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5/20/09 6:57:40 AM#41
congrats SOE for the sucess. Hopefully this will give us junkies alot of better mmos that takes FRs concept to a new level.
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5/20/09 12:57:17 PM#42
Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw I just checked the Free Realms site out of curiosity. It says that everyone with station access gets a Free Realms subscription, whether they want one or not. There's no indication on the page that these "subscriptions" have not been counted towards the alleged million. One SOE rep (Pex I believe) saying that they only counted subs that actually created a character just doesn't cut it for me. I find it hard to believe that they didn't simply count the number of subs registered to achieve their total. I don't believe them that they took the time to distinquish between subs that created a character, and subs that did not. They really had some bean counter sorting that out? I really doubt it. I've seen some very nice people (Tiggs) pass on outright false information for SOE probably because that is the information they themselves were given from those up the food chain. I'm sorry, but claming a million subs and then having people find that they've been unknowingly subscribed to the game really seems to cast doubt on the claim, in my opinion. P.S. I happen to want SOE to be a successful company, but happen to think they should change the way they do business to achieve this goal. This wouldn't be an issue at all, if a number of people didn't find suprisingly that they had been subscribed to Free Realms outside of their awareness. |
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5/20/09 3:11:26 PM#43
as I posted in the other locked thread, the 1 million accts that were "counted" are being credited with 200 Station Cash
go check if you have an additional 200 Station Cash, if you believe you were among the million (wrongly or not) |
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Pex wrote:
believe what you will however the logic of them putting a link to a game which requires zero subscription fees is not hard to understand really. I have a lot of games in my station account with links in them I dont actually use. Aside from the fact that the bulk of the characters signing up and remaining seem to be from places like miniclip.com. I guess I dont see it. If people want to be really really paranoid over a free game with characters then so be it. Reality says in the scheme of things 1 million free accounts in a free game is just a number. If people want to take it further so be it. However sony as a company changed awhile back for those that took notice. Its time to face some reality here and realize that free realms is a good game with 1 million subscribed customers and that number was accounted for by counting characters created not station pass accounts...
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5/20/09 9:33:09 PM#45
Originally posted by ummax I already commented on Pex' claims, so I'm not sure why you thought I needed to see them again in bold. Did you miss what I already said about this statement? I've seen a very nice person (Tiggs) say things on behalf of SOE that turned out not to be true. Regarding the game being good, I actually think it's beautifully done. Pause for a moment and let that sink in if you think this is nothing more than an anti-SOE rant. The graphics are amazing, the variety of gameplay available is exceptional, and the system requirements are very reasonable. It looks like it has a lot of potential. The only thing I happened to question is why people have found themselves listed as "active" subscribers to a game they do not play. This observation seems to cast doubt on the subscription claims that seem to be used as a marketting tool. In one article I read, the alleged population figures come immediately before an advertisement to pay for a premium subscription. I think that this game has a great chance of being a success if SOE marketting and management don't manage to screw it up, like I believe they have done with other SOE titles. Specifically, I think management needs to avoid dramatic decisions that alienate players (and developers). I also think that marketting needs to pay attention to accuracy. I don't think that's been a strong suit for SOE historically--my opinion of course, based on my personal experience. |
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5/20/09 9:35:35 PM#46
what if i dont want to be counted :P |
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5/20/09 11:58:25 PM#47
Originally posted by SoulMiner01
i dont. other companies have to work hard to maintain a playerbase. look at turbine and lotro. they work extra hard maintaining and expanding that game. soe just takes the easy way out.
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5/21/09 4:32:36 PM#48
Originally posted by viralz
i dont. other companies have to work hard to maintain a playerbase. look at turbine and lotro. they work extra hard maintaining and expanding that game. soe just takes the easy way out.
