Excellent article by Eurogamer - Must read

[QUAZIMOFO 275]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-09-20-is-dayz-still-coming-out-on-console-and-you-know-wth-is-going-on

[☣BioHaze☣ 7337]

Thanks for sharing!

[Tigermonk 140]

'people are angry because they care'

LOL... up until what point?? 
I'll just say this: check the steam dayz player database and find out for yourself.. 

hicks:  "The months following [update 0.60] we saw I believe a peak of unique IDs cycling through in a month of about 650,000. Even at our low peaks we still see something like 250,000 to 300,000 people cycling through."

then you look up dayz player tracker.. http://steamcharts.com/app/221100

and you'll see an average of 4.385.6 average and a peak of 8.808 in the last 30 days..

and since june (0.60 update) 27,869 on average and 64,892 at its peaks

so I really don't know where the 300K numbers come flying in here... because the average player rate doesn't even hit 30K and the max players is just shy of 65.000 players..
with over 3 MIL. copies sold I'd say you're doing something wrong here...

not hating or anything.. just stating some facts for the people reading the article.

Edited September 24, 2016 by Tigermonk

[[Gen]Adzic 241]

People inflate numbers all the time. Just look at the value of the GBP since we left the EU, I reckon someone somewhere would like to inflate them numbers too haha!

[St. Jimmy 1631]

3 hours ago, Tigermonk said:

'people are angry because they care'

LOL... up until what point?? 
I'll just say this: check the steam dayz player database and find out for yourself.. 

hicks:  "The months following [update 0.60] we saw I believe a peak of unique IDs cycling through in a month of about 650,000. Even at our low peaks we still see something like 250,000 to 300,000 people cycling through."

then you look up dayz player tracker.. http://steamcharts.com/app/221100

and you'll see an average of 4.385.6 average and a peak of 8.808 in the last 30 days..

and since june (0.60 update) 27,869 on average and 64,892 at its peaks

so I really don't know where the 300K numbers come flying in here... because the average player rate doesn't even hit 30K and the max players is just shy of 65.000 players..
with over 3 MIL. copies sold I'd say you're doing something wrong here...

not hating or anything.. just stating some facts for the people reading the article.

Unique ID cycling is different than average amount of players per hour/day/week/month/year.

There is actually that amount of players testing or quickly playing the game. Average just says how many of them are playing at the same time.

There's nothing wrong if people don't play constantly early access game that's still heavily w.i.p., it only says that the game is actually still under heavy development. Players have already sacrificed hundreds and even thousands of hours at this state of the game and the game is still only alpha without modding support.

 Only thing the could do if they really want more players to test the game to increase average players, is to release more often in experimental, but you know what? Things are broken constantly.

They don't need constant 30K players currently. Stable is just there if people want to experience somewhat stable experience that the game can at the current state offer and report the remaining bugs.

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

On 9/24/2016 at 0:58 PM, Tigermonk said:

hicks:  "The months following [update 0.60] we saw I believe a peak of unique IDs cycling through in a month of about 650,000. Even at our low peaks we still see something like 250,000 to 300,000 people cycling through."

then you look up dayz player tracker.. http://steamcharts.com/app/221100

SteamCharts shows peak and average concurrents, that is the number of players in-game at the same time. However it's not the same people playing all the time, when one player leaves and another one joins, the concurrent doesn't change.

The "unique IDs" or players Hicks is talking about are all of the different people who play the game at different times of day. SteamSpy for example, tracks this number somewhat closely: http://steamspy.com/app/221100

Edited October 11, 2016 by Dancing.Russian.Man

[philbur 476]

Thanks for clarifying the statistics.

I hope others are as interested in keeping proper perspectives when it come to interpreting statistics because it is all too common to see people with a specific agenda picking and choosing bits of data from a larger sample and then using it to reinforce their flawed logic.

Edited September 24, 2016 by philbur
Apologies if that sounded like I was trolling you @Tigermonk. That was not my intention. I saw it as an opportunity to thank a Mod for taking swift action to avoid erroneous presumptions.

