Ideal Server Population

[mahawirasd]

How big do you think an "ideal" server is for you?
and please elaborate...

to me, as a player, i think 150ish at any one time (real players, don't care about AT merchs) is max... So that's about 200-300 total players in a server (i don't think 150 ppl play 24/7)...
200-ish at WOE (those who do will make time for WOE even if it's not at the best times for their timezone) should make for about 10 decent guilds or 5 real big ones. Of course the number of castles come into the calculation, but anymore than that amount would overcrowd the castles as i think each castle should be (at any one time) under siege from 2 guilds meaning that there are 20 defenders and 40 attackers (from 2 guilds)...
200 should also make partying a viable option without really running out of spawn points in crowded maps.
and 200 would amount to about 200 ATing merch (with the average of 1 ATing merch per person -> some have 4 some have none) and with enough parties and mvp runs this amounts to a good enough econ where you can find what you want at a competitive price...

why not more?
well first of all theres LAG.
then there's basic statistics such as: say 1% of ppl are annoying/etc (this is a VERY low number), 1% of 150 is much much lower than 1% of 300 because it seems annoying/etc people stack logarithmically... xP


-w-

[Cielte]

10-30. I'd prefer meeting a community with open arms. Than one that'll outcast me. Sadly, most high pop'd servers are the latter.

[Descent]

There really is no such thing as an "ideal" server population. Most "ideal" populations are pretty high hopes to say the least, such as a player looking for an SHR that has over 1,500 players.

I personally enjoy smaller communities. Everybody is more tight-knit and accepting of new players, than say...a server where you're nothing but a blip.

[mahawirasd]

as always, of course there's no "ideal" objectively, thus i posted the question to each of you as individuals...

anyway, how small is "small" for you descent?

and kozua, are you saying that as a player/admin/GM or as all of the above?


-w-

[Patapon]

as a player I enjoy about 10-30 people, as it's a modest crew that can party for most things but still small enough to be appreciated as an individual

[Cielte]

as always, of course there's no "ideal" objectively, thus i posted the question to each of you as individuals...

anyway, how small is "small" for you descent?

and kozua, are you saying that as a player/admin/GM or as all of the above?


-w-

If you're asking if I've ever GMed before. I've had my own server, and was co-admin of two others. But yes, 10-30 is good enough for me, such reasons as I said before.

[A92FL0163]

as a player I enjoy about 10-30 people, as it's a modest crew that can party for most things but still small enough to be appreciated as an individual

2nding that, even better if the community is friendly/relaxed.

[Guest]

more the merrier, so long as they behave ^^

[Poki]

I swear I've seen this topic before... Anyways, ideal server population? The more the better since it means your server is great.  Of course, some individual players prefer small servers as it's less hectic and problematic.

[PoisonWolf]

TC,

10 ~ 20.

Good day.

[Tira]

As a player: anything over 250 as an absolute bare minimum. When I did play RO, 80% of my effort went into WoE, 15% into PvP and 5% into making pointless hats - and let's face it, on anything less than a 250 pop. server, WoE is a joke.

As a server owner: more the better. And I'm fairly confident that this applies to any server owner - how often do you see someone going "OH GOD MY POPULATION IS MUCH TOO HIGH BETTER CUT SOME PLAYERS"? Never. How often do you see server owners speculating overs methods in which to increase population? All the time.

[Sarin]

Around 30-50 at good day, up to 70 at woE. I prefer low pop, even at WoE...it is more about personal skill than size of guild.

[Descent]

as always, of course there's no "ideal" objectively, thus i posted the question to each of you as individuals...

anyway, how small is "small" for you descent?

and kozua, are you saying that as a player/admin/GM or as all of the above?


-w-

SolsticeRO currently has a small community. But, with that small community comes a gift that most owners and GMs dream of: everybody gets along and has a good time.

I've played large servers before. Some of them you're forced to establish yourself or else you'll get nowhere. Large servers get rather cliquey, and you're either "in" with the crowd or on the sidelines forced to play by yourself. Smaller servers, from my experience, are also generally acceptive of newer players and incredibly friendly, for example...

...my last "big" server was FaithRO, back when they had 600+. I was lucky to have my friend Adam, who was a longtime player of FaithRO, introduce me to some people there. But if I showed up on my own(and he mentioned this long ago), it's either sink or swim, and that's not a very friendly environment. Any new player that joins my server is pretty much welcomed with open arms, players show them the ropes, help them get established, and end up as friends. When Solstice first opened, certain groups of people knew each other, and within a couple days, everybody knew everyone. That's the kind of community I'd go for.

Would I like Solstice to grow? Hell yes, I would. I'd be stupid to say no. But my view on it is that as long as my X amount of players, while rather small, are enjoying myself, the time and money put into it is worth it. Will we ever exceed 50, or even 100? Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't really make a difference to me.

[PoisonWolf]

As a player: anything over 250 as an absolute bare minimum. When I did play RO, 80% of my effort went into WoE, 15% into PvP and 5% into making pointless hats - and let's face it, on anything less than a 250 pop. server, WoE is a joke.

As a server owner: more the better. And I'm fairly confident that this applies to any server owner - how often do you see someone going "OH GOD MY POPULATION IS MUCH TOO HIGH BETTER CUT SOME PLAYERS"? Never. How often do you see server owners speculating overs methods in which to increase population? All the time.

Tira,

That is only if you have WoE.

Cheers.
P.S. Would you like $999.95?

[Loki]

and let's face it, on anything less than a 250 pop. server, WoE is a joke.

Not at all, Tira. I've played on a server with less than 25 players average and the WoE was great. Even with the 2 guilds, the competition was fierce. All it needs is an inovative owner and a good WoE system. (Prontera castles only).

@Topic.

To me, I'd rather play on a server with 15 - 50 players. Reasons has been stated by my fellow forumers.