Secrets of The Hearth

[Nemu]

i still don't know what Baby blue eyes is, read it once on forum somewhere but have forgotten cos it was long gone by then

[Seizure]

Baby blue eyes is a status effect that you have when you make a new character. It allows you to travel between Charter Stones for a while. After the effect is gone, it is gone forever.

[Nemu]

what causes the effect to cease?
and what is a charter stone? XD

[Vetarnian]

Maybe you remember my flummoxed reaction to your political rant a while ago, where you cited Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises. This is another case where I feel the same uneasiness creeping back. As someone else pointed out in this thread, you're not American, but Swedish; five minutes' internet search reveals your real names and even where you're based.

... or you could've checked the PAQ page.

You won't be surprised to learn, then, that I agree with everything Rhiannon said. What his (her?) point is easy to see, because I made the exact same point last week. 4000 registrations, 300 stayed a fortnight, 20 still play. Pretty high attrition rate for a game that is free to play, wouldn't you think? What will happen when you start introducing subscriptions or RMT (or, heaven forbid, both)?

I agree with Vetarnian here guys. H&H doesn't have as many players as World of Warcraft. Clearly something is wrong. Of course, we won't mention that the number of registrations that convert into ongoing active players is low for every online game.

Especially one that's still an Alpha.

That's funny, on some other forum, I find myself arguing with a guy who precisely regards any game which does not have the numbers of World of Warcraft as a failure. I'm perfectly satisfied with having niche MMO's that work on their own scale, and don't really care about getting World of Warcraft's numbers. So stop using World of Warcraft as a strawman comparison point.

But even niche MMO's need a minimal number of players to be functional, and from what I have seen here, <100 is far too small for a game of this scale. You can't have an intricate political system with such a low number of players -- especially if they all happen to belong to some online forum or other before starting playing. And where you see an alpha, I suspect others merely see a free-to-play game with a lack of polish. It might be an alpha, but it's still offered for play to everyone.

I have no idea how many people have played Dwarf Fortress despite its being alpha, but it's clearly enough for its developer to draw enough in donations to dedicate all his time to improving his game. Can you see Jorb & Loftar doing that if they get an average of 60 players at any given moment? And, given the nature of MMO's, how many players will they get when they start demanding money for playing their game?

As for the PAQ page, it completely escaped my mind to check there.

[Caliku]

Maybe you remember my flummoxed reaction to your political rant a while ago, where you cited Ayn Rand and Ludwig von Mises. This is another case where I feel the same uneasiness creeping back. As someone else pointed out in this thread, you're not American, but Swedish; five minutes' internet search reveals your real names and even where you're based.

... or you could've checked the PAQ page.

You won't be surprised to learn, then, that I agree with everything Rhiannon said. What his (her?) point is easy to see, because I made the exact same point last week. 4000 registrations, 300 stayed a fortnight, 20 still play. Pretty high attrition rate for a game that is free to play, wouldn't you think? What will happen when you start introducing subscriptions or RMT (or, heaven forbid, both)?

I agree with Vetarnian here guys. H&H doesn't have as many players as World of Warcraft. Clearly something is wrong. Of course, we won't mention that the number of registrations that convert into ongoing active players is low for every online game.

Especially one that's still an Alpha.

That's funny, on some other forum, I find myself arguing with a guy who precisely regards any game which does not have the numbers of World of Warcraft as a failure. I'm perfectly satisfied with having niche MMO's that work on their own scale, and don't really care about getting World of Warcraft's numbers. So stop using World of Warcraft as a strawman comparison point.

But even niche MMO's need a minimal number of players to be functional, and from what I have seen here, <100 is far too small for a game of this scale. You can't have an intricate political system with such a low number of players -- especially if they all happen to belong to some online forum or other before starting playing. And where you see an alpha, I suspect others merely see a free-to-play game with a lack of polish. It might be an alpha, but it's still offered for play to everyone.

I have no idea how many people have played Dwarf Fortress despite its being alpha, but it's clearly enough for its developer to draw enough in donations to dedicate all his time to improving his game. Can you see Jorb & Loftar doing that if they get an average of 60 players at any given moment? And, given the nature of MMO's, how many players will they get when they start demanding money for playing their game?

As for the PAQ page, it completely escaped my mind to check there.

Hey didn't you leave?

[Chakravanti]

Comparing a complete MMO on it's third or fourth (i don't actually keep track) sequel to an alpha is rediculous. Although, WoW does set the bar pretty low.

[Insomnium]

heeeeeeeeeeeeey....Wasn't there a prison post about people being able to lift other player's hearths and putting them into a pen-like area? And that if you did it correctly you could make it so that the only way for them to leave the pen once they logged in was to have them port to Brodgar?

[Alamarian]

I have no idea how many people have played Dwarf Fortress despite its being alpha, but it's clearly enough for its developer to draw enough in donations to dedicate all his time to improving his game. Can you see Jorb & Loftar doing that if they get an average of 60 players at any given moment?

Are you sure about that? AFAIK, Toady One and his brother work on the game in their spare time, not as a business. Even if they do, who is to say jorb and Loftar want to be doing that? They are still in college, after all.

And, given the nature of MMO's, how many players will they get when they start demanding money for playing their game?

Not very many. Which is why most developers finish their games before they charge for them. Patience my friend.

[Jackard]

more bullshit

Hey didn't you leave?

people that make goodbye posts never leave, they just fade away

[martinuzz]

Are you sure about that? AFAIK, Toady One and his brother work on the game in their spare time, not as a business.

Tarn Adams (Toady One) quit his job as a math professor some five years ago, to code Dwarf Fortress full time. He makes in between 2000 and 5000 US dollars a month in voluntuary donations by fans of Dwarf Fortress. His brother Zach aids him in providing game ideas, writing great stories, and doing all kinds of logistical stuff. He does have a side job.