Thinking of returning (ha). What's the population like?

[returner]

I've played on and off since I was about 14 years old, which is now 11 years ago. I was a known person in the community for being a troll, a cheat, and pretty aggressive (I just read through a couple of my posts and cringed). Don't worry, I'll repair that damage by playing fantastic characters and being a community member that contributes positively!

Thinking of resubbing. Cantr's a big place though, and I'm wondering how active it is (vs, say, 10 years ago and 5 years ago)?

Seeing as I haven't played in 5 years, anything major that comes to mind since that time that I should be aware of?

Thanks everyone!

[SekoETC]

The population is at its all time low, or at least around there. If it's not then it's probably just a temporary peak. I honestly worry that the game is dying.

[Calyx]

What Seko meant to say was, pull up a seat... welcome back... There are still many great places with brilliantly played characters and we always need more freaks, geeks and conflict to stir things up a little. The more the merrier.

[Cookie]

How bad is it compared to ten years ago?

[SekoETC]

Example town that used to have at least 50 people now has ten. There are 185 English players and 1361 English characters. Overall there are 640 players and 4162 characters.

[Marian]

Calyx is right, though, there is still plenty of great RP to be had. That 'example town that used to have 50 people' sounds more impressive until you remember that 45 of them would have been sleepers. Now it seems that we do have noticeably smaller populations, but a much higher percentage of the characters there are actually active.

And if you haven't played in five years, feature-wise you're going to be blown away by how much has changed for the better. There has been so much new stuff added. Animal domestication and project cancellation and machine and tool dis-assembly are big ones, and I still remember what a huge freaking deal it was when windows happened...I couldn't imagine going back to playing the game five years ago when working inside meant your character just had to sit there completely isolated and alone.

Spend some time browsing around the wiki to get an idea of the extent of it all.

[Cookie]

Just my view but looking at the front page I get the impression that the site is a text based relic from the early naughties catering for 800 x 600 monitors. 10 years ago this might not have turned many people away but these days it probably scares a few potential new players off.

A friendly logo and a minor design update would do this game the world of good. All net games have high player turnovers, place less focus on who is leaving and more on why it isn't attracting new players.

Just my thoughts.

[Calyx]

I've thought what Cookie has just mentioned for a little while. I know this isn't the newest kind of design, but I wanted to stay true to some of the roots and make it achievable without too much coding... Incoming heart attack for many!!... It's just an idea/work in progress...

[*Wiro]

The issue with your design (if I may be blunt) is that you re-ordered the elements. You did a fantastic job on the artwork and then proceed to change things, like the position of menu buttons, that are just fine. I'd also reconsider the chatbox design. It's not very immersive and encourages chatting rather than roleplaying. I also think it isn't big enough. I'm not blind though and can easily say that it's a great design. I love how you got rid of all the toxic colours that have no place being so dominant on the screen (yes, I'm referring to green).

If you can make it happen, you should talk to Greek. It just takes one or two motivated people to get things changed in the game.

[Calyx]

I see your points... The chat element hit hardest... Completely right and not what I want for the game, at all....!

I tried to do more on one screen, to cut down on screen switching (and therefore bandwidth). It was a concept. I could maybe help make it happen if I get the time and when a few more have pulled it apart!

Haha, just realised I even missed the type box off COMPLETELY! Ran out of time, sorry!

[*Wiro]

I read "Notalojt" and thought "Oh that's one of those Polish towns right?" but now I feel so stupid.

[SekoETC]

If the game was changed to something like that, it would need a separate mobile version. It's already hard enough to play on a cellphone, and adding more elements to the page and making it wider would ensure that you had to zoom in manually every time you wanted to do something.

Edit:

One thing that would be handy in a non-mobile version would be if it was possible to have inventory or objects page visible side by side to events, so that if you were moving a lot of items/resources in a row, you could still see if something happened (someone attacks or drags you for example). Currently if someone is moving resources, there's no use talking to them because they might not be paying any attention to their events page, and just assume nothing happened, so if you said something while they were moving resources, it will go unnoticed.

[Genie]

I'm sorry, but this just looks like a chat page or a program for a different purpose. Cantr's look makes us grow on it easier and it's not tiring for the eyes .
About Cantr's population; I think we always had ups and downs, some chars are still awesome to deal with and some places are still nice. Surely some of us are little gloomy and not all characters are fully active, but still there are so many options and possibilities. We have good rp objects, new machines and lots of cool clothes. So come in and have a drink, eat some rack of lamb or vegan food, get some hugs or the slaps. You can have your own idea then.

[Marian]

Yeah sorry but not a fan. It looks too cluttered, and playing on a phone would be even more frustrating with all that stuff taking up a good chunk of the right side of the screen. And please ignore Wiro's awful, awful, wrong and insane opinion - the green is an iconic and necessary part of the game.

Keep the game as is, but I do think the front page could use a bit of snazzing up and more indictations that the game is being regularly played and updated. There really ought to be a news feed mentioning recent changes or plans, like what we get on our player page. And one of those boxes somewhere with automatic links to the threads most recently posted in, so people can tell at a glance there's people playing and discussing it. Maybe something similar with links to random wiki articles. I know evidence of recent updates + active community are the #1 thing I look for when I'm checking out a new site. If it doesn't have one or the other there's not much point in bothering.

[Finchington]

If we want the game to liven up, then we need new players. Not much use in highlighting the negative aspects of the game, and turning people away.

Yes, there might not be as many characters, but as it's been mentioned, there's a lot of really good RP to be found. You might have to be a little patient and wait for the responses, but I'd prefer to have to wait a while for some fantastic RP, than have a super busy place with no substance. A lot of really cool features have also been implemented, so that's neat. Might take a little more time, but it's a lot of fun once you've struck gold.

So, yeah - Spawn a couple of characters (And hope that they land in good towns), try it out, and see how you like it. If you do, awesome, go crazy and enjoy the game. If it's not for you, then that sucks, try again some other time. It's (theoretically?) just a game, after all