Is the Hype on the forum dying? :(

[DerkyJerkyWreaksHavoc]

i remember that like a year ago when Covid-19 was in full swing, there was a astronomical amount of posting in one day. i then left the forum for literally months later and when i come back i LITERALLY have to go on a treasure hunt for a post that was posted less than 60 minutes ago. in fact, most of the posts in the immediate view are nearly 12 hours old, if not a day already (or even multiple days in some threads). What happened to the Hype? has it died down? i feel like a lot of the forum fans dont respond anymore and this forum is starting to become like any other forum. its really sad. i remember i had like 20 notifications a day and i've now only had 3 notifications in the last 4 months (one of them was a warning point). i really hope we can revamp this forum up. KSP is one of those rare games that keeps an imprint in our fingers when we play it (similar to among us). i sure hope this forum can keep up with it.  

[Scarecrow71]

It's the holidays, and unlike last year, people are traveling and doing stuff outside their homes.

[The Aziz]

When covid was (it still is but whatev) in full swing most people stayed at home. So they had lots of time to kill on the forums. Now most returned to normal-ish life so there's less online activity. It's not only this forum, it's everywhere. Also, by the way, KSP1 development is finished, so not much is going on about it anyway. Some people simply moved on. Some people's lives dramatically changed. If there will be any influx of users, it will happen after KSP2 is out.

Edited December 28, 2021 by The Aziz

[Guest The Doodling Astronaut]

Whats with all the pessimistic posts recently on the forums? This is like the fifth one

It's the holidays, people are out of the house.

[dave1904]

I think its good. The less hype the less likely it is for people to be let down in the case of a bad game. 

[Scarecrow71]

4 hours ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

Whats with all the pessimistic posts recently on the forums? This is like the fifth one

It's the holidays, people are out of the house.

Yeah, I don't get it either.  Every other post is "Woe is me, KSP is buggy, KSP2 is delayed again, blah blah blah".  What gives?  I, personally, am in a great place mentally, even though things aren't the greatest.  I prefer to see the world as awesome and with a boatload of potential.  I just don't get it.

[Axelord FTW]

Holidays, and the fact the forums (well, the playerbase in general) has been dwindling for a good while now. Activity spikes aside, this is normal.
KSP2 will kickstart everything again. I'm only here because I started playing KSP1 again in anticipation of KSP2. Before November I'd last been active in 2015. People generally move on definitely, and don't come back on and off. 99% of KSP1 mods that could be have been realized for a long time, and all that is happening on that front is, effectively, stationkeeping.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Axelord FTW

[Guest The Doodling Astronaut]

25 minutes ago, Axelord FTW said:

Holidays, and the fact the forums (well, the playerbase in general) has been dwindling for a good while now. Activity spikes aside, this is normal.
KSP2 will kickstart everything again. I'm only here because I started playing KSP1 again in anticipation of KSP2. Before November I'd last been active in 2015. People generally move on definitely, and don't come back on and off. 99% of KSP1 mods that could be have been realized for a long time, and all that is happening on that front is, effectively, stationkeeping.

The game's peak popularity was 2013-2016, then it dipped. It just has been the same ever since, a false claim by many, including me, that has been made is that KSP activity is dying when in reality, it actually is currently just as normal as when it was in 2018, 2019, or 2020

[Axelord FTW]

Can't pull data from people who don't play it on Steam, but the trend is there. If you ignore the peaks created by updates.

Highest player count is about 20,000 in 2015. Highest stable player count (averaged) is 7,500ish in the same year. 7,000 in 2016, 5,800 in 2017, 5,900 in 2018, 6,500 in 2019, 7,000 in 2020 (so a slight upward trend in these four years but still lower average than in 2015), but only 5,000 av. in 2021. If anything, the playerbase in 2021 has seen a steep decline, and the curve is a constant down, even if you include the bump in October. Last month's average is around 3,000, down from 3,500av. of the summer. The av. %gain of 2021 as a whole is -38.5%. If you're looking for the silver year since 2015, it's definitely 2020, with an av. %gain of 38%, which makes 2021 its mirror year, actually.

