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August 03, 2005
Character Abandonment
Server Sample: RP (High), PvE (Medium), PvE (High)
Sampling Period: Week 1: 6/10 - 6/17. Week 2: 07/05 - 07/12.
Sampling Resolution: ~14 minutes
Parsing Method: We tracked all unique characters in both periods. For each character, we noted their playing time, guild affiliation, group ratio, starting level, class, and race. Then we tabulated which of the characters observed in June were not observed in July (both 1 week periods). This way we generated two lists of characters – those who were observed again after a month and those that were not.
Data Filter: None
Sample Size: 75,314 characters
Of the 75,314 characters observed in the one-week period in June, 46% were not observed in a one-week period in July. The lower level the character, the less likely they were observed again in July.
Now, there are other possible reasons for not observing a character again, such as being away for vacation or cycling through another character. But another way of looking at the data seems to suggest that we are indeed looking mostly at abandonment. Below is the histogram of characters who were observed in July but not in June. In other words, we are looking at a mix of new characters (who began after the June sample) and old characters (who didn't log on during the June sample). The majority of these characters are low level characters (as suggested by the abandonment hypothesis) rather than mid or high level characters (as suggested by the cycling hypothesis).
Interestingly, the server populations grew over this period. The June sample had 75,315 characters. The July sample had 83,253 characters. What is unclear is the relationship between character abandonment and player churn. Once we get more data, we'll rerun this using one month time frames.
Posted at August 3, 2005 11:13 AM
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