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+=====================================+
| THE STATE OF THE DONUT - 2024 |
+=====================================+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Greetings fellow Genesisians, |
| |
| Here we go again. Time for a ridiculously long post about what happened |
| during 2024, and the usual look at the future. |
| |
|============================================================================|
| THE PLAYER NUMBERS |
|============================================================================|
| |
| Let's start by taking a look at the average player numbers during 2024 |
| and then break it down into lots of different pieces. |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| Average player activity by week for entire year, beginning Jan 01 2024 |
| |
|------------+-----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----|
| 34.5 | | |XX | | | | | | | | | |
| 34.0 | | |XX | | | | | | | | | |
| 33.5 | | |XX | | | | | | | | | |
| 33.0 | | |XXX | | | | | | | | | |
| 32.5 | | |XXX | | | | | | | | | |
| 32.0 | | |XXXX | | | | | | | | | |
| 31.5 | | |XXXX | | | | | | X | | | |
| 31.0 | | |XXXX | | | | | | X X|X | | |
| 30.5 | | X|XXXX | | | | | | X XX|X | | |
| 30.0 | | X|XXXXX| | | | | | X XX|XX | | |
| 29.5 | X| X|XXXXX| | | | | |XX XX|XX | | X X|
| 29.0 | X| X|XXXXX| X | | | | X|XXXXX|XXXX| | XXX|
| 28.5 | XXX| XXX|XXXXX|XX | X | | | X|XXXXX|XXXX|X | XXX|
| 28.0 | XXX| XXX|XXXXX|XX | X |X | | X|XXXXX|XXXX|X |XXXX|
| 27.5 | XXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XX | X |X | | XX|XXXXX|XXXX|X |XXXX|
| 27.0 | XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXX | XXX|X | | XX|XXXXX|XXXX|X |XXXX|
| 26.5 | XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXX | XXX|X | | XX|XXXXX|XXXX|XX |XXXX|
| 26.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXX | XXX|X | | XX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXX |XXXX|
| 25.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXX | XXX|X | | XX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXX |XXXX|
| 25.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXX | XXX|X | | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 24.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XX | | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 24.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XX | | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 23.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XX | | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 23.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXX | | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 22.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX | | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 22.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX |X | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 21.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX |XX | XXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 21.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XX |XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 20.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XX |XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 20.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XX |XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 19.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XX |XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 19.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| A 18.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| V 18.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| G 17.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 17.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| P 16.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| E 16.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| R 15.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 15.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| H 14.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| O 14.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| U 13.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| R 13.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 12.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| E 12.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| A 11.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| C 11.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| H 10.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| 10.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| W 9.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| E 9.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| E 8.5 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
