As Conquer Club's number of active members seems to fall year by year we have all read numerous explanations for its rather worrying plight.
Some blame the moderation policy for driving away members bored by a lack of flamewars, others (in a similar vein) point to a GD-lite environment that has managed to make this most important of forums seem almost castrated in its ability to shoot controversial, wordy missiles at the 'CC man'. Others would say that people have simply got bored of the game, or that there are other online games (if not better Risk-like sites) stealing the attention of the strategically-minded. These are the words of the unrepresentative hardcore.
I myself have postulated on whether the rise of the clan may have been the cause. This theory is naturally more esoteric. Might the site have become less friendly to the casual player, as there are increasingly fewer interesting PUBLIC team or even standard games available for the player who doesn't wish to exist on this site in a perpetual battle against other clans. Might it be true that not everyone wants to see their gaming as part of a greater cause? Surely that is undoubtably true. And might this purposeful explosion of clan based gaming have limited the gaming options of the more individualist gamer? Are there less good players now playing public games? Are the vast majority of open games now on 'tricky' maps set up by GRASPING high rankers attemping to farm the unwary on strange settings?
For of course the incredible increase in settings has also meant that it is now easier than ever to set up a game - on an unusual map - with strange settings and thus defeat the new or casual player. It is odd to think that CC have actually increased the prospect of farming by the expansion of settings. But it is surely true. It is hard to argue with that idea that the best players play on simple maps and simple settings and defeat the opposition squarely. Yet since my arrival on this site the opportunity to create an unholy combination of settings and map has been positively encouraged. This is not much fun for the casual player 'looking for a decent game of Risk'. And don't forget - you CC addicts reading this - that the vast majority of players on this site are looking for a 'decent game of Risk'. I know most of you have played so many games that you have managed to bore yourselves silly of the original game that brought you here, but you simply don't reflect the average gamer. Strangely, possibly unbelieveably, I actually do. And I know it is harder to get a decent game of Risk here than before. A game not ruined (for the average gamer) by a combination of map and settings that mean he is likely to lose before he has even set a foot on the map.
I ask you all a simple question: What game actually brought you to this site? Was it to play a freestyle, escalating, trench warfare, foggy game on Waterloo? Now just pause that outraged mind of yours for a second (which my threads seem to naturally create in many of you hardcore players). Be honest here. Did you come here to play that kind of thing? Or did you come here to play a good game of Risk? You know what I mean. You may remember (many thousands of games ago before you played this game far too much and ruined your own enjoyment of it) if you think really far back and try very, very hard. It was a game involving the classic map (or something similar), it was sequential, it was probably either escalating or flat. It was almost certainly a standard game. It was sunny. That's what the vast majority of players here actually want to play. A basic game of Risk. That's why they come here.
This site is losing members because it made the awful mistake of actually listening to you guys..though you all love to believe that CC ignores you terribly. CC-policy has been to cater for the hardcore, which is actually a fairly small percentage of the players on this site. That's why we have had a massive expansion in settings, because the hardcore gets bored of all the other settings after they've played thousands of games on them and have got their gold medals. They need more medals and therefore more settings. Of course this means that an ever increasing selection of the games available are not on settings or maps the casual gamer would even think of playing. ''But they can set them up themselves!!!" I hear you all cry. But I wager the new player is rarely immediately premium. He must join a game. As the settings have become increasingly unfriendly for the new player he must try and find a basic game of risk he can play. I remember trying to set up a new player some games about a year ago. It really wasn't easy. There was so little decent (for him) available. If he doesn't enjoy his first experiences here (when freemium) the new player won't buy his membership. In fact he will leave. That's why the membership is dropping.
So in catering for the hardcore players who frequent the various forums, CC made the mistake of developing their site for such players. In doing so they ignored the casual gamer they claimed to make this site for. The casual gamer wants to play a basic game of Risk. This game needs to be encouraged, not ignored. It is why most of the players actually come here. You all seem to wonder why the site membership is dropping. The reason is that there are less decent standard Risk games to play. This means that new members come here, see a mass of games they don't understand, and naturally become overwhelmed by the whole thing. If this site was genuinely for the casual player I should be able to search standard games and find 100 casual standard games waiting to go on basic maps and simple settings. Of course I can't anymore. And why? Because the casual player has buggered off. (I just searched 4-6 players escalating or flat, sequential standard sunny...74 games waiting of which about 15 were on even reasonably basic maps..) This site has got nothing to do with him anymore. The site is made for a hardcore of probably a thousand (at most) players. That's why the membership is dropping year by year and why, if CC is not very careful, they will finally lose their site. CC needs to get back to promoting Risk as what this site is about.
