According to this woman who works as a community relations person for SWG, 65% of SWG players use the forums.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2114515

The average people using the forums is around 1300-1500 (inlcuding guests).

So if we are generous and use the 65% of the playerbase using the forums you have around 2300 subscribers.

We can double it to include people with multiple accounts or even triple it and you have 6900 subscribers.

We also know that around 3000 unique characters played the Battlefields when they first launched (this includes alts).

Can someone correct me if my math is wrong?

Do they consider people who just read it but don't post to be active, or just people who post. I always thought people who actually post are just a tiny fraction of people who read/ don't read official forums.

Originally posted by iamspamicus

Do they consider people who just read it but don't post to be active, or just people who post. I always thought people who actually post are just a tiny fraction of people who read/ don't read official forums.

The number I used included guests, which also uses people who aren't even subbed.

Originally posted by Gravez 

 

The number I used included guests, which also uses people who aren't even subbed.

Very interesting And RECENT as well. Good find mate.

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

If the rep was wrong would that make SOE liars?

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

Is there any news coming out of SWG lately that bodes well for it?

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

65% of 13 people isn't really that many people... :p

Originally posted by Gravez

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

 

If the rep was wrong would that make SOE liars?

LOL. Like that would be a first!

But no, that might just make the rep lacking in knowledge or speaking out of place or simply that the game will be dead soon. 65% player / forum ratio puts the number of subs at under 10,000 and I haven't seen too many P2P games last all that long with those kind of numbers. For anyone that plays SWG, let's hope that they misspoke.

Originally posted by madeux

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

 

65% of 13 people isn't really that many people... :p

Right?!

I should clarify though that when I said "huge number" I really meant "huge ratio."

Originally posted by FlaFringe

Originally posted by Gravez

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

 

If the rep was wrong would that make SOE liars?

LOL. Like that would be a first!

But no, that might just make the rep lacking in knowledge or speaking out of place or simply that the game will be dead soon. 65% player / forum ratio puts the number of subs at under 10,000 and I haven't seen too many P2P games last all that long with those kind of numbers. For anyone that plays SWG, let's hope that they misspoke.

That's Pex sitting next to her so I think if she was wrong he would have corrected her.
 

Originally posted by Gravez

Originally posted by FlaFringe

Originally posted by Gravez

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

 

If the rep was wrong would that make SOE liars?

LOL. Like that would be a first!

But no, that might just make the rep lacking in knowledge or speaking out of place or simply that the game will be dead soon. 65% player / forum ratio puts the number of subs at under 10,000 and I haven't seen too many P2P games last all that long with those kind of numbers. For anyone that plays SWG, let's hope that they misspoke.

That's Pex sitting next to her so I think if she was wrong he would have corrected her.
 

Possibly. On the other hand he might not have been thinking about it as it went right over his head. Maybe they meant 6.5% or .65% and neither one caught the error. You can never tell.

Again, let's assume that they are correct...bye bye SWG :(

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

I think 10% is grossly low, especially for an MMO mate. This isn't a console game and this is not the society it once was...Internet surfing is the norm. Do any of you use a printed thesaurus any longer? Google is an everyday term. I don't believe for a moment that most MMO players aren't generally also forum readers. My 11yr old knows it's the 1st place to look even. Not all of them POST or register, which is why taking into account the "guests" was so important. I believe 65% long before I believe 10%.

Originally posted by TUX426

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

 

I think 10% is grossly low, especially for an MMO mate. This isn't a console game and this is not the society it once was...Internet surfing is the norm. Do any of you use a printed thesaurus any longer? Google is an everyday term. I don't believe for a moment that most MMO players aren't generally also forum readers. My 11yr old knows it's the 1st place to look even. Not all of them POST or register, which is why taking into account the "guests" was so important. I believe 65% long before I believe 10%.

It's quite possible. I was basing my numbers off of my own experience working on the COH and EQ2 boards where 1% was the given norm. I hate to bring up WOW but just take a look at their boards. We know that they have at least over 10 million subs but no where near 6-7 million forum users.

Again, I could be wrong as I was only going by what I know to be true (as of 2 years ago). It would be hard to believe that they would openly admit to how bad the status of the game is to the public but so-be-it if it's true.

I don't think it means 65% of the users are on the forums concurrently, but that 65% of the playerbase participates in the forums. 

That is an abnormally high amount of participation, but that happens when a games population declines to the point of nothing but the highly dedicated players.  I've seen devs say the average is around 10-20% in various games. 

Looking at any post in the swg forums and you can see the evidence in how many posters have highly detailed custom picture signatures.  Those are not casual players anymore, but only those who are super invested in the game.

Originally posted by Daffid011

I don't think it means 65% of the users are on the forums concurrently, but that 65% of the playerbase participates in the forums. 

That is an abnormally high amount of participation, but that happens when a games population declines to the point of nothing but the highly dedicated players.  I've seen devs say the average is around 10-20% in various games. 

Looking at any post in the swg forums and you can see the evidence in how many posters have highly detailed custom picture signatures.  Those are not casual players anymore, but only those who are super invested in the game.

FlaFringe, Daffid explains it perfectly why I feel the 65% could be quite accurate with this game. The 10%...meh...maybe a few years ago, but not even for most PC games these days. The games dev site is the 1st thing I tend to check...and I don't think I'm abnormal in that behavior...am I?! (some behavior, yes...not this though ;) ).

Your point about them openly admitting just how low the population is is quite curious though. 2+2 isn't that difficult to put together... Had they done this when the playerbase was on the RISE, I could have understood it...but on the heels of closing 12 servers and a declining playerbase?! Just odd.

Originally posted by Gravez  

If the rep was wrong would that make SOE liars?

Not necessarily.  Just wrong.

Maybe she meant 65% of forum users actually play the game.  Oh wait . . .

This is so funny- $OE regularly states (via Mods) on their EQ2 boards (at least they used to) state that ONLY a very small minority post on boards and its usually the most negative people who post. (they say this every time  the Devs do something stupid that causes a huge backlash and they are unable to lock posts quickly enough) go to the Forums there and you will see this Mantra repeated alot.

$OE is just plain lost... I actually feel sorry for the Mods who have to deal with the masses and try to explain $OE's "buisness" descisions that they themselves had no part of. I really feel for those who have invested so much time playing an $OE game.

NEVER AGAIN.

65% of people who played an SOE game for more than 6 months will never give SOE money again... True fact.

When Chris Cao had his meltdown a few years ago, he tossed out the 20% figure.  Helios chimed in at the tail end of the thread that Cao's numbers were off and the amount of SWG players that used the forums was much higher.  Raph Koster has mentioned a few times that SWG always had much greater forum participation among players than other MMOs.

The 65% number is likely accurate.

Originally posted by FlaFringe

65% is an absolutely huge number for player / forum users in an MMO. In all of my years of playing MMOs I have never seen the number reach higher than 10% for any game. For example, roughly two years ago EQ2 had just over 1%.

I'm not saying that you're wrong or that the rep was wrong, just saying that I find it hard to believe. Also, if that is the case then that doesn't really bode well for SWG at all.

Personally i didnt register to the SWG forums just before/after the CU. Before that i only used the forums to read up on professions and gameplay. Most people i play with on LotrO is not registered to the LotrO forums either. I think most mature and/or casual players never do. They usually get all the info they need via guild/kinship.