So after all these years the game has a second, faster-paced server designed to appeal to new players. Yet on these forums there are only old threads about bad graphics or elitist gameplay, and a rather incomprehensible thread about beekeeping. On the official forms the only active English-language thread seems to be an argument between a bitter and unhappy old-timer and two teenagers who don't actually know much about the game.

So what is the state of the game? My understanding is that there are only about 300 active players, which is shockingly few. . . but I wonder if anyone is setting up shop on the new server and how it's affecting the game overall. Anyone?

This is the body of an email Pharoah sent out.

Citizens of Egypt,

Just a short newsletter about a new "social experiment" that we're about to try. But first, I need to talk to you about "Dunbar's Number."
Anthropologist Robin Dunbar hypothesized that there are certain stable sizes that groups of humans tend to naturally form. Depending on the type of group (extended families, cultural lineage groups, tribes), the numbers cluster around 50, 150, and 2500 (upper limit.)
We're toward the end of our fourth Tale in the Desert (preparations are underway for ATITD V!), but I've noticed a pattern in each Tale: Our peak subscriber count has ranged from 1750 to 2500, always about 30 days in, and regardless of the peak, we settle down to a population of around 1100 subscribers (slightly lower this Tale, slightly higher in Tale 2) where we remain for most of the Tale.
Could there be a "Dunbar's Number" for A Tale in the Desert? If there is - if the game design itself leads to a population of around 1100 subscribers, then growing "the" ATITD community may be the wrong approach - we should try to create a second ATITD community! And if this experiment succeeds, a third and more.
So to test that theory, we're going to start a second ATITD IV shard, beginning on February 20. I'll have more details about "Shard Bastet" next week, but if you've always wanted to get in on the beginning of a Tale, this is a great opportunity to do just that.
I'd be most interested to hear thoughts on this from those that have been away from ATITD for a while.

On the Nile,
Teppy

 Right. Subscribers do not equal active players. From the ATitD forums: "I've seen various estimates of current active population, usually in the 200 to 300 range." My question was whether players had experienced a bump in activity due to opening a new server, not whether anyone was aware of a press release that put a spin on subscription numbers in order to present the game in a positive light.

 Well after getting snapped at for "necroing" a post I began to try the game.  I'm in Stillwater on the new Bastet server.  there seems to be about 50 active people in our region.  we've heard of another region to the south and they beat us to unlocking mining by about 10 minutes so they must have a similar population in terms of man power.

I'm not sure how many are on the old server, and I don't know how many are even on our server.  But the population seems good and there's plenty of help when you need it.  We had a group dig yesterday and we got many stones.

Not sure how much this answers your question, but that's a report from the "front lines"