How long have you been playing Star Trek Timelines?

Thurthorad

Asmodan

i'm a veteran that has been playing for a year.

TP do better!! ~Colli~ (PoF)

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

Started in January 2017… About the same time the gauntlet was introduced as a brand new feature

Travis S McClain

I joined 24 April 2016, so four months after launch. Rounding would put me at 7 years, but I'm too pedantic to claim to have been with the game since day 1.

W.W. Carlisle

4yrs and counting

I think I'm at four years tomorrow. I'd have to check to be sure, but I average a Gauntlet crew a year and I have four.

Sulu's Husband

Since she first left dry dock 7yrs ago!

Jan 14, 2016

Thurthorad

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

Now I want to add an additional question. How representative do you believe that the poll is of the total population of the game?

Salamander Paris

Since she first left dry dock 7yrs ago!

I started about 2 months after launch. My wife had reconstructive knee surgery and I was home for a while helping take care of her. Lots of time hanging out on the couch, I saw a bunch of ads for the game and checked it out, been playing since.

Seven Constanza

Since she first left dry dock 7yrs ago!

Joined January 18, 2016. I was surfing the App Store that evening, saw the ad for the game and decided to give it a try. I didn’t expect to still be playing 7 years later.

Thurthorad wrote: »

Now I want to add an additional question. How representative do you believe that the poll is of the total population of the game?

That’s an interesting question as I wonder how many players ever visit this forum or have even signed up to post a comment. I'd say a fraction.

~peregrine~

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

06 January 2017 was when I decided to really play.
14 March 2016 was when I first downloaded STT.
(I was so scared, y'all).

SoupKitchen Riker

Since she first left dry dock 7yrs ago!

Not quite day 1. I found the game in April of 2016, so just about 7 years.

Thurthorad

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

It's really striking how many long time players there are and how few new players. Even the comment of the 1 yr players saying that they are a veteran makes me think that the focus of the designers should be away from new players (unless they are going to make an effort to recruit them) and toward players with mature rosters. If they really committed to this they should really institute some catchup mechanics. The game is cheaper now than it has ever been, but someone starting now, really should be given a crap ton of stuff to help them mature faster.

Perhaps it would also be worth attempting to re-recruit older players. I know I'm having a blast since I came back and I wouldn't hold it against them if they put together a 'Welcome Back' crate for players who haven't logged in in a few years that gave them stuff to catch up. Make it juicy enough, and I'm sure it would get some Star Trek media attention and that might be what's needed to lure people back. I'd certainly poke all of my former fleetmates and see if they were interested if there was a substantial bribe to return.

Sulu's Husband

Since she first left dry dock 7yrs ago!

Thurthorad wrote: »

It's really striking how many long time players there are and how few new players. Even the comment of the 1 yr players saying that they are a veteran makes me think that the focus of the designers should be away from new players (unless they are going to make an effort to recruit them) and toward players with mature rosters. If they really committed to this they should really institute some catchup mechanics. The game is cheaper now than it has ever been, but someone starting now, really should be given a crap ton of stuff to help them mature faster.

Perhaps it would also be worth attempting to re-recruit older players. I know I'm having a blast since I came back and I wouldn't hold it against them if they put together a 'Welcome Back' crate for players who haven't logged in in a few years that gave them stuff to catch up. Make it juicy enough, and I'm sure it would get some Star Trek media attention and that might be what's needed to lure people back. I'd certainly poke all of my former fleetmates and see if they were interested if there was a substantial bribe to return.

46 people as of this comment is an extremely small subset of people who are actively playing the game. I doubt most active players are aware of this forum.

Thurthorad

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

Sulu's Husband wrote: »

Thurthorad wrote: »

It's really striking how many long time players there are and how few new players. Even the comment of the 1 yr players saying that they are a veteran makes me think that the focus of the designers should be away from new players (unless they are going to make an effort to recruit them) and toward players with mature rosters. If they really committed to this they should really institute some catchup mechanics. The game is cheaper now than it has ever been, but someone starting now, really should be given a crap ton of stuff to help them mature faster.

Perhaps it would also be worth attempting to re-recruit older players. I know I'm having a blast since I came back and I wouldn't hold it against them if they put together a 'Welcome Back' crate for players who haven't logged in in a few years that gave them stuff to catch up. Make it juicy enough, and I'm sure it would get some Star Trek media attention and that might be what's needed to lure people back. I'd certainly poke all of my former fleetmates and see if they were interested if there was a substantial bribe to return.

46 people as of this comment is an extremely small subset of people who are actively playing the game. I doubt most active players are aware of this forum.

It is small for sure, and importantly it may not be representative. However, you don't actually need a lot of people to vote for a sample to have enough predictive power. It's whether the makeup of players on the forum are similar to the entire population, that's what matters most.

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence that recruitment in most fleets is extremely difficult, which suggests a paucity of new players.

