Why do players leave?

[guncrasher]

But what if one of the reasons/issues is because people ask questions like this?

HiTech

so true, we keep crying the sky is falling, the sky is falling, instead of concentrating on having fun.  instead of pointing out the negative we should point out the positive.


semp

[zack1234]

I think you have to put a £50 deposit that you lose if you leave after a month

[GScholz]

Self-fulfilling prophesies.

[steely07]

I now rarely spend any time in the MA.  Last month I think it was a whole 7 hours.  However I did spend 12 hours in the scenario with some very good squad mates.

I prefer the virtual realism of a Scenario.  Most times it involves flying in a campaign with the actual plane set of that time opposing one another.  It immerses me

more and I find myself more involved in the fight then I do in the MA where a P47 fights a P51 and a 109G2 fights a K4.  I also put forth a better effort in a scenario

then the "I don't care" attitude I have in the MA.  Frankly for me the Scenario is much more enjoyable to me.  So one could say I basically stay for the events and not

the MA.  Two differing styles of gameplay all in all.  I prefer the organized version.

This is me also, I doubt I've spent more than 6 or 7 hours in the MA in the last couple of years, but I never miss FSO / Scenario, for all the reasons Hajo has mentioned.

[Guppy35]

I think despite how we all try to find the reasons for not playing, in the end it's as simple as just losing the desire.  I haven't flown in forever, and despite getting a new machine to handle the new version and even installing it, I just don't have the itch to fly.  Over the years it's always come back, but right now I just don't have it.  Don't really have much interest in the boards too. This is the first time in a while I've taken a look.

Would I like the game to be what my memory tells me it was when I was really into it?  Sure.  Was the game really that different then?  Nah.  I'm the bit that changed.

[zack1234]

Self-fulfilling prophesies.

Your from Norway so wear daft hats

[Tumor]

I think despite how we all try to find the reasons for not playing, in the end it's as simple as just losing the desire.  I haven't flown in forever, and despite getting a new machine to handle the new version and even installing it, I just don't have the itch to fly.

It's kinda like a wasps nest... you get so you don't know it's there unless you poke it.

[TequilaChaser]

I think despite how we all try to find the reasons for not playing, in the end it's as simple as just losing the desire.  I haven't flown in forever, and despite getting a new machine to handle the new version and even installing it, I just don't have the itch to fly.  Over the years it's always come back, but right now I just don't have it.  Don't really have much interest in the boards too. This is the first time in a while I've taken a look.

Would I like the game to be what my memory tells me it was when I was really into it?  Sure.  Was the game really that different then?  Nah.  I'm the bit that changed.

Dan/Tiff/CorkyJr 's post above is the simple truth of the matter for most.....

I, going off of memory, think the worst time that really hit the attendance started hitting near end of 2008 ( election year ) and the following year of 2009 where the economy tanked... here in the US, people were losing their job's or taking pay cuts, losing their homes, losing family members due to 2 war fronts being fought..... it wasn't pretty and it lasted for years

but times are a changing ( always are , everyday, actually )

This is also an election year, 8 years later... HTC is well into the Open Beta and I am witnessing the return of players I haven't seen in 6 to 12 years...... hoping things keep picking up for HTC/Aces High steadily, like has been happening for the past year or more......

*seeing more new players
*seeing old friends return that have been gone for a while
*seeing different Events beginning to pick up in attendance
*watching/seeing HTC's AH ver. 3 Open Beta improving/advancing at a quick steady rate
*observing the AH CM Staff & AH AvsA Staff and AH Trainers, very motivated in keeping the events going strong, or bringing new events to the community
*seeing individual players stepping up and creating weekly regular events ( AvsA Monday night Madness (or Mayhem ) and the AH Community attending and supporting
*seeing less pessimism from players, and observing more optimism
*"It's Getting Better Everyday"

I know I don't fly/play as regularly as I did 10 years ago, but it isn't because I don't want to..... I myself have been playing AH with injuries compounded on top of each other since Oct. 2003....so I actually sit in my chair in pain, just to play AH and to fly with my friends, and bare the pain for as long as I can until I simply have to log off....

desire/burn out, comes and goes.... and every individuals limit is different............so you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!   