So, you're right in saying it hasn't been a constant downward trend ever since the peak of 2015, but the overall direction (especially in the last 12 months) is still down.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Axelord FTW

[DerkyJerkyWreaksHavoc]

9 hours ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

Whats with all the pessimistic posts recently on the forums? This is like the fifth one

It's the holidays, people are out of the house.

true... but this has been more than the "holidays". sorry if im too concerned.

9 hours ago, dave1904 said:

I think its good. The less hype the less likely it is for people to be let down in the case of a bad game. 

WhAt?! i think its awful.

[Sarxis]

I still have modded planets and parts I haven't unlocked in KSP1 yet.  I'm still hyped every time I play! 

[tonimark]

yes it is dying i posted a thread , and still after 4 hours not even a recommendation , opinion any comment 

Edited December 29, 2021 by tonimark

[panzer1b]

I still play KSP, but ive been less and less active since its hard for me to play games like i used to, when I got KSP i was in college, had tons of free time, and frankly nothing better to do with it (i could easily spend an entire afternoon in KSP.  Now i moved abroad (got sick of living in america, dont ask why), i have a family, i have a job, and there is too much else to do with life then play videogames all day (even if i was unemployed, id rather spend my time with friends or just going for a walk outside provided i had the energy to do so).

No idea, maybee im growing into an old fart, but im sure there are many people that are in a similar spot where their life just took a turn that nolonger allows gaming on any sort of reliable schedule and its become at most something to do when im literally too tired to do anything productive (and im not a TV/movie person so if im gonna waste time on anything, its gaming).

As for KSP-1, noone can deny that its past it's prime.  Mods will keep it alive for at least some time going forward, and there will still be plenty of people playing it, but its nolonger that brand new super unique game (and i cant recall anything similar to KSP around that time even being on the market) that came out of nowhere that it was 10 years ago.  Still, i think we can all agree that it was well worth the money and even now it remains a game that i play when i feel like doing something creative

even if the end results are usually more destructive then creative

[tonimark]

what do you think is better? feline utility rovers or buffalo?

[Admiral Fluffy]

I would like you to see this.

Quote

It's already December - and if you're like me, you wonder where the time has gone. There's only 30 days remaining in 2021 and then we're off - into a new year full of new possibilities. I want to thank the modders who have continued to add to the richness of Kerbal Space Program.  There are a lot of folks here on the forum and on the Steam Discussions area, and even a few Facebook groups lamenting the fears of Kerbal Space Program being "dead."

As a fellow gamer and a dedicated member of the community, the classic Kerbal Space Program is far from dead. Sure, with KSP2 in development and even though KSP is officially finished development, the game continues to advance because of the hard work and dedication of the modding community, many who have a history of being a part of the development team of the original game.  The original game has a lot of future left. On the community campus where I work, I have college students who I proudly introduce to the game and the wonderful community where I am glad to be a member.

To continue a thing I started in May (2021) about the forum and new members as a way to answer the fears some folks had about the forum dying. In November, there were 306 new forum accounts created (a decrease of 61 from October).  Of those, 128 have actively posted content (defined as having at least one post). This means that roughly 41.8% of the new user accounts are actively participating on the forum (while the number of new accounts is down, the number of active new accounts is up by 0.4% ). If you're interested in seeing the new members to our forum, you can click here!

This is from TOTM December 2021.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Admiral Fluffy
Quote, not spoiler.

[Cavscout74]

For me personally, I kinda burned out on KSP.    I'm sure i'll play again in the future, but KSP just hasn't been what I've wanted lately.  And when I'm not actively playing, I don't spend much time on the forums besides an occasional check in.  

This won't be popular, but it's how I feel:  It doesn't help matters for me that the last two KSP updates didn't exactly thrill me - after discovering problems in 1.11 with some mods I've used for years, I went back to 1.10.  Then 1.12 came out and didn't fix any of the issues while adding new ones, which didn't exactly make me eager to come back.  Finally, a lot of the info I've seen on KSP2 has me feeling lukewarm about it rather than excited.  I hope I'm wrong, but that also contributes to my continued lack of forum participation. 

[Scarecrow71]

24 minutes ago, Cavscout74 said:

after discovering problems in 1.11 with some mods I've used for years, I went back to 1.10.

I'm still on 1.8, if it's any consolation.  The mods I use work flawlessly, and the version is about as stable as you can get.