Goonhub
11-08-2020, 02:03 PM
There certainly are different flavors of gameplay that come with different player numbers, but I really don't want the main to be capped. Despite the inevitable chaos that 30 greyshirts will bring there is a certain undeniable charm to it. Maybe it's just me since I play SS13(and DF) mainly for the emergent storytelling that arises from the player interaction between themselves and with the game mechanics. The more players, the more interactions and conflicts will arise.
A high pop also increases the chances that people will join in on gimmicks of other players and this will in turn encourge more people to try more gimmicks that require participation. Like the rage cage with a 100 pop is a very different experience than one with only 60. With 100 pop you can be sure that there's at least 20 greyshirt looking for shit to do and will gladly fight for honor and glory, but I've had a hell of a hard time trying to get even a couple people to fight in the cage with around 60 players. Participation gimmicks rely on population and the larger it is, the better.
Now I do acknowledge that this is a very narrow view so I have a suggestion. I think some of the redirection could be handle with a change in branding on the servers. Maybe "Spicy" for no cap and "Mild" for the capped one? Add some descriptive flavor text to the roundstart screen with the servers too so that people know what they're getting in to. As it stands now "overflow" kind of feels like it's the lesser server of main. With a change in branding it can be seen as a different gameplay experience. Get your space legs on the mild and then join the fray for some spicy chaos on the main, or perhaps you wish to relax with a more milder experience and don't want all that chaos.
I get that people like the experience of what used to be high pop (around 60), but the new high pop is an experience that a lot of people enjoy as well. These differences in gameplay experience should be reflected in the server names in my opinion as that will draw people to try them out more readily. Think of it like this, if you are a new player and have only played on the new high pop of around 90+, going down to 40-60 on a server named "overflow" might seem like a downgrade, which it isn't, it's simply a different experience and changing the names might make that more apparent.
This was way too many words for a post about player caps, but here we are.
A high pop also increases the chances that people will join in on gimmicks of other players and this will in turn encourge more people to try more gimmicks that require participation. Like the rage cage with a 100 pop is a very different experience than one with only 60. With 100 pop you can be sure that there's at least 20 greyshirt looking for shit to do and will gladly fight for honor and glory, but I've had a hell of a hard time trying to get even a couple people to fight in the cage with around 60 players. Participation gimmicks rely on population and the larger it is, the better.
Now I do acknowledge that this is a very narrow view so I have a suggestion. I think some of the redirection could be handle with a change in branding on the servers. Maybe "Spicy" for no cap and "Mild" for the capped one? Add some descriptive flavor text to the roundstart screen with the servers too so that people know what they're getting in to. As it stands now "overflow" kind of feels like it's the lesser server of main. With a change in branding it can be seen as a different gameplay experience. Get your space legs on the mild and then join the fray for some spicy chaos on the main, or perhaps you wish to relax with a more milder experience and don't want all that chaos.
I get that people like the experience of what used to be high pop (around 60), but the new high pop is an experience that a lot of people enjoy as well. These differences in gameplay experience should be reflected in the server names in my opinion as that will draw people to try them out more readily. Think of it like this, if you are a new player and have only played on the new high pop of around 90+, going down to 40-60 on a server named "overflow" might seem like a downgrade, which it isn't, it's simply a different experience and changing the names might make that more apparent.
This was way too many words for a post about player caps, but here we are.