| K 8.0 |XXXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXXX|XXXX|XXXX|XXXX|
|------------+-----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----|
| Month |Jan |Feb |Mar |Apr |May |Jun |Jul |Aug |Sep |Oct |Nov |Dec |
|------------+-----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----|
| |
| Mean yearly average players per hour = 27.28 |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| No surprises here really. Since most of our players live in the northern |
| hemisphere people tend to be outside during summer, which always affect |
| our numbers negatively. The only oddity here is a surprising peak in |
| March. So what happened there? Well, we changed death recovery in |
| february, and I remember that lured a bunch of old players back to try |
| things out, so, that's likely why March was surprisingly good. As with |
| most changes we do, spikes (or drops) in player numbers rarely last for |
| long, though. Looking at the average numbers for the entire year and |
| comparing to previous years is always more interesting, so let's do that |
| next. |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Comparing player activity over two time periods: |
| A: Jan 01 2023 - Dec 31 2023 |
| B: Jan 01 2024 - Dec 31 2024 |
|-------+-------+-------+----------+--+-----------+-------+-------+----------|
| Hour | A | B | % change | | Weekday | A | B | % change |
|-------+-------+-------+----------+ +-----------+-------+-------+----------|
| 00.00 | 29.39 | 32.26 | +9.77 %| | Sunday | 25.61 | 27.63 | +7.85 %|
| 01.00 | 25.70 | 27.92 | +8.62 %| | Monday | 26.68 | 27.43 | +2.80 %|
| 02.00 | 23.74 | 24.79 | +4.42 %| | Tuesday | 26.27 | 27.24 | +3.70 %|
| 03.00 | 23.04 | 24.57 | +6.65 %| | Wednesday | 26.13 | 27.32 | +4.54 %|
| 04.00 | 22.36 | 23.68 | +5.89 %| | Thursday | 25.80 | 26.63 | +3.20 %|
| 05.00 | 21.52 | 22.04 | +2.42 %| | Friday | 26.14 | 27.47 | +5.08 %|
| 06.00 | 20.45 | 19.63 | -4.03 %| | Saturday | 25.57 | 27.02 | +5.66 %|
| 07.00 | 20.15 | 19.33 | -4.10 %| +-----------+-------+-------+----------|
| 08.00 | 21.89 | 19.99 | -8.65 %| |
| 09.00 | 23.27 | 20.84 | -10.45 %| |
| 10.00 | 24.21 | 22.76 | -6.00 %| +--------------------------------------|
| 11.00 | 24.60 | 23.89 | -2.87 %| | - - - Field Sizes - - - |
| 12.00 | 25.17 | 24.42 | -2.98 %| | Number of days in Period A: 364 |
| 13.00 | 26.15 | 26.23 | +0.29 %| | Number of days in Period B: 365 |
| 14.00 | 27.43 | 28.19 | +2.77 %| +--------------------------------------|
| 15.00 | 28.63 | 30.11 | +5.17 %| |
| 16.00 | 29.49 | 31.73 | +7.59 %| |
| 17.00 | 29.80 | 32.68 | +9.66 %| +--------------------------------------|
| 18.00 | 30.72 | 34.45 | +12.12 %| | Overall Summary |
| 19.00 | 32.09 | 36.33 | +13.21 %| +--------------------------------------|
| 20.00 | 33.71 | 38.10 | +13.00 %| | Overall average for Period A: 26.03 |
| 21.00 | 34.77 | 38.98 | +12.10 %| | Overall average for Period B: 27.25 |
| 22.00 | 35.01 | 38.08 | +8.75 %| | |
| 23.00 | 33.40 | 36.27 | +8.58 %| | Overall increase/decrease: +4.693 % |
|-------+-------+-------+----------+--+--------------------------------------|
| |
| Finally! For the first time since 2020 our player numbers have increased. |
| And, 2020 doesn't really count since the increase was mainly due to |
| Covid-19, and we really had a downward trend before that. So, this is |
| is really the first true increase in player numbers compared to a |
| previous year since 2017. Yay! Now, let's look at all the years since we |
| started measuring average player numbers. |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| Population levels in APH over the last 17 years |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|40.0| |
|39.0| |
|38.0| |
|37.0| |
|36.0| XX |
|35.0| XX XX |
|34.0| XX XX XX |
|33.0| XX XX XX |
|32.0| XX XX XX |
|31.0| XX XX XX |
|30.0| XX XX XX XX XX |
|29.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|28.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|27.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|26.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|25.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|24.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|23.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|22.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|21.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|20.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|19.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|18.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|17.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|16.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|15.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|14.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|13.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|12.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|11.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|10.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
