...its detrimental to the game. People check it *before* they log in, people use it to *check for alts*, people use it to see if there is any reason to log in at all sometimes.

If it was not there, people might actually log in to see if someone is there, and find another reason to stick around.

Nuff said. There are no pro's as far as I can see, in a game that has such a small player base - and if VO ever really takes off - it will not be needed due to the amount of players online.

Tell me a *good* reason that is NOT *well, I like to use it to see if soso is online, without login in* and I might agree, but right now its BAD.

lol, Im not sure if i agree or not...
Though I do remember when i first started, i checked the active player list and was like: wtf??

You're probably right. However, I wouldn't want to give it up.

Well i know it would force me to log on more.

but would you suggest getting rid of /msg irc active players?

It takes away from the mystery of going out into space not knowing who you might run into, but it also helps me not waste time just sitting and waiting for someone to come along.

Yea I agree it should go.

yah.. get rid of it!

IRC just reads the active player list

people who don't mind to be tracked can buddy the relay or something...

It gives IRC another use, as well as takes one away. That can't be bad, can it?

well I usually use it to check if there are any players online at all at the time. If Im about to log in to do some pvp I wanna see if there are any pvpers online before I go ingame.

I would like to see the active players list go away as well.

This would break the dashboard widget also.

It used to be great fun to compare the size of my penis to the actives list length, but that hasn't been quite as uplifting lately.

Down with active players list!

I would like it to stay...

I second slime's opinion.

If the list gets removed, then somebody will just figure out a workaround. I say, don't bother. Its somewhat useful for meeting up with people anyway, so its removal could hurt RP to an extent (especially if those involved want their activities somewhat covert).

It really breaks the atmosphere of a deep space game.

well I usually use it to check if there are any players online at all at the time. If Im about to log in to do some pvp I wanna see if there are any pvpers online before I go ingame.

Did you read the opening post? :P

Anyway, apart from all the widgets that link into it, can anyone say "why" they would want it to stay that isn't "I check it before I go ingame" (cos this is the part that might be hurting that active player count).

As far as I can see, the only "plus" is that people can see who is in the game, so they do not have to bother login in to find out, but is this really a plus?

I think the APL is good for allowing us (or the devs) to take stats on when the community is at its busiest, as well as measuring player distribution across the nations -- for example, it wouldn't be so painfully obvious that there weren't many Serco players without the APL to show us the consistently low numbers -- for all we knew there could be a hundred of 'em just not talking in 100.

The Devs can see who is online in other ways.

I never use the list - get rid of it.

How about instead of getting rid of the whole active player thing entirely, you can still access from the site the basic info of how many players are on, and how many of each race. Also, i think you should still be able to see if your guildmates are online, yes?

Other than that, yeah, if this ever takes off, it's highly impractical for there to still be an active players list on the site. Can you imagine such a thing for WoW? What would be the point?

Yea, I'm in favor of removing it. The APL has kept me out of the game more than once. Specially with the active guild members list now, the APL is pretty redundand. I never realy liked it.