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Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 11:45 am
by Robespierre__
of note, this is how they describe CC:
i disagree with this too... read the description again... you are saying what made the site attractive isn't attractive after a few weeks!!!! huh?!!! people don't go to CHESS sites to play variations of CHESS... they want to play the game they know and love... we all came here to play RISK, not drop with parachutes and have zombies and whatever f*ck else they have put up as options...


There is no friggin' way that I would still be here playing standard map straight RISK after 6 years. I love all these inventive settings. It challenges you to think differently. Plus I love clan wars.

But I think you are correct that a ton of "social" gamers don't want to bother with Waterloo/12-person Quads/Fog Trench Zombie spoils. A simpler game for them (Farmville, Candy Crush Saga) allows them to wile away their lives without burning too many brain cells while also having a social aspect to the activity.

In the end, though, this site with 15,000 active users is more than vibrant enough I think. We just need to do a better job at getting that additional 5,000 peeps worldwide who would happily make this a part of (daily) life. The devil of course is in that detail.

Robes

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:14 pm
by owenshooter
Robespierre__ wrote:In the end, though, this site with 15,000 active users is more than vibrant enough I think. We just need to do a better job at getting that additional 5,000 peeps worldwide who would happily make this a part of (daily) life. The devil of course is in that detail.


ummm... we are currently at 9,692 users... that is current as of today... if we were at 15K users, i would agree that it is vibrant enough... it isn't... for various settings, you can no longer find games... we are talking settings that were a staple of the site... freestyle is dead, standard games are harder and harder to find... it has all been discussed at great length... i am taking it that your stance is based on your belief that there are 15K users instead of the factual 9.6K... if you follow the thread, this month we have lost 2 pages of users from the board... that is astonishing... CC needs to change things, we are about to go below 9K users in a very short time...-el Jesus negro

p.s.-the 5K you want won't even get us to the 15K you think we have!!!

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 3:45 pm
by Gillipig
owenshooter wrote:
Robespierre__ wrote:In the end, though, this site with 15,000 active users is more than vibrant enough I think. We just need to do a better job at getting that additional 5,000 peeps worldwide who would happily make this a part of (daily) life. The devil of course is in that detail.


ummm... we are currently at 9,692 users... that is current as of today... if we were at 15K users, i would agree that it is vibrant enough... it isn't... for various settings, you can no longer find games... we are talking settings that were a staple of the site... freestyle is dead, standard games are harder and harder to find... it has all been discussed at great length... i am taking it that your stance is based on your belief that there are 15K users instead of the factual 9.6K... if you follow the thread, this month we have lost 2 pages of users from the board... that is astonishing... CC needs to change things, we are about to go below 9K users in a very short time...-el Jesus negro

p.s.-the 5K you want won't even get us to the 15K you think we have!!!

Don't be too hard on him, he's obviously French.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 3:58 pm
by tzor
owenshooter wrote:however, my point that CC should have expanded into other games like chess, checker, scrabble were WAAAAY ahead of the curve and predate Words With Friends success by at least a year and a half...


Here is where I'm going to slightly disagree. The first priority is to concentrate on your main revenue engine. The Risk like engine that is CC's primary revenue source is not only a major potential source, it is a source that still has not reached peak potential. Now if you had significant revenue streams from this you could hire more staff to work on other gaming venues as well. I don't think they are anywhere near that point; reallocating resources will only stagnate development on their current money maker.

So I'm going to jump off of the computer (for a moment) and look at a game near and dear to my heart (because of computers, go figure). Mayfair games.

"The genre of Crayon Rails board games was started by Mayfair's publication in 1982 of Empire Builder."

