A good point WaffentragerE-100. I also appreciate the honesty of this " I prefer the beach to ZE", lol!

"TLDR; Generals needs 3 months of time. Run twice a year"

12 months in each year, could it be a quarterly thing? Or is that too much?

The rewards on offer for players from different servers is quite a nice incentive.

mightyoz wrote:A good point WaffentragerE-100. I also appreciate the honesty of this " I prefer the beach to ZE", lol!

"TLDR; Generals needs 3 months of time. Run twice a year"

12 months in each year, could it be a quarterly thing? Or is that too much?

The rewards on offer for players from different servers is quite a nice incentive.

Thanks, and my xtreme account/standard accounts were both deleted years ago. It is a few years too late to be a big fish in any pond currently running on ZE. That is why I am in favor of a self-funding server.

People that play the game a lot will pay to play. Simple math determines it is literally cents per day...which if you cannot afford that, then you cannot afford to pay for an internet service.. or electricity to power your device! Maybe Zorg will comment on a future server, as nothing has been said in a long time.

Bump.

I believe a regularly resetting server is something that should be considered once again. I'd like to know how everyone else feels about this idea and if they agree with my perspective. At this point, I think a resetting server might be the one thing that could really lead to a lasting benefit for the game and increase long-term activity.

In my experience, players seem to leave for two main game-related reasons (excluding those who leave for RL reasons):

• 1. Boredom: Players get to a point where they feel like there is nothing new that is possible for them to accomplish (e.g. A player accumulates a large number of points, joins a top alliance, no one is hunting or attacking him/her anymore, there are too few players to hunt or attack, etc...).
  
  2. Frustration: Players get tired and fed up with top players who are so far ahead there is no way they can possibly catch up, and give up. Players crash large fleets they don't think they could possibly rebuild, and quit/give up.

A resetting server would solve both of these problems. As much as I want to see a new permanent server, I also realize that any boost such a server would provide to the game would be temporary: A new permanent server is likely to draw new players, bring back old players, and increase enthusiasm for the game, but these benefits will ultimately fade as the server ages and eventually the new server will suffer from the same problems the current servers do, even if it is designed differently. A new regularly resetting server, on the other hand, would not have the same issues. A resetting server would eliminate untouchable top players, create an environment that is always more competitive and equal, and give players a chance to start again on an even playing field multiple times or take a break from the game and play the next round without falling far behind.

I doubt a regularly resetting server will come about, but I would urge Zorg to consider the possibilities and benefits offered by such a server, and I would urge those who think a regularly resetting server would be a positive thing for the game to once again comment or offer suggestions. Personally, I envision something like a four to eight month run time, slower speeds than Generals, with rubies operating similarly to how they do in Generals (i.e. boosts to mine production, ship production speed, research speed, WSA, "war bonds" for lower ranked players, but no ruby moons and more limited imperial support.) Perhaps there could be a one month rest period between each run of the server, perhaps it could start again almost immediately, whatever others think. At the moment I'm more interested to hear if people still support the general concept than I am in arguing about specifics.

I have seen a few friends and old players return to the game only to complain that it is too inactive or that the top players are too far ahead. Such players generally v-mode or go inactive after a few weeks or months of playing. If there were a playable resetting server (by playable I mean one that wasn't Generals fast and had a slightly longer run time), I think many of these players could be convinced to return to the game.

Let me first respond to your inquiry:

-For reasons that I cannot analyze as they are mostly marketing-related, a new periodical server cannot be successful right now. Rest assured however that we have spent a great deal of time thinking about it. We are fond of the Generals Universe and we believe that this universe, as an end product is the best thing ever given to all the players of the genre. Therefore, we have no plans to desert it but in contrary we have plans to improve this. If everything goes right, we will have 2 periodical servers in the future, one in summer time and another at winter time.

Let me however dwell some more about our game Zorg Empire, as it has been much time where you do not see me posting around. This creates some unfair comments about me and the development team behind.

