Run8 Multiplayer Popularity

[Brad3816]

Who's claiming it's dying?

Sorry for the poor choice of words. Checking back, it was references, mostly by non MP customers, to Run8 loosing popularity and most servers eventually shutting down.

I suppose, since Run8 was developed for multiplayer, the few dev's they have will further enhance it with that in mind, not needing to cater to the single player requests, and, have publicly put to rest any chance of sdk. This certainly limits the customer base, but they forge ahead and the mighty dollar doesn't seem to be the motivating factor.

[SurvivorSean]

Many private servers among friends unadvertised has always existed, so there is no way to monitor those numbers. There are some you have to dig to find. This was a pandemic year but having die hard players, and/or yes men to enjoy a product on one server means nothing.

Take the one other public server shown on Train-Sim. I hate to do this because they are an alternative but I know the following to be true. Another server was opened up for another region. Many liked this and abandoned California. Then you have everyone moaning and groaning that not enough people are around, too many trains are running, etc. The poor guy running it can't please everyone because he doesn't have the numbers.

Take the Northeast region. I know of a server that exists but is it as real as it gets with a few people in 24 hours? I'm not sure if the NE is run or has anywhere near the numbers.

As has been said some like this, some like that. Some people don't care about prototypical numbers and like to play with their friends. Some people want to run 12 hour marathons across 4 subdivisions.

Depot does the best job of pleasing everyone. Any server that tries to do something for the community is a service to it. A YOY will likely give you a different perspective, but even if it didn't the entire community isn't or shouldn't be just The Depot. Ask the #2 server out there right now how they are managing. That will give you a pretty good idea at what is happening in the community overall.

The team can do whatever it pleases to do. If they believe everyone who ever purchased Run8 for MP goes hand and hand with that cute little McDonalds tally of billions and billions served (now removed) they're kidding themselves. If they want to ignore some of the people that actually helped build the community to where it is today, that is their choice as well.

Personally I don't need to prove numbers or what I've done in the past. I'm seen as detrimental to the status quote (spoiler: I say the community is dying). That's why I'm entitled to my opinion, as everyone else. Stats, spins, and PR's can easily be swayed to whatever narritive you believe in or are trying to project.

Thanks

Sean

[SurvivorSean]

Sorry don't have sound as I'm supposed to be working. I see Mohawk is almost as popular as the SE. I'll listen to the audio later.

[seagoon]

I suppose, since Run8 was developed for multiplayer, the few dev's they have will further enhance it with that in mind, not needing to cater to the single player requests,......

Well, I think they actually did acknowledge the SP customer-base as being somewhat important back when they developed v2, Brad.

Anyway, no matter what the next iteration may include, the fact is that the product continues to offer the most authentic simulation of Class-A railroading in the USA for both the on-line fan and the solo-player.

[dsflyer]

Ask the #2 server out there right now how they are managing. That will give you a pretty good idea at what is happening in the community overall.

More data for your comparison
YTD Connections.jpg

[SurvivorSean]

Not trying to throw you under the bus David, just reporting what I've seen happening when you tried to start another server recently. These were people complaining and had their posts removed because of a decision made. It's not the server's fault, it's just trying to keep everyone happy and it's not easy with Run8. That is why there are only 2 public servers that continue to do it, the rest go quietly or privately. To be honest I can't see what the chart says. Would love to see a bigger image. From what I can tell right around the pandemic things picked up (could be coincidence).

I want to be clear about this, this isn't about poop disturbing, grudges, sour grapes, or whatever. The only thing I do enjoy is when people prove my point so I use their issues with my analysis against them. I enjoy arguing a case, if I know I'm right. Run8 Train Simulator is the best train simulator on the planet (I've said this for 7+ years now). I got my money's worth long ago (said that for years as well). But when something is uniquely different than anything else on the market (including Trainz which I use now and has more positives than negatives for my liking).

It's not about a bad experience at Depot either. They do an incredible job keeping people happy. It's not about the original poster either. Though he likely was referencing people like me (honestly I don't know too many others who have said it here) in that MP is dead. There has always been a major server or two since Run8 started. Being a beta team member allowed me to be the first. Truth is most people don't care if MP is dead or even have noticed. Obviously that is true in this forum, and that isn't even the point. The question is why is that, and I have a strong hypothesis to support this. I won't bore you with numbers here, you want more I'll do an analysis tonight and post a video follow up.

