Discussion: Player Retention Rates

and Mumble did receive some of these new people. I hope this new player invasion continues. I do want this thread to become falsified because that will mean progress is underway

We are beginning vacations/holidays... ==Presents and Freetime

I think there is a major quantity of players that are seasonal, so dont it is a good way. Im preety sure we will start seeing those threads/ or comments in town chat saying: I lost my res! oh no! it was awesome now i hate this server...

Sorry for double post... just saw Rosylin's comment

Here are my thoughts. Coming from a two-year-old player, I think I know what's happening. I agree with Roslyn; something is going on empire minecraft.

Here's an old story about smp3. Oh boy, I don't know where to start. Before everyone started migrating to smp8(I did too), smp3 was very popular. Chat was always spammy and funny. And the events, don't get me started there. There were so many events. Every single day. No one would get tired of them. From horses races to the skin comps, there was always something fun on smp3. Sometimes, we would visit each other's residences and have firework parties. Or help build a nice house. I hope some of the old players remember this too. :/ But eventually, something happened. The old players left- NoelleStar, Lockdown, etc.. either by accidental mods or boredom. And then, fast forward to the present. Everyone calls smp3 the 'quiet, isolated server.' But it's not just smp3 - it's happening everywhere.

I agree with the others. Minecraft is getting old. Our new generation is sad with video games. People buy and use them for a few months, then never play them again. What a waste of money. People have asked me: "What video games do you play?" When I say 'minecraft', they become surprised, saying its an old game now. Minecraft 1.11 doesn't sound interesting anymore. Something has gone wrong, like a machine.

One of the problems: I think EMC has to step out of vanilla minecraft. Someone above me made a good point about changing hoppers or nether portals. EMC shouldn't do that, but make additions to normal Minecraft. I think EMC should pull out dragon tombs. After the anti-griefing update, I think that's a good place to start.

Another problem: Our community itself. Everyone keeps saying they're bored, but taking no action at all. Reactions but no actual actions. Blaming it on the moderators won't help. Also, the moderators aren't the only ones who have to host events, regular players can! After Krysyy updated the front page with member events, why won't one host an event? Are you guys too lazy? Just imagine. If everyone made EMC exciting, (with an event or something else), EMC would be awesome!

So, I want each one of you to ask yourself, "Is EMC crumbling because of the staff/tutorial/the game? Or is it being caused by you?"

Just my opinion. No hard feelings. Everyone is awesome. -Ender

I've written out like 3-4 posts and just scrapped them because I can't find a way to express myself well, lol.

So to start, I joined in May of 2012 when I was 15ish and knew nothing about minecraft. The game being new and on the rise is what made the old days feel great, this freshness to an always expanding world was just what people look for in video games. Being able to put hundreds of hours into a game is hard for most games to do, but minecraft encompasses that well with survival being so grindy and limitless. There were many times I'd dedicate 1-2 hours a day to the game and go well over that dipping into the 5-6 hour mark just because of how addicting it is.

Reminder that I was pretty young when I got into EMC, my interests have fluctuated over time and now at this point still change. There will be times when I really want to play minecraft, and times when I really don't. The community is what has made EMC so great for me, being able to spend time with like minded individuals in a caring environment. I've forgotten the amount of nights I've spent up with EMC members on mumble, getting yelled at by my mom to keep my laughter done because everyone so entertaining and welcoming. I've done many projects with like-minded individuals, and helped many people out. I've listened to others, and others have listened to me. (Krysyy gives the best advice BTW) The community has helped me through my struggles, and I've made some great friends on here that I still talk to everyday even if I don't play Minecraft.

Once you get to a point in minecraft, EMC especially, it's hard to keep playing as hardcore as you did in the beginning. Something I take very personally, and am very sorry for is my activity as of late. Many players don't remember me like they used to, or don't know who I am / what I was like in the past at all. My 16 year old EMC self is completely different than my present day EMC self. When I joined I would say that the majority (guesstimate) of people were in a similar age range of 13-19. Now that EMC has grown so old, so have these players, we have to get real life jobs and go to school and we can no longer spend 6-8 hours a day grinding EMC. (ex. myself, alexchance, jackbiggin, the list goes on, possibly even OP, Jay )

The reason I focus so much on veteran players is because these are the players who would be helping retain newer players. Obviously you can make the argument that anyone can retain new players, but these new players need guidance and explanation which us veterans can give. Without this core of knowledgeable players new players don't get these very meaningful interactions that can teach so much.

Pretty much what I'm trying to say is we need veteran players to help the new players. It's not the tutorial that hurts these players, it's the fact that they don't see what our community has to offer, and that some of us have stuck around for 5~ years and they should too.

I will make this a bit shorter. I understand what Krysyy is saying about how old the game is but at the same time I see other servers that still have huge amounts of players on them. So I am not ready to say that is the problem. I think there is little question that we lose a ton of people right after they get through the tutorial and land on their res. I had the feeling when that happened to me of "what next?" "where am I?". I think if there were a way to better engage a player at that point it would be huge. I nearly walked away then. What are other survival or faction servers like at that point. They get dropped into where they can run in the world. That is more engaging.

