Guys it's no question we are looking down the barrel at a switch off date for this game.

There are 15 tags or less now and we've broken the sub 600 countries playing with the bottom 60 countries never playing a turn means we are looking st around 530ish players. Every set there are mergers because smaller tags are praying ground for the big ones for easy land to ensure that title finish at any cost.

I want to keep this post AWAY from this tag is killin the game. Because that goes around and around and around and NOONE will admit their actions or their role in the switch off even after the html_public folder is removed.

I would like to know what pang and others are planning to do in the future? If nothing then I would at least like the courtesy given to know what the roadmap is if any.

Everyone knows we NEED more players, yet I don't see anyone doing or offering to do anything and every set players are quitting and tags are folding / merging but still loosing players.

All it takes is a merge and then a blindside and half the alliance members don't tag up again. And I don't care what anyone says the membership numbers in 1a have dropped from sub 1000, to sub 900, to sub 800 now we are down to 540...

When is it time to actually do something to fix this game. Yes it is a niche, but there would be at least 10,000 people ww oh would LOVE the niche. And I guarantee you it's not just the 'people' the reason we all keep playing because most people hate each other here and are just down right fluffers... You like someone and dislike them for something they said 10 years ago or something they said to someone else 8 years ago an now they must pay forever. You won't rest until they quit!

Anyways lets get constructive, we all invest too much time in this game to let is crash. If no one is willing to have a mature discussion, then either flick the switch today or let someone buy it and develop it where it should be. Enough excuses.

More people = everyone wins.

If you don't want more people to play = gtfo or create your own server of dominance for yourself. Or jus play mine craft!

Good post Fazer..However that doesn't stop me from wanting to farm you!

Good post.

Old topic is old

Truth: we are a dying breed.

No one is going to agree to make ee/e2025 a Facebook game. No one would agree to make an ipad/iPod/iPhone/android client (like global war, galaxycraft etc).

Either the current programmers of ee port the game to a new platform or one of our many talented programmers or wealthy players decide to pay for a port of the game and then you'll see some action. Until this happens the game will continuesly shrink.

Want the game to grow? Start an initiative for every player in the game to spread the game via word of mouth. That's how I ended up playing in 2000. And have been coming back on and off over the years .

fluffs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoBFhdeR9PE

File this with the spirit of the game fluff. Its in the broken record section.

I've already offered some options to pang via pm. I am still open to that. I guess the question for the mods / owners is this game has to mean more then 'a hobby or personal project' I know it's been with some of us for 10+ years and been there through many r/l situations and EE and the community has still been here.

That's exactly my point, it's time now that it becomes its own entity and to let It fly into its own ownership (in a sense) it's now not whats best for this player or this player it now needs to be what's best for 'Ee' otherwise at this rate we could switch the game off, and everyone would keep their own alliance forums and everyone would still be okay.

Just my thoughts..

@Sky_killa you have a place in this game too! Probably one at the bottom of the food chain along with suiciders but still a part. Haha

pang is partially wrong person to talk, you should talk with qz.

Thanks marshal1. Let me also be very clear that I am GRATEFUL for those who put their time energy and resources into bringing the game thus far. I understand what it takes to not only develop a platform, but also maintain and grow. So this isn't a hate on post on any one person.

If we could get the mods, owners, developers and all alliance leaders to have a conference with Fazer to set a platform in which the game can grow. If this could happen soon we will be fluffting members and the spirit of the game rules will be the pulse of this community. I will take the first step by creating a chatroom on gamesurge #bullfluff key: gfy

Honestly, how many times do we see complaints over hits on the boards? That is because the big problem is land. Small clans get killed over land disputes, newbies quit cause they get bottomfed to hell.

I would love to have a small clan with just a bunch of friends from rl but that is just asking to get destroyed/farmed so why even try? But the fun of a close knit group is what makes the game. Getting farmed/killed all the time is what kills it for people.

So, if the EE staff set up npc that run ok countries this provides new targets for land that will give the small guys a chance. Then if the newbies can enjoy the game with less chance of being beat down, they might invite their friends which helps the game grow. As long as the game admins are in charge of the bots then there shouldn't be bot wars necessary, but who knows, maybe warring alliances might like that.

Bottom line is that there aren't enough countries to give the established players good lg targets which should be a big part of the game. Only way I see to make more countries is to get more people or make npc. Clearly the broken record around here suggests that the getting more people is not working out very well right now. So go with option B.

The game is out dated. If land and culture were the issue we'd see growth in the single player servers. The developers COULD make improvements to the game to make it more attractive to prospective players but that fluff takes time and/or costs money.

If you want a more popular game, the fastest, and probably most efficient way to do it, is to throw some cash at the devs.

