katateochi Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 @zekes I agree with what you said about the community feeling like it's growing apart and it's true, we've lost some good soldiers along the way. I think some of the feeling of separation comes from the way the forum is organised and over time I've felt the forms get less appealing. I think that things are perhaps too organised! To give an example; the "show off your awesome pictures thread". Yes technically it is filed in the correct place, but how many newbie players even know about it? (how many older players forget about it?) That thread in particular is an enthusiasm generator, you see other folk's cool designs and think hmmmm, that gives me an idea.... That thread should be one of the most prominent threads, strategically placed where the most people will see it (ie GD, where it used to be!) because it keeps ideas going, fuels a bit of a friendly "I can out-do that" competitive nature and shows new players some possibilities they might never have considered. The other big forum killer for me was the "live from mission control" dark alley. Seriously, is there any point in posting in there? So new players, new youtubers looking for a bit of encouragement/feedback don't get any so they loose interest in putting things out on the forum. I think there is a natural ebb and flow of interest, but I also think that the forum structure is partly to blame for us "growing further apart". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooly568 Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Just because there is less activity, does not mean this game or community is any closer to death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Key Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 The problem is as old people become inactive or stop interacting, new ones don't actually replace them, and new friendships don't form as fast as old ones did. For what it's worth, as a relatively new member I find that I rarely have anything useful to contribute in any given thread. So while I usually skim over the forums at least once a day, I don't actually post very often. I'm probably not alone in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerBlam Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 What a sad prospect. Even in the past month since I've been involved, and especially since the announcement that KSP was going gold I've noticed a general withdrawal of people who were friendly and helpful, and a drop in interaction. Probably some kind of remorse that the exciting times of EA are coming to an end, and the feeling of being a Kerbal Space Pioneer is dwindling. I've noticed that some of the people who have been here for ages generally interact with each other and ignore anyone new, and some are openly jaded and 'everything's been done'. Some are quite obviously dark on the idea of KSP being released before it's perfect.This community is known as one of the best, as far as not being overpopulated with arrogant kiddy a-holes. If you want a comparison, try the TF2 community one time if you want to experience what it's like to be surrounded by elite 12 year olds. I have to say, as much as I think the release of KSP is a bit premature, I'm glad for it, because after the initial surge of New Players I think most will be weeded out by its imperfections and steep learning curve. In my working life I encounter this a lot, I call it 'The Human Factor Filter' and what it is, is the more difficult and inaccessible something is, and the harder people have to work to find the excellence in something, the more the wasters and undesirables are weeded out and what you're left with are the awesome people who know how to find the good.So don't give up. If you're sick of it, take a break and come back but don't think it's lost."We've only just begun... to live..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Augustus_ Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 For myself, interest in the forums waned when certain people joined who seemed to post only to tell other people that what they were posting was wrong or to answer questions in tutorials etc to gain rep.It`s like people were gaming the forum iinstead of playing the game and that ruined my enjoyment of the game itself.Also, it seems squad consistently fail to implement the best ideas when they release updates and instead go for bland mediocre middle ground to avoid controversy...Writing this it seems like just a moan but it is how I feel.So much promise, a wonder splendid, through a desire for peace, utterly ended.Yeah. For example, things like simple life support that doesn't kill your Kerbals when they run out, or Kopernicus/Planet Factory, and StarSystems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pecan Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Early-adopters will be predominantly geeks who find the new stuff earliest.Such geeks will want to know how the system works, will practice all aspects of how it works now and watch the way it develops.They work together, to develop findings and publish instructional or exceptional documents and videos.*At some point most programmes are handed-over to gamers instead of geeks.*They want defined progress, 'score', hand-holding and instant-gratification because games aren't meant to be hard work.*They work alone, post "I WON THE GAME" documents and "Let's play", look at me!, videos.*Gamers are a majority and pay a lot. That's why software companies make pretty explosions.*They move-on early, having "WON" enough and seen all the explosions they want.As this happens the geeks will complain that the programme is being trivialised, becoming more of a 'game' than a 'simulation'/'world', and that "young players these days just don't know what it was like when we were new" (haha).After the 'game' fad has passed and the programme gone out of fashion (which happens to any programme eventually) the geeks and retro-gamers will form the tail of users, mulling-over the finer points and publishing more arcane 'guides'.This is an observation I first made about Second Life, but which I also think applies to KSP.Obviously Dwarf Fortress is avoiding any appeal to gamers by just being too damn awkward to use - so it only has geeks.The more a software company tries to convert a programme to attract a mass-gaming audience the more it annoys the existing one. On the other hand, it makes more money doing that.Long-term 'success' might have geeks still playing your game 10 years after it was released - but companies can't wait that long to recoup their costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanuman Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Short Answer? No.Long Answer? Noooooooooooooooooo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavven Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Nope! Maybe a lull since it's been a bit since beta was released. With each new version the Hype Train threads get more and more populous. That should tell you something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirrobert Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Steam has some very awesome statistics for just this kinda thing:http://steamcharts.com/app/220200So no, it's not dying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerBlam Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) Check out how rocky it's been in the past couple of months though.. Reckon that coincides with SQUADS