When do cities (accounts) really get deleted?

[Rocce Sqirl]

There’s a rule (under Miscellaneous) that says: “Game accounts may be deleted from Game Worlds after 30 days of inactivity.”

So when does this rule get applied? In my world alone (Khelonaar, just my green area) I’m surrounded by inactive players – 34 out of 110 total according to ElvenStats.com – none of whom have been active (have not added a single point to their score) in all of 2018. That’s more than 100 days. A couple even have messages in their city name saying, in effect, “I’m not playing any more.”

How does deletion happen? Is it supposed to be computer-detected and automatic, or is there a live person reviewing the players?

 

[Ashrem]

It is a complex formula, and the developers have never been entirely clear about it. The only absolute is that if the account the city is attached to has more than a few hundred purchased diamonds on it, it will never go away. Also, it's possible some of the cities you are seeing are on an account where the player is quite active on another server, and they might be logging in to your server every few weeks, so their city is protected even though they aren't growing.

 

[DeletedUser5800]

How does deletion happen? Is it supposed to be computer-detected and automatic, or is there a live person reviewing the players?

New cities do but once you pass a certain point or if they ever buy diamonds they stay forever... I have at least 150 in my World Map area that have not played in over a year... We have suggested outward player movement a bazillion times but they have never even gotten inward player movement right so don't hold your breath.

 

[Rocce Sqirl]

It is a complex formula, and the developers have never been entirely clear about it. The only absolute is that if the account the city is attached to has more than a few hundred purchased diamonds on it, it will never go away. Also, it's possible some of the cities you are seeing are on an account where the player is quite active on another server, and they might be logging in to your server every few weeks, so their city is protected even though they aren't growing.

Well I can't say I agree with that completely as policy but at least it is an explanation and appreciated for that. Don't have to agree with it to understand it, so thank you. When I looked on ElvenStats, it's true several of the player names were duplicated on other servers.

 

[Ashrem]

Most of us don't like it. Personally, I've repeatedly advocated for a dynamic map, there an "X" pattern of new hexes gets added every week. Then every player that logged in this week gets moved in one grid, while every player that didn't log in this week gets moved out one grid (repeated until no-one can move. You'd have different neighbors every week, but after a few weeks it would be guaranteeed that all of your neighbors would be active, while after a few weeks of not logging in, you'd be out in the wilderness. The good part is, the repeated outward movement of inactive players until complete means that as soon as you log in, even if you were gone for a few months, you'd move inward several grids, and it wouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to start finding active players again. Meanwhile, the outside 1/4 of the map would have all the dead wood in it.

 

[kctanzen]

I like this idea in the main.
At first I was thinking .. what about my current neighbors who are active trading partners?
Then, I realized I can already see them / trade with them and they will move with me in / out to keep that relationship.
Is that assumption correct?

 

[Ashrem]

I like this idea in the main.
At first I was thinking .. what about my current neighbors who are active trading partners?
Then, I realized I can already see them / trade with them and they will move with me in / out to keep that relationship.
Is that assumption correct?

The first time a week went by with no activity, they would slip away. They might return another day. The map would be highly dynamic, so it would almost never look the same, and I suspect map placement would become yet another type of "score" since people at the centre of the map could count on virtually every city around them being active. With 100 explored neighbours, you might be getting help from 75 of them every day.

 

[kctanzen]

That may be too much activity - developing solid, working relationships with neighbors, only to see you spread apart for some reason doesn't sound like a winning outcome. I'm not real clear on the parameters for who I actually see in the trader however.

 

[CanDaMan]

I don't think they would ever go for that. You wouldn't need as much culture, tying up precious real estate, and they wouldn't sell as many premium expansions. Good for the game, not for Inno!