect nothing less from such a large group of jobless kids. I'm sure a day will be when everyone wakes up and realizes the only thing that brings us here is because we wish to make friends with people and play a game.

[Fates Warning]

I actually side with spliff on that... the top who broke game rules to create their kingdoms and alliances now get to keep all that and just continue to stack their kingdoms making it all stagnant.

Nothing changes each age. The stacked kingdoms get to feed off the rest of us all age. Doesn't matter if you war them. As soon as you surrender from that war the next bottom feeding kingdom comes by and the process repeats.

Thats the real problem with the game.

[vines]

Spliff I agree when I'm in a kingdom I'm all about teamwork giving aid and helping out any where I can. That's one of the main reasons I play th game.

Delryn the way the game is played is changing more and more are using higher amounts of homes. More and more warring kingdoms are going pure attacker with high tpa and wpa.

Fates Warning the problem you speak of is slowly changing as more and more players are using higher amounts of homes.

[Malin]

main reason is for the decline in gamers in utopia is other games.. when the net speed got beefed up we got fancier games which also is free to play and playing with others utopia is a relic from the past and mehul managed to sell it to OMAC and I hope earned a lot. :)
He sold because he knew utopia has no future it's only us stubborn old vets around our kd haven't had a new player joining for 4 ages and we have had 2-3 slots open for a long time and now we got 4.. there is no recuirting anymore and no one want to promote the game not even the owners seems to care utopia is not even mentioned by one word on their own home page only in this forum, so the game is just dying. :/

[Spliff]

I had a time I could put the word "Utopia" in google search engine and get the main page on the top of the list.

Now I need to put "Utopia Home" and sift through about 20 real estate adds before I even find this stupid place. It's a joke.

[Avenger]

Vines, seriously, WTF has the decline of Utopia to do with your stupid high homes strat?

[Hurlin]

Or is it that Utopia, like a great TV series, has simply run its course and there isn't much new and exciting left

Ooooh good question what was utopias "Jumping the Shark" moment ?

For the most part, nothing changed except now we got NEW people in this game who "code hop"

what is code hopping ?

[vines]

Avenger if you would his full post would understand what I was addressing. He said he is comming back so I'm giving him insight of how the game is played now a days. I don't want him thinking that he will be able to run a strategy with out using a good amount homes and still hope to do well in war.

[gergnub]

vines, i use a strategy with zero homes and me and my kd do well in war. i fail to see how the game is changing towards idiotic strategies. although you are doing a good job in trying to fool the nubs to believing a province cant perform well without +30% homes. go go vines!