Topic: ChannelLogs count

So, I took the logs on all the channels I have access to, and did a little headcount. This was on Sunday 2012-08-19, midnight to midnight.

I counted 339 unique agents. Just an interesting tidbit I'd thought I should share. I'll be watching the logs for another week or so, if my computer stays alive in this heat.

Code used:

<?php
	
	$files = scandir('logs');
	unset($files[0], $files[1]);
	$date = '';
	$data = array();
	foreach($files as $file) {
		// echo 'Reading: ' . $file . '<br />';
		$contents = file_get_contents('logs/' . $file);
		$lines = explode("\n", $contents);
		foreach($lines as $line) {
			if (preg_match("/^Log starting: (\d+\-\d+\-\d+) \d+:\d+:\d+/", trim($line), $match)) {
				$date = $match[1];
			}
			if (preg_match("/^\[\d+:\d+:\d+] \* (.+) is now (.+).$/", trim($line), $match)) {
				@$data[$date][$match[1]] ++;
			}
		}
	}

	foreach($data as $date => $agents) {
		echo $date . ' ' . count($agents) . '<br />';
	}	

Re: ChannelLogs count

I love that this game is filled with such bright people ... just gives more validity to my statements that general chat has zero to do with game population.

Tux ~ Kill the messenger, he was part of it all along.
Euripides ~ Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.
Bertrand Russell ~ War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Re: ChannelLogs count

So I just saw this article and it made me wonder what each of those agents is doing at any given time.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1759 … ra+News%29

+1
-Confucius

4 (edited by Lupus Caeli 2012-08-20 10:48:49)

Re: ChannelLogs count

Edit: - first premise was false ...


I think the above code will count both people coming on-line and going offline ...


[11:44:13] * XXXXX is now online.
[11:44:29] * XXXXX is now offline.

Re: ChannelLogs count

Even if there should be 339 ppl's online, that sure is not even noticeable at all.  Been zooming around various islands and only seen 2 people for several hours during the week.

Re: ChannelLogs count

Lupus: the code is simply adding up name occurrences. Even if an agent comes online or offline dozens of times, it's still one (1) unique agent. It counts both events to include agents that come online before midnight, and log off after midnight, thus showing they've been active on a given date.

Snackbar: check around alpha terminals, known Gamma bases, or even SAP times for that matter.

Re: ChannelLogs count

339 ..... man they must be hiding really well smile

True Pros make a Podcast to influence the Devs minds, 
The rest of you guys are Hacks tongue

PS. I got my Highways & stopped playing b4 they came in & have never used them! ...... Irony much ? tongue

Re: ChannelLogs count

Now Doek remember you need to divide by 4 to account for alts.

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Re: ChannelLogs count

lets say every player is online ~4 hours and they are distributed evenly all around the 24h a day has:

24h / 4h = 6
340 / 6 = 56,5 

dived that by 9 terminals (6x alpha, 2x beta1) = 6 agents per terminal.

then consider that most vets got at least 2 accounts, and not all (eg, like myself) do not exclude them from all channels.... thats a pretty empty game. Did someone already count the alpha npcs?

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: ChannelLogs count

Assuming your looking for 'real players'

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11 (edited by Syndic 2012-08-20 18:39:45)

Re: ChannelLogs count

Annihilator wrote:

lets say every player is online ~4 hours and they are distributed evenly all around the 24h a day has:

24h / 4h = 6
340 / 6 = 56,5 

dived that by 9 terminals (6x alpha, 2x beta1) = 6 agents per terminal.

then consider that most vets got at least 2 accounts, and not all (eg, like myself) do not exclude them from all channels.... thats a pretty empty game. Did someone already count the alpha npcs?


Divide 56,5 accounts by 36 islands in-game = 1,56 account per island. Taking into consideration that most vets have at least 2 accounts, that puts it at 0,78 player per island. That means PVP-wise roaming gangs traverse roughly 2-3 islands looking for people, most often not finding anything and/or seeing something that docks up/they can't get to due to terraforming spams. Ultimately that reduces the game to perpetual mining & harvesting & farming because people eventually get bored of spending 4-5 hours roaming empty barren islands.

As I said before, it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy of lose-lose scenarios after the 2000m fiasco.

Keeping things as they were would have resulted in every Gamma base getting destroyed overnight, overbuffing stuff (terminal timers, repair-nodes) would ensure people can build in peace on Gamma. From past events it was obvious that the Devs could be relied on to react with panic and inexperience (i.e. overbuffing PBS to save subs), essentially turning their game into a 2,5D minecraft experience with a 10$ per month price-tag.

There's still a lot of vets keeping their subs running waiting for the game to pick up the population. That's the only hope left now keeping the boat afloat; can the game pick up a 3rd big influx of population and not lose it before the hibernating vets give up on throwing money at Perpetuum.

