Condition of server

[Dirtnap]

Originally Posted by greatdane [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Depends what you consider to be a "player". I've heard numbers like 20k players, but obviously that's something like the total accounts that have logged onto the server, not the actual number of people playing the game. Active players, those who make any kind of impact on the game and affect gameplay for others, probably amount to about two thousand people if I'm any judge. Someone who logs on once a week for a couple of hours hardly counts as a real player. With rarely more than 6-700 online, and more like 3-500 outside of the few peak hours, 365 individuals make up a pretty hefty portion of the population. I think it's safe to say that anyone who cares enough about the game to cheat at it are among the more active ones, and while cheating is inexcusable, I expect the absence of permabans for cheaters has more to do with the developers' hesitation to potentially wreck the playing environment than with being scared of pissing off some cheaters.

In any case, what kind of percentage would you guess 365 players to comprise? If 20% is a number that warrants laughing in caps, maybe you're the mistaken one. If it was 10%, it would mean we had 3650 people who play enough to be considered part of the server, and I think that's questionable at best. 5%? We definitely don't have over 7000 active players. I think 20% sounds fairly accurate if you consider the playerbase to be those who log in several times a week for long enough to qualify as part of the population. Those insisting that it's 1% should probably take a logical look at that claim; we certainly don't have over 35000 players. That's... a bit optimistic.

The people who got caught cheating were the people who played since the tracking file was distributed, not people who logged on for Kunark's launch and then left again three days later. They also aren't 40 year old Greg who fondly remembers his Everquest days while running around on his level 20 druid. They were people deeply invested in the server, enough to cheat at it, and the cheats available for Everquest are of a type that assists you in devoted gameplay like tracking down rare quest mobs or targeting things from across the zone. Mike the accountant doesn't need MacroQuest to level in Crushbone for his Friday EQ session. There's a tricky situation where cheating must not be tolerated, but those who cheat tend to be the lifeblood of the server, its obsessed core who ensure that there's enough of a population for the population alone to attract more players. Without the type of player who is most likely to cheat, p99 might never have grown to the size it is today. Banning them all could be a risky move and they need to carefully consider the cause and effect.

They banned 365 accounts, not players. I will guarantee that at least 200 of the accounts were alt accounts. So maybe 150ish players were actually affected. (This is just my estimate.)

EDIT: This assumes the majority of the banned players had 2+ accounts they actively used. (If that wasn't clear originally.)