Not enough users

[YouAreHow46]

Waiting too long for games, BGA needs to attract a larger user base.

[Ceaseless]

Waiting too long for games, BGA needs to attract a larger user base.

Atm, the only board game you really play on here is Chess from what I see on your profile. That game alone would take the full focus of a website to deal with, and BGA has far broader aims than a single board game. BGA tends to do best with games where getting an opponent online is not easy to do, and Chess definitely does not fall into that category.

[Meeplelowda]

Waiting too long for games, BGA needs to attract a larger user base.

Atm, the only board game you really play on here is Chess from what I see on your profile. That game alone would take the full focus of a website to deal with, and BGA has far broader aims than a single board game. BGA tends to do best with games where getting an opponent online is not easy to do, and Chess definitely does not fall into that category.

I can't even figure out why people want to play chess on here (given the numerous issues specifically discussed in the chess sub-forum).

[Meeplelowda]

Waiting too long for games, BGA needs to attract a larger user base.

There are literally thousands of users on as I type this:

13 505 online players
10 694 playing

There just may not be users playing what you want. It's not BGA responsibility to grow user bases for unpopular games.

[ChiefPointThief]

Waiting too long for games, BGA needs to attract a larger user base.

There are literally thousands of users on as I type this:

13 505 online players
10 694 playing

There just may not be users playing what you want. It's not BGA responsibility to grow user bases for unpopular games.

What good is showing the number of players playing if it is understood that these aren't players that the op can play with. The majority of players are all playing the same popular games. For example there are more games played every 5 min of azul than there are of one of my fav games (caravan) in a week. On top of that several of these players are only playing within their small groups. If you aren't playing these select popular titles or you don't have friends to play with this site may seem inactive. I see a lot of these types of threads and I think bga attempted to get people to play outside of their groups more with the new changes like hiding elo for coops and the power leveling.

Bga could grow the user bases for more games but from post made on the summer games thread it sounds like they must promote certain games thus leaving all of the others on the back burner. I see some games that I had been playing for a long time get a slight push when they finally get their day of fame in the summer and winter challenges. But it isn't the same as getting a week in the spotlight. Also by the next day there is a new game being announced.

[thoun]

Waiting too long for games, BGA needs to attract a larger user base.

Invite your friends and everyone you know to subscribe here

[Ceaseless]

Waiting too long for games, BGA needs to attract a larger user base.

There are literally thousands of users on as I type this:

13 505 online players
10 694 playing

There just may not be users playing what you want. It's not BGA responsibility to grow user bases for unpopular games.

What good is showing the number of players playing if it is understood that these aren't players that the op can play with. The majority of players are all playing the same popular games. For example there are more games played every 5 min of azul than there are of one of my fav games (caravan) in a week. On top of that several of these players are only playing within their small groups. If you aren't playing these select popular titles or you don't have friends to play with this site may seem inactive. I see a lot of these types of threads and I think bga attempted to get people to play outside of their groups more with the new changes like hiding elo for coops and the power leveling.

Bga could grow the user bases for more games but from post made on the summer games thread it sounds like they must promote certain games thus leaving all of the others on the back burner. I see some games that I had been playing for a long time get a slight push when they finally get their day of fame in the summer and winter challenges. But it isn't the same as getting a week in the spotlight. Also by the next day there is a new game being announced.

The OP complained about not having enough users, Meeple replied that there were plenty of users, countering the OP's statement. People are here, just not playing the specific game the OP wants them to be playing. It just so happens their main game (Chess) is probably more popular than something like Azul, just not on BGA of course. So it's not even a matter of a fringe game not getting the attention they want.

Though on the topic of fringe games, there's only so much for BGA to do there. They have too many games to effectively advertise them all. They announce some of their new stuff, etc. but they more or less leave it to the games/players themselves to attract attention.

[mrdoctor]

Your game-history says you've played 91 games of Chess, and 2 games of Poker. There are long-established sites specifically dedicated to those specific games. Most people who want to play those games won't default to BGA to play them....

[ChiefPointThief]

There are literally thousands of users on as I type this:


There just may not be users playing what you want. It's not BGA responsibility to grow user bases for unpopular games.

What good is showing the number of players playing if it is understood that these aren't players that the op can play with. The majority of players are all playing the same popular games. For example there are more games played every 5 min of azul than there are of one of my fav games (caravan) in a week. On top of that several of these players are only playing within their small groups. If you aren't playing these select popular titles or you don't have friends to play with this site may seem inactive. I see a lot of these types of threads and I think bga attempted to get people to play outside of their groups more with the new changes like hiding elo for coops and the power leveling.

Bga could grow the user bases for more games but from post made on the summer games thread it sounds like they must promote certain games thus leaving all of the others on the back burner. I see some games that I had been playing for a long time get a slight push when they finally get their day of fame in the summer and winter challenges. But it isn't the same as getting a week in the spotlight. Also by the next day there is a new game being announced.

The OP complained about not having enough users, Meeple replied that there were plenty of users, countering the OP's statement. People are here, just not playing the specific game the OP wants them to be playing. It just so happens their main game (Chess) is probably more popular than something like Azul, just not on BGA of course. So it's not even a matter of a fringe game not getting the attention they want.

Though on the topic of fringe games, there's only so much for BGA to do there. They have too many games to effectively advertise them all. They announce some of their new stuff, etc. but they more or less leave it to the games/players themselves to attract attention.

You took it upon yourself to check the op game history. They had no mention of chess and simply made a statement that has been frequent on the message board. You are a frequent poster so I know you've seen them before and these type of threads will keep arising. Now let's look at why these people have these unrealistic expectations for bga. When you first come to the site what does it say? There are 9.8 million players to challenge and 780 games. It doesn't say there are more like 10,000 users at any given time. 85% of those players are only playing 7%-10% of the games we offer. Then of the 15% left x amount are only playing w/ friends and family and x amount are only playing arena. There are also other factors like playing only on your strength level etc. So this is why you have users puzzled as to why they are waiting in lobby for 30 mins for a game.

I am not arguing if bga is wrong for how they're conducting business. They must promote certain games. But like a song on the radio that gets played 1000x a day that song is more likely to become popular than one that no one has ever heard.

[ufm]

BGA is a platform, like * and etc.
Like any other game platform, popularity in BGA basically depends on the game's popularity itself.
If someone assumes the player pool would open or join any of their favorite games' tables anytime, honestly it's their fault.
Also, as others already said, a game might be serviced in multiple platforms, and BGA might not be the favorite place for the player pool.
Imo, for many reasons, BGA is not the place for users who only want to play Chess.

About beta game releases...
Well, BGA used to post announcements for relatively less popular games (to be exact, before Covid).
Now? They have more than 100 beta games, and the number will keep growing. It simply can't keep up.

Setting this aside, BGA certainly can do a better job on promoting less popular games.
And there were many suggested ideas (like Game of the Day), but I don't think they're interested in this now.

*moderator edit: please do not name specific other gaming platforms