Help new players and the game by disregarding inactive/idle accounts

[Lars1444]

Improvements Format


Proposal:

Would it be possible for Inno Games to make the servers/the system chategorize players as either active or inactive? (fx. one-two weeks or one month of no logins). And then move the inactive/idle accounts to a passive spot on the server/in the system where they wouldn't be active in the game, the scoreboards and/or in the statistics.

I know the issue about cleaning up/removing the inactive/idle accounts has been asked before (many years ago) and that it was turned down as som people was affraid to have their account deleted while they were on a break... But I am NOT suggesting to delete the accounts - just for the system to take them out of the active part of the game.

Reason
As a new player it is almost impossible to get started in Forge of Empires because there are no active neighbours with whom one can trade.or be helped by. There is nothing more discouraging that to go to the marketplace and see 40 pages of offers, all from the system merchant and to ratio 1:10 (see added picture)
But also bigger players are relying on neighbours for trade and help, though not as much as the new ones.

So one simple reason is - Don't you want people to stay in the game?
By focussing on only the active players, Inno wouldn't have to open new servers to allow more players into the game spreading the active players over an even bigger surface.

Details:
There are already systems/websites that can tell you about a specific players activities over the last month, and FoE or FoE-Helper already uses some of these data to show wether or not people on your friend-list are active or not, so why can't the game it self use the option?
It should be fairly simple to have the game keep track of peoples activities. Perhaps there could even be an option in the settings where people could choose wether or not their account should be active or inactive?
When it comes to statistics and ranks. People could then choose to have the scores shown with or without inactive accounts
There will be issues when it comes to guilds, because if accounts are labelled as inactive/idle what about their membership to a guild? One solution could be to add a general rule saying: "That all inactive/idle accounts are automatically released from their guild after 1 month of inactivity". But then there would be some issues about the creator of the guild that would have to be solved...
But is should also be possible for guilds to be marked as inactive.


Balance/Abuse Prevention
This idea does not change anything about the balance of the game... My original thougt was mainly to improve new players ability to play the game and to support new players lust and interest to keep on playing, but come to thinking about it... This Idea would benefit all ACTIVE players in FoE, because even bigger accounts are relying on neighbours for trading and help.

I MUST BE HONEST! Because I know this idea fall under the rule of "What Not To Suggest" because this idea will make the game easier for some, especially new players and in general all ACTIVE players of FoE. But I hope that the moderators can accept the idea anyway.

 

[Forwandert]

New accounts are deleted after X amount of inactivity (Sure someone will be along with the figures) but it's pretty quick, depending on how many diamonds they have in their account.

You can actually help yourself in that situation though by adding active friends who you also trade with and joining a decent guild to help with trades. Then you can check on the activity of your friends you added to trade with and delete if they go inactive.

 

[Lars1444]

New accounts are deleted after X amount of inactivity (Sure someone will be along with the figures) but it's pretty quick, depending on how many diamonds they have in their account.

You can actually help yourself in that situation though by adding active friends who you also trade with and joining a decent guild to help with trades. Then you can check on the activity of your friends you added to trade with and delete if they go inactive.

I know... But the rules also state that no account with diamonds will be deleted, and since all new accounts get some starting diamonds it basically means that NO accounts are deleted as they have diamonds in their town :-(

 

[Knight of ICE]

I know... But the rules also state that no account with diamonds will be deleted, and since all new accounts get some starting diamonds it basically means that NO accounts are deleted as they have diamonds in their town :-(

Those starting accounts get diamonds during the tutorial in which case they need to be spend to finish the tutorial. Accounts that do not finish the tutorial get deleted.

Main part of your proposal is about not deleting active accounts, but moving them out of the system. That is already the case. Inactive accounts are moved to inactive neighbourhoods. That leaves the ranking and statistics? Really ??? That's what you want? They have absolutely no influence on the game, so who cares?