| 9.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
| 8.0| XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX XX |
|----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---------|
|Year| 08 |09 |10 |11 |12 |13 |14 |15 |16 |17 |18 |19 |20 |21 |22 |23 |24 |
|----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----|
|Ave | 15 |16 |13 |14 |10 |12 |13 |24 |29 |36 |35 |30 |34 |29 |28 |26 |27 |
| | .8 |.1 |.0 |.0 |.7 |.5 |.3 |.2 |.1 |.6 |.2 |.5 |.5 |.9 |.9 |.0 |.3 |
|----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----|
| |
| How beautiful is that. It may seem like a small growth, but a 4.7% |
| player number increase is nothing to be embarassed about. It's actually |
| pretty amazing when you think about it. In a world full of games with |
| almost photo-realistic graphics and studios with billions of dollars, |
| our little text game from 1989 is not only still alive, it's actually |
| _growing_ again. So, what about new players? Are we getting more of |
| those too, as you'd expect? |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| New players created / players leaving the tutorial |
| (No data from previous years as we started measuring this in 2017) |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Year | New player | Avg. per | Best | Worst | Leaving | Leaving |
| | total | day | day | Day | tutorial | tutorial |
| | | | | | total | % |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2017 | 15,647 | 42.9 | 88 | 14 | 2,012 | 12.9% |
| 2018 | 10,902 | 29.9 | 97 | 5 | 1,982 | 18.2% |
| 2019 | 8,235 | 22.6 | 97 | 4 | 1,693 | 20.6% |
| 2020 | 7,694 | 21.0 | 321 | 3 | 1,451 | 18.9% |
| 2021 | 4,438 | 12.2 | 61 | 1 | 824 | 18.6% |
| 2022 | 3,670 | 10.1 | 96 | 1 | 557 | 15.2% |
| 2023 | 4,192 | 11.5 | 69 | 1 | 472 | 11.3% |
| 2024 | 6,641 | 18.2 | 60 | 1 | 556 | 8.4% |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| Yup. We are getting more players. The Patreon IS working. So, please |
| continue donating if you have the ability. |
| |
| If we look at things from a broader perspective, this is not only the |
| first time in a long time that we see a growth in player numbers, it's |
| also the first time in a very long time that we have pretty good |
| control of our player numbers. In the past we have either relied almost |
| completely on word of mouth, relatively short-lived promotion campaigns, |
| or as during the Google Chromestore era (2015-2018), a third-party site. |
| A site that eventually closed down. |
| |
| While Patreon.com could in theory close down too, we still have much |
| more control of our own destiny this time. The better our Patreon page |
| is doing the more new players we will get, it's as simple as that. |
| |
| Now, the keen-eyed reader will notice that the "leaving tutorial" |
| percentage is at an all-time low. Isn't the concerning? Well, not |
| really. During 2023 we only used Patreon money for Facebook ads during |
| the last couple of months of the year, so most of the players who found |
| us came from elsewhere. 2024 is the first full Patreon year, so we have |
| nothing to compare it to yet. However, it's expected that our player |
| retention will be lower than before, since many of our new players just |
| click an ad on FB without any idea what to expect. Naturally most of |
| them will quit, and the "leaving tutorial" percentage will be lower |
| compared to previous years when more players who tried Genesis out knew |
| more about what kind of game they were trying out. Now, if this |
| percentage goes down during 2025, then it's potentially concerning, but |
| as it is now we have just established a "baseline". |
| |
| Obviously there is much that can be done to increase player retention, |
| all from improving our FB ads, the website, to the new player experience |
| within the game itself. However, statistically speaking, players who |
| find us through an ad will always be less likely to stick around |
| compared to for example someone who actively searches for us or is |
| recommended to try Genesis out by an exsting player. That said, the |
| average player numbers have gone up for the first time in seven years, |
| and it did so during the first full year with Patreon-funded ads. It's |