[Tigermonk 140]

1 hour ago, Dancing.Russian.Man said:

SteamCharts shows peak and average concurrents, that is the number of players in-game at the same time. However it's not the same people playing all the time, when one player leaves and another one joins, the concurrent doesn't change.

The "unique IDs" or players Hicks is talking about are all of the different people who play the game at different times of day. SteamSpy for example, tracks this number somewhat closely: http://steamspy.com/app/221100

You can see the unique player count per each day in the "Audience (2 weeks)" tab. Currently it's showing 205k-220k people per day.

3.4 MILLION copies sold... and only 200k playing... pick which ever side you like.. but I think that's a laughing stock compared to the hype this game had when it came out.. lol 

which I like to add to... 'average' play time.. according to this 'gamespy' thing.. 15 min.. hardly worth mentioing as 'playtime' even the people who are bug hunting take longer then 15 to find something... 

and for all the people going 'it's alpha' please stick a sock in that hole because its far to open lol...
that excuse has come and gone... when this game finally comes out in 2020 we'll see how many players of the (3.4 MIL sold) are actually left...

Edited September 24, 2016 by Tigermonk

[Funkmaster Rick 373]

A lot of people almost certainly just bought the game around launch time to get it at a cheaper price. They knew about the plan to raise prices as the game approached 1.0

And "It's alpha," is still a valid argument.

[Hicks_206 (DayZ) 4297]

On 9/24/2016 at 9:57 AM, Tigermonk said:

3.4 MILLION copies sold... and only 200k playing... pick which ever side you like.. but I think that's a laughing stock compared to the hype this game had when it came out.. lol 

which I like to add to... 'average' play time.. according to this 'gamespy' thing.. 15 min.. hardly worth mentioing as 'playtime' even the people who are bug hunting take longer then 15 to find something... 

and for all the people going 'it's alpha' please stick a sock in that hole because its far to open lol...
that excuse has come and gone... when this game finally comes out in 2020 we'll see how many players of the (3.4 MIL sold) are actually left...

Tiger - ease back with the negativity. If you don't like the title, fine - there is nothing wrong with that.

[DaveB 194]

Just wait and see tiger, as mentionned above, lot of ppl bought the game as it was cheaper than, and didnt want to play much in alpha stage. Wich is comprehensible since it's not for everyone to enjoy incomplete games. As for me, i have about 2000 hours on the game. I play more when exp is up to try and find bugs to help developement  a bit. As of last months, i barely play DayZ, but i can tell you that when it will hit Beta or full release, i will play that game suite a lot, and I am pretty sure a lot of ppl are in the same boat. Yes betas, can burn out ppl fast, but once it is fully released and modding ready, you bet those number will grow quite fast.

Not sure why you keep lurking this forum if you don't seem to apreciate the game? What's the point? 

[Nebulae3 422]

I think many miss base building like Frankieonpc1080 who want to build a base and roleplay and create a tube video about it. 

I dont understand how his first dayz video hit 5 mil views - it`s thoroughly bad and boring game play. 

 

Base building will get the population more spread out over the map for sure with chopters - and players wont travel to the usual destination A,B, and D.  NW Airfield, Stairy, Cherno for coast pvp. 

I also hope the dev. team look into the coast fog - I think it`s too dense at the moment, because u can`t really snipe from Skyrim towards Cherno farms, or Elektro side. 

 

My point is earlier when first dayz came out - you need to be worried about certain location on the map due to sniper hill near Bellota, and such places need to exist to create an exciting atmosphere and be aware of such locations. 

Now you can just take the road below it and don`t worry about a sniper top of the mountain at all, which is the opposite effect you want for your dayz game just to protect newspawns on the coast.

Hicks pls. consider that create the fog less dense so it doesn`t ruin strategic locations on the map. 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2016 by ori42

[gannon46 788]

They need to get the zeds working, when I say working I mean spawning in large numbers all over the map like in the mod days. They need to make sure the dynamic spawning of infected works with the next update. Myself and most of my friends are waiting for that before we really come back. I like the game but it gets boring there isn't any danger, humans can be avoided and if you hunt them it becomes a routine to go to the same 3-4 places and even then a battle lasts a few min to a few seconds it's not time efficient to do that IMO. We need some form of constant danger, humans will always be the main threat of course but we also need a good threat in between human encounters be that animals or zeds. I'm being patient I know they doing there best but I feel zeds should have always been a priority since it is the main lore of the game and the reason for us to be doing what we do in game. sry if it's off topic but I think if they can get those zeds to function like they should the game would be better for it a lot sooner than later.

