Inactive members

[Horatio Nelson]

This subject was broached elsewhere but was requested to be posted here.

Randomly scrolling through 794 pages of members it is clear that an extremely high proportion have not played at all and abandoned their accounts as they have zero score. I am suggesting the deletion of these inactive accounts.

I propose the following a time frame of 28 days (4 weeks) and then the account is deleted. A spam warning is forwarded on the third week to the player's email and in game box warning them of deletion should their account remain inactive.

Someone else suggested a rise in danger rating but I don't think there would be any value to it.

The idea of showing active players only will make it easier for guilds to recruit. I also believe from a marketing point of view for Pirates Glory - it is a demotivator for new members to view a high percentage of inactive accounts - it's like they have walked into a graveyard. Now if the screens were filled with members accumulating a score wouldn't that present much better? People love seeing activity after all.

Now I understand there may be real life reasons as to why we cannot tend to our fleets every day and night (and that may be for a month). To prevent regulars who want to stay in the game without getting deleted we have a thread to alert almighty Admin to either extend or disable the deletion of that member's account.

[Captain Jack]

We are not going to delete anyone for inactivity ever. Our experience in creating games show that this has more negative effects rather than positive ones.

Instead, we are creating a game engine that will recycle them without them losing their accounts. Currently there are many mechanisms that help this.

The best example is Tidal Wave. However Tidal Wave cannot target 1-ship owners but this will change if we notice a shortage on ships available for this card (currently there is no shortage).

I find the only reason that has been presented here (easier guild recruiting) as insufficient. If you are concerned about the specific problem, we can certainly think of other ideas.

What we will do in the future, (slightly off-topic but relevant) is to add a "restart" button, for those that want to start all over with a new #id. You will get to keep some things of the old account for the restart (such as Officers count).

[Horatio Nelson]

I disagree for the reasons I have previously stated and will leave it at that.

[Xepshunall]

I cannot see how an inactive player account being deleted can have a negative effect if the end result to the player is to have only one ship, no gold, and 200 turns. It sounds like such an account can be moved into an area where it is invisible to the active members unless the player chooses to return and take up his disadvantageous account and continue playing. He would likely be better off starting over with a new player's gold.

A prime example of an account that would be deleted is the one that my eldest son just started playing. He knows that he can contact the developers and maybe they will tell him what email he used since he hates email and couldn't get any of the screen names he tried at Google. He ended up with an obscure email name and has since had to reset his Iphone and lost access to his account. He expresses very little interest in getting back into the game and his account should be deleted or otherwise made invisible after a sufficient period so that no guild wastes their time trying to recruit him.

...
The best example is Tidal Wave. However Tidal Wave cannot target 1-ship owners but this will change if we notice a shortage on ships available for this card (currently there is no shortage).

Let me respond to this little bit of hidden news by saying that it will be a sad day for Pirates Glory when a Ship of the Line that belongs to me is taken by a Tidal Wave.

I've already lost three Cutters to Tidal Wave. Were you planning on telling us that there is a shortage of available ships in the depths?

Wow! Make that four:

2012-07-17 02:25:20 Your ship Thorakas Sentry (#24190), a level 1 Cutter has been claimed by a Tidal Wave! A pure VOODOO curse case as the weather was excellent on the time the Tidal Wave crushed the port of Thorakas !

2012-07-14 04:11:02 Your ship Tortuga Sentry (#25508), a level 1 Cutter has been claimed by a Tidal Wave! A pure VOODOO curse case as the weather was excellent on the time the Tidal Wave crushed the port of Tortuga !

I've also had one taken from Seaglory and one from Pania. Each was in a fleet and serving it's purpose. What is this game coming to when a player's efforts can be undone by a game designer's whim? If you need more ships, let the game create them. Leave mine alone.

I find the only reason that has been presented here (easier guild recruiting) as insufficient. If you are concerned about the specific problem, we can certainly think of other ideas.

Even if that were the only reason for eliminating the players from the fame list, it would be enough. 0 fame is not high enough to earn a place on the fame list. But that was not the only reason given.

The idea of showing active players only will make it easier for guilds to recruit.

AND

I also believe from a marketing point of view for Pirates Glory - it is a demotivator for new members to view a high percentage of inactive accounts - it's like they have walked into a graveyard.

You have to at least see the point of the SECOND reason given. I agree with it but it is not my website so what do I care if people notice that 14,912 out of 18,274 players have 0 fame or that 2,762 of the top 3,362 have more than 0 but less than 1,000 fame while the leader has 16,590,040 fame?

I don't care if they see that and realize (however falsely) that they wasted their time signing up. No wait! That isn't my belief. It is the belief of someone else. Otherwise there would be no 0s on the list.

Where did the guy go that used to read these posts and truly consider their content?

[Sir Henry Morgan]

I am revisitng this post as this has an effect upon another post that involves inactive guilds. Inactive
guilds and players may be common place, and while they provide fodder for for Trade Winds, they eat up other resources, such as character names and guild names, and a boneyard of inactive guilds and players confuses and frustrates players, old and new alike.

To delete the in actives will give a tidy active game environment, but I do see where in actives do have a role in the game. Here are a couple of ideas...

It has already been programmed for trade fleets to stop running if a player is inactive for seven days. I would suggest that a guild that has no active players for 30 days simply disband. Guilds to succeed need daily activity to flourish, regardless of their size and purpose. I do not see any resource a guild provides to the game by preserving them when they are housing inactive members. They simply confuse new players looking for a guild. If one is looking for examples on building a new guild of their own, an inactive guild is probably not a good resource for them to model their new guild. Disbanding after 30 days of inactivity should be more than fair.

For inactive players another tact may work. Say after 90 days of inactivity of say Wiley Pirate, the player's name is changed to 'Wiley Pirate Lost at Sea' or Wiley Pirate RIP.'. This will leave the account intact for Tidal Wave, plundering, etc., while freeing up a name for a new player to adopt as their own, and make it easier to recruit, if that be the strategy of guilds to recruit. If the 20 space limit is a problem, use the first 17 spaces of their name and RIP in the last 3 spaces.

If an inactive player returns, they can simply go to the governor and do a name change. If their old name is not available, then that be the penalty to 90 days of inactivity.

There are many good names on the inactive list that active players would love to adopt-it may seem a small thing, but active players do provide many more benefits for the game than do in actives.

[Rolando]

I agree Captain, sounds good, it also gives a more realistic view of who are the active people for players as well, while maintaining the inactives to be pillaged and by those who go wreck hunting.

[Captain Jack]

Agreed:

1)Guilds with inactive players more than 30 days, disband entirely.
2)Players with less than 1200 turns, inactive for longer than 90 days: DELETED (any ships they have, will join sea bottom)
3)Players with more than 1200 turns, inactive for longer than 90 days: Lose their name