| unlikely to be a coincidece. Even if player retention is relatively low, |
| as long as it isn't zero it's gonna work over time. So, yeah, the |
| Patreon is working. |
| |
| Okay, let's move on to the guild statistics. |
| |
| NOTE: In the statistics below, the Blue and Red Dragomarmies count as |
| one guild. Also, since we allow players to idle indefinitely in Genesis |
| these numbers should be taken with a BIG grain of salt. A guild with a |
| player, or players, that idle 24/7 may seem very active while in fact |
| they are not. On the other hand, guilds that have rules preventing their |
| members from idling may look quite inactive, but the players are |
| actually always active when they do play. There are of course other |
| factors in play as well, for example some guilds are much more |
| restrictive about taking on new members than others, and some guilds |
| only allow players of specific race(s) and/or align. |
| |
| That said, the below statistics still give an indication about which |
| guilds are the most popular, even if it's not the whole truth. |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| Average number of active players per guild per day |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2023 Ranking 2024 Ranking |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| 1. Mercs (5.129) 1. -Mercs (4.312) |
| 2. Vampires (2.469) 2. +Vampires (3.720) |
| 3. DArmy (1.390) 3. SoHM (1.865) |
| 4. Knives (1.373) 4. Knives (1.463) |
| 5. Ogres (1.310) 5. DArmy (1.389) |
| 6. Monks (1.285) 6. Monks (1.106) |
| 7. SoHM (1.057) 7. Union (1.060) |
| 8. Union (0.774) 8. Ogres (0.884) |
| 9. Cadets (0.524) 9. Calians (0.536) |
| 10. Neidar (0.467) 10. ^Clerics (0.534) |
| 11. Calians (0.376) 11. Cadets (0.465) |
| 12. Knights (0.274) 12. Neidar (0.295) |
| 13. Glads (0.258) 13. Angmar (0.221) |
| 14. Angmar (0.214) 14. Rangers (0.175) |
| 15. Archers (0.214) 15. Knights (0.153) |
| 16. Rangers (0.186) 16. Archers (0.112) |
| 17. WoHS (0.151) 17. *Kender (0.109) |
| 18. Clerics (0.104) 18. @!Glads (0.104) |
| 19. PoT (0.024) 19. WoHS (0.068) |
| 20. Kender (0.019) 20. *Mages (0.016) |
| 21. Academy (0.005) 21. PoT (0.013) |
| 22. Mages (0.000) 22. Academy (0.005) |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| + Biggest APH gain (Vampires at +1.251) |
| - Biggest APH loss (Mercs at -0,817 |
| * Biggest growth (Kenders at 474% growth and mages at |
| who knows what percentage) |
| @ Biggest decline (Glads at 60% decline) |
| ^ Biggest rise (Clerics up 8 ranks) |
| ! Biggest fall (Glads down 5 ranks) |
| |
| The Bonus award 'Most Stable' goes to the Dragonarmies |
| who with a 0.001 decline almsot managed to exactly match |
| their 2023 numbers. Yes, yes, the Academy managed to exactly |
| match it, but at such low numbers it's less special :) |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| NOTE: Mages show as 0.000 in the 2023 statistics, but that does not mean |
| no mage ever logged in during 2023. It means that the number is so low it |
| was rounded down to 0.000. Now, since their numbers went up from 0.000 to |
| 0.016, it's just not reasonable to calculate a percentage. Kenders were |
| the guild that grew the most among those that can actually be calculated. |
| |
| Well, overall it's been a pretty stable year. Not that much movement |
| in general. One clear trend seems to be that, while our caster guilds |
| still struggle overall, things does seem to be on the rise. Both clerics |
| and SoHM are clearly more active, and even mages show some life (or |
| is that an insult to a mage?). Vampires have also turned things around |
| it seems. They lost the most (by far) last year, but now they're one |
| of the biggest winners. One could suspect the 'Coven Wars' had something |
| to do with the spike in vampire activity, question is how the fallout |
| from that war will effect vampire numbers for 2025. We'll see. Other |
| things to note is that the Shadow Union is continuing their very |
| positive trend, and that the kender population is increasing. Have they |
| ever been ranked as a high as 17? Doubtful. Close your pockets! |
| |
| Okay, time to look at guild activity by align and see if there has |
| been any changes, or if the neutral guilds remain super-popular. To |
| explain why the guilds are classified as they are, I'll just re-use |
| the text from last year, and hopefully that answers your questions |
| about this before you even have to ask them. |
| |
| So, some have questioned my classification of vampires and ogres as |
| neutral guilds. And I agree, there is definitely an argument to be made |
| that they should be classified as evil. One could also argue that some |