It does help if you know how the game works when you make a proposal.

 

[Lars1444]

Those starting accounts get diamonds during the tutorial in which case they need to be spend to finish the tutorial. Accounts that do not finish the tutorial get deleted.

Main part of your proposal is about not deleting active accounts, but moving them out of the system. That is already the case. Inactive accounts are moved to inactive neighbourhoods. That leaves the ranking and statistics? Really ??? That's what you want? They have absolutely no influence on the game, so who cares?

It does help if you know how the game works when you make a proposal.

Well I just finished the tutorial and I had 200-250 diamonds when finished.

And no you got it wrong... I am not mentioning anything about moving active accounts - I mention moving inactive accounts away from the active. And I mention the ranking and scores because I know they mean a lot to some people who take a pride in being number one... So yes.. they don't have a direct effect on the active players but they do have an indirect effect on the game, because they are a part of the guild rankings which are among the suggested guilds for new players and that has a direct effect.
And I don't know about you or any other players in FoE, but I would prefer to know if a guild that I would like to ask for membership consist of 50-75% inactive players.
And yes... it is easy to assume that I don't know anything about the game because I adress a matter that you care nothing about, but I have actually played for nearly 3 years and I know how to play the game.... So my idea is not actually for me but for all the new players who doesn't have a deeper understanding or knowledge of the game in forehand or have friends who can help from the start or a super guild.

 

[nice2haveu]

All I can say is, new players should engage and go explore new things in the game initially. It takes time. Everything cannot be presented by just creating a new city.

If no active players not there to help, make the city helps for a little time. Once city growing and gaining good points, new players might found a stronger active players in the game (friends/neighbours/guildmates) for sure.

 

[Lars1444]

All I can say is, new players should engage and go explore new things in the game initially. It takes time. Everything cannot be presented by just creating a new city.

If no active players not there to help, make the city helps for a little time. Once city growing and gaining good points, new players might found a stronger active players in the game (friends/neighbours/guildmates) for sure.

I know that not all should be easy, but all should be within limits.... As I can see the tutorial lasts 5 minutes (if I assume it ends when you have build the longhouse?) And after that you just expect new players to either build all goods themselves at one goods per 4 hours or trade all goods at a ratio of 10:1 to get by? Come on... There is a reason why there is a Market!
Just look at how FoE explain how to get goods in the game:

"You do not have to produce all the goods yourself – concentrate on those which you found good deposits for on the continent map. Team up with other players and trade these goods with them to get ones you don't have. You can also exchange goods with non-player dealers; but their exchange rate is so bad that you should do it only if you really have no other choice. There is also another way to get goods: If you employ your army, with skill and good timing, you can rob your neighbor of goods productions."

So the tutorial ends after 5 minutes and then players are left stranded for 3-10 days trying to gather goods just to survive... That is in my opinion a bad idea and perhaps the main reason why so many choses to quit the game so quickly AND THAT is what I am trying to address!

​

 

[Knight of ICE]

Well I just finished the tutorial and I had 200-250 diamonds when finished.

During the tutorial you get 100 diamonds for building a stilt house. You immediately have to spend those on buying a longhouse. If you don't they will not show up on your account on other worlds, so it is useless not to spend them.

And no you got it wrong... I am not mentioning anything about moving active accounts - I mention moving inactive accounts away from the active.

And like I told you they are already being moved from the active accounts.

And I mention the ranking and scores because I know they mean a lot to some people who take a pride in being number one... So yes.. they don't have a direct effect on the active players but they do have an indirect effect on the game, because they are a part of the guild rankings which are among the suggested guilds for new players and that has a direct effect.

They are part of the guild rankings???? Really????

And I don't know about you or any other players in FoE, but I would prefer to know if a guild that I would like to ask for membership consist of 50-75% inactive players.

You can ask the person you ask for membership.

A Guild can have 80 very active members and still be usless to a starting player, cause they are all in the later ages. No list will tell you if a guold will be good for you.

