Coming Tomorrow: Large influx of new Steam players

jasonrohrer · 2019-11-20 02:43:08

So you're noticing an uptick in volume today?

Spoonwood · 2019-11-20 02:45:08

Twisted wrote:

Spoonwood wrote:
Twisted wrote:
OHOLf Life 3 confirmed.
Sorry, I don't understand what you said there.

Valve is revealing the new Half Life game this week, and OHOL is getting some special feature on Valve's store. Hence, OHOLf Life 3.

Thanks to you Twisted and to the others who attempted to answer my query about your comment.

Coconut Fruit · 2019-11-20 02:58:55

It was 141 players online a while ago. Pretty nice. But I wouldn't be surprised if it drops again to about 60 in three weeks.

Spoonwood · 2019-11-20 03:02:35

I've seen what looks like some new players play since the promotion. If anyone is interested in what new players play like, this probably makes for a good time to hop on Twitch and see if a newbie is on, or if you check 'videos' if you can find a recent video of a new player.

Last edited by Spoonwood (2019-11-20 03:03:02)

Legs · 2019-11-20 03:10:27

jasonrohrer wrote:

So you're noticing an uptick in volume today?

Yes, there are a lot of brand new players wandering around not knowing how to do things and forgetting to eat. I was in a big city that you jasoned into earlier, you named my baby. Shortly after that I think my family died out, the the big city might still be going.

All the berrymunchers and babies eating pie really overloaded the town. I actually starved for the first time in months. Multiracial settlements mean that most of the game's population is in that one place. Several smithies, several bakeries, several farms, tons and tons of items covering every tile. It could work, but with so many new players not contributing life is tough even in a developed town. There just aren't enough people actually working, and older players don't have the tool slots or time to do everything.

Me and two other people actually had to team up with a cart full of baskets to gather about two dozen mango leaves because one griefer used up all the corn breeding cows. The game's not designed to support large populations but individual families are too spread out to make specialties work.

Coconut Fruit · 2019-11-20 03:22:53

We can always instruct them what to do... Well, they can do pretty much nothing and it's probably hard to teach when so many brand new players... I haven't played yet today.

Coconut Fruit · 2019-11-20 03:23:54

It would be easier with general chat... Sry I'll stop with this general chat thing :D

eajorstad · 2019-11-20 03:27:39

Coconut Fruit wrote:

We can always instruct them what to do... Well, they can do pretty much nothing and it's probably hard to teach when so many brand new players... I haven't played yet today.

It's this exact reason why I just stopped playing altogether tonight.

Spoonwood · 2019-11-20 04:17:36

Legs wrote:

Me and two other people actually had to team up with a cart full of baskets to gather about two dozen mango leaves because one griefer used up all the corn breeding cows.

It's probably not very intuitive that more cows doesn't necessarily mean more milk. Also, making cows is kind of fun in itself, so people might have done it for that reason also.

Legs wrote:

The game's not designed to support large populations but individual families are too spread out to make specialties work.

If so, that's a serious problem for the game. 150 is the most I saw, and that's only a quarter of the max on bs2 right now.

DestinyCall · 2019-11-20 04:27:00

I don't know how much control Jason had over the timing of this Steam Sale, but I feel like it landed at a bad time. I wish recent changes had focused on making the game EASIER and more accessible, and player-friendly. Instead of limiting choices and cutting off huge chunks of content behind race and genetic scores.

It feels like a bad time to dump a bunch of new players into the game space, since the meta hasn't even had a chance to adapt to the family specilizations update.

denriguez · 2019-11-20 04:56:04

DestinyCall wrote:

I don't know how much control Jason had over the timing of this Steam Sale, but I feel like it landed at a bad time. I wish recent changes had focused on making the game EASIER and more accessible, and player-friendly. Instead of limiting choices and cutting off huge chunks of content behind race and genetic scores.
It feels like a bad time to dump a bunch of new players into the game space, since the meta hasn't even had a chance to adapt to the family specilizations update.