| of the good-aligned guilds should be neutral. I've decided to count a |
| guild as good or evil if there are clear penalties for going 'against' |
| the expected align in the guild. While ogres have an evil theme and |
| name, there really is no problem being good. Vampires on the other hand |
| struggle with being good, but as I understand things, it is possible, |
| and if you succeed there are no actual penalties in power, so therefore |
| I have classfied them as neutral. As far as I know all the other good |
| and evil-aligned guilds have quite serious penalties if your align |
| is 'wrong'. |
| |
| Finally, WoHS is also a special case since they really belong in all |
| three categories, but if we look at the guild as a whole, neutral is |
| the best classification I think. |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| Guild activity by align - 2024 |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Good-aligned Neutral-aligned Evil-aligned |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Calians 0.536 Mercs 4.312 Knives 1.463 |
| Clerics 0.534 Vampires 3.720 DArmy 1.389 |
| Neidar 0.295 SoHM 1.865 Angmar 0.221 |
| Rangers 0.175 Monks 1.106 Mages 0.016 |
| Knights 0.153 Union 1.060 PoT 0.013 |
| Archers 0.112 Ogres 0.884 |
| Kender 0.109 Cadets 0.465 |
| Glads 0.104 |
| WoHS 0.068 |
| Academy 0.005 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Total: 1.914 13.589 3.102 |
| Total %: 10.3% 73.0% 16.7% |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| Guild activity by align - 2023 |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Good-aligned Neutral-aligned Evil-aligned |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Neidar 0.467 Mercs 5.129 DArmy 1.390 |
| Calians 0.376 Vampires 2.469 Knives 1.373 |
| Knights 0.274 Ogres 1.310 Angmar 0.214 |
| Archers 0.214 Monks 1.285 PoT 0.024 |
| Rangers 0.186 SoHM 1.057 Mages 0.000 |
| Clerics 0.104 Union 0.774 |
| Kender 0.019 Cadets 0.524 |
| Glads 0.258 |
| WoHS 0.151 |
| Academy 0.005 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Total: 1.640 12.962 3.001 |
| Total %: 9.3% 73.7% 17.0% |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| The trend with neutral guilds gaining a bigger and bigger percentage of |
| the playerbase changed in 2023, when things went the other way. And |
| this new trend seems to have continued in 2024. Not by much, but still. |
| Overall, the numbers are very similar to 2023, though, but the goodies |
| seem to have made a little push, mainly thanks to the rise of the |
| clerics. On the evil side, the change is minimal, but the Fire Knives |
| have taken over the number one spot as the most active evil guild. When |
| it comes to the neutral guilds, it's a battle for first place between |
| mercs and vampires as usual. Mercs win the title as the most active |
| neutral guild (and overall) for the second year in a row, but the |
| vampires are clearly closing in compared to 2023. |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| New wizards per year |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| I started manually tracking these numbers back in 2019, but not long ago |
| I learned that we actually have a log for this! So, I have adjusted a few |
| small errors in my manual calculation for the years 2019-2023, and I have |
| also added the years that were missing. And the log goes all the way back |
| to 1994. Or, actually 1993, but 1994 is the first full year in the log. |
| So, here are the numbers for the last 30(!) years. |
| |
| 1994: 46 |
| 1995: no data |
| 1996: 41 |
| 1997: 51 |
| 1998: 40 |
| 1999: 41 |
| 2000: 28 |
| 2001: 22 |
| 2002: 13 |
| 2003: 14 |
| 2004: 17 |
| 2005: 19 |
| 2006: 6 |
| 2007: 3 |
| 2008: 7 |
| 2009: 4 |
| 2010: 4 |
| 2011: 7 |
| 2012: 9 |
| 2013: 3 |
| 2014: 4 |
| 2015: 7 |
| 2016: 19 |
| 2017: 15 |
| 2018: 5 |
| 2019: 4 |
| 2020: 15 |
| 2021: 8 |
| 2022: 7 |
| 2023: 7 |
| 2024: 5 |
| |
| Well, we already knew from previous State of the Donut posts that new |
| wizard numbers pretty clearly follow the average player numbers, which |
| of course is not surprising at all. Interesting to get data from way |
| back, though! Not counting 1995, which was missing from the log for some |
| reason, a total of 471 characters have become wizards. Of course, a few |
| of these players have wizzed more than once, with the same or different |
| characters, so it's not 471 unique persons. But we can probably assume |
| that at least 400 different people have given wizard life a shot since |
| 1994. It's hard to know how many of those that actually contributed to |
| the game, though. Maybe half? Who knows. Also, the log does not include |