Ya I noticed that, I was visiting SMP2 and was doing some work on my res on SMP4. Not many stayed sadly.

It's not easy to build a supportive and professional community, especially over the internet. We do make sacrifices in terms of numbers when people leave because they can't grief or PvP or use illegal mods, but those who stick it out to the end are the best, really. One thing I do notice though, is while we may have a lot fewer members on the server, I see a lot more members who are supporters and donate to the Empire. I think that itself speaks volumes to the success this community has achieved. (All of this is in reference to when I joined about 5 years ago.) This isn't to say we can't continue working hard on making this server the best server of Minecraft, but for some reason, with this community I don't think that will be a problem.

This thread of not enough players... it's a november-januarary thing. At least it was last year and this year seems no different. Not to mention we are 1.9. I also haven't seen a decline this year like I did last year which is good because unlike shell I think that less people playing minecraft means less people playing emc(I didn't read all three pages so if you others think that, I disagree with you equally )

like 90% of the things in the OP are just what they are and there is little that we can do to stop it. Every once in a while we have a thread that reminds us to greet new players and be helpful in town chat. Giving information and being talkative in town chat, not hiding in group chat, is probably the best things we can do for new players. That annoyingly long tutorial is on staff, im not touching it. I like the tutorial but it can be confusing and annoying and i get that.

I doubt I'm the first one to say most of what I have here but there is my opinion on it. Smp7 rarely feels dead. Even at 3-6am when almost every other smp has not one person on it smp7 still has active players abound. I may have chased the aussies to smp7 when I have seen that they start on one of the dead smps but I can't police that every night. when I'm up at that time it's usually smp7 and 8 that have players and smp4(or is it 2? I think it's 4) has skarecboi lol.

edit: let me clarify less players. minecraft had a pokemon GO explosion of players some like 3-4 years ago and will never get that back. That playerbase has fallen off slower than that pokemon GO abomination but it happened. minecraft may get peaks of new players now and then and you can even show me player data/purchase data from mojang and you aren't going to convince me that minecraft is increasing in size on any meta scale. more sales doesn't mean more players all the time, just ask that one terrible game that released recently that was supposed to be minecraft in space or something. If I start seeing people walking around with creeper heads and minecraft pick bumper stickers again and every website/news station and radio show is advertising minecrafts success again... then maybe something is happening there So far all that is going away or completely gone.

I think it's largely because Minecraft is in decline, but there are some things that EMC could do:

1) More advertising. A forum thread on Minecraft Forums, for example. 3 out of the 10 voting sites have not worked for me for months. How about a guide on how to recruit new players?

2) More community. Anything to encourage player interaction and keep them coming back. Halloween town was an excellent idea. The basic idea is that the more connections between people in the community and the more roles they take on, the more reason they have to come back and play.

3) Investigate why emails from the forum aren't getting resolved. I've noticed that if I send a private message to someone on the forums, they hardly have any chance to get it. And a few people told me it ended up in spam or responded months later because they happened upon it. This makes a pretty big impact, because each private message is a chance to have users come back.

4) Maybe find other ways to reach players and communicate to them. Like a Facebook app that monitors rupee history or alerts to new messages, or try to get more Twitter followers. We have over 500k members and less than 5k Twitter followers. Any way that you can keep EMC in people's minds.

5) Improve the vanilla feel of the game. Grief protection has been great to protect player creations, but part of the game is survival/creepers and building collaboratively with other players. Public shared towns or spaces become very difficult because you have to personally know the creator in order to make any modifications there. It's hard to articulate, but a big part of what keeps people playing multiplayer instead of single player is building with other people.

I think the best thing might be to just ask people who play what keeps them coming back on the server, and base your efforts around those things.

I did a pinfo on my self the other night because I was curious on how long I have been part of this sever. 1780 days it said. I have not been playing every day since then, but I do come back from time to time when I want to play some minecraft. The main two things I love about EMC are no PVP and ban people who grief. I have been a supporter off and on when I want to be and will always keep coming back to this place. I tried to bring my son on to play but he is the type of person that would rather get it fast and easy than work for it. I on the other hand like the fact that everything is not just given to you. I think the staff do very well and would like them to keep up the good work. As far as updates, I am older so I can wait for them to be tweaked to work with the server. I would like to see chat to be global, but I also understand why it is not. As for new players that could be a turn off, not being able to chat when they first go out in the wild. I remember having to pm a few people on the server and ask them to bring up the map because I got lost. To be fair to EMC I was new to minecraft and didnt know what f3 even did. I have pretty much no single player experience. I have only played on a few private servers briefly and EMC. I think I have rambled off enough for now.

As I read all three pages...........Yeah, I like to read as much as some of you like to write. A player went through the tutorial and joined smp2 but then immediately logged off. His/Her name was ChillinPancakes....I kind of like the name. Wish they stuck around long enough for someone to welcome them let alone so i could gush all over their name.

So I'm not sure like others say " It's Minecraft " that can't be when we've got new players joining all the time.

