Some statistics

Discussions about UT99
gargul2
Average
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:16 am

Some statistics

Post by gargul2 »

In the peak - in the evening, the in-game browser or THIS BROWSER shows peak number of players online: 200-250,
we divide it by 2 because half of it are fake players / bots,
so what we really get is 100-125 players playing UT99 online in the evening,
(most of the day, except in the evening, we further divide it by 2, so we get 50-63 players online)

100-125 players online in the evening is what left out of UT99 online after 21 years...

The number includes many aimbotters...which ruin game for others...example: 2 most populated CTF servers, are trash/no-rules servers, full of aimbotters which bypass ACE, and the admins don't care, almost unplayable for a fair player, not mentioning how much the game is bugged, have fun...
Last edited by gargul2 on Sat Oct 31, 2020 6:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
OjitroC
Godlike
Posts: 3605
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:46 pm

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by OjitroC »

Yes, overall you're right - one can quibble about the figures - I would say the percentage of fake players is a bit below 50% (according to XBrowser anyway which shows fake players) and I've seen more than 300 players at peak periods (weekends and evenings in all time zones). So your 100 - 125 in the evening could be rather more. However in general your conclusion is correct - there aren't an awful lot of PLAYERS playing UT online at any one time.

The only logical problem with that is that snapshots of the number of PLAYERS online at any one time doesn't tell you the number of INDIVIDUALS that play online at any one time or overall. It is possible, for example, for the 150 Players online at 9.00pm to be composed of 150 different individuals to those that were online at 8.00pm (this isn't a realistic example, it just shows what could happen and why the number of PLAYERS isn't a true refection of the number of INDIVIDUALS). To get an accurate picture of the number of individuals online playing UT, one would need to record player names for an extended period, say two or three weeks, whilst accurately identifying fake players/bots and accepting that some individuals might use more than one player name.

Of course, online play isn't the only measure of the health of UT - it would be interesting to know, for example, how many people have downloaded the 469 patch as this would give some, albeit limited, measure of the extent of continuing interest.
User avatar
anth
Adept
Posts: 257
Joined: Thu May 13, 2010 2:23 am

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by anth »

Public servers definitely don't attract a lot of people these days, but there are still tons of players playing pickup games. I'm on a couple of Discord servers where they have games every evening.
User avatar
UTPe
Masterful
Posts: 583
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:10 pm
Personal rank: Dude
Location: Trieste, Italy
Contact:

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by UTPe »

people have been talking about the death of the game since 2010 and here we still are...so who cares about your stats ? :lol2:
may ut99 live forever ! :rock:
Personal map database: http://www.ut99maps.net

"These are the days that we will return to one day in the future only in memories." (The Midnight)
User avatar
OjitroC
Godlike
Posts: 3605
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:46 pm

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by OjitroC »

UTPe wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:48 pm people have been talking about the death of the game since 2010 and here we still are...so who cares about your stats ? :lol2:
may ut99 live forever ! :rock:
Yeah, very true. It's hard to say UT99 is almost dead given the amount of on-going and recent development work and the continuing interest in that work.
User avatar
Chamberly
Godlike
Posts: 1963
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:32 pm
Personal rank: Dame. Vandora
Location: TN, USA
Contact:

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by Chamberly »

UTPe wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:48 pm people have been talking about the death of the game since 2010 and here we still are...so who cares about your stats ? :lol2:
may ut99 live forever ! :rock:
Amen brother. UT99 live, it just never die because it respawns.
Image
Image
Image Edit: Why does my sig not work anymore?
gargul2
Average
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:16 am

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by gargul2 »

OjitroC wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:09 pmYes, overall you're rights
However in general your conclusion is correct - there aren't an awful lot of PLAYERS playing UT online at any one time.
Yep.

OjitroC wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:09 pm- one can quibble about the figure- I would say the percentage of fake players is a bit below 50% (according to XBrowser anyway which shows fake players)
Yep, I've been aware, I meant about a half, for simplicity, as I don't think anybody really needs 1% accuracy.

OjitroC wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:09 pmand I've seen more than 300 players at peak periods (weekends and evenings in all time zones).
Yep, I've been aware as well, but I see 300 mostly in weekends only, so I just skipped for simplicity.
OjitroC wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:09 pmThe only logical problem with that is that snapshots of the number of PLAYERS online at any one time doesn't tell you the number of INDIVIDUALS that play online at any one time or overall. It is possible, for example, for the 150 Players online at 9.00pm to be composed of 150 different individuals to those that were online at 8.00pm (this isn't a realistic example, it just shows what could happen and why the number of PLAYERS isn't a true refection of the number of INDIVIDUALS). To get an accurate picture of the number of individuals online playing UT, one would need to record player names for an extended period, say two or three weeks, whilst accurately identifying fake players/bots and accepting that some individuals might use more than one player name.

