Talk about responsive GMs!
I had done some speculating about the average number of accounts per player
after the alt-login issue this past Tuesday, and came up with a number of 1.7
per player. This number was based on a
snapshot, so of course I can’t put any great authority to it, but I found it
interesting. I based the number on how
many accounts were logged in immediately after the fix, compared to those logged
in beforehand.
In no time flat, CCP Quant put together some statistics to understand how many accounts players maintain (not logged-in numbers,
though):
Obviously, the giant story to this graph is the number of
players who maintain only one account. I
admit, I’m surprised that 2 out of every 3 players have only one account. CCP Quant mentioned that the data isn’t
absolutely accurate, but if they published these numbers, I imagine they’re
somewhat comfortable with the accuracy.
I’m going to have to keep that stat in mind when I write my articles.
Perhaps boosting alts aren’t as big of a problem as we all
feared?
Once you step beyond 1 account, things drop off pretty
quickly, with the distribution dropping by 60% with each additional
account. While those numbers are
interesting, the second chart really brings it home.
94% of players own three or fewer accounts. Despite what some of us believe, multiboxing
isn’t nearly as common as you’d think, outlying stories to the contrary.
Where the data gets interesting is in its implications. Even though the average number of accounts is
1.5, the real story isn’t as clear cut as every other player having two
accounts. Those players with four or
more accounts – only 6% of the population – are having a very different game
experience than everyone else.
But what about the rest of the 94% of players? They have an average of 1.38 accounts… a
significant difference from the 1.5 average for the entire population. Two out of every five players maintains a
second account. That represents a lot of
opportunity for growth, doesn’t it?
Edit: And one last chart... Orson Brawl asked about changes over time. As you can see, the accounts per player hasn't really changed much, but I'm uncertain whether the data Quant provided is of active accounts or overall accounts (I assume active, as folks tend to make trial accounts that then die out, which would heavily inflate these numbers).
I’d love to see similar data for logged-in counts, but I’m grateful for the info! Very interesting!
I'm just amazed. We know that the majority of pilots are in hisec. The vast majority. But that seems like an extremely long tail. And one that doesn't quite jibe with players who seem to interact with other players. I can count on one hand the number of people I frequently interact with who don't have at least 2 accounts. Then again, I'm in null. I'd bet that wormholes are probably pretty similar. I'm sure the data is correct, but I'm also sure that it doesn't accurately depict the situation among the active players of the game. I think this is kind of up there with nullsec is stagnating, not as many people are logging in, but the logs show increased gate jumps and space violence overall. I really am baffled. Which is nothing new. Hey, Trump is ahead in the polls. Anything is possible.
ReplyDeleteperhaps the jump fatigue changes have a side effect ?
DeleteI wonder if this breakdown was different a year ago. Would a possible reduction in secondary accounts account for the drop in concurrent users? This new information raises so many questions.
ReplyDeleteI'll update to include that chat, which CCP Quant did provide.
DeletePleasantly suprised to see that two thirds of the player base only has one account and that less than 10 percent of the players has 4 or more accounts.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the distribution is for each space.
ReplyDeleteBut that is probably not possible to get from the data.
In the past, CCP has broken down the data. If I recall, about 70% of characters are based in high-sec, with the remainder in null, low, and WH space.
DeleteAt first, that seems surprising, but keep in mind that each low player NEEDS at least one high-sec character to haul things around (negative sec status), and null folks tend to have lots of alts.
The reason why people believe multiboxing is more widespread is that they provide much more content, due to their login times and activities.
ReplyDeleteI mean if one player have 10 accounts and plays 10 hours a day, while 100 players have one account and play one hour per day, then half of the ships in space at any given time is controlled by 10-boxers. (it's very likely that someone who manages 10 accounts play much more than 1-account casuals)
Also, a 1-account casual is more likely do invisible activities: sitting in some highsec belt, L4 mission or nullsec anom. Unless you join CODE and dedicate your in-game life finding them, you can play for years without ever seeing a single highsec miner, despite most likely they are the most populous group in EVE.
Fair points!
DeleteWould it be possible for you to go back to discussing and teaching about how to be a PoofBall (i.e. PvPer)? I came to this blog for that reason and you have posting some really informative blogs on how to do just that. The stories on what you have come across and how you succeeded (and better how you failed) are pretty informative.
ReplyDeleteLately, however, your blog has been all politics and complaints about how Eve is structured against your particular style of play. And furthermore, focusing on things you have no real control over.
What happened?
Were you not getting enough hits?
No, I don't change what I write about for hits. The null-sec changes have been a pretty big deal recently. But yeah, I want to do more of the kinds of posts you're talking about (my "lessons" posts). I've got one cooking now, which I hope to have out before the end of the day.
DeleteDo we know if these figures are for active accounts or all accounts? If all accounts, there will be a significant 'young quitter' the effect of someone who tries for a month and doesn't come back. Not necessarily representative of the active player base.
ReplyDeleteWe don't, but my sense is that it's active accounts. Otherwise, i think the bombers would be way, way higher, even if you take only gank alts into account from Burn Jita.
DeleteWe don't, but my sense is that it's active accounts. Otherwise, i think the bombers would be way, way higher, even if you take only gank alts into account from Burn Jita.
Delete