And yes... it is easy to assume that I don't know anything about the game because I adress a matter that you care nothing about, but I have actually played for nearly 3 years and I know how to play the game.... So my idea is not actually for me but for all the new players who doesn't have a deeper understanding or knowledge of the game in forehand or have friends who can help from the start or a super guild.

I am not assuming anything. I can deduct that from the comments you make. Learn how the game works before you try to change it.

 

[Lars1444]

This is hopeless... Why on Gods green earth do you wanna support a game where up to 80% of the accounts are inactive? I just don't get it!

 

[Knight of ICE]

This is hopeless... Why on Gods green earth do you wanna support a game where up to 80% of the accounts are inactive? I just don't get it!

Those inactive players have no influence on the game play at all. They are nothing more than a statistic.

You can run in to inactive players in your hood, but those will be gone with the next hood change. You can have inactive players in your friends list in which case it is up to you, to sort them out. There can be inactive players in a Guild in which case it is up to the guild leaders to decide what to do with them. You are making a problem of something that is not a problem, all because you do not know how the system works.

 

[Lars1444]

Lol... this is pointless.. You are not looking at this from new players perspective at all... But I guess it is better to scare them away from the start so you keep the number of active players on each server at a minimum.... Great strategy

 

[Knight of ICE]

You are right about one thing. This is hopeless. You refuse to understand how it works. The number of inactive players you actually face is limited and will diminish once you move on.

New players do not even have a way of knowing if they are dealing with inactive players or not, so how on earth is that supposed to scare them away?

 

[Lars1444]

Are you kidding me? Are you really that blind?
Look at the numbers man... 38% of accounts on server D is below 1200 points (which is the points given for the Oracle of Delphi)... Which in short means that 4 out of 10 accounts never even finished that much of the game.... Or do you even want to dispute that fact?
But you already read my earlier post telling about the facts...
But I would like to know how you so blindly can disregard the facts?
Proof of facts from D-server: Total number of towns: ca. 50.000 of which: 18K towns under 1000 points (37%), 25K town under 10.000 points (50%), 32K towns under 100.000 (65%), 39K towns under 1M (79%). In 12 hours of playing time I have risen above 2000 points cruising past 20.122 other players. All of this while not knowing how the system works... But I guess I'm just lucky then and not the fact that 98% of the accounts that I passed are inactive!.
And it might be that all accounts that hasn't completed the tutorial (read: played for 5 minutes) are deleted... But then it is good that the system saves all accounts with 6+ minutes of playing time. :-/
And if that isn't proof enough for stating that there are way too many inactive accounts on the server - I don't know what to say?
And new players NOT knowing that they are missing.... Well you are right about that, because they don't know how the system are supposed to work... But then again... let them be in their cluelessness and let them quit in silence.

 

[Knight of ICE]

I am not disputing there are a lot of inactive players. I am trying to tell you that it does not effect you. Once again, all those inactive players are in neighbourhoods with other inactive players. Inactive accounts are moved away from the active! They show in the ranking, but that has no influence at all on your game. You can join an active Guild. You can invite active friends. Yes, your first hood can show some inactive players if they start around the same time as you and immediately quit, but that gets sorted at the first hood change.

You can not force players to stay active when they join the game and you can not delete accounts after 1 day of inactivity.

 

[Lars1444]

No, that is correct. You can't force players to be active or force them to stay in the game.... But as the conditions are now, with all the inactive accounts creating dead neighbourhoods, most/many new players quit the game because they find it too hard or too slow to gather goods. So hurray. By not rooting out/sorting out the inactive accounts, the game automatically hinders new players from starting.
I just came to think about the problem from another perspective. So let's keep all the inactive accounts in the game, but can there be something done about the problem in another way? Can the be changes made so new players could have easier/better access to trading in the beginning of the game - because this is my primary focus of the idea/suggestion.
What can be done so that new players have easier access to goods in the start of the game? I can't suggest better ratio with the AI merchant, because that is against the rules.. But could it be possible to widen the Market area for new players, so trading would be possible with all from the server or perhaps all on the server up to a specific age?

