Is the Game..Slowing?

^ Hi yes RP spokesperson here. The community and culture of it has changed rather drastically from what it was once like, and is mainly made up of myself and a tight group of friends now because, as you said, RPing as a whole has kind of died down and we were largely left to our own devices to create all that we desired. That said, it's gone a bit quiet recently, but we have plans to kick things back into gear in the summer. Maybe you could join us then? The more the merrier! ;)

Last edited on 2019-05-22 at 13:41:55 by Raptor

"It's nice in some ways that more colors and A LOT of markings are becoming..very common when using that function, but I feel like it decreases their values. Like Few Spot leopard. I used to search and search for horses with that, and consider it very rare, but Now? Now it feels so general, that what's the use of having one. Pretty much anyone could buy/create one with little to no effort.  Maybe cut back on the possibility of getting those markings/colors. Bring some rarity or value back to them"

I think it is quite opposite for me. I guess it might depends on breeds. I know that I struggled to get horses with "rarer" genes. I often have to resort to use tweaks since I couldn't find stud/brood/etc to breed my horses with. For example, foundation store never give an Ee Friesian which make it impossible to breed for chestnut friesian without using tweaks or breed to an outside line (if you're lucky enough to find one). Sure, I understand if store doesn't give us ee Friesian because it's too easy. it would be nice to get an Ee friesian out of 300 friesians or whatever.
Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to make those markings rarer. With access to tweaks, a lot of players took advantage of that perks since it is quite affordable. Before I left the game, I could easily create a perfect herd with fancy colors and patterns due to tweaks. I stopped use them when I realized that it is harmful to market in long term. But their rarity is already ruined since other players still use them. Multiple different solutions to this problem already had been suggested. Like always, it got ignored along with many important suggestions.

EDIT:

Personally, I think credits are quite accessible. We have too many upgraded members. It doesn't help that they usually become rich fast which lead them to buy too many slots. 
My stable is open to public for long time at $10 and I have 0 boarders. We simply just have too many available slots which means money isn't distribute fairly to all members. I also have same problem with training and riding school. We have too many of those. I probably earned up to 1k from riding school and training every 2 month if I am lucky. I am lucky that I am already rich so I was able to live off my daily interests. However, those poorer players will struggle because older upgraded members get all clients (boarding) or because nobody use their riding school or training arena. 

Last edited on 2019-05-22 at 14:00:04 by Bye bye

Glad to hear one of the ideas is now a wip!! I am genuinely impressed by Equiverse's community, regardless of how small. 

..Ok, I lied. Too much fun to stop talking. c;

@Raptor
Will do! I'd appreciate a PM about it, to be a little informed before I jump in because..eh, I'll probably fall on my face. xD


@Bye bye
Could you maybe explain what the 'tweaks' are? I haven't heard of those, eek!  And I agree that it definitely varies with breeds. Like those with fewer coat and marking options, having them be more accessible through foundation is obviously nicer.  I breed Miniatures, so there's a bunch of options. So if I put an Amber Cream with Rabicano or Overo, what's the difference if someone put a foundie up with the same thing? All I'd really have going is stats or confo (which is basically just bragging rights rn).

<sup>@ Botania
If you click on the credit section or have a look in the item catalogue, you can see the colour tweaks there. They are credit items to change your horse's genetics and appearance. Personally I think it's fine to use tweaks etc, it's an investment that should be make it even more worthwhile for breeding and sales of foal. As for foundations, that's why "boring" colours are so common, nice colours should be bred for or once in a while from the center, so I think it's worthwhile. People always prefer to buy short generation/lined horses over (young) foundations in my experience, at least I do, particularly if you already have an established herd. I don't think colour rarity makes much of a difference these days though. 

It's a good thing to have upgraded members though. I think the stable search could be tweaked to show only a select few like arenas and schools do. But there's no real incentive to board at another stable at the moment, people with large amounts of horses board at home to save on fees and are usually private anyway. The more members we have staying, the more likely it is that the boarding/stable economy will improve. I don't think it's fair to blame richer/older players though, I have some public stalls on this account and on my spares and they never get boarders either...</sup> 

Last edited on 2019-05-22 at 14:56:43 by maplɛ

Pricing horses too cheaply is part of the reason why the horse market is doing so poorly. If a decent show horse is only valued at a few thousand, people will never make money and the horse market will never improve. Making money is not a difficult thing to do in EV, so only asking a few thousand for almost any horse is detrimental to the economy (in my opinion).

I agree with Eliza. People join, stick around for a little while, then leave. I think the lack of big updates is part of the issue. I recognize that big updates take time and resources, but if EV is to stay relevant, then big updates are an important thing. To keep people playing AND to draw new players.

I also agree with Maple about lack of directional gameplay. It is nice that players can play how they want, but especially with the community shrinking, it makes it difficult for players to find horses they are looking for because everyone is breeding for something different. If players were rewarded in a way that encouraged gameplay to focus in a general direction, while not penalizing players for playing their own way, I think it would help the economy. One thing could be breeds have discipline bonuses. (Players could continue to raise horses in random disciplines, like Endurance QH's or Racing GV's [<--examples only].) Example, QH has bonus in Western and Racing and TB's could have bonuses in Racing and Show Jumping [<--again, these are just examples]. Breed bonuses would give players a general direction while not directly penalize people who want to use breeds outside their breed bonus.

