The attraction of double positives... and a hit for success!

Two atoms were walking when one of them said, "I think I lost an electron!" "Really!" the other replied, "Are you sure?" "Yes, I 'm absolutely positive."

Oh boy this was 'hilarious'! How is this relevant? Well, it appears Realm of Empires players are heavily attracted to double positives!

Players prefer the North East Quadrant
OK, geeky jokes aside; it appears that players, when presented with option to start in a particular quadrant, disproportionally choose to start in North East. In fact, 50% of the players choose this quadrant!

Here is an example of the break down in Realm 10 (this same pattern repeats in Realm 7,8 and 9)

Somewhat less consistently, South West is the second most popular choice.
 
  
 
 
Why is this the case?
There are probably a number of reasons but at least 2 stand out.
 
1. Firstly, this is the first option in the drop down box

2. Secondly, and in my perception more importantly, players prefer their village to have two positive coordinates. I suppose it is slightly easier to deal with village (44,33) then it is with (-44, 33). A feeling confirmed but a number of players.

So why should I care about this?
Well, our algorithm tries to populate the realm into a perfect circle. So the quadrant least chosen will have the most of:

1. Rebels
2. Brand new Realm of Empire players

Rebels are placed automatically and will be places in quadrants with fewer villages thus naturally gravitating to less popular quadrants.

New players do not get a choice to start in a quadrant in their first realm (we found that it only confused new players) therefore they too start in the less popular quadrants.

THUS you will be surround by more rebels, new player and abandoned villages while the North Easterners fight for every piece of the pie! :)

There you go! a recipe for success!

Have the lucky few took advantage?
Are the clans who started in quadrants other than North East more powerful? Have those who happen to start in the 'easier' areas been more successful or does constant conflict of North East forge stronger players? :)

Its an open question! What do you guys think?

Great news: The Realm of Empires blog is re-launching!

For long-time followers of this blog, you know that it has been about the trials and tribulations of building the Realm of Empires Facebook game.


We are now expanding it to look at topics beyond just technical aspects, new features and benefits of the game.


New topics will include:


  • The latest Realm of Empires player and clan news
  • Trends in Realm of Empires game play (what are players' cool strategies etc.)
  • Profile interviews of longtime Realm of Empires players and others who are expert online gamers
  • Tips and tricks on strategy and game play

We are also expanding our group of bloggers - while it was originally Greg's personal blog, we are opening it up to our other team members, and some of key players.