A friend of mine who surprisingly discovered he had an active Free Realms account summed up his feelings this way: "What makes it look sleazy to me is the fact that they don't tell people they have an active FreeRealms subscription. People just happen upon that info when they go look at their accounts. Which makes SOE look like they're up to their old snake oil tricks. Why would you go to the trouble of activating however many hundreds of thousands (if not more) accounts AND NOT TELL THEM? It's like saying 'we want those numbers, but we don't actually want them to play it'." Again, I can't really blame this guy for feeling this way. I think a lot of people would be tempted to say, "hey what gives here?" especially with all the press about the overwhelming number of alleged subs so quickly achieved. If SOE wanted to avoid stirring up controversy (again) I think they simply should not have activated all of these people outside of their awareness right before their big subscription announcement. Bad timing? Poor communication? I think so, and we've seen that before from the same management crew. Just maybe they'll learn from this (though they don't seem to do well at learning from mistakes) and get out of the way so that developers can see their vision become an unquestionable success. The game development really does appear well done. /tiphat to the creative work |
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Yeah so now back to the actual game and not conspiracy theories... Smed posted they are now up to 2 million
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5/27/09 12:51:49 PM#50
Originally posted by ummax
OK, I didn't really question the 1 million mark even since other games have done it this last year, but at the same time didn't find it beyond reason that soe was counting people who were not actually playing. Believable, but not something I felt worth speculating on. Two million makes me question the validity of these claims or think there is something not going well behind the scenes.
The game still has the same 10 servers it did when they claimed 1 million registered players. Smed is claiming they have doubled the registered players from 1 million to 2 million in a matter of days, but the number of servers is the same. You can log on any time of the day and you will find 10 servers listed as low population except for an hour or two a day when server 1 will be listed as medium. 2 million registered players and the best that can be mustered is 1 server hitting medium for an hour or two?
There are only so many possibilities to explain it assuming SOE is telling the truth.
Considering that most mmos see a very high "log in" rate during their release and expansion release and several mmo makers have put the average primetime log in around 15-20% of the overall game population during normal times, it looks to be a fair guess that free realms would be higher than that right now. However, just assuming there are 2 million people trying the game and only 1 out of every 10 registered player logs in at prime time (10%), that would mean each server has roughly 20,000 people on it at once. I doubt the gameworld is anywhere close enough to handle that type of population and I also doubt the servers could handle that load especially with all of the instancing it does. I'm not suggesting the game has 100% retention, but the game is under a month old, has doubled in size from 1 million to 2 million within a matter of DAYS and yet not a single new server to help the load of an extra million registered players? Something is not right.
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you are aware if the number of people in north america and the mass marketing push they have on right? I can imagine it easily. How many users does yahoo have? I highly doubt they had to cheat as many people suggest in fact in face of the amount of money behind their tv ads, in store free trial cards and little free gifts given out on huge social networks like facebook. I would find it hard not to imagine. I think its just a case of people not grasping the actual size of what they have chosen to do and the fact that a lot of people feel that sony is a dead company. |
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5/27/09 2:09:39 PM#52
I don't question the size of the marketing push or the population of north america in the slightest. Not even that a mmo can attract 2 million players in a short time period. In fact I am sure that is very possible. What I am questioning is how do you combine 2 million people in under 30 days for a brand new game onto 10 servers and still have them constantly show low population?
Something, whatever you chose that something to be, just doesn't add up. |
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5/27/09 2:39:46 PM#53
Originally posted by Daffid011
Registration is done through the website... it's concievable that alot of the people that registered never bothered to play the game. Short attention spans are what you learn to expect when targeting tweens is your business model.
I hope the game sticks around for a while though. I decided to try it out after reading about the trading card game, and against all odds it's actually pretty deep and fun, even if the damn game doesn't register a victory and marks me as losing matches half the time. Cooking is also fun if you're into puzzles and minigames. The action and fighting minigames seem to be made of wow refuse and bad physics though. SOE may have missed their targeting demographic. They should have been after the 20something TCG nerds and Bejeweled playing housewives. |
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what something am i choosing that doesn't add up? or is that sentance just an incomplete thought try registering and see how hard it is. Yeah its conceivable 2 million accounts does not equal 2 million people playing on the servers at all times it equals 2 million people who signed up and made a character and probably did the tutorial and that is all it means. You can't see how they can get that? I sure can. |
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5/27/09 4:25:13 PM#55
I'm saying something is not right and whatever that "something" is, I am leaving to up to who ever read this to draw their own conclusion since I just don't know for sure what that something is. I have registered and it was fairly easy once the server was online.
