Not enough users

[buu441]

If you're arguing strictly based on popularity, once again, Chess is one of the most popular games in the world. "How many people on the planet are interested in Chess?" Millions.

And how many of those millions are interested in playing chess on BGA when other dedicated platforms exist? Probably 10.

The issue still exists, even if we say absurd lines like long wait times are to be expected, Fluxx isn't popular, or if you want to play Chess pick up your ball and go elsewhere. Is that the goal of the nay-sayers of this thread? To drive people to play somewhere else?

It is not the responsibility of BGA or the current players to cater to your needs. All BGA does is provide an interface to play the games available. If it is a good game, people will play it. Fluxx, unfortunately is not. And no, the nay-sayers are not trying to drive people away, all they are saying is that it is your responsibility to find likeminded people, be it people that for some reason want to play chess on BGA or play stuff like Fluxx.

[Meeplelowda]

And how many of those millions are interested in playing chess on BGA when other dedicated platforms exist? Probably 10.

The issue still exists, even if we say absurd lines like long wait times are to be expected, Fluxx isn't popular, or if you want to play Chess pick up your ball and go elsewhere. Is that the goal of the nay-sayers of this thread? To drive people to play somewhere else?

It is not the responsibility of BGA or the current players to cater to your needs. All BGA does is provide an interface to play the games available. If it is a good game, people will play it. Fluxx, unfortunately is not. And no, the nay-sayers are not trying to drive people away, all they are saying is that it is your responsibility to find likeminded people, be it people that for some reason want to play chess on BGA or play stuff like Fluxx.

There is a *very* unpopular game I like. I once waited half an hour for a real-time game, and it's only a 2-player game, so I was just waiting for one other player. I started making tournaments for it. I don't understand whining to BGA because my niche game isn't filling immediately. And before someone chime in that chess, Fluxx, etc., aren't niche, they are niche on BGA and that's all that matters.

[Cappa]

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.

this is an odd take in this thread... but it has nothing do with OP and his problem that he cant find players for a game that hes better off playing on other sites dedicated to that.

OP is free to do whatever he wants, of course, but BGA will never be the #1 site where Chess players come to. I usually have zero problems finding games I want to play.

Real time sometimes is a struggle, but you can usually get a game via Turn Based.

The op could've been trying to play another game but couldn't due to long wait times. But lets just assume they were referring to chess and that they would be better off playing on another site. Ok. What about the appox. 600 other games here that it can be difficult to find a game? Does the op statement not stand with those? If the player base was larger wait times would be shorter.

It is great that you haven't had problems finding games. From the looks of things you have only played fairly popular games. People like me who have been here longer and have played a wider variety of games have found difficulties finding players for certain games.

Even switching to turn based can be a hassle at times. A lot of turn based players play at slow paces as well like one move a day which in a 4p game can take days to get back to you. So I wouldn't necessarily say resorting to tb because you cant get a real time and waiting hours/days in lobby just to get a game at 1 move a day should be classified as being easy to get a game.

Having 10,000 players on sounds like a lot. But looking at your screenshot on this page you can see that there was over 2,000 players participating in just 6 out of the 788 games here.

yep seems to be gone...

this is what it should look like

No idea what you're trying to argue, but I don't have trouble finding games. If a game isn't popular, it doesn't matter if bga has 10 million users or 10. People are only going to play what's popular, that's on bga or any website.

I've been a long time bga usee I am posting obviously from a newer account.

Solution? Find people on bga that are willing to play said game or play something else.

[ChiefPointThief]

I've been a long time bga usee I am posting obviously from a newer account.

The op account is almost four years old and they only played a couple dozen games starting a few months back. You could assume that poster has experience here as well which is why I think the conversation should've been about what they actually said and not chess. What they basically stated was "I would like to see the company expand to enhance the user experience". I don't understand the opposition to that.

[buu441]

What they basically stated was "I would like to see the company expand to enhance the user experience". I don't understand the opposition to that.

How though, for this specific case? The OP somehow wants the company to magically generate interest from the playerbase for games that people don't want to play on here. Sounds pretty unreasonable and entitled to me.

[ChiefPointThief]

What they basically stated was "I would like to see the company expand to enhance the user experience". I don't understand the opposition to that.

How though, for this specific case?

There were a few threads related to marketing and expanding for the site a few months back. I myself have engaged in topics about making the site better knowing that certain things are unlikely to actually happen. Let people have their dreams

The OP somehow wants the company to magically generate interest from the playerbase for games that people don't want to play on here. Sounds pretty unreasonable and entitled to me.

I don't think it is completely hopeless to divert traffic. Just look at captain flip recently. I played this game since it was on the site. As soon as it was announced alongside the bga awards the popularity for this game skyrocketed. It was the same fun fast pace game then as it is now. Another thing bga could do is actually suggest games that fits your preferences instead of pushing games on you that they want you to play. Some games are more popular than others outside of bga control but bga also does have a hand in pushing people towards certain games.

