Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

DestinyCall · 2021-06-19 07:38:21

So we don't have to deal with the additional restrictions unless we have enough players to actually make these features work as intended.

Our average player count is hovering around 30 right now and it doesn't work very well to have this stuff switching on and off repeatedly. And I can only imagine what new players must think when they live one life as a Ginger that can pick bananas and then live a new life as Black person who can't even touch seals with zero in-game explanation. Or even weirder, lose the ability to pet seals and gather bananas during the same life without any notice. This is so frustrating.

Not to mention that getting to play without these mechanics for a while reminds me of how much fun the game can be when it is less limited. I'm starting to hate when I see numbers over 30 on the reflector. It feels wrong to want the player base to drop lower just so I can join in and enjoy a life of real freedom for once. I don't like it.

Briella · 2021-06-19 08:22:42

I partially like the race restrictions, but I'll have to agree. This week I was in a ginger family in dire need of rubber. There were 35 people on the server, and out of the 5 people in the only brown family, nobody wanted to help me, they just tried to kill me the moment I arrived in town, they didn't even read my note. They were probably new players who didn't quite understand how the game works. And in small spikes of new players it gets much worse, as it gets farther and farther away from the possibility of independently getting supplies. Relying on such a small base of 'experienced' players to efficiently run such complex mechanics is not worth it.

fug · 2021-06-19 09:55:02

I think race restrictions could be okay IF the systems in place actually worked but they don’t. Last week when I tried to play we were still stuck with the three race issue (no gingers) and any ginger eve was just a donkey. I guess the blocked players had too low of a meme score to trigger an eve spawn so instead of getting a ginger Eve like needed we had three donkey town ginger Eves…

The goal with raising the cap was to attempt to counteract the lack of four like this but due to the population hovering around 30 as Destiny described we hit weird points where playing is screwing with everyone else. When I was on around 32 pop last week I just killed myself. Better to not play to make the game more playable which doesn’t make sense IMO.

I think restrictions should just be disabled based on mechanics not working properly.

LilyFox · 2021-06-19 11:03:23

Yea I agree with this, though there should also be a max limit because race restrictions don't work properly with too many new players on a server, either. So ideally it would be something like "only active with 50-90 people on a server".

Or, you know, just get rid of them entirely because they don't add anything of value to the game in their current state.

DestinyCall · 2021-06-19 16:06:45

Yes, I hadn't thought of it but adding an upper limit would also be a good idea. That would help immensely when the servers are dealing with a sudden influx of new players. Having different rules for when the servers get really busy would allow Jason to be proactive about adjusting the difficulty of the game to be more welcoming to new people, instead of waiting until all the towns are dying at the same time.

Major server-wide problems have been a recurring problem during Steam Sales or any time the game gets randomly popular. At such times, experienced players are stretched thin and the various mechanics that require deep knowledge of the game are largely neglected. And I'm sure that some veterans just wait a few days for the "dust" to settle before going back to see what's left. I think we lose a lot of potential players every time this happens, because the towns are in such chaos for days afterward. If my first lives were nothing but crowds of babies starving to death, I'd have a hard time believing this game had the potential to be fun to play.

It would also simplify teaching the game to the many new people, so they can feel engaged in the game. I don't like to have to keep telling people "you'll understand how that works when you are older" or "go check OneTech for that". I think it makes it harder for new players to feel emotionally invested when they are powerless to fix some of the biggest problems facing their village.

Gremlynn · 2021-06-19 16:57:04

I think we could just make this easier by making race restrictions enable when the main server is above 260, server 1 is above 400, and the rest are above 160.

Coconut Fruit · 2021-06-19 19:40:41

DestinyCall wrote:

Our average player count is hovering around 30 right now and it doesn't work very well to have this stuff switching on and off repeatedly. And I can only imagine what new players must think when they live one life as a Ginger that can pick bananas and then live a new life as Black person who can't even touch seals with zero in-game explanation.

Suggested solution:
Once things switch off when player count hit 30, condition to switch things on should be hitting 40 player count.
And vice versa - When things are on, to turn them off player count should hit 30 again (from 40)

Hopefully I'm clear, kind of bad english

The disadvantage would be that looking at the reflector you wouldn't know if things are on or off if player count is between 30 and 40, but that would solve the problem with stuff switching on and off repeatedly.

NoTruePunk · 2021-07-06 07:13:46

Just needs an additional timer before the switch happens, as well as not affecting people currently alive.

So if the population was below the limit for a given duration then all babies spawned in would not have restrictions. The duration to activate and the duration to deactivate could be different. 10 minutes to turn on, 30 to turn off for example.

5th race confirmed?

Last edited by NoTruePunk (2021-07-06 07:18:34)

JonySky · 2021-07-06 10:53:19

Disabling a game mechanic when the number of players drops ... is so artificial ... so sloppy

DestinyCall · 2021-07-06 17:18:07

I don't think it is possible for race restrictions to only affect children, but not adults. At least not without significant coding changes. It is currently a simple on/off switch triggered by server population.

Adding a threshold difference would work to prevent it from switching back and forth rapidly, but I don't like not knowing if they are on or off. Some kind of in-game warning would ne nice.

Gremlynn · 2021-07-06 17:25:39

Still think my suggestion would work best.

Anyone get the joke?

DestinyCall · 2021-07-06 17:34:18

I got it. :-)

And I agree. Your solution is best solution.

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2021-06-19 07:38:21

Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#2 2021-06-19 08:22:42

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#3 2021-06-19 09:55:02

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#4 2021-06-19 11:03:23

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#5 2021-06-19 16:06:45

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#6 2021-06-19 16:57:04

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#7 2021-06-19 19:40:41

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#8 2021-07-06 07:13:46

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#9 2021-07-06 10:53:19

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#10 2021-07-06 17:18:07

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#11 2021-07-06 17:25:39

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

#12 2021-07-06 17:34:18

Re: Suggestion: Low Pop limit should be raised to 50

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