Progress on version 1.9 and 2.0

Hey all,

1.9 won't go live, instead I will go straight to version 2.0

Most important for me is that I have upgraded from Excel 2003 to 2007. I had to get familiar with Excel 2007, but that was not too hard.
Going to Excel 2007 allowed me to make a cosmetic overhaul more easely.
I have added and revised datapoints for Aion, AoC, WAR, EQ and EQII and hoping to have more new datapoints when 2.0 goes live. I also updated Accuracy Ratings.
I also started on revising the color coding of the mmo's to make them more consistent across the charts and continued to clean up the source links.
Finally I made various internal changes and improvements, so I can bring you more updates faster and better :p

The ETA for version 2.0 is Sunday 13 september.

update :
I need a few more days to get version 2.0 ready, hoping to have it ready before Sunday 20 September.

update :
Version 2.0 is finalized, it should be live by tomorrow, Saturday 19 september

Dust514, an MMOFPS on the Planets of EVE Online

Hey all,

Breaking news :

CCP is releasing an MMOFPS that ties in with the current EVE Online.

The new MMOFPS will be a groundgame on the planets of EVE Online, influence the current EVE Online sovereignty, and it will be console only.

Many veterans received this news with mixed feelings, including myself. But I guess I'll have to keep an open mind until fanfest where more information should be released.

Some EU countries will not be allowed to play Aion on EU servers !

Shocking news to me, the following 3 EU members will not be allowed to play on the EU servers :

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

They will even be IP blocked ! And forced to play on Russian servers ...

I think this is outrageous, the least NCSoft can do is allow these countries to buy an EU version and let them to play on EU servers.

Here is a link explaining the situation :
Open letter to NCSoft

edit : Unconfirmed sources claim that the IP ban won't be in effect anymore. This is good news and a reasonable solution. I'll try to find confirmation.

MMOData Charts version 1.8 Live !

Hey all,

A minor update during low season.

NCSoft Quarterly results are out, the only thing we learn there is that servers substantially increased in China, from 113 to 154, and in Kora from 41 to 43. This reinforces the growth of the game, however there are still no hard numbers in the report, which has me worried. Will this become a trend, or is it because it is low season ... I am going to send them a mail about this.

I restated the WoW China numbers as WoW China is back online and added a new data point from Guinness World Records : 11,6 million at May 2009.

I hope to get more numbers in September and October when everyone is back at work and play :p

Version 1.8 notes :

- Restated WoW china numbers and updated WoW numbers.
- Adjusted the accuracy rating for WoW to A
- Rescaled the CAS Top 10 chart to accomodate the WoW numbers
- Made some cosmetic changes
- Adjusted the accuracy rating for Aion to D
- Added some source links for Aion and WoW
- Made some internal changes

MMOData Charts version 1.7 Live !

Hey all,

I made this new version rather fast after the 1.6 release, mostly because the extended downtime for WoW China seems to last longer than expected. Therefore I am putting the WoW China numbers now at 0.

The WoW China downtime already lasts for more than a month now, during this month, no Chinese subscriptions are active. This may last another 2 months or even longer, depending on the Chinese authorities re-evaluating WoW China.

You can check the sources at the Source Links.

Version 1.7 notes :

- Revised WoW Asia datapoints : Due to the extended downtime of WoW China, which is more than a month now, I have put the WoW China numbers for June at 0
- Internal : Moved all WoW comments to the WoW data sheet
- Internal : Moved all Second Life comments to the Second Life data sheet
- Renamed "Accuracy Ratings" into "Accuracy Ratings and Source Links", added a "Source Links" link
- Added and/or Removed some source Links for WoW, Runescape, Zhengtu, LOTRO, WAR
- Added some PCU datatpoints for WoW, Runescape
- Fixed an error in the Current Active Subscriber sheet
- Changed the MMOG Active Subscriptions Top 20 into Top 10
- Revised the numbers for LOTRO ( an error was made in the previous estimate )
- Added a new estimate for WAR
- Made various cosmetic changes to the charts
- Started on making the source links better readable, finished AoC
- Changed WoW accuracy rating from A to B ( until I get some better numbers again )

MMOData Charts version 1.6 Live !

