NESing by the Numbers

Late to the party here, but some really interesting and enlightening stats! :goodjob:

Reading through the thread, one of the things that interested me most was the pointing out of the line of thinking that, basically, says that the 'decline' of NES (put into quotation marks for objectivity) is related to the number of Civ4 people coming to NES being low.

I'm interested to see the stats on that; my approach is going to be to put up a poll. Sort of an active/retired/budding NESer / arrived from Civ 1 2 3 4 5 or elsewhere kinda thing. Not to detract from the excellent work done here of course :)
 
Well theoretically, one way to do it, if you had plenty of time on your hands, would to be to simply check the posts of all NESers, and see what date was their first post on the NESing forum. I'm pretty sure that's less than 200 people, could be done, and probably would be more accurate than the memories of people, which may or may not be correct.
 
I've put up a poll - I don't have that much time on my hands. :p

Active NESers are the main bit I want to look at anyways, and I'm thinking that there should be a fairly good consensus from that.
 
Yes, but the number of NESers active now doesn't really say how active NESing has been in the past. Of the NESers here when I started, I'm fairly sure there's only three of us left: Erez, me, and SKILORD.
 
Hm, true.

Well, I'd still like to see what happens with my poll, but it could also be interesting to compare the results with the results of what you're suggesting. How would one go about it? Check all the threads, or is there a faster way?
 
well, in the attachment i provided with the first post are links to all the threads. In theory, you could go back and look through those one by one, but there is an easier way. I believe if you go back, you can simply click on the number of replies per each NES thread. This should give you a list of all posters and allow you to click on from, there. It'd be easier than reading through them all again to see who did what. Plus, you'd only have to record each person once. So it may start as a slow process, but would becoem quicker as you went, assuming that the thought that NES is declining is correct.
 
Possibly a project for next weekend for me then. :D

I'll probably do last posts as well.
 
Up to, say, this time last year might be better then, and assume everyone who posted in a main NES thread after that is still active? Some cases it might be pretty easy to tell if somebody isn't NESing any more, though.
 
Well, I'm bumping this thread because I've compiled the latest results. A quick summary of my own findings, discuss:

1. 2012, while having fewer new NESes than 2011, actually was one of our finer years.

2. Overall, we've been solidly and slowly on the rise of participation and length of NESes since 2011. Which leads to my conclusion:

3. While we have been getting fewer NESes as a whole, I believe that this represents a greater amount of preparation, planning, and overall quality for the NESes that we do have. We certainly don't have as many, but what we do have is better than what we've had in the past.


NOTE: The current zip file is not the most recent. Will put that up when I get home.
 
Well, I'm bumping this thread because I've compiled the latest results. A quick summary of my own findings, discuss:

1. 2012, while having fewer new NESes than 2011, actually was one of our finer years.

2. Overall, we've been solidly and slowly on the rise of participation and length of NESes since 2011. Which leads to my conclusion:

3. While we have been getting fewer NESes as a whole, I believe that this represents a greater amount of preparation, planning, and overall quality for the NESes that we do have. We certainly don't have as many, but what we do have is better than what we've had in the past.


NOTE: The current zip file is not the most recent. Will put that up when I get home.

Interesting you're still compiling data. Interesting conclusion, that while there is slowing, it's more an indication the NESing community is maturing.
 
I have now, thanks for reminding me. I included both the original access file I used to enter all 1080 NESes, and an exported excel file for those without Access or a compatible database program.
 
Could you link that?
 
I'm having awful deja vu, but -- here. It boosts the "NESes started by Lord Iggy" postcount by like, 4,000.
 
EQ, having read all the NESes on the forum, do you have a favorite (excluding your own of course)?

And what would you give for advice to someone hoping to start up an NES so it's successful?
 
Well it's that time of year again! The numbers are in, and folks, I know I was just naysaying the naysayers on the While We Wait Thread not long ago, but after taking a new look at the situation and the numbers, it appears things are not as peachy as they appeared at a quick glance.

Below is the number of NESes created during the period of 1/1 to 5/16 over the below years, you should see what I see:

2011: 19
2012: 15
2013: 26
2014: 10

We have had a dramatic drop in the number of NESes being created. I've concluded that the probable best indicator of the health of the community is the number of NESes being created. They don't have to last very long, but my theory is that as long as there's inspiration among the community, aspiring moderators will be consistently creating, whether they succeed or fail. For whatever reason, potential moderators are no longer willing to risk failing to create an NES.

My conclusion is the following, based on review of the past couple years of NESing: Unreasonably high expectations have been placed upon moderators and NESes in general, putting unneeded strain upon those who would seek to create an NES. Overall, the emphasis on quality over quantity has gone too far in that direction. From what I've seen in the various failed NESes in recent times, a moderator creates a world, very quickly encounters opposition from someone based on nebulous grounds of "realism," and then the moderator either gives up or falters once they succumb to the belief that they have bitten off more than they can chew. To reinforce my statements, I'll point out that over the past year, almost every NES that has achieved some modicum of success has either been a pure story NES or otherwise not based on any sort of reality. Any claiming to be realistic or taking place in a RL global setting has quickly failed or is in a limbo state as I type. This demonstrates that expectations for these types of NESes are unreasonably high for those attempting to create them.

So, time for a finalized solution! While I do not believe in the so-called NES elite that people have been telling me about, I suspect that some of those considered the "elite" are the source of the problem. We'll start with trains...wait...that's something else entirely. In seriousness, NESing's greatest problem is one of the following two things (or a combination): Either moderators too timid to ignore critics, or unbearably high levels of criticism. There is no easy solution to NESing's problem, beyond NESers being able to actually acknowledge the following facts:

1. NESes are games. We can play at this is all a "serious business," but the fact is that it's not. No one's making money, no one's life depends on the outcome of anything we do.

2. IOTs = NESes. There is functionally and technically no difference between the two. The sooner we can accept this fact, the sooner we can have a surge in new ideas and people willing to try new things.

If all NESers can accept those two ideals, we should be able to turn things around. If not, well, I'll still be here doing my NESes until the forum is deleted for inactivity, I came to terms with that a long while ago.
 
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