Population balancing idea

[Cal]

I think only a literal population cap will do anything at this point tbh. Even 60 would throw 20 over to the other server, there are 80 on one server as I speak.

[TDHooligan]

the original 80/20 split for 3 and 4 was maintained originally by people who preferred the populations at different level, only problem with lowpop enjoyers now is that the lowpop got too low.

[JOELED]

I think only a literal population cap will do anything at this point tbh. Even 60 would throw 20 over to the other server,  there are 80 on one server as I speak.

I really agree with this, still would love to see pop caps tried someday

[Nerkson]

Population Caps might be interesting to try out, I agree.

There definitely does feel like there's something else to consider here though. I cannot speak for everyone else who enjoys the lower pop rounds like I do, but I can speak for myself. When the population goes above 40-50, something changes in the round. People barge into medical to ransack the medkit locker instead of talking to a doctor. Conversations feel more sporadic and less common (Not that I spend 50 minutes role playing over a bruise every time I slip in the hall mind you).

I think higher pop rounds have more energy to them, and this energy just reflects itself into everyone who plays. There's something going on *somewhere*, so you have to hurry, to get there! You got things to *do*, you have co workers to boss around respect and collaborate with! If you're an antag, you now have a chance to just go wild - who will miss the seventh staff assistant that keeps trying to build some strange contraption in maintenance? Literally no one. Frankly, you're doing the station a favor by eating them.

There's probably simple ways to fix population imbalances (I would say an imbalance is more than 20 people) and there's absolutely incredibly out there and over-engineered ways to fix it.

[JORJ949]

Clearly on a round restart we should spin a wheel to determine which server you play on for this round...

[Kotlol]

The thing with population caps is the fact it now people who want to play with friends bounce around servers and while GOOD.

We start a different problem.

"I wanna play high pop, I wanna play low pop."
And both servers now do not CATER to that as people are hopping around due to a population cap.

If I wanna join a high pop game, but it's full and go to low pop... and I don't see anyone I know... It becomes the squidward looking outside the window meme.

To be fair, this population problem is difficult to tackle so I ain't dissing this idea. At this point we just gotta know what losses we should take and what is better for the community. I am just throwing in my 2 cents.

I also thought of the idea to turn off spawns when it hits a high number, but then we get round start fighting...wich is worst.
I am stil rather on the idea of: "Go to the other server please."
Maybe Spacebux bonuses - spacebux decreases for population peaks and dips.
But then we need more fun stuff to spend it on.

[Glamurio]

Clearly on a round restart we should spin a wheel to determine which server you play on for this round...

I know you said this as a joke, but unironically a Team Fortress-esque "team auto balance" that redirects you to a server gently after every round would be a good solution. People can still switch afterwards, but if servers auto-balance to the average of both, it'd work.

Unfortunately, this is only feasible if we constantly hover like a spare server, and the round times would need to be synchronized.

I think only a literal population cap will do anything at this point tbh. Even 60 would throw 20 over to the other server,  there are 80 on one server as I speak.

I really agree with this, still would love to see pop caps tried someday

I think pop caps will be the bane of this game, because you will eventually run into the situation where 10 people want to play and can't because "the servers are full", and that can kill off interest fast.

[Lefinch]

Nothing else in here that wasn't said in April, and seems to be said every time this comes up that I can add. BUT:

While we're proposing hypotheticals to consider, it's worth positing that another hypothetical happening now is that people aren't joining because the balance is so lopsided. The test sample for this is one dude, me, so not exactly scientific, but in a discussion where "People might not join due to a cap because of hypothetical being unable to join the one they want because of it" I feel it's just as valid to say the same can be suggested of the status quo. It doesn't provide a solution sorry, but I've got nothing either way beyond an incredibly vague anecdotal observation that the recent DDOS attack switchover probably helps confirm the high population is a positive feedback loop of players wanting to play with players, not some kind of habit for picking 3.

[Emimiyu]

Around pop balancing discussion, people might want to check how many people using the replay button on byondhub. The replay button is easier to click, no need to scroll, no need to open discord, and least risky button to join in to the server. I feel like if there are a lot, that might has contribute to why the pops can be extremely low or high.

[Kotlol]

Around pop balancing discussion, people might want to check how many people using the replay button on byondhub. The replay button is easier to click, no need to scroll, no need to open discord, and least risky button to join in to the server. I feel like if there are a lot, that might has contribute to why the pops can be extremely low or high.

I use that to connect fast to the servers. So yea you are right that it's the safest way.

[klushy225]

A point that we do have to consider here is that the midßpopulation goon4 we were seeing a few months back was due to a streamer presence on the server, and efforts to redirect the population from the at the time heavily overpopulated goon3. It wasn't a natural balance between the two RP servers.

[JOELED]

I think pop caps will be the bane of this game, because you will eventually run into the situation where 10 people want to play and can't because "the servers are full", and that can kill off interest fast.

if we have pop caps on all servers and all servers are completely full then the pop caps are too low and can be made higher? i don't really foresee every server being full based on the amount of players we have across all three

and yeah lefinch I'm not playing on 3 because its Always Extreme highpop and not playing on 1 or 4 because they're usually sitting at very little pop at times when I want to play, so that's at least two people haha. I do feel like the replay button thing is pretty legit as a contributor because with 3 being down everyones been playing on 4 but not as many people as normally play on 3 (you can see it on the goonhub graphs, there's a LOT of people on 4 past few days but its lower than 3 had been in the time leading up to it)

[Solenoid]

Nothing else in here that wasn't said in April, and seems to be said every time this comes up that I can add. BUT:

While we're proposing hypotheticals to consider, it's worth positing that another hypothetical happening now is that people aren't joining because the balance is so lopsided. The test sample for this is one dude, me, so not exactly scientific, but in a discussion where "People might not join due to a cap because of hypothetical being unable to join the one they want because of it" I feel it's just as valid to say the same can be suggested of the status quo. It doesn't provide a solution sorry, but I've got nothing either way beyond an incredibly vague anecdotal observation that the recent DDOS attack switchover probably helps confirm the high population is a positive feedback loop of players wanting to play with players, not some kind of habit for picking 3.

Consider your sample size to be 3 now, and sample #3 concurs! I took a long break from RP because I was literally burnt out of playing with only 3-9 other players every single day, and 11-19 more at "highpop" hours for 4, which I was rarely around for. I don't enjoy the classic-like, grief-prone atmosphere that develops on 75-80+ player RP rounds, but I also dislike the super lowpop ghost-town vibes. Honestly, I think there are more people who would be willing to play if the servers weren't looking like 66 vs. 3 or 75 vs. 10 so consistently. I've seen this sentiment echoed on discord, too, and I think fixing the population imbalance could get more people wanting to play more often, and bring back old players who don't like the current imbalance who have taken a break.

[Kotlol]

In my opinion 40-50 is the perfect "high pop"

15-30 is perfect "low pop"

I like both equally to be honest, but I prefer high pop as there is more opperunities and more antags.