The end.

!
/me poops

It comes down to player numbers. The game could still survive as it is today with MORE players. More people means more land, more players means more alliances and LESS chance of any one clan being able to dominate and attempt to dictate how the rest of the players play the game...

Who are you the one to say that? Some pompous little pimple on my ass looking to step up in the world? Looking to be a big fish in a small pond? You suck at everything you do in this game, I can only imagine how glorious you are outside of this game.

Do us all a favor and delete your account and never return.

P.S. I just popped that pimple on my ass and it went down with more dignity that you'll ever have.

Unless this game has Facebook implementation (user base increases) or worthwhile meaningful updates (none of the changing the kr returns formula bullfluff and lessening the impact from suiciders horsefluff), the game is on a undeniable downward decline and it's just a matter of time before everyone gets tired of the same old fluff as they realize this game is no longer worth the real life time and effort in order to do well in this game.

Thats some real talk right there. Run tell dat.

Fazer you have posted some stupid ass fluff in this thread. Thats saying something coming from an asshole that is also a tard.

Jesus christ this topic is redundant and dull. Trife proved it by posting.

We all have to accept that this game isn't going to grow dramatically. They say all good things must come to an end.

Hi Fazer. I would like to debunk your myth that the game is shrinking.

Based on numbers from http://www.eestats.com, I went to look at the last 10 resets on Alliance, and noted the number of countries that are alive at the end of the reset (final scores).

2013: Set ending Jun 5: 748 countries
2013: Set ending Apr 5: 841 countries
2013: Set ending Feb 3: 881 countries
2012: Set ending Dec 4: 855 countries
2012: Set ending Oct 4: 860 countries
2012: Set ending Aug 4: 817
2012: Set ending Jun 4: 865
2012: Set ending Apr 4: 861
2012: Set ending Feb 3: 793
2011: Set ending Dec 4: 737

Moving forward, the numbers aren't going down on Alliance.

Now, I'm going to pull out the same statistic for the Primary server, where there are no tags, and hence you cannot blame "any one tag" for causing the game to be not fun:

2013: Set ending May 3: 982
2013: Set ending Mar 3: 1083
2012: Set ending Jan 1: 1089
2012: Set ending Nov 1: 1108
2012: Set ending Sep 1: 1067
2012: Set ending Jul 2: 1107
2012: Set ending May 2: 1153
2012: Set ending Mar 2: 937
2011: Set ending Jan 1: 772
2011: Set ending Nov 1: 889

Again, the numbers show that the number of players is trending up, even if a large number of them never leave protection. Player numbers slightly dropped in May-June last month in both servers - this could be related to the recent formula changes to building costs and other game changes.

To say that the game is shrinking due to one reset without looking at the overall trend over 2+ years is ludicrous. In fact, quite the opposite, many people have recently started to complain about login and cookie issues, and the top100 arena bonus. These are the real problems that are driving people away - the technical problems.

Now as far as the game goes, the stance that qz/pang have taken is that this game is a side-hobby. They have real jobs. They look at code all day at work, and usually the last thing they want to do after reaching home is look at even more code.

Now I'm not sure whether you are a programmer (as I am), but this is the same mindset that I have. I've declined to work on boxcar with pang before.

This game pays for itself, in that the google ads pays for the hosting (and a bit more), so as long as this carries on, there is little incentive to shut down the servers. However, with the community being somewhat toxic, there is also very little incentive to spread the game either, or incentives to work on it.

qz/pang could come out and prove me wrong (that there is a roadmap), but this is the way I've looked at things.

The game was altered to suit netters more making it much easier to farm people longer for more land and doing much more military damage. Weakening grabbing would help a lot.

Hi Req, it's not worth my time even responding. But what I would suggest is that you look to a window in your room, or perhaps even the door.. The door to the 'real world' where there is sunlight and real people and real relationships to tend too. I'd suggest for your own sake to get out of mums basement and get a real life. This is just a game.. I am certainly not looking to become a 'big fish in this small pond' as you refer to it.. This is just a game. Get outside and enjoy the sun... It's free so no need to get a job.. Perhaps you might even once outside get motivated to find real purpose too. But first steps, walk to the door and go outside and breathe.. There is hope for you yet. :)

use hashtags ! :)

#earthempires !

The culture is bad!! attitudes suck!! relationships are toxic!!

That describes every multi-player game in existence. The difference is, those attitudes make games more interesting but admin/game creator action on well-run games put barriers in place to stop those attitudes degenerating the game into farce.

That is what this game currently is - a farce. Xinuan probably has the ear of a pang or a qz so I'll trust him when he says the game is turning a slight profit. This is bad as the admins couldn't give a stuff about growing it. It's a selfish attitude and is not helped by the fact they all prefer netting.