| all the people from the really old days (1989-1992), but we can safely |
| say that several hundreds of different people have contributed to |
| creating Genesis during approximately 36 years. |
| |
| Something else that's fun with this newfound log (for me) is to see |
| when specific wizards actually wizzed. This is the current admin: |
| |
| Cherek: November 1, 2006. |
| Cotillion: April 10, 2002. |
| Mirandus: October 30, 2014. |
| Ckrik: November 2, 1997. |
| Santetra: January 9, 2023. |
| Tapakah: Unknown date, 1994. |
| |
| Completely useless information, but kind of fun? |
| |
| |
|============================================================================|
| WIZARD ACCOMPLISHMENTS |
|============================================================================|
| |
| Like always these days, 2024 has been a busy year in the wizard world. |
| Trying to create a list of EVERYTHING that changed or was added to the |
| game is of course always an impossible mission, but I think I've managed |
| to list all the big important stuff and most of the smaller stuff that I |
| felt was worth mentioning. My apologizes if I missed something YOU |
| created. Genesis has no changelog, so puzzling together everything that |
| happened during a year is no easy task. Now, as usual, minor bug/typo |
| fixes as well as small balance tweaks to various guilds and items that |
| only effected a small number of players have been intentionally left out. |
| |
| A special thanks to the player Buddah who completely voluntarily, and |
| without my prior knowledge, made a very good attempt at this list in |
| his 'State of the Dragon' post, which was very helpful to me as a base |
| for this list. He got most things in this section right even without |
| wiz-info! Of course, everything else in his post was just total |
| guesswork, but it's a fun read, and some of his guesses turned out to |
| be kind of right-ish too! |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| First Quarter 2024 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| - NEW CLUB: A new club related to some strange toads opens in Krynn. |
| This actually happened in 2023, but was somehow missed in the |
| previous State of the Donut, so I am mentioning it here. (Vitwitch) |
| - UPDATED BOSS: Demerga, the deadly fang of Emerald, has found the |
| treasure she was always intended to have. Silly bugs got in the way, |
| but they finally got squashed. (Santetra) |
| - NEW AREA: The Necromancer hall in Raumdor features three new quests |
| as well as a completley new concept in Genesis - 'pets' known as |
| Skinkwalkers. (Santetra) |
| - NEW QUEST: A magical drink-related quest appears in Krynn. (Vitwitch) |
| - SYSTEM UPDATED: You can now 'emote' using adverbs. (Mercade) |
| - UPDATED AREA: The Memorial Garden outside Sparkle is updated with a |
| new layout and a new magic map. (Mercade) |
| - NEW CLUB: A wonderfully chaotic Ignomy club opens, allowing players |
| to, well, uh, you kind of have to try it to understand. (Vitwitch) |
| - SYSTEM UPDATED: The way players recover lost XP is completely |
| reworked, allowing players to recover from death and leaving guilds |
| much quicker than before. (Ckrik, Cherek) |
| - NEW SYSTEM: The Gnomish News Network (GNN) is launched. It allows |
| players to subscribte to bulletin boards around the realms, and |
| instantly know when new posts appears on subscribed boards. (Mercade) |
| - NEW AREA: An entire hoard of ogres are suddenly discovered in Emerald, |
| and they come with treasure, if you can beat them up and take it from |
| them of course. (Ormath) |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Second Quarter 2024 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| - NEW QUEST: Some odd toads in Krynn that had been missing for a while |
| are found again, and they come with a brand new quest. (Vitwitch) |
| - NEW CLUB: The Gellirs of Lars opens up in Sparkle. What are they up |
| to? Nobody really knows, but it seems very interesting, confusing, |
| and brilliant. (Vitwitch) |
| - GUILD UPDATED: The Throtyl Raiders get a new special attack and |
| the ability to customize the worgs. (Vitwitch) |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Third Quarter 2024 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| - NEW AREA: Emerald North Shore is expanded with a new area containing |
| two new quests, things to grind, and of course the famous Insignia of |
| Telan-Ri. An item meant to provide similar benefits as darkness-users |
| have enjoyed for so many years, but without the darkness part. |
| (Santetra, Ormath) |
| - UPDATED BOSS: Gang leader Krik of the Brix Gang starts to collect |