This is what I care about the most. Run8's potential and bringing people back. If a small region was available right now I'd buy it and put up a server. This was talked about 2 years ago. If it's only going to be part of V3 that is a tougher decision for me personally because I haven't used Run8 for over about a year now. We had a cool thread about this recently and had a very good discussion on it, isn't that what forums are supposed to be about?

Run8 when it comes to physics is "As Real As It Gets". But as I've said before no matter what these numbers are (and I'll be watching the video) I'll prove to my viewers and anyone else watching that cares one very important fact. Run8 when it comes to the regions available is NOT as real as it gets because you can't operate it prototypically as a sustained level. Most people may not care about that, but some people do care. Not everyone voices their concerns in fear of rocking the boat. I don't mind saying what is on my mind when something has potential and can be improved right now for so many people.

I'll just do a live stream and we'll use this great source of data and crunch the numbers and we will see.

Thanks

Sean

[seagoon]

..... Run8 when it comes to the regions available is NOT as real as it gets because you can't operate it prototypically as a sustained level. ....

Please provide an explanation of what you mean by "prototypically [sic] as a sustained level", Sean.
I have no idea what you are on about.

[SurvivorSean]

Did a live stream about it last night. Just wrote a long explanation and Train-Sim wiped out my message before I can send it. Have to go to work now.

If your curious it's out there. Otherwise I'll be happy and explain with some figures.

Thanks

Sean

[SurvivorSean]

I'll try this again now that it's lunch and I have some free time.

What I did was go by the data in the video provided and compared it to what the actual deliveries would be. The ratio is approximately 7 to 1 in prototype to simulated. The era I believe of the route is questionable but certainly back dates. The further you go back the more industries you'll find active and more manifest traffic. That difference is on Run8's most popular server can you imagine the small fish trying to keep up with that?

There are several live streams were I ran on SW Rail Sims server. Most consider Needles very boring and in general double track railroading boring as well. The difference is with actual traffic levels Needles becomes much more intense. It becomes much more challenging to dispatch, and much more engaging to operate.

That's not to say that a server or session can't be run to simulate that amount of traffic even on a 24/7 server. It's not about how the servers handle it, it's about the challenges they have both big and small.

The big servers that exist today as stated are well run, and try and be as prototypical as possible while pleasing as many people as possible. But there are only so many clients out there and so many choices. I said this in V1 in discussion limited options gives smaller results. More options tend to please more.

So why is there less servers today? The video actually talked about 2 factors in reference to their numbers which grew from last year. 1) The Pandemic and 2) No new releases or updates in 2020. When you look back at last winter before the pandemic hit the numbers are the lowest with the exception of mid summer. Winter is usually one of the busier times, so the only explanation I have is more promotion and the pandemic. Word of mouth advertising is the only thing Run8 has right now, and what the team says on certain forums. Populations rise people seek out new toys, etc. The overall numbers in the communities in my estimation is lower than it's prime by about a factor of 3.

If someone buys a route or rolling stock engines, it's not hard to imagine they would want to use them. The servers that did exists would need to continue to buy everything associated with that server in order to keep the majority happy. The bigger a region gets if your prototypical operations based, the harder it is to maintain it. Things stretch thin and it's not new to Run8. Before AI we seen this all the time, AI gave a great boost to MP. But soon after that California began to expand further. Places that were planned to have regions such as Chicago, Alaska were removed over time.

2 years ago other regions were talked about. Not sure if it was supposed to be part of V3 or not. So there was some hope for those who wanted to run an operation not as demanding to meet prototypical levels. Not sure what the status is on that, it's really the only thing I'm watching out for now. Meanwhile I've moved on to other things.

But once in a while it's fun to debate others with a different point of view. I don't want to waste anymore time on it. BTW many many people vast majority don't care about these things. However there are many that are no longer with us that do. I knew them, they were part of RTS.

Thanks

Sean

[NorthernWarrior]

Whether SP or MP IMHO the big problem is it's all a bit abstract - most people are driving their trains around with no real goal or purpose.

I know we have the car forwarding system but not been able to get my head around it.

In fact - and I know this will have the Run 8 purists spitting in their tea - what the game needs is something akin to the system in Derail Valley, where you can take jobs (or even multiple jobs), pick up your consist(s) and run them to destination. Doesn't need to be for "money" just to provide a purpose to the traffic.