Emperor Borg Drone (SC)

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

Thurthorad wrote: »

Sulu's Husband wrote: »

Thurthorad wrote: »

It's really striking how many long time players there are and how few new players. Even the comment of the 1 yr players saying that they are a veteran makes me think that the focus of the designers should be away from new players (unless they are going to make an effort to recruit them) and toward players with mature rosters. If they really committed to this they should really institute some catchup mechanics. The game is cheaper now than it has ever been, but someone starting now, really should be given a crap ton of stuff to help them mature faster.

Perhaps it would also be worth attempting to re-recruit older players. I know I'm having a blast since I came back and I wouldn't hold it against them if they put together a 'Welcome Back' crate for players who haven't logged in in a few years that gave them stuff to catch up. Make it juicy enough, and I'm sure it would get some Star Trek media attention and that might be what's needed to lure people back. I'd certainly poke all of my former fleetmates and see if they were interested if there was a substantial bribe to return.

46 people as of this comment is an extremely small subset of people who are actively playing the game. I doubt most active players are aware of this forum.

It is small for sure, and importantly it may not be representative. However, you don't actually need a lot of people to vote for a sample to have enough predictive power. It's whether the makeup of players on the forum are similar to the entire population, that's what matters most.

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence that recruitment in most fleets is extremely difficult, which suggests a paucity of new players.

I've been playing Timelines since late 2016, but only joined the forum in 2018. A lot of newer players probably aren't even aware of its existence.

It does look like the playerbase is shrinking judging from the arena leaderboards (at least when it comes to the number of dedicated/competitive players, since it's needed to complete dailies) but I don't think the forum or fleet recruitment can be used to verify that.

There are waaay too many fleets with a complete starbase. Starbases haven't been expanded in ages, and given that there was little else to rely on before FBB was introduced, for a new player there was no way to tell the difference between a fleet that's been at starbase 134 for years and one that just got there.

Even now, someone who isn't on the forums and Discord has nothing to compare their bridge level to and will just join whichever random fleet is close to 50/50 and has a full starbase, if they like the name.

WRG must know the actual player demographics, but I don't expect them to share this info, so we'll probably never know for sure

Mirror Cartman

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

(It's about 5 1/2 years, I started playing just before the first Disco Mega)

I think long term players are more likely to be on the forum, than newer players. So I guess this poll will be skewed against new people.

Thurthorad wrote: »

The game is cheaper now than it has ever been, but someone starting now, really should be given a crap ton of stuff to help them mature faster.

I've thought that for a while, but we do get a 4/5 every 1-2 months.

I've said before, new players should get a 5* ship within the first week or so of playing.

(HGH)Apollo

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

7 in March

Frank?

Since she first left dry dock 7yrs ago!

Off but on topic regarding the game getting “cheaper” -
I spent the same amount of money in the first 18 months of the game as I have in the next 66 months. The first 18 months i hadn’t even won an event yet and didn’t have all the crew.
The economy in the beginning was brutal. Much much much more friendly now.

AviTrek

Since she first left dry dock 7yrs ago!

Thurthorad wrote: »

Sulu's Husband wrote: »

Thurthorad wrote: »

It's really striking how many long time players there are and how few new players. Even the comment of the 1 yr players saying that they are a veteran makes me think that the focus of the designers should be away from new players (unless they are going to make an effort to recruit them) and toward players with mature rosters. If they really committed to this they should really institute some catchup mechanics. The game is cheaper now than it has ever been, but someone starting now, really should be given a crap ton of stuff to help them mature faster.

Perhaps it would also be worth attempting to re-recruit older players. I know I'm having a blast since I came back and I wouldn't hold it against them if they put together a 'Welcome Back' crate for players who haven't logged in in a few years that gave them stuff to catch up. Make it juicy enough, and I'm sure it would get some Star Trek media attention and that might be what's needed to lure people back. I'd certainly poke all of my former fleetmates and see if they were interested if there was a substantial bribe to return.

46 people as of this comment is an extremely small subset of people who are actively playing the game. I doubt most active players are aware of this forum.

It is small for sure, and importantly it may not be representative. However, you don't actually need a lot of people to vote for a sample to have enough predictive power. It's whether the makeup of players on the forum are similar to the entire population, that's what matters most.

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence that recruitment in most fleets is extremely difficult, which suggests a paucity of new players.

My purely anecdotal sense is that the forums are a bunch of us elderly players while Facebook has more newer players.

It's not definitive at all. Keeping in mind that most players probably are not talking anywhere, my gut is still that the forums are not a representative sample.

guest_1510116927810560

Just finished my first tour on this fine ship

7 months ago,… don’t know how I missed this game when it first came out as a Trekkie. I quickly figured out how to make the most of my progress (4 shuttles, event bonuses etc.) and joined a good fleet about 2 months ago. Really enjoying the game.

~peregrine~

I’m a veteran, 6yrs I’ve been aboard.

I told this to Shan privately, but I think it's worth sharing with y'all:

On 06 January 2017, I was suicidally depressed. I re-downloaded STT and made a commitment to myself that I would play for at least one year.

When I say that this game saved my life, I am not joking.
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LLAP