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Thread: What is being done to increase player base

  1. #31
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    Emerging markets would gravitate toward Utopia. Heck, that's right up my Virtual Kingdom alley. It's one of the reasons I've built around a division system.

    Interesting take by khronosschoty as I'm too computer illiterate to have thought of it. Good eye, as they'd say at work.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
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  2. #32
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    I might be wrong but I have an idea. How about you guys start by preventing players from quitting... for example, lets see... hmm.. how about stop banning old players in the forums just because we dont agree with your actions? Take or leave it, free idea. charging for the next. you are welcome

  3. #33
    Utopia Talk Moderator Allanon's Avatar
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    Don't break the rules, we won't ban you from the forums. Next idea?
    "The phrase... 'Who's your daddy?'... comes to mind"

    Please make any complaints or requests regarding moderation to myself directly or a member of the Game Administration staff. Complaints in threads will be purged as per forum policy

  4. #34
    Post Fiend Excalibus's Avatar
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    Why not allow us (the users) to select our 'preferred language' and have all communications and game texts then translated on the fly, the game texts could be hard coded in each language, in fact I personally think it would be something that people who speak different languages would be willing to help with... so then when you create an account you are asked what is your preferred language and then have a disclaimer that other users messages and so on in other languages will be translated to their preferred language so there may be errors in translation... It would be a step in the right direction, heck if you talk to google they might even let you use their babelfish engine as part of it...

    How will that work with kd chat box, well it would add more load probably as the user sends their message to the box and then it goes through the translation system before showing in other peoples boxes in their preferred language...

    Perhaps just have it apply to in game messages not the kd chat box then...

    As for advertising the game, I am a firm believer in getting the engine working well how you want it to before advertising, but don't take too long whatever you do... It has to be mobile / tablet friendly that is a certainty, more intergration (read this as EASIER integration with umunk) OR better yet, incorporate the features UMUNK and UPOOPU offer within actual game, give us a data storage facility built right into the engine, show us enemy ops on our team mates in the new kingdom espionage tab, show us our own kingdoms province intel in that tab too so we can see when a team mate is taking a pounding OP wise or is in dire need of help but is unable to ask etc... It would help alot IMHO to expand the information available to monarchs and stewards on their own team.

    Back on topic, once you are happy with the engine, then spend the credits to place an advertising campaign on google... IMHO that will reach the widest audience.

  5. #35
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    Smaller kingdoms i played for 53 ages started age 2. Back then was problem to get the one you wanted to play with in same kingdom that have been fixad. But absolut rvrn with 150k players getting 25 good active players was Hard, and now with the small amount of players its pretty Much impossible. Lower kd players amount to 10-15 will make the game feel bygger and new alliances can be forged and new enenemys be Made!
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  6. #36
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    And then more older players can quit. Making smaller kds as has been said the last 20 or so times doesn’t magicallt make new monarchs . Bad monarchs run off many new players alsowho don’t try to teach new players because a lot of the time they don’t know the game themselves. Small kds it’s more of a who wants this more than who knows what to do.

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  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by KemoZabee View Post
    Smaller kingdoms i played for 53 ages started age 2. Back then was problem to get the one you wanted to play with in same kingdom that have been fixad. But absolut rvrn with 150k players getting 25 good active players was Hard, and now with the small amount of players its pretty Much impossible. Lower kd players amount to 10-15 will make the game feel bygger and new alliances can be forged and new enenemys be Made!
    People always shoot this down, but I'd like to add nuance to the idea. I think you could tier kingdom province count.

    There's always a curve in these things, but the old kingdoms tend to flow around the same sizes. There's more fluctuation in the rankings than actual kingdom size. The 25s already bottom feed, so that's no different. And we all kind of agree the bigger kingdoms are run better based in them taking the game too seriously.

    If the quest of lower count kingdom advocates is to improve the quality of their kingdom then the mechanics are almost there. This is actually the kind of thing alliances can be designed around. Like weight divisions. The only barrier is the cost of using the wall. I'd prefer to see the penalty removed, but if a casual war kingdom alliance was made then one condition could be all participants use the wall. It might go against what the devs want, but this is how we get to know each other.

