Introduction

Greetings Dark Jedi Brotherhood!

I’m certain that there are some other data nerds among our little club so I thought it would be fun to share some of our more interesting statistics regarding the gaming activities within the DJB from the last calendar year. I am specifically sharing data on: Number of activities submitted for PvO/E and PvP, number of unique participants for PvE/O, number of PoBs, total activities approved by Fist staffers and a list of our top ten submitting members. I believe there are a few commonly held beliefs that are contradicted by the data from last year.

Also, we have two Magistrates reaching the end of their six month term so applications are open again!

Statistics!!!!!

Number of PvE/O Activities by Platform

Heroes of the Storm vs AI was the clear winner for the calendar year but squadrons was a strong contender for second. Having only released in October it saw 212 activities, across it’s three different modes, in just that short time. The current rate of submissions has definitely tailed off from the initial launch burst but I wouldn’t be shocked if Squadrons competes for the top spot for 2021.

Second honorable mention to Star Wars: The Old Republic. For a game regularly considered dead 129 activity submissions is very solid and I think pretty indicative that it is not dead. Especially when compared to some of the other supported platforms that are barely breathing.

Destiny 2 saw some stronger rates of submissions during the year, usually following new content drops and still has a following in the club.

Most concerning is how quickly the platforms drop off.

Dauntless, Star Conflict and Warframe are all hanging on by a thread at this point and Apex Legends isn’t too far behind. If you’d like to see them stay on our approved list get those submissions in!

Number of PvE/O Unique Participants by Platform

I regularly look at this statistic as well because it adds color to the total number of activities. Specifically what I am looking for is if a platform is being held aloft by a small group or if there is a diverse set of participants. This does not impact the decision to remove a platform but it is a good sign of the health of a game if the participant group is more diverse.

HotS and Squadrons both saw an extremely diverse set of participants throughout 2020. We can’t tell how much overlap there is on the three Squadrons modes but I think it is a safe assumption that it is very significant. Most likely, we aren’t seeing over 100 unique participants but more likely the same 41 or so across those three modes.

Overwatch did shock me a bit, if you had asked me I’d have said that group had shrunk a bit but 25 is very respectable. SWTOR falls off to the middle of the pack when you see unique participants but 21 is also still very strong, again especially for a “dead game”.

I’d also like to submit these numbers as proof that one of the comments I hear about gaming is false: Gaming is too cliquey and hard to access. These numbers of unique participants indicate to me that there are opportunities for players to break into platforms they aren’t as familiar with, or to pick one back up again.

Number of PvP Activities by Platform

What is a chart that basically shows the stats from the Great Jedi War, Alex? (Rest in peace you legend!)

Jedi Academy pads itself a bit more from some occasionally dueling or free-for-all outside of major events but for the most part this chart reflects the activity from this summer’s Great Jedi War. I’m not going to go into the breakdown of unique participants because that is also just reflective of the activity from the war.

PvP is very rare outside of vendettas at this point. We made changes to our PvP systems based on feedback I have received over the past year to attempt to combat this:

1. Increased the base CF value for a PvP loss from .33 to .5. See Fist Report 3.0 for details.

2. Took significant steps to soften the rules on announcements outside of vendettas. See Fist Report 9.0 for details.

3. Ran a new kind of tournament (pyramid style as I’m calling it), outside of major events, that is easy to run and participate in without the pressure of a bracket and the timing associate with it. This was also featured in Fist Report 9.0.

My intentions behind pushing for change on announcements and the new tournament format was recognition that it’s hard to just sit in the queue and hope for someone to match with you. Both of these changes were designed to allow for more control over matches while minimizing the risk of people having too much choice over who they very specifically play on a regular basis. This “hope and pray” method of matchmaking was a common complaint whenever PvP was brought up.

I’m going to be blunt here, there has been no measurable difference in the activity levels as a result of these changes. This leads me to the conclusion that as a group, the general consensus is that PvP is not a desired format of gaming. I’d love to be proven otherwise but the numbers don’t lie.

PvP is still going to be a major focus during our club-wide events which makes more casual activity a great way to get practice in.

I’m considering attempting another of the Pyramid style tournaments now that we’ve moved past the holiday’s and the craziness of the fourth quarter. But, I would like to hear feedback on if there is support for that or if PvP is just something there is little interest in outside of the big events. There’s no wrong answer, I simply want to provide the content for you all if there is a demand for it.

PvP is dead, long live PvP!

Number of PoBs

“Somehow, SWTOR has returned” - Poe Dameron, misquoted.

