Whats happened to this great game that I've loved, hated, skipped work for, skipped sex for, skipped so many hours of single life for, so many hours of family life for, and a lot of in between... It seems that the last tourney game (I guess the last big game) really took its toll on a lot of players. I've tried to plant the seed of WAR with some of those players to no avail but will not quit. Have I missed something??? Whats happened to some of these folks? I know some have real life issues and some have started playing another game... tribal wars... Darn tribal wars... How do we bring them back? I usually read the forums here and usually dont post much but come on... someone, anyone help! I know there is a great group of newer players that will for sure carry the torch but it seems drama had taken over and not the spirit of the game... is that the problem? I know there has been many posts about Trade Wars declining and not much as far as solid answers about how to fix it... I dont have the answers but I am looking.... anyways, sorry for the book but had to get that off my chest and hopefully spark a fire that burns deep into some of those players that are awol.... Damage Unlimited.... where have you been? I/We still owe you a major Butt whuppin so holla if ya hear me....Cya in a subby...later

I "think" it is the normal flow of players coming in and leaving the game. Some very good players have left and some new ones are entering. Those that have been podded and stayed with the game will become the next group of good to very good players. Those that have been podded and whine are the next group of fed comm trash talkers.

Personally I don't like the wait "till the V says 4" truce games. I would prefer to kill or be killed quickly in a game. I played one game the other night where I just went in to kill some players and left. I don't want to spend time base building. Just cash and kill.

Maybe I am getting bored with the game since base building used to be something I didn't mind. Even scripting is losing its interest though.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

I'm told summer is typicaly slow.  This one seems unusually slower.  I'm hoping fall picks up.  I agree with Prom.  We've lost some good players, but we have players that if they stick with it, will be our next group of good players.  We've lost a lot of tallent, but it's coming back. 
I'm not a big fan of the truce games either, but finally broke down and put a few on my site to answer the call of those asking.  After all, I do advertise ask for what you want to play and I'll try to put it up.  I'm also hoping to bring to my site the games from the closing or closed Ice9 but we're negotiating that now also.  These games bring the game to a new but different level.
I've spent so much time hosting the games, I've really not taken the time to get better at the game.  I hope to get back to that, and learn scripting sometime soon.

seems like more and more players like and want the "till the V says 4" type games. It gives the noobs somewhat of a chance.. at least they can stick around for 4 days vs. 4 hours. Now.. if this is helping their playing ability or hindering it.. I do not know.

A lot of players moved on to other games. Most of our corpies did, pat, so... that sucks. After the last game so many people moved on, I ended up just going back to work full time because I didn't want to play that other game.

When your team moves on it's pretty common for the entire team to just... well, evaporate. Look at ST, look at the Foundation, look at practically every corp for the last few years. I suppose if I get back into the game I'll need to rebuild my corpie list. Sigh. 90% of the players I used to play with are gone.

Then there's the summer, it's always slow in the summer. But it's never been THIS slow before.

With all the people that're gone it's going to be a while before the energy picks back up. Some of the good high-energy players were chased off, some just left. Ironically most that have done the chase'n are gone now too.

Sadly the sum of the active players can be found on this thread and the BOTE thread (a multi-month stock edit game in the middle of the summer?!?! WTF?!). That's what, 20 players? Sigh.

I haven't seen any serious, half-decent questions in ages either. Not sure if there are any new players or not, I never see them on any of the forums.

Take a look at Stardock's search engine. 25 servers out there and only 6 appear to have much going. I know at least one of them uses 255 days for player deletion so their games appear more active than they are.

Most games I've been involved with lately have 5-6 players - unless it is a truce and then there may be 10 or so and of those 10, 6-7 are dead the end of truce.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

Sigh... It does seem bad right now, well it is i guess. I too hope it picks up. I am one who hasnt played much because of summer and having a baby on the way. I hope to get more back in to it this fall/winter. Then again I would have to find some corpies to play with my self, and well that can just be a big pain in the butt.

A bit off of the subject but CONGRATS on the soon arrival Kane...

Yeah, players are migrating to other games, I play EVE, one of the old greats plays it too, Krimsonblade, he is my CEO on the corp I am in there. EVE is what I would like to see Trade Wars become, well at least Graphically, I still like the fast paced gameplay though. EVE is like going back to the early days of TW, but with the great graphics. Things can start out slow, but with the right choices it can pick up the pace. I still sneak back in and play TW as well, I will never quit it 100%, that is why I host a TWGS, cause I can't never give up on the game I came to love.

Vulcan

Hey!  There are 30 players on 6 corps thank you!  
On another note, when would you rather see it hosted?  Seems like I might have to pull it together again next year if it continues.  Next year I hope to have a second TWGS to put it on though, so I don't have to stop my existing games to host it.

Meh its close... thanks though