[Funkmaster Rick 373]

On 29/09/2016 at 0:14 AM, ori42 said:

I also hope the dev. team look into the coast fog - I think it`s too dense at the moment, because u can`t really snipe from Skyrim towards Cherno farms, or Elektro side. 

I think that's kind of the point of the coastal fog: to make PvP harder, and especially to discourage geared snipers from killing naked bambis all day. Since most bambi weapons have a much shorter effective range than most geared weapons, it essentially gives the bambis a chance to get within their effective range before taking fire. It gives them a chance.

[ColdAtrophy 1850]

I haven't played DayZ in like two months. I know about 15 other people who are passionate about this game and none of them are playing it either. Over the course of the last year, I've met countless people who come and go, often for months at a time. They check in for the latest Stable builds and then go back to other stuff when they get bored. I get the distinct impression that there are tons of people out there who love DayZ and have plans to play it in the future but are not currently contributing to the player statistics, which makes those stats meaningless at best - misleading at worst.

[eno 1049]

Count me in as one of those 15. I stay particularly clear as patches grow stale. Hacks start to make their way mainstream and further upset the balance of time versus reward. 

I remain somewhat optimistic that it'll play out reasonably well eventually but I'm extremely hesitant to get excited about base building and helicopters considering how successful vehicles have been so far. 

[docschmerz 21]

On 3.10.2016 at 7:17 PM, Funkmaster Rick said:

I think that's kind of the point of the coastal fog: to make PvP harder, and especially to discourage geared snipers from killing naked bambis all day. Since most bambi weapons have a much shorter effective range than most geared weapons, it essentially gives the bambis a chance to get within their effective range before taking fire. It gives them a chance.

I don't have a problem with the fog being that dense but it should only be there in the morning and evening. towards noon and afternoon when the sun is up high, the fog should disappear as it does in reality.

[bfisher 561]

On 10/3/2016 at 1:17 PM, Funkmaster Rick said:

I think that's kind of the point of the coastal fog: to make PvP harder, and especially to discourage geared snipers from killing naked bambis all day. Since most bambi weapons have a much shorter effective range than most geared weapons, it essentially gives the bambis a chance to get within their effective range before taking fire. It gives them a chance.

This.  One of the biggest complaints about the Mod was that it ended up as a sniper duel between ghillie suits carrying AS-50 anti-material rifles.

As for dynamic fog changing with the day, I'd like to see an accelerated day/night cycle so there is actually a point to road flares and glow sticks.  As of now, everyone just plays on 24 day servers.

 

[philbur 476]

On 10/3/2016 at 1:17 PM, Funkmaster Rick said:

I think that's kind of the point of the coastal fog: to make PvP harder, and especially to discourage geared snipers from killing naked bambis all day. Since most bambi weapons have a much shorter effective range than most geared weapons, it essentially gives the bambis a chance to get within their effective range before taking fire. It gives them a chance.

The fog could even be a bit thicker, if you ask me...

I have lived in coastal areas in North America and also in Europe and the fog is a real entity that definitely belongs in Chenarus.

As Funk mentioned as well...the fog is an awesome way to add immersion and it gives survivors a fighting chance when the need to hit coastal towns arises.

Keep the fog...kick the Snipers! hehehe.

[eugenharton 1540]

To explain the numbers

What you see on steam currently is number of people with running dayz.exe at that one moment. Its called concurrency aka amount at one time. Monthly unique players and Daily unique players is something most services use to determine their userbase. The number is the amount of unique players that have logged into a game in a period of time. We track the number based on login to server, so its people playing a game to be exact. So if we say 300k people played it means 300k poeple logged into a dayz server over a said period of time.

Eugen Harton

Edited October 17, 2016 by eugenharton