Just because I am not around posting daily and promoting the forums (like I could, as a community administrator and like I can) it does not mean that Zorg Empire is a deserted project or left at its fate. In contrary, we still work on it; we still look for ways to improve and ways to beat the competition.

Although truth is that the competition is much behind than Zorg Empire, even if this is not as obvious. The game that we offer is unbeatable if you weight all factors. Let me list them.


-Zorg Empire is freely open since January 2009. That's 7.5 years old for our oldest universe X-TREME. Today, 7.5 years later, we still ADVERTISE X-TREME. We still SPEND our incomes in advertising. We still bring new people in the game.

-The 4 universes and the forums are hosted on two high-end servers. One of them is a bit old and has had some issues but they are both servers that can run the game above capacity. We estimate that we can run about 10 universes in the current servers. They allow a very fast game in terms of server capacity. These servers cost a lot; they are very expensive. We could have transferred all universes in a single server and save money which we could put in our pocket. Few would change but we still keep them because we have PLANS for the game and we will need the extra capacity.

-There are no major bugs in the last 5.5 years. Any issue that arises, is fixed almost immediately. The game is bug-free.

-There have been no major downtimes more than 2 times perhaps. Of course, a new downtime can happen virtually at anytime; however in 7.5 years we have had great success in this chapter as well.

-Our forums have more than 121.000 posts. Many thousands more have been deleted of course.

-Our interface might be unfriendly for some newcomers but what kind of newcomers these are after all? Can they play this type of game? Unfortunately, this game is not for everyone as it needs planning, it needs time and it needs nerves of steel due to the high level of competition. How many players have deserted the game after their first crash? Thousands. At the other hand, this interface is made for veterans; it can run virtually on any computer (no matter how old it is), the response times are virtually instant, it is very convenient for very fast play and we always look for ways to improve it.

-The game economic model has no affect to who wins. No matter how many rubies one might buy, without skill and strategy, he will fail. Everyone knows this.

More can be listed here but to get to the point, since we do things all so great as I claim, how come the game is declining lately?

First and foremost, rest assured that we first of all have spent great deal of time and thinking in order to ensure longevity of the game. To find ways to bring players back. To support the game in any way we can.

We have a philosophy though. We want to keep our word, we want to be loyal to the players who have been loyal to us. We cannot do anything that would risk this trust between the players and administration. At the very least, you cannot find nothing valid to accuse us of.

THERE HAS BEEN NO OTHER GAME that has shown such commitment to its playerbase over such a long period.

Now, we need to look ahead though as it is becoming obvious that if we do not take drastic measurements, we might put at stake the game longevity.

Feel free to complain and criticize. Surely, there are so many options that one can take while running a game that it is certain mistakes will happen. From our side, we always try to do the best for the game. Not for individuals. I know many still appreciate our efforts.

To conclude, we have a plan that we will not share with you at this time. What I can share is that in late August you will have a launch day for the new universe. The new universe will bring improvements to current universes and some thousands of players for itself, that will hopefully be also distributed to the existing universes.

There are more in this plan where a periodical server is also included but it is too early to speak about it.

^_^ I would be happy with a universe that reset itself every once in awhile or even just seeing General's again. Though I am most hopeful about a new permanent universe. i have seen it mentioned here and there and I understand it takes awhile to make. But I'm really look forward to it.

Thanks for the response Zorg... It's nice to hear that we will have a launch date for the new universe late this summer and that there may even be eventual plans for a periodically resetting or Generals-like universe that runs regularly. I am hopeful about both of these things.

To add up, we are not looking for excuses. We know we have been late but it was mostly a choice. We are wiser now and we have a complete plan for the period September 2016-August 2017. If everything goes well, we will have a Generals universe in August 2017 and one more at December 2017.

Yeeey!!!!
Oh, wait, 2017?? Urrrgh!!