katriell wrote:Seems frankly idiotic to me. "Hey, this game is in financial trouble and undergoing receivership, let's all jump ship before anything else is said so we can reduce its value of existing subscribers and screw over those who feel the least bit more optimistic!"
That's, imho a bit off, not to mention "centric"... There may be a few players that, honestly, are not that concerned about the health of the company and are playing to have a gaming experince, that's all. That, without mentioning that your argument seems to imply "hey just keep staying here, despite having reasons to leave, just to please other players and the company". I personally will play until I decide not to play anymore, simple as that. I wonder if Ryzom had been a Wow-like financial success, the concerns and simbiotic-relationship would be in the other way round.
There may be plenty of reasons for leaving, including yours, that "frankly" are not idiotic and based on neither mantaining the assets of a company nor pleasing optimistic players. What about (hypothetical, of course):
* "in this situation, I would not expect major content additions for a while, even if the game is bought, they may need some time to...."
* "the game seems to be stalled, with no new players, I am not finding other refugees to play with, I cannot wait for days just to team up".
* "believe it or not, there is a risk of closing servers. I have simply decided not to risk experiencing how after 3 months, it tanks. Since I am trying to find a new place to call home, I'd rather bet on another game. I'm in for a long while"
* "I have enjoyed Ryzom for a while, but it's time to move on. The fact that the game may be in a not-so-healthy status is just another factor".
Those were a few, just made up. Implying that it is idiotic to leave and that if you do, you are being nocive to the company -- yet alone on purpose -- and "being unhelpful" and not "sticking"... well, a bit exagerated. I would expect a player to play for as long as he finds it worth it based on mostly his own interest, and specially not try to make him feel guilty because if you leave, you are "screwing over those who stay" ....
And finally, yes, there is the snowball effect. The more players leave, the more people will find the servers emptish. It happens in RL too.. You go into a night pub or a restaurant, you may want to leave, if it seems empty. Don't get me wrong, you can stay alone and enjoy an excellent dinner, or you don't mind if there are 3 or 500 customers, even the meal may be better if you are alone than if you were 500, you have the option to stay, but that's at your own will and interest. But stay to have dinner just to please the cook?
More ontopic, I'm sure they'll tell us once they have some real dates.
