Why CC's Membership is (actually) Declining

[KiIIface]

What if there was a way to make it so the first few games a new player joins HAVE to be on the standard classic settings. Let's say 4-10ish games. That way they will realize that style of gameplay is definitely available and let them decide if they want to jump into the chaos of some more complicated but still great maps.

[jltile1]

This is right on the money in my thoughts. I only found this site by looking up playing risk online after hasbro took there site down.

One thing I think that might help is to, as new members join a admin or a volunteer show them around and help them out,and yes everyone that joins. I was completely lost when I joined the site. I looked at my games played when I first joined and holy crap what was I doing. I played games and settings and got smoked. That being said I could of just gave up, but I do love risk so stayed but maybe a lot of players are just leaving.

I see it every day with the speed games there are a few players playing some pretty basic games. But a lot of the games up are freestyle games which your Internet speed, your pc speed, if you have clickes all and how fast you can hit buttons affect the game. Just not much casual about that. Not taking away from the freestyle players they do what they do.

This is just a thought. What if there where two scoreboards? One for freestyle and regular my thought to that would be that some of the lower ranked players might make it higher up the scoreboard thus keeping them around and possibly getting more premiums?

But I have been here over two years and yes it takes a lot longer to get games to fill, espically speed games.

[Mr Changsha]

What if there was a way to make it so the first few games a new player joins HAVE to be on the standard classic settings. Let's say 4-10ish games. That way they will realize that style of gameplay is definitely available and let them decide if they want to jump into the chaos of some more complicated but still great maps.

I was thinking along exactly the same lines last night. I would actually go a little further. They should only be able to join standard settings on the classic map. Further, I would make these games only available to the ranks of corporal or lower to play by setting a limit for these 'private games'.

This would have a few useful functions:

1. Still no farming of new recruits
2. Other 'weaker' players (maybe a game limit of under 100 as well?) would be able to get more practice.
3. This would lead to a renaissance in the amount of standard risk games being played on this site.
4. New Recruits coming here to play Risk (and I know 'Risk' has amazingly become a dirty word here..such is the collective delusion some in this community have been living under) would actually get four games of Risk.

[natty dread]

What if there was a way to make it so the first few games a new player joins HAVE to be on the standard classic settings. Let's say 4-10ish games. That way they will realize that style of gameplay is definitely available and let them decide if they want to jump into the chaos of some more complicated but still great maps.

No, that's counter-productive. Forcing players to a certain type of game is just going to turn them away. Not everyone wants to play the classic map, and frankly the classic map isn't even very good from a gameplay perspective. It's kind of imbalanced and too luck-dependent.

All the advanced settings should just be hidden, it should be made easy for players to start or join simple standard games - maybe there should be an extra button for it. But the advanced game options should still be available for those who wish them. Just hidden by default.

[Army of GOD]

12 player games

[Army of GOD]

Also, I think the biggest decision of all is if lack wants to take this site seriously or if he just wants to keep it as a hobby on the side. I don't know what the site's income is, but if lack were to hire one or two (non-Filipino) programmers, the productivity of the site would increase by about an infinite percent.

[Woodruff]

What if there was a way to make it so the first few games a new player joins HAVE to be on the standard classic settings. Let's say 4-10ish games. That way they will realize that style of gameplay is definitely available and let them decide if they want to jump into the chaos of some more complicated but still great maps.

No, that's counter-productive. Forcing players to a certain type of game is just going to turn them away.

I tend to agree. I loved Risk before coming to this site, but my very first game was on the Germany map. From the beginning, I wanted the availability of different maps. Plus, that way there's never a question by any new player as to whether "they only have this one map?" But I certainly agree they should be kept to the "normal" style of maps and with the advanced type of settings not available.

[qwert]

For discussion. I am pretty pleased with Conquer Club, appreciate what many have done, are doing and will do. I thank you and we should thank me and thank many others.



We can get into lots of data discussion -key maybe is the premium membership/profit of CC dropping so owner wants to shut down? Wish I knew more about the dude who did and does this. Thank you.



I sense few paid people, but hundreds of volunteers maybe thousands (depending on your definitions) doing things- running games and wars, training others in SoC and training academies and tool and strategies, , thousands as clan members, doing wars tourneys, medals, fora.big shout out for the map makers. I get thousands maybe ten thousand chatting in fora and game chat with thousands of games open

thank you
.

P.s. I sense rhe owner appreciates this community and would let us do lots of cool things. How about we accentuate the positive and look not only at what is desireable but also doable.

Cool?

Fewnix,you are little naive. Far,far before we had many voluntaires who work for free(chipV create many usefull scripts, map makers create almost all maps here)
Person who are voluntaires ,work hes job from heart, and he doing things to be 100% great, he its not pay to work.
ChipV create many script, voluntaire, but he whas in some problem with someone,and he quit, and script start dying.
Here in CC voluntaires doing a very large job, in all aspect(map making, clans, tournaments, scripts).
Unfortunatly lack only try to make money,and he implement Conquer Cup. Withouth voluntaires,i think that this site will not work.
far before when i come here(in 2006) ,LAck whas open person, he take messages,and talk with people, and now,hes closed , not comunicate ,and you can not send messages,if you are not pleased with some situation in Forums.

[Chuuuuck]

It has already been mentioned. But I think the simplest answer is this. When a new person comes to this site, they instantly click on "Join A Game" and all they find at the top of the list are the games that have sat there the longest. They have sat there the longest because everyone who has been here a while are smart enough to not join them because they provide zero (0) entertainment. The newbie plays that game, realizes how much it sucks, and doesn't come back.