I’m going to sound like a broken record but our “dead” Star Wars MMO topped the list for PoBs. Just to be clear, I’m not even actively playing it myself but I’m getting a big kick out of dispelling the commonly shared myth about the platform, if you couldn’t tell. The PoB increase leads me to believe people have also come back and made significant progress to where they left off or possibly tried it for the first time. Yes, it is possible people had just forgotten to submit from years ago but this is less likely, especially if they aren’t actively engaged in the platform.

Squadrons being a strong runner up is no surprise since it is brand new. Pretty cool though to see how many snuck in at the end of the year since PoBs weren’t set up until I got a decent feel for pilot levels.

What shocked me the most were the two Battlefront (2015) PoBs. Now that’s a dead game!

Much of the rest of this chart seems like an active reflection of where platforms sit in regards to general activity as well.

Fist Staff Approvals

I have been fortunate to work with some very amazing staffers during 2020 and they deserve some public credit for the extremely hard work they put in. Before you start, no this isn’t just a humble brag about myself. My personal numbers are skewed heavily by approvals during the Great Jedi War. If I had to estimate I probably approved less than five, definitely less than 10, activities outside the war. My staff was downright amazing last year and the numbers reflect that. I’m sure they would have also carried much of the burden during the war as well if they had the chance (obviously they can’t as participants).

Major, huge and bigly shout out to Aiden Lee Deshra. This guy absolutely crushed it last year! Impressive, most impressive.

Kojiro Keibatsu Sadow made a very strong run as runner up though. Aiden had an extended stay on staff so it’s pretty impressive that Koji even got close to his numbers on a partial term of his own in 2020.

This is not to take away from the work that the sentire staff did this year. I appreciate the time and dedication everyone took to approve activities and host competitions. In addition to approvals, the Fist staff also hosts three competitions each and every month. I think that it’s safe to say this is more than any other DC staff (no offense to them, just want to give my team the credit they are due). Much of this work goes on behind the scenes and if the job is done right then people forget it gets done in the first place.

Thank you to Aiden, Koji, Kenath Zoron, Rulvak Qurroc, Gui Sol, Bok Jal Bessh, Tybalt Ma'jahirr Rawioni, my former Praetor Junazee and my current Praetor Aldaric.

I couldn’t have asked for a better crew this past year!

Top Submitters

Speaking of people that deserve our collective thanks, I wanted to highlight our top ten activity submitters for 2020. Why? Because we’ve all been there.The match has ended and everyone asks the same question to the group, “So who’s submitting?”

Well, these are the people that valiantly stand up and say, “I will submit” more than the rest of us. It’s a thankless job that rarely shows up on promotion or medal recommendations but it has to be done to generate the activity metrics that do help lead to those write-ups. Big props to those on this list for being the one to do the dirty work and then professionally deal with the remands from the Fist staff when they come down.

I also want to submit this as my second set of proof that gaming isn’t as cliquey as some might think. Our top three submitters all had over 20 unique participants on their submissions for 2020. Everyone but one of our top ten was over 15 and the one that wasn’t still had nine and is in the Rogues. Not much evidence there either that members are only playing with a small group of the same people.

Conclusion

All in all, we had a really good year for gaming. We may have only seen one new platform released this year with any promise for our system but it was a huge addition to our list. 2020 also saw a significant resurgence in an old platform, SWTOR. (Fine I’ll stop now).

I want to add that if anyone has a desire to get more involved with gaming feel free to reach out to the most active players of the platform(s) you have interest in. I’ve yet to experience anyone that isn’t interested in helping bring a new player along. I’ve done that with Drac/Kalan and Destiny 2 at least twice and he hasn’t stopped helping even when I inevitably flake out and lose interest. We have a friendly bunch and are always happy to add to our roster of gamers!

Magistrate Applications

It is time to open up applications for Magistrate once more. What are we looking for in a Magistrate? * Easy to work with. * A desire to learn and to teach/support. * An understanding of the Rites of Combat. * Telegram Presence and a 24 hour turnaround. * A passion for gaming on a variety of platforms. * Knowledge of the various systems, rules and policies surrounding gaming. We are using a form based application process moving to assess our candidates. If you are interested in joining our fantastic team please complete the form linked below by end of day site time on January 18th. M:Fist Application Form The two selected candidates will be brought on staff by Januray 22nd and will immediately be putting together their first competition for the February GMRG Competitions.

Reminder: Magistrates are not eligible for the GMRG Quarterly Leaderboard.

Competition Spotlight

Want to see your name here? All you have to do is host a club-wide gaming competition.

January 2021 GMRG Competitions hosted by the Fist office.

Helpful links

[DB Gaming on Telegram - Log in to view join link] on Telegram. Come be part of the discussion in the one and only official gaming channel of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood!

Send us an email at [Log in to view e-mail addresses].

Regards (and Happy New Year),