[thadamman]

Everytime I log on here lately nobody is playing. What's up?

[judd]

I'm on a ban mate.

[Bill2k06]

there seems to be a noticeable drop in numbers lately,
i can oly put this down to a number of things:-
1)people now on holidays
2)schools areon an 2 week break
3)people of certain occupations such as accountants are busiest this month
4)anumber of players are on a ban

these are just some, but i think theyre the main choices
_________________

[MrCrabbs]

Yeah I have noticed that there are fewer and fewer players with over about 20k now too.

I think the tournaments are one factor reducing the number of players with healthy scores. Another is the inactivity of the top players, locking points away. Another is a lack of updates from Kreso.

Even without Kreso we should be able to solve some of the problems that are ruining GM. Tournaments were introduced to make the place more fun, but their long-term effects have been negative. You can put in months of play, and play very well, and yet gain nothing like what a player gets for winning a tournament, which, let's be clear, just means they finish 1st or 2nd in two 4p games, and 1st in the final - not a feat worthy of 70k.

I make a good start to solving these problems elsewhere on the forum; it would be good to see more debate in those threads, since they raise issues about distortions of the points system, and reduction of game play. They suggest alternatives to the current tournament format, but if none can be found that doesn't stop this drift of points to the top accounts, making it harder and harder to get a game, then tournaments need scrapping.

Bill and others have brought up the idea of reducing the points of inactive players, which would solve the inactive top 10 issue, and might be another part of the solution. Of course, it could instead further reduce the number of players, as old players return to find their accounts have been slashed, and leave again in disgust. Like the tournaments, it could have the opposite effect of that intended.

And if tournaments continue unreformed, while the accounts of inactive players get cut, all this would achieve is making the winner of the most tournaments number 1. The value of 2p games are massively reduced, yet some of the best players on GM are 2p specialists.

Many players dislike and boycott tournaments. We have thousands of players, but rarely more than 20 in a tournament. The players who don't play include most of GM's best, and these players feel the tournaments are ruining their GM points and hence gameplay.

Reform is needed, to stop the steady loss of old players - the apparent return of many oldies seems to have been a false start. Many were listed as returning, but it seems they came, they saw, and they walked away again. And others seem to contribute to forum but don't play. I believe most of these players are waiting for something interesting to happen at GM to draw them back, and we need to ask what that is that would make them start playing again.

To put this clearly, Kreso created a "pure" points system, and mods have, without intending to, corrupted that system, by bringing in tournaments without thinking about their full effects. That is not necessarily their fault - it is often difficult to assess the effect of a change until you implement it, by which time some damage is already done. Still, scrapping the tournaments would stop any more damage, at least.

Kreso did not make this game just with enthusiasm, he has a talent in maths and computing, and that was indispensible. Mods might be well-meaning, but if they do not understand fully the impact of changes they make on the value of the points system, they are more than likely just going to kill GM.

The current crop of mods have to be honest with themselves. Are they capable of designing innovations to GM without accidentally having large negative impacts? Do they have the skills to do that? If not, they would do best to just strip GM back to the way Kreso made it, and await his return. In the mean time, the number of players should grow naturally.

Big governement running big tournaments is crushing the very points system we depend on, and that we can't afford to lose.

[YAAAHOOOO3]

[trace567]

YAAAHOOOO3 this is a old thread, at the time of Bill's response I think you will find the ad's were still there. By the time of the linked post the ad's had gone.