The number goes down because people get burnt out and tired of playing and leave. This is a natural thing, we just aren't replacing them with people like we should.

Some how the site needs to become more welcoming to new people. Get them involved in the type of games they are looking for. Which I agree with the OP, is similar to a game of risk. They need to be geared towards decent games somehow. And pushed away from the first 2-3 pages of "Join A Game."

[MegaProphet]

One thing I think that might help is to, as new members join a admin or a volunteer show them around and help them out,and yes everyone that joins. I was completely lost when I joined the site. I looked at my games played when I first joined and holy crap what was I doing. I played games and settings and got smoked. That being said I could of just gave up, but I do love risk so stayed but maybe a lot of players are just leaving.

The yarn craft social network ravelry has a user created and run welcome group. When new users join the site a member of the group is assigned to them. They send the new user an email explaining some key elements to the site and offering to help them out. A similar thing could be done here. It's a small solution that doesn't rely on lack

[jltile1]

One thing I think that might help is to, as new members join a admin or a volunteer show them around and help them out,and yes everyone that joins. I was completely lost when I joined the site. I looked at my games played when I first joined and holy crap what was I doing. I played games and settings and got smoked. That being said I could of just gave up, but I do love risk so stayed but maybe a lot of players are just leaving.

The yarn craft social network ravelry has a user created and run welcome group. When new users join the site a member of the group is assigned to them. They send the new user an email explaining some key elements to the site and offering to help them out. A similar thing could be done here. It's a small solution that doesn't rely on lack

I'm telling you I have played on a few sites and just recently found a new one. There are you tube videos explaining the game play. This site has a lot of good features however I don't think most of them are for the average gamer. The maps here are hard to figure out epically when a CC player has it down pat. It is explained it the forums but you have to get there as chuck said you join and want to play. As I did I played nukes and I nuked my stack first go. I played assasian and killed someones target. Ya I can play the hell out risk but if someone just explained all these things I'm sure more would stay. There are the SOC and mentors but we have to get new players with them as its hard to join and just find all that.

[king achilles]

...For of course the incredible increase in settings has also meant that it is now easier than ever to set up a game - on an unusual map - with strange settings and thus defeat the new or casual player. It is odd to think that CC have actually increased the prospect of farming by the expansion of settings. But it is surely true. It is hard to argue with that idea that the best players play on simple maps and simple settings and defeat the opposition squarely. Yet since my arrival on this site the opportunity to create an unholy combination of settings and map has been positively encouraged. This is not much fun for the casual player 'looking for a decent game of Risk'. And don't forget - you CC addicts reading this - that the vast majority of players on this site are looking for a 'decent game of Risk'. I know most of you have played so many games that you have managed to bore yourselves silly of the original game that brought you here, but you simply don't reflect the average gamer. Strangely, possibly unbelieveably, I actually do. And I know it is harder to get a decent game of Risk here than before. A game not ruined (for the average gamer) by a combination of map and settings that mean he is likely to lose before he has even set a foot on the map.

Some ideas gets to my mind for this. You are saying that the casual gamer may be put off if he is played on a game where there are settings or even objectives of the map that might put him at a disadvantage if he does not really know enough information about the map or settings, it could make him think that this is not what he registered for. Eventually, it will make him not to bother returning.

There are game settings and maps that are more adapted to certain hardcore gamers and there are some that are more suited for the casual gamer who are really here just to have fun. How can he have fun if he doesn't understand the game settings or even how complex the map is or there is a certain strategy on how to play that particular map that some veteran players have found a way to do it with certain settings. If these are his first 2 or 4 games, and he loses 'miserably' I can understand why he would leave.

So there are at least 2 types of CC gamers - a casual gamer and a hardcore gamer.

A casual gamer who plays for fun and doesn't really mind if he loses or wins.
A hardcore gamer who is more passionate about the game and looks after his rank, points, medals and other stats (at least something like that).

[DiM]

i think CC is declining because THIS is full of great ideas that are being ignored for years (forever).

[Dibbun]

Membership is declining because this site is full of elitist douchebags who rub their clan affiliation, rank, points, and doubles/triples/quads skills in other people's faces, and half the posts in the forum are bitching about dice, drop, "luck," and whatever else, while the other half are cutesy kiss-ass monkey references directed at Andy. Or "think pieces" about how glorious a certain rank is or how noobs should be regulated more. Site is declining, solution is obviously to drive more noobs away with restrictions...

[Mr Changsha]

Membership is declining because this site is full of elitist douchebags who rub their clan affiliation, rank, points, and doubles/triples/quads skills in other people's faces, and half the posts in the forum are bitching about dice, drop, "luck," and whatever else, while the other half are cutesy kiss-ass monkey references directed at Andy. Or "think pieces" about how glorious a certain rank is or how noobs should be regulated more. Site is declining, solution is obviously to drive more noobs away with restrictions...

Did you actually read my opening post? It is not even particuarly about new recruits..though they are an important factor. I am in fact stating (for those slow ones at the back) that the reason this site's membership is continuously dropping is due to the fact that as a site it is less and less associated with Risk. Therefore casual members (this most emphatically does not mean new recruits) are finding it harder to get a good, well-played game of straight risk, while new recruits who one must assume come here to play a game of Risk, are instead assaulted with a mess of games in some way related to it, but not actually what they want to play.

I've consistantly written here that the expansion of maps and settings is bad overall for the site (if good for that hardcore who have the loudest voices). I am now also saying that the drop in site membership is a direct result of the policy.

I wonder if I am making Andy question things a little. It isn't too late to change things.