Agreed. I imagine he didn't have much say in whether/how/when the sale when forward, but I'm especially worried about this as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Lots of folks will be home with their families in about a week with lots of time on their hands.

DestinyCall · 2019-11-20 08:43:41

That reminds me - there needs to be a way to kill cows other than using mango.

Not that I want "cow murder" to be as griefer-friendly as sheep murder, but it shouldn't be race-blocked.

DiscardedSlinky · 2019-11-20 10:00:42

This is such a nightmare. I played 3 lives, 2 as a male 1 as a female and it was hell on earth. I did my best, and was only able to teach 2 people.

There is NOTHING anyone can do to help these people. Towns will have 30 players in them, and only 5 know what they're doing. The berries are stripped so fast, the pies get taken instantly. It's impossible to keep up with no help. I did my best. I taught exactly 2 people something today, and teaching took half my lives both times. This is unsustainable. Players aren't going to keep playing if they can't do anything, and it's IMPOSSIBLE to teach everyone.

In my female life I had 12 children. Only a single one of them I didn't get the new player notification for. That's 11 people that need my help and I'm too overwhelmed trying to keep food around for them to eat to survive long enough. PLUS new players abandon their kids constantly. They struggle with controls, or just don't understand they need to feed them. Anyways, I was left with a LOT of abandoned children. So my 12 + probably at least 20 more children I had to raise, and most of them were new. I was able to teach exactly 1 of them. I reached 40, and my last kid and I made pies together. She was the only one to make it past age 20 btw. When new players have nothing to do, because they don't know what to do, they die.

The tutorial NEEDS to be better Jason. A simple farming explanation would be HUGE. It would take so much stress off of us and them because at least they have SOME skill. At this rate I expect most of the new players to give up shortly. This isn't fun for anyone.

testo · 2019-11-20 10:43:13

Amazing what a sale can do. Too bad there is still no decent tutorial, noobs get bored fast.

DestinyCall · 2019-11-20 14:45:25

I'd say there is too much to cover in a tutorial. Solo mode would be really helpful. It is much easier to stay alive as an Eve who has no offspring. New players could learn basic play by trial and error, if surviving in a village was too hectic for them.

There is no point trying to learn on BS2 right now. The villages are all imploding under the baby flood.

happynova · 2019-11-20 16:14:16

Legs wrote:

I actually starved for the first time in months.

I starved to death several times yesterday. I can't remember the last time that happened. Got abandoned as a baby more than once, too, which is something that had previously become pretty rare. But there was so much chaos, and so many people eating all the food and so few people who actually knew how to replace it. Also so many newbie babies spawning in needing help and taking time away from things like food production. I played several lives, and the only time I lived to sixty was when I was blessedly male and free of that particular interruption. I spent that life making stew and sauerkraut, and repeatedly announcing to the general population that there was food right here in these pots and they should come and eat it. Even then, I think a lot of them starved. I did teach a newbie who was wandering around cluelessly picking up and putting down my squash how to make the stew, at least, so I at least feel like I did something for a new player, other than repeatedly saying, "Welcome to the game! Sorry, things are nuts right now because of all the new players. It's not usually like this, I promise."

It basically feels exactly like the last time we had an inrush of Steam players, only perhaps even more frantic, as there are more difficulties and limitations now. (I genuinely have no idea how anyone managed to cooperate enough to make rubber in all that mess.) But I'm sure it'll die down. It did last time. And hopefully a fair number of them will settle in and stay!

But in the meantime, RIP my excellent genetic score. Ah, well, easy come, easy go. I think mine was unfairly high, anyway, because I randomly happened to be near the top when Jason made it harder to change.

Legs wrote:

The game's not designed to support large populations but individual families are too spread out to make specialties work.

I think what it's not designed to support is large populations of clueless beginners.

Bremidon · 2019-11-20 17:15:27

Oh yeah. How to go from 48 to 33 in just 3 lives. The babies were pretty much flying out of their moms, and almost always promptly dying. The chaos was kinda funny. Looking at my gene score afterwards was pretty depressing though. Just red, red, red, red.