Categorizing games can be done better here as well so that players can find the games that fits them best and I think bga should allow players to help with that process so it isn't solely the devs responsibility.

[Zozoken]

You know what would be a good indicator of what's niche on BGA? A big list of active tables like the one screenshot that keeps being posted here. That's one way BGA could bridge the gap for newcomers / returning players. But it was sadly removed.

By the way, there are currently 179 tables of Fluxx but only 2 of them are real time... so it's not niche at all. It's just very hard to get real time games with 4+ player count. Even for games like Spades with 200+ tables and very few real active real time tables. So it's not just due to popularity, it's due to how many people queue up a game at the same time. As I'm sure everyone here knows and has experienced for themselves. I was hoping the notification bell they added on the game page would help with this, but so far it hasn't had much impact. At least BGA is attempting to do something about it rather than pretend the issue isn't there.

The issue that OP posted is not a problem for me. I'm in an awesome group on BGA that makes it much easier to get tables together for games with long wait times. There's not much BGA can do about it, either. But let's not pretend this issue doesn't exist and isn't frustrating for users. If you are one of those people that finds the wait times frustrating, consider finding and joining a BGA group that's open to organizing and playing less popular BGA games!!

[Ceaseless]

I've been a long time bga usee I am posting obviously from a newer account.

The op account is almost four years old and they only played a couple dozen games starting a few months back. You could assume that poster has experience here as well which is why I think the conversation should've been about what they actually said and not chess. What they basically stated was "I would like to see the company expand to enhance the user experience". I don't understand the opposition to that.

You go talking about "what they actually said" and then jump over to "what they basically said", lol. Let's take a look at what they actually said.

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

Obvious question, why are they waiting too long for games? A quick look at their profile would indicate their game choice would have something to do with it. A game that is never going to be particularly popular on BGA not because it's rarely played or known about, but because the competition for it is far too fierce in an area BGA has no reason to focus on.

What they basically stated was "I would like to see the company expand to enhance the user experience". I don't understand the opposition to that.

Now that we've covered what they actually said, which doesn't really line up with this statement, now I'll jump over to covering this completely separate statement. It's too vague. The specifics matter.

[ChiefPointThief]

I've been a long time bga usee I am posting obviously from a newer account.

The op account is almost four years old and they only played a couple dozen games starting a few months back. You could assume that poster has experience here as well which is why I think the conversation should've been about what they actually said and not chess. What they basically stated was "I would like to see the company expand to enhance the user experience". I don't understand the opposition to that.

You go talking about "what they actually said" and then jump over to "what they basically said", lol. Let's take a look at what they actually said.

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

Yes because people are taking a negative approach to what the op said. So I said it in a way which can be clearly understood that what op is saying is beneficial for all parties.

Obvious question, why are they waiting too long for games? A quick look at their profile would indicate their game choice would have something to do with it. A game that is never going to be particularly popular on BGA not because it's rarely played or known about, but because the competition for it is far too fierce in an area BGA has no reason to focus on.

Chess, Chess, Chess

[Meeplelowda]

By the way, there are currently 179 tables of Fluxx but only 2 of them are real time... so it's not niche at all.

I think you are discounting the number of people who play multiple, even dozens, of the same game turn-based that makes it look like there are more players. There are more tables, and more players for sure, but not necessarily as many more players as it appears.

So it's not just due to popularity, it's due to how many people queue up a game at the same time.

This is obvious. We are talking about popularity in the relevant context, which was real-time. There could literally be one million turn-based games going, but if what you want to play is a real-time game and there is no one in the queue for it, the turn-based popularity is irrelevant. There are real-time games that do fill within a minute and sometimes seconds (e.g., Azul, Splendor). Others take a few minutes (or even half an hour as I experienced once). The question is what is BGA supposed to do if few people want to play something real-time?

The issue that OP posted is not a problem for me. I'm in an awesome group on BGA that makes it much easier to get tables together for games with long wait times.

You mean you acted proactively the way people have been saying the OP needs to?

There's not much BGA can do about it, either.

Agreed.

But let's not pretend this issue doesn't exist and isn't frustrating for users.

I'm scrolling through looking for the person who said "this issue doesn't exist" or that no one is frustrated by it. What people are saying is that not everybody likes the same kinds of games, and there is no way for BGA to force more people to play what you may want them to play. There are ways to deal with it, such as forming or joining a play group for that game (as you did) or organizing tournaments to give the game visibility. And, of course, there is the old fashioned arranging to play with someone you know if real time. If that doesn't work then, sadly, you just don't get to play the game. That's life.

That said, everyone should go play the great abstract game "Donuts" by Bruno Cathala.