    To Task:

    This is the most requested change I see from the lower tier. I'm frankly tired of the idea being shot down by theorists about what may or may not happen. I'm an advocate of happy people. Even if the quest is misguided, it's a positive thing to get the mystery and speculation out of the way and get to real experiences.

    I believe in the 25ers but I'll be the first to tell you I enjoy playing in shells. If I enjoy playing in shell kingdoms, how can it be so alien for a sizable number of kingdoms to want a reduction in province counts/kingdom?

    We'll never get over bottom feeders unless you are in the habit of kicking in the teeth of the powerful at your own risk. I do, but most won't. So I see kingdom province count in a tier system as a noninvasive. Like i said, we have the mechanics to do it now. Don't be afraid to get on the horn and ask around.

    You want to go to 15?
    We will if you do.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 17-12-2017 at 00:06.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

  8. #38
    Post Fiend newatthis's Avatar
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    There is similar game than utopia. It's broken, buggy, n the admin will go awol for months. The admin makes a lot of money. I know one player who spends $1k per-age n there are a lot of ppl like him. Like I said the game is broken and buggy. Even few players can hack into the system. However it's very user friendly. The menus in the game is easy to understand. Unlike utopia, you don't need to open kd page, the thievery page, set up kd cordinate, take som, then go to war page, only to make one hit. The thing about utopia is, everytime I ask someone from there to play utopia with me, their answer is always same. Utopia is very hard to play and not really mobile friendly. Tbh everytime i'm at war i use my phone n it takes over 5 minutes to hit. A lot slower than ppl who use computer. N that is frustrating for ppl like me. N i dont understand why my kd page wont show who among my kd mates have army home or not. I can see my kd mates spells and I can see my enemy army on their kd page but not my kdmates army? It is absurd. Please fix and simplify the game interface n menus. That's how you increase player base. Mechanism of utopia is a lot better than any similar game. It is the menus that kill off the mood to play.

  9. #39
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    "This is the most requested change I see from the lower tier. I'm frankly tired of the idea being shot down by theorists about what may or may not happen. I'm an advocate of happy people. Even if the quest is misguided, it's a positive thing to get the mystery and speculation out of the way and get to real experiences.

    I believe in the 25ers but I'll be the first to tell you I enjoy playing in shells. If I enjoy playing in shell kingdoms, how can it be so alien for a sizable number of kingdoms to want a reduction in province counts/kingdom? "
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Yes Strato they want kingdoms sizes reduced because they refuse to recruit people into their kingdoms or they cant run a kingdom well enough to keep the people they have. The argument is always going to be to the extent that if i cant do it i dont want anyone else to either. Not 1 person came into this game knowing how to play it.We all learned and it doesnt happen over night .Some despite playing for years still have no idea WTF they are doing .

    Monsters

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  10. #40
    Post Fiend Poopsie's Avatar
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    Can Pardon be given to those who were banned previously? Maybe they've changed. Bring back those good players and maybe this game will be back to its fun life.

  11. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Poopsie View Post
    Can Pardon be given to those who were banned previously? Maybe they've changed. Bring back those good players and maybe this game will be back to its fun life.
    Are you proposing we bring bartus back? I would second this motion... or am I about to get banned for mentioning him now..
    “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
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  12. #42
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    I think these things have been brought up by others already, but I'll throw my 2 cents in. I think the biggest things that need to happen with Utopia to make it more appealing to a new audience are it needs to cleaned up, simplified and it needs to be mobile friendly. I think all of these things kind of go hand in hand.

    Mobile friendly is, I believe the biggest first step that needs to be taken. Mobile Devices, phones and tablets are how people access the internet now. I know a lot people that either don't own laptops/desktops or very rarely use them. Everyone uses their phone, all the time. Which would be great for a game like Utopia where you need to log in at least a few times per day. Logging in and getting done what you need to may only take a minute or so, like building up the acres you just captured when they come in, but often they can be at very inconvenient times, such as the middle of the work day or whatever. A lot of people work in offices and maybe are sitting in front of a computer for much of the day and can be that active, but I venture to guess that more people are not in that situation than are (such as myself). That's where having the game as a mobile app comes in real handy. Everybody has access, all day. Everyone can find a minute or two, even at work to log on and build those acres, cast that spell etc etc.