I did manage to teach a few of the newlings how to farm, eat, and some general basic concepts. I'm guessing that things will sort themselves out as the wave of new players crests and they either figure out how to play or get frustrated and leave. I hope some of the frustrated ones eventually come back.

Spoonwood · 2019-11-20 17:18:27

DestinyCall wrote:

That reminds me - there needs to be a way to kill cows other than using mango.
Not that I want "cow murder" to be as griefer-friendly as sheep murder, but it shouldn't be race-blocked.

Didn't realize that one. Ugh... that's not good.

Jojigirl · 2019-11-20 20:58:12

I haven't played through the New member swarm, but maybe have a few males hold a teaching "class" That way many new players learn at once and it takes some of the burden off of the mothers.. At least teach them very simple things like, berries, farming, compost and stew. Maybe another male can hold a class for clothes making. After a few classes, that should help some of the new members know how help out in those areas.. The more that learn the easier it will become eventually.

I hate to say this, but non new members should be priority on making sure they get past the baby stage.. Not saying ignore new members, just saying take extra care in keeping non newbies alive. They can help keep things running.

Last edited by Jojigirl (2019-11-20 21:06:26)

Tempted · 2019-11-20 23:21:07

DestinyCall wrote:

I don't know how much control Jason had over the timing of this Steam Sale, but I feel like it landed at a bad time. I wish recent changes had focused on making the game EASIER and more accessible, and player-friendly. Instead of limiting choices and cutting off huge chunks of content behind race and genetic scores.
It feels like a bad time to dump a bunch of new players into the game space, since the meta hasn't even had a chance to adapt to the family specilizations update.

Agree completely. Probably shouldn't run a promo at a time where even experienced players are trying to find a balance that works with the new limitations, and then also having to deal with trying to help new players understand the ridiculously confusing gameplay while only being able to type so many letters into a box. The communication in this game is not set up to really pull off what Jason is going for I don't think.
I'd he surprised if when this is over, there aren't just about the same level of players as there was before the promo

DestinyCall · 2019-11-20 23:57:17

Yeah, you can only die as a screaming infant surrounded by the bones of your siblings so many times before it ceases to be a fun experience.

We will probably see a few people who manage to make through this baptism in fire. But I think the current difficulty curve is far too steep to appeal to the average Steam user. They havd too many other options that don't involve constant frustration and feelings of helplessness.

Under normal load, the new player alert helps a lot. But without any stable towns, we just can't care for all the new players and give them the extra help they deserve. And then there are the griefers reveling in the chaos and the frustrated mothers who have given up completely.

This morning I was born to a depressed mom who named me "dead" and tried to feed me to a bear. I can't really blame her. Motherhood is a painful experience right now.

Saolin · 2019-11-21 21:10:08

Jojigirl wrote:

I haven't played through the New member swarm, but maybe have a few males hold a teaching "class" That way many new players learn at once and it takes some of the burden off of the mothers.. At least teach them very simple things like, berries, farming, compost and stew. Maybe another male can hold a class for clothes making. After a few classes, that should help some of the new members know how help out in those areas.. The more that learn the easier it will become eventually.

I hate to say this, but non new members should be priority on making sure they get past the baby stage.. Not saying ignore new members, just saying take extra care in keeping non newbies alive. They can help keep things running.

This is a really good idea if any males find themselves not running around frantically trying to keep the village alive, which is probably close to none a lot of the time... But perhaps at old age even just going to the fire and telling babies to follow you if they want to learn and making sure there is food for them to eat while they learn some basic task. I haven't played either so not sure how manageable it would be. It sounds frantic.

One Hour One Life Forums

#26 2019-11-20 02:43:08

Re: Coming Tomorrow: Large influx of new Steam players

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#37 2019-11-20 08:43:41

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#43 2019-11-20 17:18:27

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