I’m sure they’ll be back as soon as they finish their newest game, Leisure Suit Larry 11: I Got Oorts In My Shorts
If you go through all of the trouble to allow players to create iterations of the game on private servers (if they want to), and it does so poorly that you can’t maintain the small MMO verse, what’s the point of anything?
If private servers help the game “flourish”, then there should be ample funds to maintain the public MMO space that would be the starter area for new players, console players, people that don’t care to create or join private servers, game events, group hunts, etc.
They are working on automating things and that’s across the entire universe. They added Exo planets just so they could create experimental planet types and try things out. There is no need to destroy one thing to add another. Synergy is a thing. I think if some private servers become popular, it would draw in more players. It might make for more interesting streams too.
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Thanks very much for the insight, which I have found fascinating. The insight has also turned this thread into a very constructive / brainstormy discussion, rather than frustrated/toxic as we were seeing before, thanks!
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Some of the most-played games (with 6 & 7 figure player numbers) have some of the ugliest graphics: Minecraft, Unturned, Runescape, Roblox, Terarria (is 2D for heck’s sake), etc. Boundless has them all beat in the aesthetics department by a mile.
If the game has fun mechanics, people will play it. Graphics are nice, but they don’t make or break the game. Besides, Boundless is one of the most visually appealing, aesthetic voxel/poly games in existence, if not the most.
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This is 100% true.
P.S. Nice screenshots!
Generally:
I have played many visually ugly games before and it wasn’t a deal breaker.
One of the very first things I noticed about Boundless (after spawning on a world), was how beautiful the game was. (At the time this was even on the lowest graphics settings before I upgraded.)
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Great shots, and totally agreed! 
When I tweet screenshots of Boundless, the most common type of response is, “That looks beautiful/cool… what is that?” and have had more than a few of those buy it after explaining.
What I’m convinced is keeping it from mass appeal is solely the NPE. A game like this, should have a low barrier to entry, where most people can easily figure out the things they need to do to get a basic base up and running, and do that in a reasonable timeframe. I think the achievement/trophy %s bear this out, as well as reviews and what players have said. Guy I bought the game for, he lands on Beckon and immediately gets stranded in water… looking for sticks, didn’t know they needed to be crafted… ect. ect. Some people land in a largely claimed area, and there are a lot of complaints that actions are just too slow.
I don’t think there are easy answers here, but the simplest I could think of would be a T0 tutorial world (or worlds) in each region, that limit the number of plots you can claim, much weaker blocks, and have a permanent set capital with tutorial setups (players ourselves could provide this part). There would have to be some reworks of how things are explained too.
Indeed - I said “maybe” because it was one strand of thought I’ve seen mentioned in the past. All those points are there to be debated, but my point is it’s not straightforward to pick one thing and believe that “fix this and we’re all good!” (much as we wish it were that simple!)
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This is the reaction I’ve experienced too.
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Personally I think the NPE is definitely one reason players do not stay. However, I think the continuing level of grind combined with overly complex recipes is another reason players leave. If you are a gamer with only a few hours to play a game, and at the end of your playing all you have is a pile of rock from mining for a few hours, a lot of people are not going to find that rewarding in a vowel game with building at its core. There are too many games where you can accomplish a lot more in the same time frame and actually feel a sense of accomplishment.
Edit: games like space engineers or some of the others mentioned in this thread.
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I’ll make a separate reply of this part - you said that we’re looking at low thousands for the mark of keeping the public servers going, I think that is doable. You said costs scale up or down with number of players… so even if we don’t bring many in, if we’re each on average spending more, could bring it back into the black.
Without terribly much work on the dev side:
Premium Gleam Club, $15 a month (I drop this on ESO plus and don’t even play it anymore). Portal fuel lasts 2-4x as long within beacons you own. Crafting times cut by 1/2-3/4. (Not sure best balance here) If we have 1500 total active players right now, bet you’d get at least a hundred buying that.
Renting the special exos - The store is in place, all the assets are in place, just need to add the option to the store. At $100, HAVE to think we’d get ten buys at least a month… I’d be good for 2-3 myself.
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You forgot this screenshot from the trailer boop lol @majorvex
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Agreed, the recipes also need some serious simplification in some cases. Part of the reason I’ve never forged is the complexity in getting all the ingredients together. Maybe an unfair comparison, but in Minecraft, I can have a bunch of diamonds (and hence good gear) pretty soon after I start a new map… just a matter of getting some iron and digging around deep.
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She did an amazing job of re-creating it, didn’t she? 
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Also, if you don’t feel like crafting all the books to enchant, you can simply go mining and find a library in an underground railroad full of books. You can also get free enchanted books from fishing. Lots of fun ways to get things.
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I think it’s a great comparison. You need a way to keep all types of players interested and not just the hardcore that are going to spend thousands of hours playing in a year.
You need a game where every type of player can enjoy the game and feel some sense of accomplishment without having to spend 8 hours a day playing.
I forged in test and found the entire experience so frustrating that I would never do it in game. I would argue that is probably not how you want players to react to a key game play mechanic.
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I do want to bring up one uncomfortable topic (at least it is uncomfortable for me). With the lower player count and arguably a need to cut costs. Could a way be found to eliminate planets from the live universe? I know this would have a detrimental affect on players with builds, farms, portals and other interests on these planets but if the universe is oversized by 50% then can half the planets be eliminated until the player count justifies more planets in the universe.
Are we better of with a restart in a smaller and less expensive universe or would that just make more of the remaining players quit?
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Whew, this is a tough one… would sting but better than losing the public servers altogether. If there was a way to blueprint/transfer it would be easier.
Only fair way to do it I see, and it might be enough to keep the costs manageable -
Total reset. New universe. Two of each T1, just one of each tier/type combo for the rest. Use the opportunity to seriously reduce blinksecs between worlds so as to encourage players to return (so if TNT were recreated on a T4 every T6 could be directly linked). If we ALL have to rebuild, might just inspire some people to come back and do a fresh start. Still can keep current rentals though.
I would call it a last resort, only if it comes down to that vs losing it altogether.
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Houchus stays please
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I guess you can lose players for deleting a planet where their builds is on. These players will be lost forever.
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I’d be ok with a restart, over losing the game entirely! Do you all think we’re close to that, though?
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