Is the Game..Slowing?

I've been here since 2008 and I can definitely say it has died quite a bit. I remember when forums were booming. I'm not quite sure what happened to cause this. I just now came back after about a year of absence and put some of my horses in shows and actually had no shows running that I could put one of my quarter horses in which hadn't happened before. Normally there is an abundance of shows running all the time and the forums had all sorts of role plays going, chats, etc. It really has taken a decline in activity in my personal opinion, but I still like it. I also like the updates Abbey has taken so far. So I'm not complaining, just stating what I've experienced in activity and I hope it has a come back soon.

One thing that has bothered me a lot on all my accounts, is the lack of people logging in on a daily basis. I mean, how are we meant to spread bloodlines if we cannot find studs to breed to? I've fallen into the necessity of relying on the Equine Center to give me horses that are desirable to my plans just to continue getting foals to breed with each other!

I did leave the game for a long time... I moved, went to college, got more involved with my real life horses, started an art business, met my now husband... a lot of the members could be going through big life changes. School is just now getting out, so hopefully that will bring back some of our members. 

I'm pretty active as of right now, but there will be points where I'll have to lock up my account for a short bit due to life. 

As far as the forum goes, what I think happened to the abundance of artists has to do with an upset that started over over how to price. With the increase in credit pricing some people tried to stick with some sort of real currency conversion rate (because one credit is $0.50USD). Those who increased got slammed pretty hard with criticism and had trouble selling. There was also some pretty rude comments on how artists only make art to get rich quick and dont actually play the game which put several artists off. Those who stuck with the old style of pricing started to realize that they were selling art for nothing comparatively speaking (in real money conversion a tag should be more like 6 credits/$3, but the most you could sell it for for awhile there was 100k/2 credits if you stuck to the old conversion system. Though really most people only bought it at 50k)
Everyone simultaneously up and left for different sites, stopped due to realizing there was more important things to do than get bashed over a hobby, or just stopped selling art in general.

As for general chit chat, that's moved out of the forums and into EV's discord that can be found at the top of the page in town :) come visit! It goes quiet oftentimes because lots of us work but we can be rowdy

HOLY MOLY! horse land shut down!?!?! WHAT? I never would have saw that coming. Then again, I stopping playing a LONG time ago.

Not related to the main thread, but when I saw that I had to go check it out.

I think part of the situation may be lack of exposure to the game - there are lots of other horse-themed sims out there, so EV might not be the first one people notice. We're well worth noticing though, cause we've got some of the most beautiful horse art out there. c; 

I'm thinking increasing activity on our social media might be one way to increase engagement and get people noticing us again. My question for you guys is what would you like to see more of on our facebook/twitter/tumblr? Featured horses? Random facts? Horse-based trivia? Or does something else come to mind?

It's definitely up to all of us to get the word about Equiverse out there. Mentioning the game to our horsey friends (and why not non-horsey as well) is a good start already.

Featuring horses on social media might be a great idea, the art is indeed exceptional and I feel like the Facebook page (not sure about the other platforms) lacks it. Also, what about starting an Instagram account? While managing an equine photography page there, I have found that it's way easier to gain exposure and reach the target audience there by using hashtags.

Last edited on 2019-05-21 at 12:48:52 by Akvelins ⚜️

I dont think its necessarily getting people to notice EV but more getting people to stay. The horse economy is still in limbo, studs are still rather unusable, and updates have been rather stagnant. People come in and see this and realise the game isnt moving forward very quickly so they leave. This is a great game and I think it's worth waiting until game function issues are fixed (and I think the horse market is slowly recovering with people buying from each other again), but to new people that might not be so appealing :c

I think once the game is functioning a bit better again then we will naturally get more people sticking around and being active, and it may be better to wait to advertise until some functions are working properly so as to not add to the (I hate to say this) growing reputation of the game being stagnant

Wow, wow!  I haven't checked this for a while, thought it quieted..I was wrong! Glad it opened some good discussion.

I will agree, that updates have been slim. Which was partially the main reason why I took a long hiatus. I'm hoping at this point, that big updates are on route, just getting finishing touches or preparations, what not. The game is dehydrated, and in need of an IV! Even small updates would be nice. C:

The idea of more, eh, "marketing management" seems like a very, very feasible, and Productive solution.  It'd be fairly easy, and is much needed. In all honesty, I don't think many people know about EV.  Often times when I bring it up amongst friends, they know nothing of it. "WaHt'S tHat??" This is a very social media oriented-...addicted generation. ;)  Instagram would probably be best option. Maybe showcasing breeds, game features. i'm too tired to think of any more. hehee

(More to say, will Edit tomorrow) 

To clarify (in case it conveyed this way) I am not suggesting social media use/changes to its use is the solution, it's just something that I think cannot hurt. 