| throwing stars that flingy guilds find useful. (Vitwitch) |
| - A number of different items can once again hinder players from |
| moving between rooms. This is the first step towards fully |
| reenabling and updating all movement hindering abilities that have |
| been disabled far too long. (Cherek) |
| - NEW QUEST: A Cartwright office with a new quest opens in Khalakahor. |
| Here, players players can also rent hand-pulled carts, which is a |
| brand new concept in Genesis. (Tapakah & Son) |
| - NEW QUEST: A gem shop with a new quest opens in Cadu. (Tapakah & Son) |
| - Gorboth steps down as Arch of Events and is replaced by Cherek. |
| - Cherek steps down as Arch of Domains and is replaced by Santetra. |
| - NEW AREA/BOSS: Defeat powerful bosses in the Kalad arena, advance |
| in ranks, and win great rewards. It's new, it's unique, it's super- |
| popular. Are you not entertained? (Nymeria) |
| - UPDATED AREA: The Undreath area under the Kalad mountains is |
| revamped. One of the new shiny things is a way for players to |
| gain access to driders that fight for you, similar to how the |
| Solara mercenaries work. (Arman) |
| - NEW AREA: A faery glade is discovered north of Port McDunn. |
| It contains faeries, obviously, but also a new quest. (Ripple) |
| - NEW BOSS: This new boss in Kalad quickly became known by players as |
| 'the manticore'. The name alone sounds really cool, and dangerous. |
| And it is. Both. (Nymeria) |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Fourth Quarter 2024 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| - UPDATED AREA: The banks in Kalad now allow you to open up an account |
| to store your rare coins collection. |
| - NEW AREA: Someone finds a way to enter the Kalaman sewers, and they |
| turn out to be full of the usual shi..., err, stuff, but also quests |
| and treasures. (Vitwitch) |
| - UPDATED BOSS: Elrond has grown tired of doing nothing and is now |
| actively taking part in defending Rivdendell, (Ormath) |
| - UPDATED BOSS: The Balrog of Moria has found new treasures that the |
| very daring player can try to claim by defeating him. This new treasure |
| now includes the legendary Flaming Black Broadsword, which no longer is |
| used by one particular nazgul in Middle-Earth. I suppose he grew tired |
| of it after all these years, and dumped it in Moria. (Ormath) |
| - NEW GUILD: The Drows of the Dark Seldarine, located in Undraeth, |
| Kalad, starts accepting new members. (Arman) |
| - NEW AREA: The battle between the dead and the living continues in |
| Raumdor. This time it's the inhabitants of the fort/city Vallaki that |
| try to fight off the undeads, and players can join either the dead |
| or the living in the fight. There are also quests, bosses, and |
| treasure to be found. (Znagsnuf) |
| - UPDATED AREAS: Previously unmapped areas in Kalad are finally |
| magic-mapped. (Arman) |
| - A buddy bench is added to Sparkle that players seeking help or just |
| a new friend can use. (Tapakah) |
| - UPDATED AREA: New roads are built to connect all existing Khalakhor |
| areas except Cadu. (Ripple, Ardine) |
| - NEW AREA: The village of Daenbraigh on the northern part of |
| Khalakhor is now open for visitors. It has the standard facilities |
| one can expect from a village, but also a quest to solve. (Ripple) |
| - NEW QUEST: Travel around the world on a galleon and learn something |
| new about all the different parts of our donutty archipelago world. |
| As if that wasn't fun enough, players can also get a special |
| Genesis ShipLines (GSL) password and collect stamps from all the GSL |
| ports. (Tapakah & Son, Ardine) |
| - Varian steps down as liege of Gondor and is replaced by Ormath. |
| - The Bounty Hunter's Office in the town of Last is closed, improved, |
| and reopened. (Tapakah) |
| - UPDATED BOSS: The frigate in raumdor now contains new treasure. |
| (Nerull) |
| - EVENT: The Wheel-of-Fun lottery is back in Sparkle and Seiri is |
| crowned the luckiest player in Genesis. (Cherek) |
| |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| |
| Now, each year there are of course also a lot of small updates, fixed |
| bugs, typos, etc, that are not mentioned here. However, considering |
| how many 'minor' things that have been fixed this year, I think it is |
| time to honor the wizards who quietly fix and improve a lot of things in |
| our world. |
| |
| For example, in addition to what I already mentioned above, the |
| following guilds have also been updated during 2024: Heralds of the |
| Valar, the Shadow Union, the Dragonarmies, the Priests of Takhisis, the |
| School/Wizards of High Sorcery, the Holy Order of the Stars, the Neidar |
