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Mattius



Joined: Sep 03, 2006

Post   Posted: Mar 20, 2019 - 20:04 Reply with quote Back to top

Dan-Da-Man wrote:
Mattius wrote:
Dan-Da-Man wrote:
Again players from cyainde will not play here they don’t like the 8 bit graphics


I'd target more TT players. Outside of this, there will be bb2 players who will be tiring of playing with clmbpo and having little hope of any updates and changes.


But they are not tired with clmbpo they like it and hate the new PO rule so you have no chance cyanide players coming over, so best bet is the TT players


There are many who do, but I'd bet with confidence that 99% have not actually tried playing the new meta. Most their issues with the new rules are based on their perception of the new meta rather than the actual reality. That said I wouldn't waste to much time argueing over the internet about it, it's nearly as bad as politics or religion.

People will eventually get curious Smile
fidius



Joined: Jun 17, 2011

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 00:33 Reply with quote Back to top

Get matched up, click PLAY, receive pop-up:

YOU HAVE PLAYED THIS OPPONENT RECENTLY IN THE BOX.
PLAY THEM AGAIN?
(PLAY / DECLINE)
Dominik



Joined: Oct 29, 2004

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 01:07 Reply with quote Back to top

I was active for years in the once largest formula 1 fantasy manager worldwide. Then, quite around the same time as with FUMBBL, the playerbase shrunk in every single year since around 2007. While you could think of no similarities to this case with FUMBBL, I ask myself whether young people do not want to participate in games on websites like these (handmade by an "amateur", no awesome graphics, no *wow*-commercials).
Is it because the video and video game industry has stepped up and delivered so much AAA-content for almost free, which wasn't the case back 15 years ago?

I'm in specific talking about that older people after 30 probably lose interest in games simply because they either got too mature for this kind of recreation or got family. That is why the young generation has always to be attracted for whatever offer you created.
JellyBelly



Joined: Jul 08, 2009

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 01:46 Reply with quote Back to top

It seems to me that, in FUMBBL's case, the biggest factor by far is Cyanide. The FUMBBL player base literally halved in less than a year after Cyanide's game was released.

I think you have a point though, Dominik, that the younger generation today simply expect blockbuster 3D graphics as standard, because it's what they've always had. The older generation grew up with 2D games, and I think they have a certain nostalgia for them that the newer generation don't. Of course, the older generation are now busier with jobs, families, etc. so they are less active.

The thing is, one day, Cyanide's servers will go cold, and then all of those players will only have one place to go for their BB. It might take another 10 years, but it will happen. Cyanide won't be able to keep turning a profit on the same game indefinitely, and once they can't ... lights out.

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Dominik



Joined: Oct 29, 2004

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 02:34 Reply with quote Back to top

JellyBelly wrote:
The thing is, one day, Cyanide's servers will go cold, and then all of those players will only have one place to go for their BB. It might take another 10 years, but it will happen. Cyanide won't be able to keep turning a profit on the same game indefinitely, and once they can't ... lights out.


If BB 2 was a success, why won't be a BB 3 release in a few years?
harvestmouse



Joined: May 13, 2007

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 09:56 Reply with quote Back to top

For the first time ever I agree with Dominik! Obviously Cyanide was a factor, but the decline started before Cyanide released their game. At the time the biggest factor suggested was that we were using an lrb 4 client when the rules were lrb 5+. Now it is clear to me that it was more the rise of online gaming on the xbox360 and ps4. They made playing games online easy.

I think it is more to do with how internet gaming has changed. When I found Fumbbl, the concept was amazing to me. Now, the options for internet gaming have moved on.

Fumbbl now is a retro option. It would only appeal if it ticks a niche, e.g. fantasy football, elves and orcs, GW fanboy or you already play BB.

To that Cyanide players feel cyanide's game is a superior product due to it being a more modern and polished commercial game. And when the polish starts to dim release a new version that fits the changing face of online gaming.

I am not sure there is an answer. Gaming has changed since fumbbl's most popular period.
datom



Joined: Mar 22, 2017

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 10:26 Reply with quote Back to top

Yeah totally agree. I think we need to be conscious as well that FUMBBL has a really big player-base considering all other factors.

If you look at other niche communities (Dominions for example) and the speed at which online MMOs crash and burn, you get the sense that actually being able to access games with relative regularity is the exception, not the norm. Heck, log into steam and try the multiplayer servers for anything launched over 5 years ago, let alone 15 years ago.

Bloodbowl 2 has clearly taken people away from FUMBBL - I think even just a common sense argument could identify that - but equally most of the people that have played BB2 would never have played FUMBBL. Equally, the idea that because the game had x number of players in 2008 it should have x number of players in 2019 is not a fair comparison.

I think our target shouldn't be a reversion to year whatever, but to build and grow the community in off-peak timezones to the peak timezones. Social media will help with that, tournament links might help with that (could some run NAF in US timezones?).

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koadah



Joined: Mar 30, 2005

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 10:28 Reply with quote Back to top

Fumbbl may look like a retro option on a PC, but it may not look so retro on a phone or tablet.

BB3 may not launch because BB coaches are generally not so young that they will blindly re-buy exactly the same game every year (or few).

Fumbbl may have been declining gradually, but Cyanide gave it a reall kick in the guts.
We also lost a lot of people who didn't like going to CRP.

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koadah



Joined: Mar 30, 2005

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 10:38 Reply with quote Back to top

datom wrote:
Yeah totally agree. I think we need to be conscious as well that FUMBBL has a really big player-base considering all other factors.