decision to go gold?What happened on the 10th November? Edited February 8, 2015 by KerBlam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRender Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Just a mid-version lull. It's not anything new, really. Generally speaking, the forums flare in activity around a release and then ease off at a steady rate (generally stabilizing at some point where it's mostly just the regulars), until the hype for the next release starts building. I've seen it happen literally for every release from 0.12 onwards, so it doesn't even faze me at this point. It is kind of sad to see people leave, but at the same time, that's how it is in any community. Most of them come back for the next release, if nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swiftgates24 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Yep guys. KSP is dying. Close forums, uninstall from PC. The forums are empty, no one plays it on Steam. Devs have given up on it, there won't be any updates for awhile./sarcasm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regex Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Obviously Dwarf Fortress is avoiding any appeal to gamers by just being too damn awkward to use - so it only has geeks.Dwarf Fortress owns because of this.It's a shame when developers seem to go for the largest demographic rather than trying to make a truly unique product. I don't think this necessarily happened with Squad/KSP, though. It's pretty clear that Harv had an idea for a not-realistic game to begin with.Also, EVE is dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Aqua* Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 EVE? Dying since 2003! ^^Sandbox games usually have a very long live. They allow a lot of different things, more than you can get with "ordinary" quest-driven games. They just need more time to play trough.There's only one game in my live in which I put more time than in KSP: Master of Orion 2! The one and only hole grail of all 4X games! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartGonzo Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 There seems to be a change going on with attitudes to games in general, all the games forums I'm a member of have all gone quiet at the same time in the last few months.no idea why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flixxbeatz Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Slowdown of activity doesn't mean imminent death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Sierra Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Slowdown of activity doesn't mean imminent death.There is a rather disturbing trend. From after 0.25 to now, the overall trend line is drawn with a negative slope, and thats not necessarily a good thing. TBH I think it has to do with a slew of decisions made by Squad that are not resonating very well with the really early fans (as in 0.18 and earlier such as yourself). Some of those fans are turning around and walking away and when the original backers of a game turn from it, that is usually a powerful force.I love Squad and I love KSP, but I'll be the first to admit that while I am looking forward to 0.91 (I still refuse to call it 1.0 because I continue to affirm that is a bad move on their part) as much as the next guy, but they've made some calls that p***ed me off. The latest 64 bit debacle is a good example. I'm far less active than I once was, though to be fair part of that has to do with gaming-general stuff not specific to KSP in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zekes Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 It's funny, this thread is bringing all the old guys out of the woodwork to talk about a real issue. We used to talk about in-game issues like this together. I guess that's because back in the day the game was much more "Under Construction" than today's "Addon Updates". I feel like we were the first test pilots of a crazy new fighter jet - It didn't do much and had a lot of issues, but we worked hard to tell the guys at SQUAD just what was needed. Now, that fighter jet is almost combat ready, and a lot more people have gotten to fly it - to enjoy our suggestions, to bypass our close calls. It was never "our" jet, but we helped build it in a way, kept it from going to the scrap heap. Now it's out there, and everyone is enjoying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordFerret Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Make of this what you will.That's an interesting trend. Should be more interesting to see where it goes in the months following the v1.0 release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAINCRAFTER Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I bet after 0.25 and 0.90 were released, the death spiral began.EDIT: KOD SAVE US ALL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpast Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) http://i.imgur.com/VCUmUoJ.pngCheck out how rocky it's been in the past couple of months though.. Reckon that coincides with SQUADS decision to go gold?What happened on the 10th November?http://i.imgur.com/hVB5x40.pngHonestly, it looks more like a change in how the data was compiled than anything else. Going from smooth to oscillating like that is very unlikely to be an actual change in how many play the game; i'ts more likely that they changed how they measure it.Edit: And I'm right. If you hover over the graph, it shows that there are many fewer data points kept before November 10 - before that, it seems to only have one point per month, while after there's one per day. The oscillation is the weekend (many more people play on Saturday and Sunday), which is not seen when you average data over a longer period. Edited February 8, 2015 by cpast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KerBlam Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Honestly, it looks more like a change in how the data was compiled than anything else. Going from smooth to oscillating like that is very unlikely to be an actual change in how many play the game; i'ts more likely that they changed how they measure it.Yeah that makes sense, it's a pretty drastic change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
problemecium Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Don't worry. Even if KSP does die, it'll show up in the crew roster three days later like nothing ever happened. ;P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaturnV Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Check the forum of Cube World, that's how a dying game's community looks like...oh wait, their forum is dead already, a /r/cubeworld on reddit is all they have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon144 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) The hard truth is the kerbal space program is dying rapidly. Generally I am very cautious and generous to my pilots but this year I simply don't care anymore. Kerbals are now being killed on the job faster than ever before. More rescouces are having to be put into digging graves than building rockets. Soon the explosions of failed concepts will kill any of the remaining survivors. The future is dark indeed... Robots will soon be the new overlords of kerbin.As always... I'm just trying to provide comic relief to a serious subject. Edited February 8, 2015 by Jon144 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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