The economy issue is one that has been a thorn in my brain for a while. I don't experience it myself but I have a rather casual approach to playing. To my understanding, it comes down to too many unwanted horses. So implementing some manner of discarding those horses easily should help.

The stud problem comes probably in part from fewer active players. If members aren't progressing, then any studs they have won't be available. Perhaps some kind of grace period for studs during which you can still send a request would help. 

I'm not certain. Nor am I certain those things are the sole cause either. There are so many elements involved. I've been doing my best on getting bugs taken care of, so your experience isn't interrupted, and include quality of life updates as well, but any higher level decisions that will have an overarching impact on gameplay I can only advise on, not make. :|

<sup>I agree in that the main problem with player population/activity is getting people to stay, and in my opinion the main problems are stud rollover and lack of direction to gameplay. Without a common goal to aim for it just creates a huge division in the market, i.e the cubed vs non-cubed breeding, "all round" horses vs specialised, postcode vs precode (aka the pure/clean vs inbred lines). For a long time I was worried about breeding extra foals, even though they cater to as many people as possible, they'd often sit on my account until retirement, which was not helped by privatisation of herds, studs and broods and foal stock being culled instead of sold on. I'm still worried about this when I have large foal crops but I've been having some okay luck with them. I don't think it helps when louder players cry the horse market is "dead" when it's not really lol, I do think overpopulation of horses is a problem too, and I'd support the return of the delete function, particularly if foundations are not going to be limited to purchase (though I still think the cap should be brought back). 

I've seena lot of new players come in, struggle to do anything on the game because what's cheap isn't good, they can't make a profit or resell or breed a better horse, access is limited and there's no incentive to stay. I've also seen new people complaining about the levelling system in the past, when cheap horses don't make a good showing horse and riding school isn't an obvious option, they struggle to progress. If there was more incentives or small repeatable objectives until a certain level (i.e buy a horse, show in 10 shows) to give that exp/monetary bonus would give an incentive to play and stay. 

I think another factor that drives people away is credit sales, there's no way to enjoy benefits of the game when the price is being driven ever higher by a few select players. In fact, you need roughly 50m in the bank just to even afford current credit prices and buying one a day with deluxe interest. I think a lot of new players see that and then how much they earn or make with their own horses, and decide it's not worth staying to play and enjoy those benefits when it can take some people literal years to earn enough to afford that with in game money. Even if people want to sell credits for a cheaper price, there's still a problem of credit flipping that discourages them from doing so. A little personal gripe but I do believe it's a contributing factor as well as a slow market. 

But I think mainly it's just frustration, particularly for older players who do keep playing in their spare time. I mean, the stud problems have been happening since the loophole was fixed, plenty of suggestions such as grace period, eggs/sperm storage have been suggested multiple times since then with no mention of a fix being implemented. It's an issue that been going on for two years (the suggestions for a fix started in 2017) at this point, and the lack of interaction is a little demotivating. We're all grateful for the small bug fixes and quality of life updates but this is one huge issue and major impact on gameplay that just hasn't been addressed at all outside of acknowledging suggestions, which just isn't good enough. But that's just my take on this, after playing some other games lately, EV is still my favourite and I'm still excited for updates but other people maybe aren't so patient lol.</sup> 

What are things that we can do as individuals in order to boost the horse market? To encourage others to buy and breed horses other than those they raised themselves? For it to be a more interactive market?

I have 12 QH mares and 6 QH stallions, with the thought process that I'd likely have to bring in outside lines for the next generation to continue my own, either by buying or paying stud/brood fees.
I bought 18 random 3yo Thoroughbreds from the rescue center and have put them all up for sale for cheap while I continue their training and use them for schooling. Sometimes one sells, so I replace it with another from the RC. Will this be helpful or hurtful?

I have been playing EV for years and years and lately I've been close to dumping the lot of my horses in the RC several times. 

It has become a bit of a drag. I usually sell and buy to / from the same couple of players. My top horses hardly win stats in showing because they have no competition. Why should I keep on breeding for high stats if it is easier anc cheaper to school them. 

For me the challenge and fun in playing has long gone. I was heartbroken to loose most of my pre recode breeds, and seeing that the economy has slowed done so much instead of speeding up is frustrating. 

Some elements here may be hard to fix via game mechanics (like how horses are getting priced, because that's determined by players), but it's clear there are some other things we can do something about. This discussion is helping me get a sense of what the pain points (metaphorically speaking) are and what needs to be done. It's more than time to make some decisions.