Empire Builder AKA North American Rails (some versions) (1980, North America)
British Rails (1984, England, Scotland, Wales)
Eurorails (1990, Europe)
Nippon Rails (1992, Japan)
Australian Rails (1994, Australia)
Iron Dragon (1996, Fantasy Map)
India Rails (1999, India)
Lunar Rails (2003, The Moon)
Russian Rails (2004, Russia)
China Rails (2006, China)
Martian Rails (2009, Mars)


I got involved in Empire Builder around 1990, for the Multi-Player Games Network. I still have a cloth bag with our MPGN EB logo on it. On the gaming level, this was heavily promoted by the Train Gamers Association. Now MPGN never did get around to programming the other railroad layouts, but then again, my pride and joy wasn't the main revenue driver for the company. (But for a game that was done by a single programmer and a single artist it wasn't too bad.) But variations on a theme can be a major generator of continued excitement in the game genre, which is exactly what CC is doing.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:40 pm
by JPcelticfc
Right hands up... who is responsible for the action tab? I remember a time when you opened a game, and you had all the required information in front of you, the settings and the table overview. This flicking through tabs slows the whole thing down. Taking my turns was like a chore tonight, its not fun.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 10:38 pm
by owenshooter
tzor wrote: But variations on a theme can be a major generator of continued excitement in the game genre, which is exactly what CC is doing.

ohhhhh... that is how they have kept the number of users rising... *cough*... sorry, the numbers don't lie... the variations are not keeping people here...-eJn

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 11:41 pm
by nietzsche
We've passed the point of no return.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 5:56 am
by shickingbrits
I agree with tzor (for once).

An empty bar doesn't encourage people to come. A empty FB page is probably more harmful than useful. People need to send out challenges to their friends, not requests for free labour.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:11 am
by tzor
owenshooter wrote:ohhhhh... that is how they have kept the number of users rising... *cough*... sorry, the numbers don't lie... the variations are not keeping people here...-eJn


I'm talking about advertising and variations. We don't really have the former. Question for you, would a new variation bring in more or less people than adding, let's say chess to this site, given the fact that the RISK/CHESS crossover population is, what, almost NIL?

How many people bought the (insert genre here) game of Monopoly when they might not have bought regular monopoly. Not even rule changes here, this was just a graphic variation and name changes. These variations are highly popular!

Variations don't keep people here, they might attract people who otherwise might not be attracted to the standard game.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:13 am
by tzor
nietzsche wrote:We've passed the point of no return.


It's not over until the ... lady sings. And I don't see her singing. I keep seeing her turn around and blink. :twisted:

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:41 am
by owenshooter
tzor wrote:
nietzsche wrote:We've passed the point of no return.


It's not over until the ... lady sings. And I don't see her singing. I keep seeing her turn around and blink. :twisted:

most of the ladies here are actually guys... just sayin'...-el Jesus negro

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 1:56 pm
by tzor
owenshooter wrote:most of the ladies here are actually guys... just sayin'...-el Jesus negro


I'm pretty sure Nietzsche's sig is a female ... just sayin' 8-)

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 3:38 pm
by owenshooter
tzor wrote:
owenshooter wrote:most of the ladies here are actually guys... just sayin'...-el Jesus negro


I'm pretty sure Nietzsche's sig is a female ... just sayin' 8-)


you just kind of proved my point... anyway, still on the decline!!-eJn

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 4:48 pm
by Optimus Prime
Less than 10,000 active users? Yes, Conquer Club is definitely on the decline and in its current state, highly unlikely to recover.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 6:13 pm
by Army of GOD
Optimus Prime wrote:Less than 10,000 active users? Yes, Conquer Club is definitely on the decline and in its current state, highly unlikely to recover.


Who the f*ck are you

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 4:09 am
by Dukasaur
isaiah40 wrote:9696

9716. The summer doldrums may be over...:)

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 11:44 pm
by WILLIAMS5232
Dukasaur wrote:
isaiah40 wrote:9696

9716. The summer doldrums may be over...:)



9698....

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 2:28 am
by Gillipig
Dukasaur wrote:
isaiah40 wrote:9696

9716. The summer doldrums may be over...:)

It's not a summer phenomenon anymore you dulldrum, it's everything except winter, get it right newbie.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 8:27 am
by tzor
Gillipig wrote:It's not a summer phenomenon anymore you dulldrum, it's everything except winter, get it right newbie.