    Other benefits of a mobile app I see are that the icon is there on your phone screen all the time. Seeing that icon is a constant reminder that you have a province to take care of, I think this would help in keeping new players around. On top of that, apps can send you notifications. It would be great to be able to get a pop up notification on your phone telling you that you just got attacked, or your kingdom just went to war. Its a strategy that all the social media apps use to keep you interested and keep you coming back. I think utopia needs to take advantage of it as well. The final advantage of the game being in app form is that you have a built in way to distribute it, advertise it, a way for people who have never heard of the game to find it. That's the app stores.

    Tied in with a Utopia game app, is my thought that the game needs to be "cleaned up" or simplified. I'm not necessarily saying that the mechanics or learning curve of the game need to be simplified. The fact of the matter is that the game right now is clunky. The interface is clunky and inefficient. Its much easier to play this game on a laptop/desktop computer than it is a phone or tablet. There is a lot of clicking back and forth between pages to get things done, especially attacks. I basically need to use my laptop when attacking because I need to open multiple tabs as well as have notepad open so that I can gather intel on multiple targets, save the data in notepad, compare the data, go back and look at the KD's again, compare which ones I think are more likely to retal etc etc. It can become quite a process. Things like upoopu help tremendously in collecting and organizing the data, but why isn't that built into the game by default? Why do I have to click back and forth between thievery and war room to relook at intel ops because I can't remember all those numbers off the top of my head. I don't know that this can entirely be resolved on a mobile platform but I do think the whole interface can be streamlined a lot to make it much easier for computer as well as mobile users.

    My final thought on things is that the look of the game needs to be updated. The "graphics" need to improve. The game is ugly, it looks like it was designed in 1995. The black background is not aesthetically pleasing. Its kind of depressing. Brighten things up a bit, add some imagery to the background. Add some artistic flourishes to the interface. The Utopia logo serpents are reminiscent of celtic art, add some of that as borders to the side bars and separations on pages. To actually log in and get to my throne page I have to click through at least three different webpages for some reason. If I absolutely have to do that, add some illustrations and pictures of the world I'm about to enter. Ya know, knights, orcs, dragons etc. The art on the front of the Warcraft 2 box comes to mind here, for those old enough to remember it.

    Those are my recommendations as an off again, on again player. I've played Dominion, Planetarion and Utopia over the years, since I was in middle school. I really like this type of game. That's what keeps me coming back. The things I talk about above are the main reasons I keep dropping out. I'm an adult now and I don't have the time like I did in middle school. I need to be able to play this game quickly and efficiently and on the go during my day to day life. If I cant stay active as a person that really likes this style of game, good luck getting new players in any real numbers.

  13. #43
    I like to post Sheister's Avatar
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    What is being done to increase the player base?

    Making top feed gains insane, making war bonuses imba. Making the game essentially nothing close to rational or balanced.

    I think that is about what sums it up.
    "having fun warring when you have whoring and number 1 as a goal is totally pointless..." - Korp
    "while I heart shiester when we both play serious and are in the same kingdom, I hate shiester on the forums and pretty much disagree with everything he says. Even he knows this." - Flogger asking me out on a date

    The devs have made a decision to kill competitive utopia and have thereby killed my interest with it.

  14. #44
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    i do not know route the devs have in mind for expanding the player base (bring back oldies or get new players - or both) but imo genesis does very little for both. at best it may bring some oldies back (in genesis mostly and fewer into wol) and retain some of them, but same, mostly in genesis and not in wol. it would ofc please the current player base but this is another story.

    imo if a new server would be made with attracting new players into the game in mind, it should be an (initially) prov based sever with unlocking features (achievements or whatever). as in you start with a very "basic" uto prov: builds: farms, stables, banks, homes or something; only specs no mages not thieves etc etc and you progressively unlock every other aspect (you can insert tutorials there). you prolly get where i'm aiming here, system is used in other games.

    fast forward: at a point you insert "alliances" between single provs and allow cooperative action (aid, intra-casting etc). then at a later point the kd/monarch/relation options and migrating to wol.

    the above is a very sketchy picture, but imo that would be better and more useful for new players than genesis.

  15. #45
    Regular freaka's Avatar
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    <Removed>
    Last edited by DavidC; 17-12-2017 at 17:54. Reason: Deletion disputes should be conducted via email to Support
    You're a team player, a save the day super hero... I hate people like you.

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