This game and its popularity.

[AnnaC]

I <3 newbies. Nothing more fun in the game to to meet some linens in the wild and regale them with the wonders of basic civilization.

Saving a silly newbie from attempting to aim a <q10 bow at an ant swarm and teaching them how to survive is one of the best aspects of the game (since IMO the early game aspect of eeking out a comfortable settlement from a harsh and raw wilderness is the primary charm of the game).

[Lord_of_War]

Yes and then the raiders show up and ruin it.

[AnnaC]

I think the lack of anything to do after you get a comfortable standard of living is worse than raiders. Inactivity is a worst drain on the Hearthlands than conflict. The only aspect that matters with conflict toward playerbase leaving is the fact that at a certain level in the game it can be near-insufferable grind with the knowledge that other rival factions have an insurmountable "lead" on you, or the stress of securing "public" projects can undermine someone's desire to play beyond a certain point.

[Lord_of_War]

Tis all true sadly.

[Pinkie-Pie]

-snip- Youtube vids wont help much, -snip -

We've seen a fast raise in player count to 1400 + after a known YouTube game channel promoted it - it dropped very fast as it's "too hard" for a lot of people ... also it's still alpha = testing ...

I first came to this game when one "PaulsoarsJR" featured it on his "Indie game test drive"!

[painhertz]

The sad fact of the matter is that the majority of gamers are too pussy for Haven and simply cannot accept even the "limited" form of perma-death Haven has. Look at Ultima Online back in the day, it didn't even HAVE perma-death, just stat loss was enough to get a bunch of whiners to get it split into Trammel and Bullshitluccia and needless to say everyone stayed/stays in Trammel so they don't lose their happy little swirlies. For those of us who "could" deal with stat loss the game was ruined and aside from a nice little resurgence with the IPY server for about 3 months one of the best games ever was turned into vanilla flavored puke. To "keep" playerbase of 1 to 1.5 K players Haven would have to cycle through about ten thousand (Fixed). Maybe more.

(Also bear in mind that the Curio system and the Lagpocalypse of World 6 also ran away a lot of people who haven't and most likely won't come back.....)

[Lord_of_War]

That's all true. You gotta have the shotgun approach. Mass recruiting. Most will quit but the dedicated will stay. Just play the odds.

[LadyV]

That's all true. You gotta have the shotgun approach. Mass recruiting. Most will quit but the dedicated will stay. Just play the odds.

Not really. If you have a good product and continue to update and add things you keep interest of more people. Alpha/Beta testing is not for everyone and frustrations with such issues those stages arise turn many away as they want a finished product.

[Shrapnelx]

The sad fact of the matter is that the majority of gamers are too pussy for Haven and simply cannot accept even the "limited" form of perma-death Haven has.

Ahahaha!!! This is what i first thought when i started telling friends about it.

I was thinking about my comment about youtube vids and I just think if a couple well-known youtube channels shined a spotlight on the game, the player count would spike again, sure most will quit, but the people who stay will continue the legacy. As many of you have stated.

It seems the best option at the moment.


I really dont want to see this game die like other indies, the devs just give up and move on, shut the server down and the 300 people that average are left with nothing. Thats my main goal, keep Haven alive.

[painhertz]

We had a HUGE bump when paulsoarsjr did his you tube thing then about 5ish months later another you tube person did a video and we got a nice bump but a lot of those people either didn;t want to deal with the learning curve or got sandy vaginas because they got raped before they could accomplish anything. I dunno, i used to shout it out to anyone who'd listen but like someone pointed out, when the Devs care sio little for it (At least on a day to day basis) its hard to put forth much effort on its behalf.