All changes in this game relate to making netting a better experience - but here's the rub. No one leaves the game because they finished outside the top 10. They leave because some asshole with no skill can manipulate the inadequate game mechanics.

5 Things That Should Be Fixed But Wont Be

1. Stop allowing special attacks in the first 1000 turns. Countries aren't developed, so why should you allow war? Let's all race to see who can start a war the soonest! Do away with the 100 turn protection - after all, fighting war should be allowed as soon as possible!!!

2. Hitting countries in your own tag is wrong and unfair on alliances at least trying to exert some self decency.

3. The 'hit return' changes to kill runs was pointless. Seriously. It's as if you waste time on something that does nothing, so you can say you did 'something'. Fix the ajax attack button - why should countries be able to spam 20 attacks in 5 seconds?

4. Release all FA data. This is a huge source of player discontent and is abused by grubby alliances to gain improper advantage. If they are happy to FA a country into the top 10, or sneakily enlist another alliance in a war, then it's fine to reveal it.

5. The restart bonuses are stupid. Why should it be an arbitrary amount? Why should a late reset restart log in with 400 CS. Give restarts more turns (stored if necessary) and give them more resources. Give them 15% of all cash, stock on market, military, oil and food. Give them 25% of prior land. The better your original country, the better the reward. How novel!!

Xin pretty much hit the nail on the head on all points. Including the not wanting to work on Boxcar in his free time one.... jerk. :p

And the first 3 paragraphs of RD watcher's post... the following 7 sound like dagga. Galleri, are you sure that isn't dagga? :p

The game turns a profit so there would be no point in shutting it down; so that argument is moot. This thread would be better served to discuss how folks improve the alliance server community because that seems to actually be the focus of most of the posters.

Folks keep talking about growth of the game (server, basically) in tandem with certain alliances ruining the community/game such that more players will fix that problem. How would you feel if the game grows and then a majority of the new players join the alliances you feel are making things bad? Because that's almost a certainty....

Close the other servers and see if Alliance grows

Its difficult imo, large alliances should not be penalised for their success, laf / sof for example can influence the game more with their large numbers, but give them credit imo, all of their members are active, that has to say something about how they are run and the time they must invest.

The game is as it is for me, perhaps the splash page could give more detail other than changes made, I think the main page is pretty dull and if its "sexed up" then at least you would capture the attention of the player.

Having said that, when I explain to any of my mates that I play this game, their reply is always.. so its just text based, nothing else, and there in lies the game, for me its a niche game from a long while back, I bank that the majority of players have played for years off and on and with the games that can be played now-a-days its not going to appeal to the many.

Again just my thoughts, but I like being part of a niche, or maybe just clueless ;) I'd bank on the latter.

Aww, look its Heston. Would you like a hug?

/me humps Trife

I would like to point out that one of the reasons there's been little progress recently, is largely due to *MY* asking the devs (pang/slagpit/zarcon) almost a year ago, to hold off on any big changes while I redid the backend and moved to a new server.

I've finished the backend stuff a few months ago, and am almost done (hopefully this week!) moving to a new server.



Xin is correct that we've been busy; I'm not *currently* as busy, so some of my ideas may come to fruition sooner than I'd expected.


There are a few show-stoppers (game/forums are completely different systems for example) that have been impeding our progress, and I'm addressing those; though I haven't been involved in the bonus issues, I'll see if i can get on top of those in the beginning of July (after my karate grading!)


Also Xin is correct, we're not trending downwards =/

Disagree, I'd love to grow it; it's averaging 45h/week work that was slowing my working on it -- while still keeping 7h/week karate & my GF & actually sleeping....



Why 1000? that's very inelegant; I'd prefer something that leads to that naturally.



This is a cultural thing; we could adjust returns based on tags, but it's *so* *SO* easy to circumvent, and also extremely artificial.



It doesn't do nothing -- it actually does quite a lot; some unintended consequences, some intended consequences that maybe were a little overpowered, some intended things almost invisible. It's been an experiment, and it needed a couple sets for us to see what the actual results were. I have an interesting idea which some here have seen which we may try in the near future, which may have more effect. Also I don't like artificially limiting things to certain rates -- FFA spoke loudly about that one too heh...




This was partially the intention of my last change; and is the plan going forward.



Giving restarts more turns (stored or not) can lead to interesting problems. We've thought about doing percentages, and it's never been off the table, but - as usual - there are various reasons for doing it this way or that. We'll see on this.

Why do you bother replying to Dagga? -_- Dude should just be banned again

earliest possible war is on turn 2 onwards and i doubt that even hc warrers want to war that early (and those players who live on certain timezones would have advantage and alliance with enuf those players would get advantage).