Version 1.6 notes :

- Revised and/or added datapoints for : WAR, AoC, LOTRO, Second Life
- As a result of the revisions, LOTRO passes WAR and places 1 rank higher
- Researched Xfire data to find trends and have and extra check for current data points
- Reinstated 4 levels of Accuracy Rating instead of 3
- Revised Accuracy Ratings
- Made some cosmetic changes to the Accuracy Ratings page
- Added source links for : WAR, AoC, LOTRO, Aion, Second Life
- Added xfire source links for : WoW, EVE, WAR, LOTRO, Runescape, Dofus, AoC
- Removed internal Second Life chart
- Added missing notes from version 1.0 to 1.5
- Changed PCU Asia chart and PCU Asia sheet into PCU chart and PCU sheet
- Added PCU datapoints for WoW West
- Made some cosmetic changes to the PCU chart
- Added "lastinrow" vba macro to the mmodata excel
- Removed some redundant totals and percentages
- Added some totals and checks to CAS Derivations
- Made various other improvements to the mmodata excel

Andrew @ Of teeth and claws writes an article on MMOData.net

Check it out here :

http://teethandclaws.blogspot.com/2009/06/tracking-mmo-subscription-numbers.html

Is Australia becomming the new China?

Hey all,

It has been circling in the news for a while now, but I haven't had the time yet to comment about it, I am talking about censorship and content blocking here.

Australia apparently already had an internet filter which they now want to use to filter out all game downloads and online games that are not suited for 15 year olds, this in addition to all the websites already blocked ... so if you are a 30 year old wanting to have some fun in a game like Age of Conan, Second Life, or even World of Warcraft, you may be out of luck in the near future.

Now many MMO's may be able to get rated and found suitable for 15 year olds ( EVE Online is rated and allowed ). The main problem here is that there is no 18+ classification for video games in Australia ( there is one for Films though, I mean wtf? ), so if it is material not suited for a 15 year old, you are out of luck.

In the past there have been occasions that the Classification Board themselves had advised that MMO's do not have to get classified, and it was unwritten knowledge for MMO developers and publishers that you did not need to classify your MMO in Australia.

They were wrong however, and soon many MMO players may find this out the hard way when the new filter starts blocking everything.

But it gets even crazier and I quote : "The list of what is actually blocked and why it is blocked is to be kept secret from the public (though in March a version was leaked to Wikileaks, which is now itself on the blocklist)." That is nuts; you can expect something like that from China or Turkey, but from Australia? I am so glad I live in Belgium! I do not consider Australia a free democracy anymore, but rather a police state with no freedom of speech.

And it goes even further :
"Currently nine ISPs are trialing the network-filtering plan until next month, which has already proven to block some quite unexpected things: "Alongside child porn, bestiality, rape and extreme violence sites, the list also includes a slew of online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even a Queensland dentist. Other Australian sites on the list are canteens.com.au ("Tuckshop and Canteen Management Consultants") and animal carers MaroochyBoardingKennels.com.au. The dentist, Dr John Golbrani, was furious when contacted to inform him that his site, dentaldistinction.com.au, appeared on the blacklist." – Sydney Morning Herald "

Can you believe that?

I hope the Aussie gamers, internet users and the rest of the people there start some serious protesting and don't go down silently. For what it’s worth, I got your back!

Here some links on the story :

http://www.massively.com/2009/06/25/australian-network-filtering-promises-to-reach-out-to-block-game/

http://www.massively.com/2009/01/28/mmogs-defy-classification-in-australia/

http://www.massively.com/2009/02/04/gaming-the-ratings-game/

MMOData Charts version 1.5 Live !

Hey all,

The next version is live.

Version 1.5 notes :

- Revised subscription data points for : Aion, Runescape, AoC, FFIX, LOTRO
- Revised and/or added PCU data points for : Aion, Zhengtu Online, MapleStory, SUN
- Renamed "Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates" to "Puzzle Pirates"
- Changed Accuracy Rating system into 3 categories instead of 4
- Revised Accuracy Rating and added links to most of my sources.
- Made some cosmetic changes to the charts
- Made some cosmetic changes to the site
- Added a hit counter to the site

MMOData Charts version 1.4 Live !

Hey all,

The next update is live, not much new, mostly keeping it real.

Version 1.3 to 1.4 notes :

- Made an Accuracy rating for all the listed MMO's.
- Removed some estimates.
- Removed some duplicate datapoints
- Removed some disclaimers about EVE Online and Second Life
- Removed following charts for various reasons : Top 10 premium western mmo's, All listed MMOG's CAS, Total MMOG contribution
- Made the Second Life chart internal only
- Added disclaimers
- Added credits
- Changed from html charts to png charts
- Made various cosmetic changes to the site.
- Fixed http://MMOData.net domain/link

Next version will contain more revised and updated numbers and links to sources.