Forums as a player sampling?

[Billie21]

There is no way to give any numbers, but as far as representation is concern, I don't believe the forum population is accurate.


As someone said, it would make sense that the population encountering problems within the game would be more representated than the players having no grievance.

Other common reasons for players to visit the forums:

- Those seraching for "technical advice" concerning game mechanics: people interested in maximise their performance, their exploration of game mechanics, and interested in getting other players input
- Those very invested community-wise (though these forums don't have a very strong sense of community, there are only a few threads sharing ingame practices/ideas/etc... and the server forums are mostly filled with FC ads; I don't believe this part of the players is very well represented on these forums as I've seen in other MMOs)
- Enthuisiasts who want to share their hopes/fantasies about the game (all those suggestions/what if/future-prediction threads that are quite numerous here, though it is to be expected on such a new game)


The practice of using forums in itself tells something about the players in question; I don't believe it can ever be taken as a "fair sample" of any game population, except if it is a integral part of the game experience by design.

The people who outright hate the game, or those mildly satisfied with it usually don't come on the forums at all.

I'm not so sure about this. There may be a smaller percentage of these people, but those who post their opinions usually feel strongly about the game, one way or another. Indifference and hate are two different things, and the later is more likely to provoke a reaction than the former.