If you look at other niche communities (Dominions for example) and the speed at which online MMOs crash and burn, you get the sense that actually being able to access games with relative regularity is the exception, not the norm. Heck, log into steam and try the multiplayer servers for anything launched over 5 years ago, let alone 15 years ago.

Bloodbowl 2 has clearly taken people away from FUMBBL - I think even just a common sense argument could identify that - but equally most of the people that have played BB2 would never have played FUMBBL. Equally, the idea that because the game had x number of players in 2008 it should have x number of players in 2019 is not a fair comparison.

I think our target shouldn't be a reversion to year whatever, but to build and grow the community in off-peak timezones to the peak timezones. Social media will help with that, tournament links might help with that (could some run NAF in US timezones?).


Cyanide is also nowhere near as busy during NA timezones.

You cannot expect the same mechanisms to work as well as they do during Euro evenings.

Stuntyleeg.com had a much smaller userbase than NA Fumbbl has now. It still worked (until Fumbbl went to CRP). But people had to revise their expectations.

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JellyBelly



Joined: Jul 08, 2009

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 11:47 Reply with quote Back to top

Dominik wrote:
JellyBelly wrote:
The thing is, one day, Cyanide's servers will go cold, and then all of those players will only have one place to go for their BB. It might take another 10 years, but it will happen. Cyanide won't be able to keep turning a profit on the same game indefinitely, and once they can't ... lights out.


If BB 2 was a success, why won't be a BB 3 release in a few years?


For the same reason that GW haven't been able to continuously turn a profit on the board game over the past 30 years: there is a limit to how many times you can sell the same game to the same user base over and over. How many times can you re-hash the same thing?

koadah wrote:
We also lost a lot of people who didn't like going to CRP.


Yes, definitely. I remember a lot of people left because they hated the CRP rules, especially the ClawPOMB mechanic. In fact, it was a major reason that I left the site for several years myself (as opposed to Cyanide, which I've never really gotten into).

It seemed like FUMBBL got hit by multiple things in quite a short period of time: unpopular rule change, Cyanide ...

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datom



Joined: Mar 22, 2017

Post   Posted: Mar 21, 2019 - 11:57 Reply with quote Back to top

koadah wrote:


Cyanide is also nowhere near as busy during NA timezones.

You cannot expect the same mechanisms to work as well as they do during Euro evenings.

Stuntyleeg.com had a much smaller userbase than NA Fumbbl has now. It still worked (until Fumbbl went to CRP). But people had to revise their expectations.


Sorry, I think we entirely agree, that revision of expectations is key. We should not think that NA peak should necessarily be more busy than - say - EU daytime. But EU daytime I can get a draw or jump into Ranked and normally get a game, and noone really posts to moan about.

And my point was not that old mechanisms were relevant, but maybe new ones = so can some peak players consider off-peak slots if they say have flexible working schedules etc. I'm in a a league that caters to the US timezone, but half the players in the US division are European who like playing late nights etc.

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MenonaLoco



Joined: Jan 05, 2016

Post   Posted: May 14, 2019 - 18:01 Reply with quote Back to top

48 coaches online. 11:00 am for me, 18:00 server. That's as close as i get to peak time, from here, gringo tz. 2 coaches activated. That's it. Uggghhhhh Do you guys even play or is the "chisme" (rumor cooking) so good as to just hang out? Razz
pedro_fgomes



Joined: Mar 25, 2018

Post   Posted: May 14, 2019 - 19:00 Reply with quote Back to top

Being online does not always represent being active. Sometimes I just leave the browser window open,so I'm on fumbbl but not really active. Other times I am online but not able to play, just to spectate for example. But I get your point. Also I'm in server time -1 so not hard for me getting matches.

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ph0enyx13



Joined: Nov 14, 2015

Post   Posted: Jun 01, 2019 - 22:54 Reply with quote Back to top

MenonaLoco wrote:
"and once you get the amount of teams required it will put you in a game" - Just get into brawls and smacks!


Issues with the brawls and smacks is that brawls you might get matched up vs someone in Euro time and in smacks everyone wants to play like TV 2500+ and some jerk always brings killer nurgle.
Waagh



Joined: Apr 13, 2019

Post   Posted: Jun 02, 2019 - 21:12 Reply with quote Back to top

I am a newer player in the NA tz and don't know if that makes my opinion more important or less but I don't activate box because I am never able to get a game in there. I have only played 2 box games but the two games I played there were cool I guess. The guys I played with were friendly one played flings the other vampires. Lack of activity is a big factor in why I don't activate. I think I activated 10 times before I got my first game and didn't even know I had got it untill my opponent messaged me. Apparently Java dosent just launch automatically in the box. Perhaps some more detailed rules in a more visible place would help? Anyway I have moved on to mostly try and play people I have met through leagues in test games or in ranked. I had to learn what it ment to be "picked" in ranked to learn to avoid predators there and from the vast ammount of spectating I have done have learned that box is dominated by two players which I won't name because truly I have never played against them and so really don't know them enough to form my own opinion. But certainly ranked is more attractive when I can't get a game with someone I already know, like, and want to play with. So I guess it is really both the described issues with box why I don't play, no one seems to play it in NA timezones and I want to play a game I can win I don't want to get matched with someone who is just going to crush me and my enjoyment of the game. But I will say I spectated multiple games between the aforementioned players and when they complain to each other about having to play one another I think that may be a huge part of the problem.
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