Of course, online play isn't the only measure of the health of UT - it would be interesting to know, for example, how many people have downloaded the 469 patch as this would give some, albeit limited, measure of the extent of continuing interest.
anth wrote:Public servers definitely don't attract a lot of people these days, but there are still tons of players playing pickup games. I'm on a couple of Discord servers where they have games every evening.
The intention of my post was not to write about every single player, but only about players playing at the same time at the highest peak, for simplicity, nor was the intention to calculate stats with 1% accuracy, nor was to mention about Discords...however you are free to do so if you need, however it won't change a simple fact UT99 is almost dead.
UTPe wrote:people have been talking about the death of the game since 2010
I don't care about it as I am not one of them, I'm talking about 2020, so don't confuse / mix me with them...
UTPe wrote:and here we still are...so who cares about your stats ? :lol2:may ut99 live forever !
"We" = 100-125 players at the peak. wow. sure...
OjitroC wrote:Yeah, very true. It's hard to say UT99 is almost dead given the amount of on-going and recent development work and the continuing interest in that work.
Chamberly wrote:Amen brother. UT99 live, it just never die because it respawns.
Fanatics / fanboys like UTPe have been always replying about the game being alive everytime the others are complaining it's dying or asking whether it's still alive, based on this I expect you to argue that the game is still alive even when only 2 people actually play it in 2025: you and your dog. And there have been always other fanatics like OjitroC and Chamberly who will quote and agree with "Yeah"...keep going. lolz but you won't resurrect something that's almost dead already, no matter how much you try and repeat "it's alive"...I rather stick to the facts...however you can still repeat "it's still alive" to boost morale and you can still enjoy UT99...I played many great games in the past at the moment they were populated, and saw them later died after many years....Meanwhile I'm escaping this thread as more and more fanboys are comforting themselves by repeating "yeah it's still alive" and soon this thread will be hijacked by bunch of UT99 fanboys repeating how the game is pretty alive....so I leave this thread dedicated for UT99 nostalgia.
Last edited by gargul2 on Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
OjitroC
Godlike
Posts: 3605
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:46 pm

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by OjitroC »

I suppose it depends what you mean by "almost dead"? I think it would be fair to say that it is more alive than one would expect a twenty year old game to be.

I thought I went beyond merely repeating that the game is pretty alive by alluding to the recent and ongoing development work (evidence of this is in the threads of this forum plus, of course, things like the 469 patch and the HD skins) which indicates that it is alive, albeit with a relatvely small but steady 'fanbase'.

Still you have your view and I have mine and ultimately nothing really matters much, it's Doom alone that counts.
gargul2
Average
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:16 am

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by gargul2 »

Keep going with your nostalgia, I have nothing against...but like I've said above already I finished my part of the debate, now I limit myself to reading the thread only, I wish you luck with UT99.
User avatar
esnesi
Godlike
Posts: 1018
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2015 12:58 pm
Personal rank: Dialed in.

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by esnesi »

Still the most alive game of all Unreal series.
During serious covid lockdowns player numbers went up to 500 in the weekends.

When the patch is at a future state, more youtubers (LGR hopefully) will create videos about it, to gain some extra boost.
Publics are still alive, more PUG groups advertising servers now.
There are still so many hidden pug servers/scenes, those players won't be visible in the numbers sadly.
User avatar
EvilGrins
Godlike
Posts: 9668
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:12 pm
Personal rank: God of Fudge
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Contact:

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by EvilGrins »

gargul2 wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 4:37 pmwon't change a simple fact UT99 is almost dead.
Fortunately zombie movies and TV shows are very popular.
http://unreal-games.livejournal.com/
Image
medor wrote:Replace Skaarj with EvilGrins :mrgreen:
Smilies · viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13758
User avatar
sektor2111
Godlike
Posts: 6403
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 6:15 pm
Location: On the roof.

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by sektor2111 »