Just want to also say, I appreciate EV's relative simplicity. I would NOT like it to become overly realistic, such as adding genetic diseases. Pixel ponies are supposed to be fun! I live in the real world, pixel pons give me a little break. If you make gameplay too complicated, I think that can also deter new players and be off-putting to current/returning players. EV is a game.

Last edited on 2019-05-23 at 08:56:09 by ᏋᏉᏋᏒᎷᎧᏒᏋ

This game has always had it's ups and downs in activity.

From my memory, this game was on FIRE with hundreds active at a time when it first started up. Once the infamous 'breed cull' came a lot of people quit. And with the third "reboot" the numbers got even lower.

Since 2009 though, I feel it's been pretty steady. You'll notice when summer comes the numbers will pick up as people have more free time, and advertising brings more new players to the game. It's always dead in late spring/winter time due to exams, as a lot of players here are in the schooling stages of life.

If you feel like a lot of your base for certain breeding preferences have declined, give it a couple months and keep doing what you're doing. Old players will either return or the new players will pick up the same habits.

Just 2 cents from someone that has been here on and off since 2007...it's just the way these gaming sites work. If things start to permanently die with no revival after awhile, thats when you really gotta worry. (RIP HL).

EDIT: I skimmed over a few other replies, and I'd just like to add that I don't think the horse market has anything to do with it. EV has always struggled with a thriving horse market due to its small community and is what brought on the original breed cull in the first place. I think a lot of people stay here cause they enjoy not having to depend on the lines of an outside source. However, like maple said it makes it harder for new players to gain footing due to the 'individuality' the game structure has made.

Last edited on 2019-05-22 at 17:11:43 by graveyard.

I'd like to pipe in just a little regarding the social media/etc. aspect. Have we ever had sponsored ads on any platform? Maybe after one or two big updates (hopefully something this summer? *fingers crossed*) it would be prudent to invest in something like that on Instagram and Facebook at least. If we get a realistic timeline in the works for some updates then accounts on those two sites could become more active, getting people excited for the updates, and it would be a feasible option to have some sponsored posts. 

ETA: For more posting opportunities there could potentially be a weekly horse feature. Whoever is in charge of updating social media can just use the "random horse" link and use that to feature a horse/art weekly. 

Last edited on 2019-05-23 at 10:38:00 by Kate

Eeeek okay so I mean no malicious intent behind this but I have a few reasons I haven't been active

1.) I miss having an active game owner. River has been doing a great job as admin but in any sim gam I play I like their to be some sort of notice every now and then from the mastermind behind it all, something I have not seen from Abbey in a while. I hope she is okay.

2.) The market is really discouraging. I have trouble selling quality horses for cheap prices and it's a bit upsetting considering it used to be really easy for me to sell them.

3.) Personal reasons- I have not been in the best mental headspace for a while, so this game just has not been a priority (hence the lurking on my spare account).

4.) Time- I joined the game when I was 12, I'm 20 now and have a lot more responsibility and a lot less time than I did a few years ago.

Last edited on 2019-06-01 at 20:49:58 by Zest [II]

It's been brushed on a little bit, but I think the showing system needs a revamp. From what I remember, showing was pretty active until there was a hullaballoo over too many shows getting made in some levels and disciplines (and, potentially, members not looking before they autoshowed). So the show creation cap was created with good intentions... but the shift away from showing after that seemed pretty severe. Now we're running into problems where there just simply aren't shows available due to the caps, lower members online, available shows being maxed out ASAP etc.  which motivates people to NOT show... and then feeds into that cycle. The forum topic to request shows is nice (and thank you everyone who has made shows for me!), but oftentimes I don't have the time to sit and wait potentially hours for a set of shows to be made for me, so I'll shrug and throw those horses in the Riding School. For breeders like myself who are trying to establish large (64+ head count) foundation and short-lined herds of the different breeds, in my case to have a large stock of quality horses for others to buy from and breed to who aren't overbred or inbred, this severely limits the projects I can work on any given time. Plus on top of that, after a certain level, my horses bred from foundation stock can hardly compete with horses who have 0 NS, and there isn't a satisfying way to breed those NS down in a meaningful manner that also allows me to preserve my bloodlines (I LOVE the pre-recode horses with 0 NS. I also want to be able to offer the community my own separate bloodlines of horses that have 0NS ). I know Confessor introduced a method of playing where we breed at 3yo and breed match the odd NS with the even NS stats (or something like that), to make the best use out of the stat breeding algorithm, and I'm certainly interested in playing around with that a bit... but then the other herds that I have are rendered less useful after investing 19+ weeks and a lot of money and credits per generation per herd. 

Like a previous poster mentioned, it's like a pay for play. Which is fine. But sometimes I feel like I'm struggling find a goal within the current gameplay that has a feasible method for getting to that goal, where I feel like I'm getting rewarded for my efforts and money/credits spent.

I do, however, keep coming back. I'll show for a week or two, buy some horses... and then fizzle out to return again later to see what's been going on, check out showing again for a week or two...buy some horses...rinse repeat. LOL.

Last edited on 2019-06-02 at 20:53:11 by (Lucky) Ducky

I have been on EV on different accounts since before the recode and its definently slowed down. The showing and selling of horses has been significantly lower. Also the art community has taken huge hits and we have very little sales as of late. Its very sad it seems we have lost a lot of players and had many stop doing art. I have noticed this for a while and am very saddened however if we keep the game alive hopefully this wont be another game to shut down. 

Last edited on 2019-08-02 at 21:02:36 by BonnieLover