This is a very unimportant matter as a matter of fact. This is not only one of the least useful things Nelson could work on, it is also something he probably cannot do too much about. It’s likely just steam servers being messed up and not including some people. Many play singleplayer or are in other regions likely not includes and that is why there is a disparity for server player count vs total player count.
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I have stated many times that it does affect people. It affects unturned YouTubers and server hosters a lot because they are expecting these 50k players to be real. It has been proven many times that these are bots, and if they are not, there is still an issue to be solved. I am confused about how your head can’t rap around this information. I will stop sending messages on this post because it’s going nowhere. It seems like a few people here are clueless.
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They are real, just playing singleplayer.
Also, none of those are real issues - if server owners want accurate data on people playing online they can check battle metrics which tracks online players. For YouTubers it isn’t an issue either because people who play singleplayer also watch YouTube, believe it or not.
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Server hosters should be using the number of people in the main list of servers to determine these factors anyways, people who play single player, “Bots” and whoever else whos just not on the main list of servers is entirely irrelevant to hosters.
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Okay, what proof is there that they are bots. And if they aren’t how is that an issue?
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They are real, just playing singleplayer.
it is also something he probably cannot do too much about.
Many play singleplayer or are in other regions likely not includes and that is why there is a disparity for server player count vs total player count.
this is 100% a conspiracy theory, there is no point to there being bots in this game
Nelson can’t do anything about it, you should take action yourself if you want it to change.
are we getting paid to unconditionally defend nelson here?? sign me up
there are significant issues with a inaccurate player-base number. creates false demand for aspiring server owners, content creators, and players looking to play the game again
whether it’s bots, people idling, it doesn’t matter - it’s inaccurate stats and needs to be fixed one way or another.
nelson absolutely has the power to get an approximate number of sp players today, i mean he already removed skin drops as he admitted to see it’s effects on incorrect player stats. until these numbers are given out you’re delusional if you think the overwhelming majority of players are playing singleplayer, in a game that does not even adequately support singleplayer through all of it’s in-game features
(i wonder why nelson is under no obligation or expectation to get such numbers.)
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It’s mentioned earlier, but this is not true. We don’t track analytics outside of Steam’s default stats, so we don’t have an accurate way to measure the player count or how much time players spend in SP vs. MP vs. Editor vs. Menus.
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It’s perfectly reasonable to think the overwhelming majority of players are playing singleplayer, one of my workshop mods has ~ 2,600 subs, but just enough servers running it for me to count on one hand. It’s reasonable to conclude almost all users of not only my mod but also most of the community at large just plays singleplayer.
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there is absolutely some way to quantify sp players today
it can be as trivial and primitive as releasing some dumb achievement that is granted when loading into sp, giving a “sp player” item and seeing how many people end up owning it, blah blah blah - these are inefficient and ugly worst case scenario solutions but to say there isn’t an actual method to get an approximate value of sp players would be insane
It’s perfectly reasonable to think the overwhelming majority of players are playing singleplayer, one of my workshop mods has ~ 2,600 subs, but just enough servers running it for me to count on one hand. It’s reasonable to conclude almost all users of not only my mod but also most of the community at large just plays singleplayer.
using workshop downloads as a measure is not a good idea. i hosted an RP server in 2021 and had a custom map for it as well as custom workshop mods that only worked with certain plugins that were private and commissioned to me (meaning that there was absolutely no reason to sub to these mods for sp purposes)
they still have 2500+ subs to this day. you can attribute this to people quitting the game and not unsubbing, or just not unsubbing because they don’t really care to clean their workshop folder, anything really
it is still absolutely unrealistic to assume that the significant majority of players play exclusively SP for a game, it’s content, gameplay, plugin market, social features, etc… that all caters to MP
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Molton was never claiming it is impossible. Molton was saying with the current data SDG is collecting (seemingly none), it is not possible to build accurate player counts for single-player.
Unity has in-built analytic tools, but many developers choose not to use them out of privacy concerns. Many others in the thread have echoed the sentiment that ultimately player numbers are not important if the game is relatively healthy, which SDG seems to be convinced of considering the wording in their blog post.
well it is possible as you stated with said built-in analytic tools, so it is indeed “possible” we just draw a line for “at what cost” which is understandable
me personally the number is nothing of value to me, this thread evidently proved that the numbers we already can see are incorrect, and botting is not practical… i have a easier time believing that steam doesn’t return accurate player counts rather than believing 45k people play singleplayer unturned in 2023.
relative to the game itself, yes indeed the numbers do not matter if the game is healthy. whether the game is healthy, however is subjective - if there’s more servers than active MP players, to me that’s concerning. but it’s all perspective - and quite frankly as long as there’s people playing to begin with, that’s all that should matter
really the only issue i saw was that it gives players that see the numbers and go “whoa, unturned is seriously trending right now i should play” an incorrect perception of the game as well as content creators, server makers etc. intentionally neglecting the inaccurate numbers can go as far as being considered deceptive to those people as coming out as truthful about it can do more harm than good
(for the record im not stating or pushing for any sort of release of said numbers or even attempt of solving inaccurate numbers, if i was a developer in the same boat i would definitely keep my mouth shut about it especially if other competing F2P games probably all have bloated numbers too)
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Unity has in-built analytic tools, but many developers choose not to use them out of privacy concerns. Many others in the thread have echoed the sentiment that ultimately player numbers are not important if the game is relatively healthy, which SDG seems to be convinced of considering the wording in their blog post.
- kvc.6
Agreed, people don’t always like games ‘calling home’, especially if they are just playing singleplayer. The data would be useful in determining what is going on with the player counts, but that doesn’t mean it is worth it if it will make players uncomfortable.
relative to the game itself, yes indeed the numbers do not matter if the game is healthy. whether the game is healthy, however is subjective - if there’s more servers than active MP players, to me that’s concerning.
- ForeverBlue
It is important to note that server hosting is just popular. People enjoy making and managing servers for a couple friends to join, and others do it to try and gain an extensive community. Just looking at download counts and activity on UnturnedStore and ImperialPlugins shows that the server hosting is quite lively. Not to mention the amount of people looking to commission developers for new plugins is still steady.
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The player stats are inflated
While normally you wouldn’t be able to notice it most of them afk on the menu screen waiting for free drops. Sometimes entering singleplayer to claim them but on average half or at least a quarter are bots, they have maintenance times and go down at times (Thats the thing you are refeering to)
Now Nelson has disabled free drops, I am not sure what it is with it now but I still believe its quite inflated
On the other side there’s Chinese Unturned
Chinese players have regulartions
I am not sure what the down times are but It may be a combined effort of them, bots, and people simply going to sleep or not playing.
I’m quite shocked that it is that inflated.
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It’s been quite some time, just let this thread die already, Nelson has already shared his view on the ‘‘situation’’, no point into pursuing this rant, especially over something he does not have full control of.
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