 

[Knight of ICE]

But as the conditions are now, with all the inactive accounts creating dead neighbourhoods, most/many new players quit the game because they find it too hard or too slow to gather goods. So hurray. By not rooting out/sorting out the inactive accounts, the game automatically hinders new players from starting.

Why do you not read what you are told?????? The game is rooting out the inactive accounts!!!! They are moved to inactive hoods!!!! It happens every 14 days.

What can be done so that new players have easier access to goods in the start of the game? I can't suggest better ratio with the AI merchant, because that is against the rules.. But could it be possible to widen the Market area for new players, so trading would be possible with all from the server or perhaps all on the server up to a specific age?

You can trade with your hood, with your Guild and with your friends. That is a possible 300 players to trade with, but that is for you to make it happen.

 

[Paladiac the Pure]

No, that is correct. You can't force players to be active or force them to stay in the game.... But as the conditions are now, with all the inactive accounts creating dead neighbourhoods, most/many new players quit the game because they find it too hard or too slow to gather goods. So hurray. By not rooting out/sorting out the inactive accounts, the game automatically hinders new players from starting.
I just came to think about the problem from another perspective. So let's keep all the inactive accounts in the game, but can there be something done about the problem in another way? Can the be changes made so new players could have easier/better access to trading in the beginning of the game - because this is my primary focus of the idea/suggestion.
What can be done so that new players have easier access to goods in the start of the game? I can't suggest better ratio with the AI merchant, because that is against the rules.. But could it be possible to widen the Market area for new players, so trading would be possible with all from the server or perhaps all on the server up to a specific age?

The lack of active/inactive accounts has nothing to do with the problem of new players being unable to trade. The problem is all the GBG guilds who need those resources to build as many siege camps as they can - and not having players in those lower levels who can create enough of those goods for the guild bank. As such, the guild 'traders' are spending as much as they can to buy up all the lower age goods.
Otherwise, new players have the exact same options as every other low level player - build their own goods buildings and generate their goods themselves - again, absolutely nothing to do with active/inactive accounts. Everything to do with how the player(s) decide to play their own games.

 

[Emberguard]

As a new player it is almost impossible to get started in Forge of Empires because there are no active neighbours with whom one can trade.or be helped by.

Trading frequency reduced when Event Buildings started replacing the need to have regular goods buildings. Even if you had access to every active player on the server, it doesn’t change that people aren’t even looking at the market because

(1) they already have surplus goods.
(2) trading is free within Guilds but cost Forge Points for neighbours / friends. Therefore people restrict trading to just Guild unless it’s an incredibly good deal.

Can the be changes made so new players could have easier/better access to trading in the beginning of the game - because this is my primary focus of the idea/suggestion.

Your best bet for trading under current mechanics is within your own Guild. Your next best bet is to talk to people within the game and ask if you can trade for goods

Perhaps a change that could be made is removing the FP fee for trading outside the Guild to incentivise people to trade more

 

[Lars1444]

Why do you not read what you are told?????? The game is rooting out the inactive accounts!!!! They are moved to inactive hoods!!!! It happens every 14 days.



You can trade with your hood, with your Guild and with your friends. That is a possible 300 players to trade with, but that is for you to make it happen.

So how come a new player has 0 to trade with in the Market?

 

[Emberguard]

So how come a new player has 0 to trade with in the Market?

That is likely more to do with players not trading in general due to getting goods through Quests and Events rather than player activity

You can place a trade yourself so anyone looking can pick it up if they want to trade

For the above reasoning I’d also recommend you trade ahead of your needs. ie; anticipate what you need to balance out and put up trades before you run out of those goods