Think about it this way. 1,000,000 new players since march 15th to march 27th = 12 days 1,000,000 new players divided by 12 days = 83,000 new players each day. 83,000 new players per day, divided by 10 servers = 8,300 new players per server, per day. This does not even factor in the first million players who are already registered.
Just think about how congested the starter area would be with 8,300 new players STARTING every single day. That means that every single day each server is getting 3-5 times the peak populations of most other mmos just in the starter areas. That is every single day at just the starting area for only the new players. Go stand at the starting area and tell me if you see hundreds and hundreds of new players start the game every hour. That doesn't even factor in the previous MILLION players who are already signed up. How can a game add that many players every single day and not need more servers, let alone display all the servers at low populations?
Logistically is does not make sense and something appears to be out of sync with the claims being made. The world isn't big enough to handle that many players starting every hour and I seriously doubt the servers could handle it either, especially with the volume of instancing this game does. This isn't something that can just be whisked away by changing the display criteria for Low/Medium/High/Full on the server population screen, because of the overwhelming ratio between accounts to servers still exists.
Do you really not find anything questionable about 200,000 accounts per server? |
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No I don't and there are reasons why, but no matter what anyone says to someone who really likes to overthink everything no matter how much information you are giving you will create your own reality which is this for you. - the first 1 million users is apparently padded and that is how they got there no matter what anyone says it will never change no matter what anyone says it will never change so why bother. Your correct I do think its a valid number and no one is making it up or padding anything I have enough reasons as to why I think so and they all make sense in relation to the sign up process, tutorial process the sites they are funneling traffic from and the age group that makes up at least 46% of their population among other things. |
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5/27/09 5:13:05 PM#57
Originally posted by Daffid011
An account can be created and authenticated without downloading the game client or playing the game. Is it possible for let's say 500,000 players to register and then get sidetracked doing other things? And another 400,000 or so to run around for a half an hour and then get board and quit? It may be a bit of a stretch, but look at their target demographic. Tweens move like a swarm of ADD ridden locusts. The figure may be deceptive but it's not exactly false. Every other F2P MMO uses similar tactics. Subscription numbers are a vicious cycle in MMOS, a game with low numbers will have alot of trouble lureing in and keeping new players, so companies will paint their numbers in the most flattering way imagineable. Also, is Free Realms US only? Or are there EU/Asia servers as well? Tallying a total over various regions could also provide an explanation of where the phantom players went. |
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5/27/09 7:13:18 PM#58
Originally posted by ummax As I said earlier, I left the "something" up to those who read the information. You chose to put words in my mouth and assume to know what I think which is not only incorrect, but deflection. The fact is I didn't make any accusation that soe was padding number. I said it was possible, but at the time not worth speculating over, because I believed the 1 million claim. (look where I commented on it early in the thread without making the claims you say I did) I also never said the second million was a lie. That is something you chose to read from my calculations. You are incorrect on both of your accusations and your conclusion.
Yet despite your efforts to discuss me and not the issues, it doesn't change the logisitcs of the claims being almost impossible. I highly doubt the servers and the gameworld can handle 8,300 new players joining every single day. The bulk of which are school kids who would be trying the game out during daylight afterschool hours which would overwhelm the starting areas. Is it really overthinking a claim by doing some quick napkin math? 10 servers 2 million players 200,000 accounts per server 8,300 new players entering the starter area everyday.
That took all of ten minutes to figure out. It is raw data that has no agenda or opinions. It isn't being twisted into something it is not. The claim and the data seem to be very much in dissagreement with each other, which is why I say something isn't right. If you have reasons to make it look plausable by all means chime in, because if I am wrong I don't mind learning something new. |
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