server-population
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Final Fantasy XI devs threaten players with forced server moves
Server populations in massively multiplayer online games can be a delicate balancing act. Popular servers are very much the hubs of these games, where players can easily forge bonds with one another in a lively social environment. But log into a desolate server and you'll wonder what the point of playing an MMO is when there's no one else around. Many developers try to balance server populations by offering free server transfers, and sometimes bonuses of one type or another as a reward for making the jump. This has been an issue for developer Square Enix with Final Fantasy XI and the overcrowded Odin server. However, their efforts to disperse the crowds have been unsuccessful, leading them to take a more drastic measure: forced emigration. FFXI-centric website Petfoodalpha suggests that Square Enix's deportation solution (or alternately, world splitting) creates more problems than it solves. Fusionx writes, "Surely there has to be a better way to deal with this than randomly distributing people from the server to others. Friendships would be broken, linkshells would be destroyed. More importantly though for Square Enix: They would lose subscribers." When a developer identifies a high server population as being a problem, and when players don't take advantage of free server transfers or other incentives, do the devs really have any other choice but to take away choice?
WAR's cross-server scenario queues akin to socialism
Warhammer Online, despite a very smooth launch, has a few nagging problems that have cropped up in its first weeks of life. Chief among its growing pains is the problem of scenario queuing issues, both on barren servers and the ones that are practically choking on players. Snafzg over at The Greenskin asks if creating a better situation for all Warhammer Online players must entail some degree of sacrifice made by all through cross-server scenario queues, likening the solution to socialism. A situation where the 'good servers' sacrifice for the benefit of 'problem servers'. Snafzg writes, "I'm not saying socialism is bad... but I wonder if there are alternative solutions that don't punish (too strong a word?) people on good servers for the benefit of those on bad servers. I don't envy Mythic here... Make one crowd happy only to piss off another?" He also points out that the core issues of server population imbalance impact the game on many levels, and suggests some potential solutions for both overpopulation and underpopulation issues. If you're not happy with the scenario frequency in Warhammer Online, give Snafzg's "Cross-Server Scenario Socialism..." post a read, and let him know if you agree with his views on the issue. Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out our Warhammer guides: Massively's Character Creation Guide and our WoW Player's Guide to Warhammer. Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Cascading population drops the true MMO killer
One of the most depressing situations in any MMO is coming to terms with the fact that you feel isolated and alone, even in the midst of your massively multiplayer world. According to Eric Heimburg of Elder Game, this phenomena happens not because of any specific reason like a bad patch or lack of new instanced content, but because a server population has dipped below the critical mass it takes to keep a game functioning as intended, and players start fleeing in droves. Everquest II, he suggests, is in need of some server mergers if they hope to keep their population numbers above that important number.One wonders what is supposed to be done with a game like Tabula Rasa when servers drift into dangerously low territory. With only four servers to its name, it might actually be more harmful to the size of the player base to simply concede that a merger is necessary. Players have never been terribly resistant to bad news, at least if forums are any indication, so might a server merger act as another negative point in a cascading failure? At what point do you leave an MMO?
Guildwatch: Don't stop believin'
We're just going to go ahead and declare this Journey masterpiece the official song of raiders -- apparently one of our guilds in the Downed section this week found a lot of inspiration in these rockin' lyrics, and so for the rest of you, here you go. Just like your guild's attempts on Kael, it goes on and on and on and on. Be thankful -- we could have embedded this raid video, which doesn't quite have the same inspirational music to it.Click the link below to check out this week's news of guild drama, downings, and recruiting notices -- we've got everything from more app drama to a ton of great downed news from regular tipsters. In fact, a few people told us this week that seeing their guild in Guildwatch actually got them raiding better than ever -- if you want your guild here (and have something interesting to tell us), drop a line to wowguildwatch@gmail.com.
Are Tabula Rasa's server populations up?
Ever since Tabula Rasa's now-infamous patch 1.5 went live, I've noticed a trend most curious. In the months since the game launched, the server populations did something of a quick spiraling crash. They started out at consistently high, and over the course of the month gradually fell to mostly medium, then only occasionally medium, and since probably December, the only one of the game's servers to rise out of the doldrums of a low server population has been Centaurus, a fact easily ascribed to its position as the sole European server. But after patch 1.5, I've consistently seen the three U.S. servers operating at medium server population. Are we really to believe that the population went up after the release of the game's most disastrous client patch to date?It's certainly not impossible that the game has seen an infusion of new blood. Several people at Massively HQ couldn't resist the allure of getting the collector's edition when it appeared online for cheap. I think it's more likely however that the Destination Games team, prodded by recent reports of the game's failure, simply changed the criteria for what qualifies as a "medium" or "low" server population. This would have the effect of making players believe that the game has actually much better off than it already was by manipulating data that's available only to them. And as a morale booster for the player population, I have to say it works. Even though I'm wise to the fact that the amount of players probably hasn't changed significantly, it's nice to log into the game and see that my server isn't entirely barren. Is it ethical? That's debatable. Does it work? Most certainly.
How to choose a server
Wilhelm of AGN is one of the many players setting sail in the PotBS pre-order preboarding, and he's dealing with one of the hardest decisions MMO players ever make: choosing a server. OK, maybe it's not really that hard (choosing a class probably is), but there is an art to it.The first thing that determines where you want to play in a multi-realm MMO has to be your previous in-game friends-- if there's anyone already in the game that you need to play with, then you want to make sure to be on the same server they are (as Wilhelm says, "go play with your friends" trumps his rules entirely). After that, everyone's got their criteria. Me, I like a server with a little higher-than-normal population-- it can't be so high that it's overcrowded, but I don't want to play on a low-population server. These are massively multiplayer games, after all. Wilhelm says not to pick the first or last server on the list-- clearly, he's a man who avoids extremes, and probably the highest populations as well.After that, it's as arbitrary as you want it to be. Wilhelm goes for the most complicated name, but usually by the time I've punched in my criteria, the game only gives me one recommendation, and then I take it. Any other factors that go into choosing a server when you first fire up an MMO?
