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KaVir · 08-24-2011, 04:50 PM

Just stumbled across an old comment on which brought this thread to mind:

"Aardwolf is still running. However, 4 years ago they had over 2000 people on at a time, now its down to like 300."

That comment was made 19th May 2009. Looking at the stats from 4 years earlier, the number was actually around 450 players, which was Aardwolf during its peak years.

It brings to mind similar claims I've seen in the past - like the guy who insisted that his mud had used to have 256+ players online at all times, until I dug up some old usenet posts that proved his mud had peaked at 60-80 players back in its prime. This same person also claimed to have read an article in 1994 which said there were "nearly 1 MILLION players on muds"!

Similarly, while researching Wikipedia references for muds, when I've found reliable sources the figures they claim are sometimes much lower than the figures that are generally thrown around by former players.

It makes me wonder just how much of "the dwindling player base" is due to poor memory and exaggerated rumours. If people believe that Aardwolf has dropped from "over 2000 people on at a time" down to 300 over a period of 4 years, then it's hardly any wonder that they might think the mud is dying!

But what we're seeing from these stats is that Aardwolf averaged roughly 300-350 players prior to late 2003, then went up to around 400-450 players over a period of 2-3 years, then went back down to around 300-350 players - and has remained at around that number for the last 5 years. Is that even a decline? Or was there just a "bump" in a generally consistent playerbase?

08-24-2011, 04:50 PM	#6
KaVir Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Name: Richard Home MUD: God Wars II Posts: 2,052	Re: 10 years of MUD stats. Just stumbled across an old comment on which brought this thread to mind: *"Aardwolf is still running. However, 4 years ago they had over 2000 people on at a time, now its down to like 300."* That comment was made 19th May 2009. Looking at the stats from 4 years earlier, the number was actually around 450 players, which was Aardwolf during its peak years. It brings to mind similar claims I've seen in the past - like the guy who insisted that his mud had used to have 256+ players online at all times, until I dug up some old usenet posts that proved his mud had peaked at 60-80 players back in its prime. This same person also claimed to have read an article in 1994 which said there were "nearly 1 MILLION players on muds"! Similarly, while researching Wikipedia references for muds, when I've found reliable sources the figures they claim are sometimes much lower than the figures that are generally thrown around by former players. It makes me wonder just how much of "the dwindling player base" is due to poor memory and exaggerated rumours. If people believe that Aardwolf has dropped from "over 2000 people on at a time" down to 300 over a period of 4 years, then it's hardly any wonder that they might think the mud is dying! But what we're seeing from these stats is that Aardwolf averaged roughly 300-350 players prior to late 2003, then went up to around 400-450 players over a period of 2-3 years, then went back down to around 300-350 players - and has remained at around that number for the last 5 years. Is that even a decline? Or was there just a "bump" in a generally consistent playerbase?