atWar 2019 and beyond
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Hi everyone!
As you've heard I'm the new admin. I'd like to introduce myself, share some of my ideas/plans for atWar, and most importantly get your input.
About me: my name's David (most people call me Dave), from Los Angeles, CA, USA. I'm a programmer by trade and I run a small business creating various apps/software.
I'm new to atWar -- to be honest, I've only been playing for one month. My first knowledge of the game was when I heard the owners were considering selling it. I decided to do some due diligence, so I signed up for the game to see if it was something worth buying. Even though my initial interest was purely from a business perspective, I immediately fell in love with the game. I guess it's kind of a special niche, but I absolutely love strategy/war games like this.
I think the game has a lot going for it, but I also have some concerns. These can be summarized in 3 general categories:
- Bugs. Nothing so terrible that prevented me from playing the game, but definitely there are some bugs that need fixing.
- Stagnating user base. I saw the traffic and revenue numbers. Long story short, they've been more or less slowly declining since 2014. They could be worse, but they could be a lot better.
- Toxicity in the community. There's no point trying to sugar coat this. As a new player, I couldn't believe the negative stuff I saw in the forums and in chat. Some people are nice and welcoming, but there are also some jerks who must get their kicks bullying new players. I'm not naming names, but it's really astonishing -- we've got folks who on the one hand complain about atWar "dying", and then at the same time piss on new players.
I doubt this is "news" to any of you. Reading the forums, it's clear you are all aware of these issues. So what you probably want to know is... what am I planning to do about it?
- Bugs: it's simple, we'll fix them. It will take some time, but it can be done.
- Stagnating user base: I think there are 2 parts to fixing this. 1) bringing in new players, and 2) keeping players around. We can address #1 by investing in some marketing, which is something I am looking into. However to keep players, we need to reduce the toxicity problem, which leads me to:
- Toxicity in the community. I'm not sure how or why things got so bad, but it needs to stop. I'm going to start by making sure our moderators have the tools and resources they need. This might mean adding more moderators, or it might mean giving our existing moderators more powers. I will be talking with our mods about this issue.
Now, I'm not one of these guys who comes in and changes everything. I may take a hard line on certain issues that I think are really important. But for the most part I'm here to listen... there are many people who have been playing this game for a long time and I want to hear your thoughts. I want to enjoy playing atWar just like you do.
One more thing I want to say. I know it was a difficult decision for Amok and Ivan to part with atWar. They created it, they put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it. I think it pained them a lot that they just didn't have the time it needed. I know they still want to see atWar succeed and I'm honored they agreed to let me take the reins. I just want to say that Amok and Ivan will always be welcome here, whenever their schedules permit.
I've shared what my top priorities are at the moment, so now it's your turn. I'm open to any issues or ideas you have. Please reply to this thread with your thoughts... I look forward to your input!
Best wishes,
Dave
As you've heard I'm the new admin. I'd like to introduce myself, share some of my ideas/plans for atWar, and most importantly get your input.
About me: my name's David (most people call me Dave), from Los Angeles, CA, USA. I'm a programmer by trade and I run a small business creating various apps/software.
I'm new to atWar -- to be honest, I've only been playing for one month. My first knowledge of the game was when I heard the owners were considering selling it. I decided to do some due diligence, so I signed up for the game to see if it was something worth buying. Even though my initial interest was purely from a business perspective, I immediately fell in love with the game. I guess it's kind of a special niche, but I absolutely love strategy/war games like this.
I think the game has a lot going for it, but I also have some concerns. These can be summarized in 3 general categories:
- Bugs. Nothing so terrible that prevented me from playing the game, but definitely there are some bugs that need fixing.
- Stagnating user base. I saw the traffic and revenue numbers. Long story short, they've been more or less slowly declining since 2014. They could be worse, but they could be a lot better.
- Toxicity in the community. There's no point trying to sugar coat this. As a new player, I couldn't believe the negative stuff I saw in the forums and in chat. Some people are nice and welcoming, but there are also some jerks who must get their kicks bullying new players. I'm not naming names, but it's really astonishing -- we've got folks who on the one hand complain about atWar "dying", and then at the same time piss on new players.
I doubt this is "news" to any of you. Reading the forums, it's clear you are all aware of these issues. So what you probably want to know is... what am I planning to do about it?
- Bugs: it's simple, we'll fix them. It will take some time, but it can be done.
- Stagnating user base: I think there are 2 parts to fixing this. 1) bringing in new players, and 2) keeping players around. We can address #1 by investing in some marketing, which is something I am looking into. However to keep players, we need to reduce the toxicity problem, which leads me to:
- Toxicity in the community. I'm not sure how or why things got so bad, but it needs to stop. I'm going to start by making sure our moderators have the tools and resources they need. This might mean adding more moderators, or it might mean giving our existing moderators more powers. I will be talking with our mods about this issue.
Now, I'm not one of these guys who comes in and changes everything. I may take a hard line on certain issues that I think are really important. But for the most part I'm here to listen... there are many people who have been playing this game for a long time and I want to hear your thoughts. I want to enjoy playing atWar just like you do.
One more thing I want to say. I know it was a difficult decision for Amok and Ivan to part with atWar. They created it, they put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it. I think it pained them a lot that they just didn't have the time it needed. I know they still want to see atWar succeed and I'm honored they agreed to let me take the reins. I just want to say that Amok and Ivan will always be welcome here, whenever their schedules permit.
I've shared what my top priorities are at the moment, so now it's your turn. I'm open to any issues or ideas you have. Please reply to this thread with your thoughts... I look forward to your input!
Best wishes,
Dave
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Perhaps combining the beginner and main rooms will help the game to seem less deserted. There was a time where even free players could choose the rank range of a game they were in, maybe we should bring that back instead of having a whole room for new players. I've been talking about it for years now, but the reason I'm still a rank 10 is that the times I usually play there is no action in the main room, so I play on an alt in the beginner's room. I'm not alone. This defeats the purpose of the beginner's room and drives new players away.
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I don't agree with this, too many players on this game beating up on low ranks and circumventing the beginners room rank limit and joining despite being past rank limit, merging rooms just gives them freedom to do so and not get in trouble. I've hosted SP drop games in beginners and so many people joined on alts(I know this for sure because I ask mods to check suspicious players in my beginner games) and people constantly join with alts or try to disrespect rank restrictions. Merging just gives people a platform to do this without restriction
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Mobile version seriously needs an upgrade. The vast majority of people consider mobile version to be unplayable in comparison to desktop through only the time it takes to move troops. Someone said if you cant build a wall around every city in a single two minute turn, you cant really play the game. There is some truth to both of these statements but my main concern is that you cant scroll through battle reports or city troops. Add a scroll wheel. I know you will be focusing on bugs but it is such an easy thing to add and release your next patch. That being said, welcome to atWar, were glad to have ya.
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This is being done with alts anyway. Especially when the main room is dead. But if any player can set level caps on their games then that allows players who don't want to play higher level players to avoid them.
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Sure that could help but that's not going to rid the problem entirely, not every new player is gonna think to adjust the game settings right off that bat when they start playing so then it results in game being set to automatically being 3 ranks above u for the max limit(which is default game settings if u dont set custom ones). It's not ridding the problem entirely, it lessens that problem but is still a problem nonetheless
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