I think the discussion becomes more complex or trolled then it should or needs to be. We just need more players, I think the game is at a good place where it is right now. Port to Facebook gain instant pool of possible players and within that the ability to engage with sharing / news to get more players from our own circles organically. It'll be up and down each set as those no interested move on, but overall the total number will rise organically and I think quiet sharply.

yea fb or google whatever it is could bring more members but 1st we would need better security or we might be in same situation as we were when rd etc were on top (nicely said).

fazer is like rain man the numbers just come to him!

fazer, if u think complaining on a forum and always thinking that your views are opinions are 100% correct, i have serious pity for everyone around u who has to put up with u on a daily basis.


mods have put in tens and thousands of hours into this game, asking for little or no return. they do this because this game is really fun and addicting, but to have ppl fluffing for all the hard work that gets put into this game, complaining and complaining and complaining like u do fazer, is really exhausting.

u only give ur opinion and expect everyone else to listen becuase u probally never in ur life listened or considered other ppls feelings, situations or circumstances. if u wanna boost this game as much as u wish, give the mods incentive !
if ur too poor to do this, shut ur pie hole.



if i can give one constructive criticism from all the above crap, talk to a lawyer about this game (if u havent dont so that is....) get the right patents and trademarks for this game and register them, then talk to several gaming industries who specialize in appz and fluff.

if u dont have the energy to do this, talk to someone who has a job in sales. with the write sales approach u take with this game, i am almost positive that some company will understand how addictive this game can be, and just maybe decide to invesnt in this game.

http://puzzle-dragons-global.wikia.com/...e_%26_Dragons_Global_Wiki

a simple app where u go through dungeons and kill enemies while playing a bubble popping game has generated 80million USD in sales / month.

-tokyo 2 cents

Or just pay for massive marketing! :)

I'm sure a 30 second spot during the superbowl would get us a *few* players =D

http://forums.earthempires.com/...71&z=easy-clan-server

^ Not an overall idea for game growth, but certainly something small that can help.

It would be very easy to double the playerbase of this game with little work from the Admins. I have already discussed some of these ideas with qz over the past year ;)

But you haven't thought about the effects of more players from Facebook.

A) Our servers don't have the necessary bandwidth and CPU to support 10000 more players. So, now we need new hardware, or new dedicated servers on commercial plans.

B) Many Facebook users own multiple Facebook accounts just so that they can gift their main account freebies (a lot of Facebook games use social tie-ins, the more friends you have, the more benefits). Now imagine someone using 10 facebook accounts can just wreck your country in a few minutes.

The problem with this game is that countries can be killed too quickly in seconds, even if not killed, even a few ABs can wreck a country if 10 multies are doing it - there is no damage protection unlike most other games that say limit damage to a maximum of 10-20% of your NW per day.

Facebook games are just not destructive in nature unlike in EE.

C) Moderator support, with an influx of new players, now you need new staff members to moderate the servers, catch multies, etc. You need better support systems than just a forum with a BUGS & SUGGESTIONS.

D) The game has a huge learning curve, without a really long and drawn out tutorial, most Facebook users won't even try the game beyond the first 10 minutes. There isn't even any graphics or static images! Looking on Primary server, about 30% of that server doesn't even leave 100 turn protection every reset!


It's easy to think "Hey let's expand to Facebook", without looking at the requirements of the platform, or what it really entails for the game.

And I'm sure that kind of traffic would crash your server/connection lol!

Trifel watch it Heston may do it for reals

This is the biggest point which pang & I keep stressing -- Our medium-term plan basically is to try to reduce the learning curve, either through expanded tutorials, or some other bright ideas... one that slagpit & I seriously discussed was to make smaller tournament games for only *new* players to start in, in order to reduce the amount they get 0wned, like in Primary currently....


Basically, if we open to FB, we'd like to actually have *moderate* player retention -- we don't want to JUST get 100k countries that never even make it out of protection =/

or don't do anything else than explore ~70 turns per day and then get farmed.

That sounds GREAT to me.

As someone who recently was a new player, I'll give my advice with whats wrong with the game.

When n0f first asked me to come here, I spent ~15 days messing around before joining LaF the next set. I got farmed to oblivion.
Give me one good reason why a new player would stick around to get farmed? None. Exactly.

People see new players as free land.

The best suggestion I can make for the game is that all new players either play in a protected server OR if they do play alliance server, they get placed in a tag and can go from there.

What grade are you going for, and what style?

Style is Goju-kai; going for Shodan-ho

You do karate or other martial arts?

Yes, this is part of the plan; we need to shelter n00bs, or they don't stay