| Doomseekers, and the Elven Archers. Improvements have also been made to |
| torches, purses, bottles, herb shops, the auction paddle, the Krynn war |
| system, and much more. Several hundreds, yes hundreds, of reported bugs |
| and typos have been fixed. |
| |
| Tapakah is the undisputed 'fixer' of Genesis at the moment, but |
| Santetra, Vitwitch, and Ormath are not fair behind. Hat's off to the |
| four of you, and everyone else who improves our world, not only by |
| creating new shiny things, but also by maintaining and fixing |
| what we already have. |
| |
|============================================================================|
| WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? |
|============================================================================|
| |
| It's become a tradition that I end my State of the Donut posts by |
| making a number of guesses (not predictions or goals) about what I think |
| will happen during the following year. So, let's start by checking how |
| I did with my guesses for 2024: |
| |
| - Recovering from death will go quicker (I'll once again promise to eat |
| my hat if it doesn't happen). |
| * My hat is safe, this did happen. |
| |
| - It will once again be possible to prevent other players from |
| leaving a room, but the abilities will be more balanced. |
| * Well, we did reintroduce some items, but I don't think it counts |
| as I was hoping to get a lot more than that done. Fingers crossed |
| for 2025. |
| |
| - The balance between layman caster and melee guilds will be better. |
| * Not really, no. Ckrik is making some progress, though. Before Xmas? |
| |
| - It will become easier for smaller players to grow. |
| * I think that happened. The death change, more mercenaries (driders) |
| to hire, and the new insigna does help mainly 'smaller' (sub myth) |
| players to grow. |
| |
| - I'll have another go at the prediction that at least two new clubs |
| will open during 2024. |
| * Yes, our very own master of clubs, Vitwitch, opened two clubs this |
| year. Actually, my prediction of two new clubs for 2023 also came |
| true in the end, but I did not know that until now since I forgot to |
| add the new toad club in last year's State of the Donut. |
| |
| - We will get more new players during 2024 compared to 2023. |
| * Yes! |
| |
| - The average number of players will be higher in 2024 compared to 2023. |
| * Yes! |
| |
| - People will in general be nicer to each other in-game, on forums, and |
| on Discord. Yes, this one is very bold. I dare you all to help make |
| this prediction come true. |
| * We did have a Coven War with some drama, but I still think the |
| community has felt a bit more positive lately, so I think this is |
| a point for me. |
| |
| For 2021 I got 4 of 10 (40%) of my guesses right. For 2022 I got 4 of 7 |
| (57%) of my guesses right. For 2023 I got 5 of 8 of my guesses right, |
| but I have retroactively upgraded this to 6 of 8 (75%) since it later |
| turned out I was correct about the new clubs prediction I originally |
| thought I was wrong about. This time I again managed 6 of 8 (75%). |
| Clearly I am getting pretty good at predicting things. Let's see how I |
| do for 2025. 75% is not gonna be easy to beat. |
| |
| These are my somewhat educated GUESSES for 2025: |
| |
| - I will try this again: It will once again be possible to prevent |
| other players from leaving a room, but the abilities will be more |
| balanced. (Once again I will promise to eat my hat if it does not |
| happen). |
| |
| - The balance between layman caster and malee guilds will be better. |
| Yeah, I am going with this one more time, with my hat on the line |
| one more time as well. |
| |
| - More mortals will die in 2025 compared to 2024. |
| |
| - At least one position will change in the admin. |
| |
| - There will be at least three events. |
| |
| - At least ten new quests will appear. |
| |
| - The gnome in the tower of realms will invent another fun trinket for |
| the serious quest-completionists of the realms. |
| |
| - We'll release something OP that has to be seriously (over)nerfed, |
| causing players to grumble about wizards never testing things properly |
| and never asking players for advice before release. |
| |
| As usual I am trying to figure out a slogan to end my posts with. Last |
| year I tried 'No risk, no reward', but to be honest I am a bit tired |
| of big controversial changes to the game now. Maybe it's time for a more |
| chill year? How about... |
| |
| Don't worry, be happy! |
| |
| Cherek, The Relaxed Keeper of Genesis |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+