Real Life always comes first, before the game...... but aside that, and a players desire to play or being burnt out, is about the only reasons I see someone hang up their hat and eject themselves from the game...... I just hate seeing players I have known or played alongside or against for over 20+ years simply disappear to never be heard from again.....

I hope to keep seeing more New Players and Old Long time friends, keep returning.....as has been the case lately......

Sincerely,

TC / Johnny

[Estes]

I'll toss my hat in the ring, copy pasted from the shade infestation thread.

I feel I may be on the fringe here, and I'll admit I can't really say much as I haven't played for any regular amount of time in I don't know how long. I'll pop in here and there, fly a few sorties. Once upon a time, handles were part of the fun, but the game grew to meet the new era. Since flying an account with a high score became a risk for those obsessed with the scoring system on something bordering addiction, having second or third accounts became typical.

Then, at what seems to me came after the announcement that the combat tour(if memory serves that's what it was called) was being dissolved, what should have been a new beginning, for me was the beginning of the end. Development slowed to a snails pace. Corporate politics found it's teeth sank  firmly and the invasion came. This led to a fracture in the community, and the high-lighting of how it was falling behind technologically.

The dominant personalities of ole (Shane, FDB's etc.,) we all lament about like a cantankerous slobber donkey/kastrati  you couldn't help but love it, if even only for a while. Started to leave. The people who nurtured the game's development from early on started moving on to other things. As the player base grew, it became harder to stand out from the crowd. So, the few personalities that remained added color more than character to the game.

Having said all that, some of my longest friendships have been with people I met playing AH. And that is what makes the current state of affairs all the more tragic. The lack of comprehension, understanding or perhaps even give a damn of online communities within the very companies that create the games is appalling. In online gaming, the players ARE the game. The product that they use to play is just the vessel, the medium. I sincerely hope some day, more game companies will along that understands this like the HTC crew does.

[VuduVee]

See Rule #4

[puller]

See Rule #4

[VuduVee]

See rule #4

[sonic23]

I think despite how we all try to find the reasons for not playing, in the end it's as simple as just losing the desire.  I haven't flown in forever, and despite getting a new machine to handle the new version and even installing it, I just don't have the itch to fly.  Over the years it's always come back, but right now I just don't have it.  Don't really have much interest in the boards too. This is the first time in a while I've taken a look.

Would I like the game to be what my memory tells me it was when I was really into it?  Sure.  Was the game really that different then?  Nah.  I'm the bit that changed.

This basically sums it up for me, ill be back eventually but i just dont have the desire right now

[ROC]

Because if some of the reasons/issues can be solved,  those players might stay and increase the fun for everyone.

No, they can't be solved. Your comment suggests HTC has come magical way to code the game so everyone enjoys it.
This is not going to happen, people come and go.  HTC designs the chess board, play the game.  I left, got busy, life intruded, had to make a choice between playing and working.  Almost 20 years of playing and this year, work intruded.  My reasons, my business, not one single thing HTC can do to change that.
Play The Game.  The game is what you make of it, nothing else.  People sit in here and complain about so many things that are 100% absolutely their issues to solve but expect the coders to fix it.  Not going to happen   Every single person has their expectation of what the game "should" be and it is physically impossible for HTC to code it to fix it for everyone.  People complain about the scoring, HTC fixes it, and those who were not complaining are now complaining about what was changed that they thought was fine.  I'm not surprised HTC and company drink, I'm surprised at how LITTLE they drink!
You cannot code something to increase the fun for everyone because everyone has something uniquely different they think is fun.
They built a pretty nice game board. Go play the game.  I'll be back later, when I can.  Might even shake off the dust and CO an event but not right now.  When I do it will be for my reasons, on my time, when I feel like it, regardless of the status of the new version, because the community around this game is as much, if not more than, the game itself. 
But my original point stands, people leave for reasons, and there are as many reasons as there are people.

[baine1]

I played for a very long time, but I left because it got boring. They took away tank town, moved airfields further apart, seemed like every time I logged on there was an ENY issue.
I'd fly 5-10 minutes to find a fight - it was like commuting. Finally, I figured I could spend my time better elsewhere and started playing offline sims until eventually I realized I just wasn't logging into AH at all.
I miss my squad mates, but the game has to be fun to play.