On-Line UT'99 it's... pretty weak as Gargul2 is saying and I like when people are talking about reality. Let's see some... facts.
A random player entered in a MH party - for me was party, no joking - player started firing - team-shooting - and when I got tired of these sh!te I logged as admin and kicked him out. Another time another genius entered and talking about something mother or such, I operated a ranged ban because it's not like I'm interested about such speech. Next fact was a voting session, "Player" was voting maps constantly. For the record, that is a game-server not a voting server. Get outta this ground, baby. I don't have time for these habits, get into voting session when server is empty and not ruining people's games. It's why I prefer servers where I have power else don't wait me anywhere. Also I got tired of the same bugs like in 2002 but claimed as Great Server, or the same habits and trash talk instead of shooting what has to be shoot. Cheating also now days is probably more advanced than in the past, Deepu confirmed this recently... somewhere in forum it's a post about that.
And so on, then why normal people would play when jesters are ruining game ? Maybe sitting OFF-Line, maybe adjusting some maps, writing a tiny code are things more constructive than being annoyed ON-Line. Huh ?
And now... Image from a few minutes ago ordered based on Players Number:
NotOnlyUT.png
However I see in list two players for selected server but in servers list it says 24/32 and I've click on it for refreshing... Such data doesn't make any sense so here are 197 Players and I don't know exactly how many of them are NOTHING - fake players... Gargul2 is not dreaming, boys and girls... Of course this is what I could see as On-Line state, for Off-Line I don't have data...
Last edited by sektor2111 on Wed Oct 28, 2020 10:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Feralidragon
Godlike
Posts: 5489
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:24 pm
Personal rank: Work In Progress
Location: Liandri

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by Feralidragon »

Although the real intent behind this thread is clear, I would still like to just add a friendly reminder that a certain game went from UT99-like numbers of online players to 400k daily very suddenly (which unless you are living under a rock, you know exactly which game I am talking about), despite having been released 2 years ago and having barely any updates.

Streamers are certainly a force to be reckoned with, and if there's anything that can truly bring a game back from the brink of death, it's them.

That is to say that UT99 does have a low number of active players, especially in relation to other games, and even places like this forum, Discord, Reddit, etc, are not nearly as active today as they were even a few years ago.
However, the player count didn't really drop much for at least the last 8 years or so, meaning that while it has a low number of active players, it's somewhat stable and not declining much, so it's not really dying just yet.

It still has a steady pulse, however weak it may be at this point, which will likely last another 5 to 10 years at least.

However, just like many games have shown, especially the one I just referred (being the most recent example), it's not at all impossible for stale games to suddenly grow in player count, especially nowadays, and especially during the current times.

While that's unlikely to happen in the case of UT99 (for plenty of reasons), the fact remains that there are still plenty of UT99 fans everywhere, some of which are returning back (mostly due to the epidemic, and in part due to the new patch), and others are still doing homages to it by rebuilding UT99 maps and such in other games (someone recreated Deck16 1 or 2 weeks ago in No Man's Sky, other folks are intending to build CTF-Face in space in Dual Universe, and so on, all very recent and fresh stuff), so UT99 is at the very least still quite a strong game that most have not really forgotten about, it's simply an iconic game and will likely remain so for a very long time, and the very existence of this thread along with its replies proves so as much.

That is also to say that it may as well just take someone to develop a good and original enough game changing mod or game type, along with the new patch releases to make the game work better out of the box, and an enough popular streamer to just try it out, to make it get players again (old and new).
Farfetched, unlikely, and so on, for many reasons, but not completely unrealistic either.

Furthermore, those playing the game aren't playing it with the expectation for it to grow in players, nor are they under the illusion of there being many players, they just play the game because they like the game, and those who develop for it do so for the same exact reason.

One could argue that the reason is nostalgia, and while I cannot speak for other people, what personally still draws me to this game is that there simply isn't one like it: community-wise, game-wise, development-wise... I have looked for the same kind of traits of this game in other games, and a few seemed to steer in that direction... except that they didn't, and thus far there isn't a single recent game out there that is able to replace the kind of satisfaction I still get in following this game.

Granted, I have not picked the game in months now, but I am still around because I still find it interesting, be playing with all the content the community released thus far times to times (always return to it during vacation), be using it as the best sandbox to develop and play with, etc.
Nostalgia, while certainly a factor, is not a really strong one, at least in my case (if it was the main one, one would just grow bored of it very quickly, I have more nostalgia for other things which I didn't even revisit for nearly a decade at the very least).
User avatar
Hellkeeper
Inhuman
Posts: 903
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2014 12:32 pm
Personal rank: Soulless Automaton
Location: France
Contact:

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by Hellkeeper »

I hardly ever play with humans, bots are my friends and family. The game will stay alive for me as long as I have the shortcut on my desktop. Why worry?
You must construct additional pylons.
RocketJedi
Inhuman
Posts: 850
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:14 pm
Personal rank: I.T Master
Location: New York
Contact:

Re: UT99 is almost dead

Post by RocketJedi »

I remember seeing these same posts 10 years ago, and here we are :)
https://www.vulpinemission.com
Image ROCKET-X8 Server
Image MONSTERHUNT w/ NALI WEAPONS 3 + RX8
Image BUNNYTRACK NY
Image SNIPER DEATHMATCH
Image InstaGib + ComboGib + Jailbreak
Image ROSEBUM ROCKET-X RB
Post Reply