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- Apr 3, 2022
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The thought of restarting the Battlefield Pirates mod events started a brief discussion on Discord, which I think should be brought here for more thorough debate. I am a huge fan of the mod for its variety of gameplay, very detailed and thought out maps, as well as the immersive setting. It is the only mod that really benefits from the BF1942-engine in supporting everything from intense infantry-combat to massive naval warfare.
Expected activity
To briefly summarize an analysis from last year, when we ran a Pirates-event every Sunday for a period, the initial attendance and activity was high. But quite like the DC-server, activity varies a lot when players come from both Europe and America. Thus there was often two peaks of activity, but whilst the initial activity was great, with 20-30 attendees for the first few weeks, but it steadily declined until there was 3-4 and it petered out.
I wouldn't expect such events to be a cure for activity-levels generally, but like for the servers themselves, catering to the niche works. Events should be special, and rare, to appear as one-offs even though they aren't really. Drawing players in, and with sufficient notice, takes effort.
Ideal duration
Some communities favor very long events, which stretches the available players and the intensity of the gameplay out. I think Hello's model of shorter, more populated, more intense events win out in this regard. BF1942, BFV, DC, and Pirates all work better in that setting. 2 primary hours, padded with half an hour either side, seems to work well. Those 3 hours are long enough that some will attend all the way through, and some will stop by, but it's definitely an event rather than an activity.
Purpose
I am more unsure of an ideal interval. We know weekly petered out, and 6 months between each seems too rare, but I am quite convinced bespoke events will garner more interest than something regular. It's also essential that events are added to Discord and spread to the other BF1942-communities, otherwise only 3-4 players will result.
Please share your thoughts on how worthwhile such events would be.
Expected activity
To briefly summarize an analysis from last year, when we ran a Pirates-event every Sunday for a period, the initial attendance and activity was high. But quite like the DC-server, activity varies a lot when players come from both Europe and America. Thus there was often two peaks of activity, but whilst the initial activity was great, with 20-30 attendees for the first few weeks, but it steadily declined until there was 3-4 and it petered out.
I wouldn't expect such events to be a cure for activity-levels generally, but like for the servers themselves, catering to the niche works. Events should be special, and rare, to appear as one-offs even though they aren't really. Drawing players in, and with sufficient notice, takes effort.
Ideal duration
Some communities favor very long events, which stretches the available players and the intensity of the gameplay out. I think Hello's model of shorter, more populated, more intense events win out in this regard. BF1942, BFV, DC, and Pirates all work better in that setting. 2 primary hours, padded with half an hour either side, seems to work well. Those 3 hours are long enough that some will attend all the way through, and some will stop by, but it's definitely an event rather than an activity.
Purpose
I am more unsure of an ideal interval. We know weekly petered out, and 6 months between each seems too rare, but I am quite convinced bespoke events will garner more interest than something regular. It's also essential that events are added to Discord and spread to the other BF1942-communities, otherwise only 3-4 players will result.
Please share your thoughts on how worthwhile such events would be.
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