But it's always "winter" somewhere? Why aren't we attracting Australians?

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 1:28 pm
by stotzi
As unlogical as it might seem: The multiple options, as far as they go now, are in my opinion the death of CC. New players are overwhelmed by options. I am not even in favor of the option "Polymorphic" - as funny as it may seem in the short run, but it does a big downgrade to classic teamplay.

Also the usability: I highly recommend to go back to the core process of making a game like risk with a few more options and a lot of different maps! Concentrate on usability, so that it can easily be handled from mobile phones or tablets. Make scripts like BOB standard functionalities. Make a good App for iPhone and Android, so one can show it to friends easily and play it easily in a train or while making a little walk after work!

Trench was the last gameplay option which enriched the game in my opinion.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 3:52 pm
by tzor
stotzi wrote:As unlogical as it might seem: The multiple options, as far as they go now, are in my opinion the death of CC. New players are overwhelmed by options. I am not even in favor of the option "Polymorphic" - as funny as it may seem in the short run, but it does a big downgrade to classic teamplay.


It's not illogical, but I think the answer is much different than simply eliminating options. The answer is to eliminate the massive multiple options for the "new player." Consider the following: How many "advanced" players use the "Join a Game" option? (I generally use the Game Finder myself.) You could have new users go to a much simpler version of Join a game where the basic boards and basic options are used. Players could advance to more and more options as they play games on the system.

Presenting the whole universe of options to a new player can be a problem, but the answer is not to remove that universe for the experienced player.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:28 pm
by WILLIAMS5232
tzor wrote:
stotzi wrote:As unlogical as it might seem: The multiple options, as far as they go now, are in my opinion the death of CC. New players are overwhelmed by options. I am not even in favor of the option "Polymorphic" - as funny as it may seem in the short run, but it does a big downgrade to classic teamplay.


It's not illogical, but I think the answer is much different than simply eliminating options. The answer is to eliminate the massive multiple options for the "new player." Consider the following: How many "advanced" players use the "Join a Game" option? (I generally use the Game Finder myself.) You could have new users go to a much simpler version of Join a game where the basic boards and basic options are used. Players could advance to more and more options as they play games on the system.

Presenting the whole universe of options to a new player can be a problem, but the answer is not to remove that universe for the experienced player.


just make different options come available as you progress. the more you play the more the options come available. this of course needs to come with a total site reset.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:45 pm
by nietzsche
tzor wrote:
stotzi wrote:As unlogical as it might seem: The multiple options, as far as they go now, are in my opinion the death of CC. New players are overwhelmed by options. I am not even in favor of the option "Polymorphic" - as funny as it may seem in the short run, but it does a big downgrade to classic teamplay.


It's not illogical, but I think the answer is much different than simply eliminating options. The answer is to eliminate the massive multiple options for the "new player." Consider the following: How many "advanced" players use the "Join a Game" option? (I generally use the Game Finder myself.) You could have new users go to a much simpler version of Join a game where the basic boards and basic options are used. Players could advance to more and more options as they play games on the system.

Presenting the whole universe of options to a new player can be a problem, but the answer is not to remove that universe for the experienced player.


But too many options and too many options create specialization among players. Some players want to play one type of game, others want to play another type of game, and the games never get started because everybody wants to play with home field advantage.

There are some maps/settings too complicated for the "casual fun", they are there only for the farmers.


---
The death of freestyle appears to be the final nail in the coffin, but also the new controls used in the interface is making people stop playing. It's a delicate thing to chose controls for an interface, one needs to be sure they won't fail often and also needs to be consistent, not make one thing look simple and the thing next to it complex.

Re: Is CC Declining?

PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:12 pm
by Optimus Prime
Army of GOD wrote:
Optimus Prime wrote:Less than 10,000 active users? Yes, Conquer Club is definitely on the decline and in its current state, highly unlikely to recover.


Who the f*ck are you


The guy who was helping run the website when it had over 22,000 active users?