Personally I wouldn't be suprised if some of the Devs weren't already looking for other jobs. smile

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Re: ChannelLogs count

you cannot divide by 36 islands, since not even all of them are open yet, and many just have been opened within the last few days.

And btw, your in the position to talk about carebearing and such... the only base that doesnt "hide" is the Dream one...

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: ChannelLogs count

Maybe we should all be trying to promote the game instead of claiming its dead I personally love the game and do everything I can think to add postiveity to it

Re: ChannelLogs count

Syndic wrote:

There's still a lot of vets keeping their subs running waiting for the game to pick up the population. That's the only hope left now keeping the boat afloat; can the game pick up a 3rd big influx of population and not lose it before the hibernating vets give up on throwing money at Perpetuum.


http://i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab30 … Ship-1.jpg

tongue

but no really i do agree with what you said.

True Pros make a Podcast to influence the Devs minds, 
The rest of you guys are Hacks tongue

PS. I got my Highways & stopped playing b4 they came in & have never used them! ...... Irony much ? tongue

Re: ChannelLogs count

bleu wrote:

Maybe we should all be trying to promote the game instead of claiming its dead I personally love the game and do everything I can think to add postiveity to it

this is correct one.

The theory of mutual interests
Why the crybabies wins?
Где Ханя - там победа (с)
DEV Zoom: No need to speculate...

Re: ChannelLogs count

Annihilator wrote:

you cannot divide by 36 islands, since not even all of them are open yet.

You can now.

Re: ChannelLogs count

Ludlow Bursar wrote:
Annihilator wrote:

you cannot divide by 36 islands, since not even all of them are open yet.

You can now.

for your next challenge you must open all the islands so you can walk around the whole outer map!


this message will self destruct in 5 seconds

True Pros make a Podcast to influence the Devs minds, 
The rest of you guys are Hacks tongue

PS. I got my Highways & stopped playing b4 they came in & have never used them! ...... Irony much ? tongue

Re: ChannelLogs count

Annihilator wrote:

you cannot divide by 36 islands, since not even all of them are open yet, and many just have been opened within the last few days.

And btw, your in the position to talk about carebearing and such... the only base that doesnt "hide" is the Dream one...

Mad fanboy rage feeds me. lol

[18:20:30] <GLiMPSE> Chairman Of My Heart o/
CIR Complaint Form

The Imperial Grand Wizard of Justice

Re: ChannelLogs count

bleu wrote:

Maybe we should all be trying to promote the game instead of claiming its dead I personally love the game and do everything I can think to add postiveity to it

+10

Re: ChannelLogs count

I fiddled with the script and had it include 'left/joined channel' messages. I didn't let it run for the full 24 hrs on Monday due to heat, but it still found 352 unique agents. The count on Sunday as it turns out was actually 346 agents.

Re: ChannelLogs count

So people avoid the public chats fearing that people will know they are on ect.  New players see the general chat with 35 people and get the wrong idea or whatever...

So why not add an anon tag for players who want to avoid public chats for these reasons? Cant be hard to do on the programming side and might help the game at least feel more populated.

Make a little box in options for it, then people could safely join general chat and help chat and rejoin the community who doesnt afraid of being in chat.

I really think its a big factor in a lot of new players backing out of a game they might enjoy if only they knew that in fact more than 30 players were on and even maybe got to converse with some people in larger corps even if they were anon in chat.


Just a thought.

Stranger Danger / Capital Punishment / Cyberdown
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Re: ChannelLogs count

or the devs could give us back the old population graph .... or better yet have the online numbers shown in the login screen. like so many other MMOs

True Pros make a Podcast to influence the Devs minds, 
The rest of you guys are Hacks tongue

PS. I got my Highways & stopped playing b4 they came in & have never used them! ...... Irony much ? tongue

Re: ChannelLogs count

instead of the old graph, they could do one similar to this topic: showing the total player per day.

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: ChannelLogs count

Stranger Danger wrote:

So people avoid the public chats fearing that people will know they are on ect.  New players see the general chat with 35 people and get the wrong idea or whatever...

So why not add an anon tag for players who want to avoid public chats for these reasons? Cant be hard to do on the programming side and might help the game at least feel more populated.

Make a little box in options for it, then people could safely join general chat and help chat and rejoin the community who doesnt afraid of being in chat.

I really think its a big factor in a lot of new players backing out of a game they might enjoy if only they knew that in fact more than 30 players were on and even maybe got to converse with some people in larger corps even if they were anon in chat.


Just a thought.



Or perhaps they stay out of the main stream chat channels simply to avoid all the bullshit that flow out of some people mouths and the constant idiotic trolling.
I have noticed general chat recently has been lacking alot of these trolls and it has been really good, alot of free flowing information and respect for fellow gamers....also just a thought

Re: ChannelLogs count

Rage, tears and being a *** are a critical part of any pvp game.  Even church league softball gets a good fight or two a season.

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
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Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
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