The fault must be the time span it takes to do the tutorial. ( I'm not sure how long it took me to go through it.) However I'm a stickler for rules but understand mistakes do happen.

When I first joined EMC it was because I was looking for a non PVP, non griefing place to play. Looked up the top 10 servers for this and lo and behold EMC was right up the list.
The word "Empire" caught my eye right off the bat. (Star Wars Geek).........Went through the tutorial and began the journey on smp2.

TBH, that was the only reason I chose to look at this server was the fact it had Empires in its name. I'm so glad I did check it out. This place has been so nice and wonderful to play and participate in events on.
Now I'm not sure what other servers offer....To be clear I have yet to play on another server other than EMC. Just the way I do things. I'm not made of time, can't go server hopping. So I choose to stick to what I know. That is EMC and that's all right with me.

I was just talking to someone about this. I joined, because it was the FIRST server I ever did join and I made two amazing friends who are no longer on EMC. Bedziu and FrostyEM. They helped me learn everything. How to make rupee's jump servers, everything. I have seen it myself. New people join nobody welcomes them, and they ask questions and NOBODY answers. I do my best to answer. But many times here lately I have asked questions and NOT ONE PERSON REPLIES. That is pretty sad. I actually opened the town map once, and EVERYONE WAS IN TOWN. So there was no excuse that nobody answered. I feel also as if there are 'clicks'. Seriously. I have seen some talk to others, and then when they are gone, they won't speak to anyone else. Why not just be friendly? I'm an adult with a kiddo, therefore I guess I think everyone deserves attention no matter how great or small. I also feel as if I see so many join, complete the tutorial and then disconnect. I have wondered why this is. I have always tried my best to welcome others and help anyone in need. Many times to many to count I have given items to newer players, and also informed them about my free tree farm so they can get some stuff going. I feel as if many that play on this server are hermits for lack of a better word. I also feel as if mods aren't as involved with the community. Not all but a few. I speak to everyone, I do not show favoritism to anyone I am fair. I also see a lot of people get off my res, I don't want you here. Well they cant touch your stuff or do damage if you haven't given them perms, so what's the big deal? I love for people to visit my res's. But then again I enjoy company. Isn't the entire point of any server, not just EMC to show kindness and friendship? But to also play together? TOGETHER. key word there. Have company and talk. You never know what someone is going through, and giving them just 2 minutes of your time could do more for them than you may ever know. I love you guys so much! You make me feel great after a long hard day at work!

Peace, Love, & Kindness

Skitz

If you take into account how old minecraft and EMC both are I think it's safe to say EMC is doing relatively well for its self. EMC is a lot better than it was when it was packed full. More features, more user friendly and more events. The only difference is back then minecraft was blowing up. It was a crazy game that changed everything. Minecraft is still very much alive, however compared to the monster it was back then it isn't as huge. EMC and minecraft will live on a long time, just slowly and steadily instead of blowing up. Keep on keeping on EMC!

I joined the game because a friend and I were looking for a server and I stayed because people were super friendly. I honestly think there is too much focus on the new people and not enough focus on older members. When a new person joins, everyone welcomes them, offers help, etc. When an old person joins barely a word is said, no welcome or anything. If an old person asks a question in chat, no one answers. I think one of the big problems with chat being dead constantly is people have made the game too easy and everyone is afk at a farm. I know it takes a lot of work to make a farm, but what's the point of minecraft if you have something gathering materials for you? There's also an issue with player ran events. People whine for the events and then only show up if it's staff run or if there's a massive amount of prizes. People have their groups of friends on EMC, which is great, but I don't see the point of spending much time in game on a community based server when there's not much of a community.

Exexnooberscores story...

Found server because i was lookib for color codes in chat and the answer was in a post on emc

Joined server made res on smp5 and met lots of cool peeps

Eventually became rich early on (srsly i was 30 days old and had 200k and 3 dcs of promos was reported for dupeing multiple tines)

Eventually made my way to a mil and bought 2 diamond supporter vouchers for a "cheap price" and was told id be able to"eisily sell them back for more" well look at me now barely being able to keep 100k ;-;

After that i left the promo market and joined the horse market

And the rest is hostory...

Predictions: imma probably end up leaving in a few years... minecraft itself has begun loosing my interest but we can talk qbout dis in a few years lol

What got me to stay? Well i used to play factions or prisons before emc, but emc was different. It just had a certain vibe. After the first few days of being here I made some good friends, they kept me playing and eventually I joined the forums and saw all the kewl community.
While most of my first friends don't play here, I do keep making new friends, doing new things, and having fun. It does sadden me that people have come and gone, but it's a part of life. I'm just glad that I could find a great community in Minecraft to call home.
As for the community we once had, I too have noticed the less full servers. But think if it this way although we are not meeting new people we can have good relationships and get to know everyone here already better!

It is sad to see that Java Version of MC is becoming obsolete to Mojang.

Is there a way to convert EMC to a Windows 10 version or does Windows 10 not allow anything but that hideous Realms propaganda?