I decided to go and see if I could back up my views using data from random. I went through and simply copy pasted the usernames who played in the last 200 games of seasons 7 and 8 of CS - Random.
To compensate for there being more games played in the same time period I extended the season 8 spread.
Everyone will try to twist this to their own agenda and many will say I am doing the same. However look at it this way. I could use this as proof that I am the superior candidate to run the random ladder were I so inclined to do so. It would be false, but it could be done. The truth is that Malte is ten times the map maker I am and far more efficient besides.
Here is my prognosis on the state of the ladder. There are a few factors at play in the reduced player spread, not least the burnout from TIW. At the same time there are numerous players being discouraged from participating due to the militant behaviour of 7th and their propaganda against anyone who has a differing opinion. In addition to this, the very fact some players are refusing to play on anything but the TIW Tournament Pack is pushing traditional random players away as they do not want to play CBA/Hero, AoW or Europe. There cannot be two main random packs. There can be numerous random packs for other ladders, at least if voobly staff were doing their job right.
I said this before and I'll say it again. Add the non controversial maps from TIW Tournament Random to Random TG and we should be able to move past this bull****.
Damn, when was blue blood added again?
A massive chunk of those games were TIW Random 1v1s between four players.
I'm going to add my opinions on now.
I retain faint hope that reason can be used.
You are right, if the trend continues. However there is yet time to stall the decline.
On the contrary, more players is better and is always better.
I agree that the number of players are down but the number of games are up (I have been monitoring the activity of each RL for about the last year). It's not all doom and gloom despite the number of topics being made about the "state of the ladder".
What we need are solutions to figure out how to get more people involved while retaining the activity of the ladder. Taking sides against each other is fantastic and very CS-isk but doesn't accomplish anything. One proposal is to use the basic TIW pack which people seem to enjoy and remove the maps basically everyone I've spoken to have told me need to go. Those maps being Euro/CBA/CBA Hero.
I was speaking with Malte yesterday and he said he may invest time into making a fair side vs side version of CBA Plus, which I believe might be a good map to put in the pack since it provides a bit of variation to the standard cba play style.
Almost as active as the Lord of the Rings community.