Its been over 10 years since I did my Stats course but unless there is some bias built into the Xfire numbers, it can be considered a random sample. Which you can do all sorts of statistical calculations and confidence intervals stuff on.
Based on the random/size, I'd say it is a good source to gauge trends.
You should go back to Stats then because this is considered a voluntary sample, which means it is utter nonsense and biased. Will not hold, and will not be a sufficient predictor of anything.
this thread has been done a lot. Also its xfire it means practically nothing considering the vast majority of gamers don't use that god forsaken service.
its quite likely that 99 percent of WoW players don't even know what Xfire is, or if they have heard of it.. they think its something to do with graphics cards....
I would say this is quiet accurate. People hold X-Fire up as an industry defining standard. Most gamers I know don't even know what it is, the others know what it is but like me wouldn't touch it with a 1000 mile catlle prod and take it even less seriously. X-Fire has it's own demographic of users but they are a niche really. If I am playing an mmo I really don't want to know how many hours I have been playing. If I need to stay in contact with my freinds.....Well That's what things like Vent, Msn and Facebook are for. X-Fire threads are very common on this site. They are good for litlle examples but even so I find it very hard to take X-Fire as relevant.
this is still newsworthy, WoW has been the most popular/played western MMO practically since release by pretty much all metrics you could pick, and this month this has changed for one of those metrics.
this doesnt mean anyting other than that, the rest is opinion on what it might mean.
Its been over 10 years since I did my Stats course but unless there is some bias built into the Xfire numbers, it can be considered a random sample. Which you can do all sorts of statistical calculations and confidence intervals stuff on.
Based on the random/size, I'd say it is a good source to gauge trends.
You should go back to Stats then because this is considered a voluntary sample, which means it is utter nonsense and biased. Will not hold, and will not be a sufficient predictor of anything.
Oh really?
I thought voluntary sample got into affect because of Voluntary response bias?
Unless somehow Xfire is bias against a particular game, where's the voluntary response bias?
Gdemami - Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
The number 3 spot, MW, is also moving closer to WoW's Xfire numbers.
Personally, I find that Xfire has its merits but they're a limited one. I think it's perfectly alright for trend analysis within a game, see how player activity develops in the course of months, but definitely less than desired accuracy when it comes to comparing between games, guesses become very rough.
You'll notice it when you see the Raptr figures: if both XFire and Raptr would be accurate enough samples to represent reality of overall player activity, then their figures would be close to eachother. However, if they're far off then it means that not both measuring tools can be right, they're apparently not random enough then.
I've found that comparing between games with those tools leads to very inaccurate figures, however, the activity trend figures for a game are fairly close to eachother when using various tools.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I've played both games and I think I used xfire for like a few weeks when a friend asked me to install it. I didn't even have it on all the time. I never understood what the point of xfire was anyway. It counts the number of hours you've played a game? How is this useful in any way? And I've got plenty of other applications which keep me connected to my friends.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
I've played both games and I think I used xfire for like a few weeks when a friend asked me to install it. I didn't even have it on all the time. I never understood what the point of xfire was anyway. It counts the number of hours you've played a game? How is this useful in any way? And I've got plenty of other applications which keep me connected to my friends.
several years ago, xfire was used as a matchmaking tool for multiplayer games (i think) it never really took off though, for todays gamers its even less useful, as there are better tools available, and as for matchmaking, steam does a much better job anyway.. if steam started hosting voice chat for games, i think we'd see a decline in vent/teamspeak too.. i think another one of those matchmaking game tools was gamespy... i sometimes wonder if all these threads quoting xfire numbers etc, arent just some kind of 'viral marketing' to try and get more people to actually use it.. it has faded into obscurity.. .. though im not sure any of this would actually encourage people to use it again.. or at all..
I would love to see X-Fire type statistics integrated into Steam. I know Steam already tracks individual games, but it would be interesting to closer be able to calculate how much time is spent in each department.
I would love to see X-Fire type statistics integrated into Steam. I know Steam already tracks individual games, but it would be interesting to closer be able to calculate how much time is spent in each department.
it does to a degree, it shows how many are playing at any given time... which... imo.. is a bit more reliable than counting hours played on a daily basis..
this thread has been done a lot. Also its xfire it means practically nothing considering the vast majority of gamers don't use that god forsaken service.
its quite likely that 99 percent of WoW players don't even know what Xfire is, or if they have heard of it.. they think its something to do with graphics cards....
I agree most people I know dont bother with X-fire but your logic is flawed because the same may apply to LoL players .
I don't doubt WoW is on a slow slide now and is losing subs left , right and centre . Lots of people that used to play WoW that I know are either playing one(or many) of the free to play games or are in Rift . A general consenus amongst the people I know that have quit or still play WoW is that the quality of the game is not what it once was and is generally speaking far too simple and easy now .
I still play WoW for a couple of months a year mostly for the bgs and the arenas but outside of them I feel its a very poor game now . After seeing this have decided to load up LoL might be worth a try .
Comments
You should go back to Stats then because this is considered a voluntary sample, which means it is utter nonsense and biased. Will not hold, and will not be a sufficient predictor of anything.
I would say this is quiet accurate. People hold X-Fire up as an industry defining standard. Most gamers I know don't even know what it is, the others know what it is but like me wouldn't touch it with a 1000 mile catlle prod and take it even less seriously. X-Fire has it's own demographic of users but they are a niche really. If I am playing an mmo I really don't want to know how many hours I have been playing. If I need to stay in contact with my freinds.....Well That's what things like Vent, Msn and Facebook are for. X-Fire threads are very common on this site. They are good for litlle examples but even so I find it very hard to take X-Fire as relevant.
this is still newsworthy, WoW has been the most popular/played western MMO practically since release by pretty much all metrics you could pick, and this month this has changed for one of those metrics.
this doesnt mean anyting other than that, the rest is opinion on what it might mean.
Chiming in even thou I don't play either:
LoL is an RTS
WoW is a MMO
Comparisons are moot imo.
"My Fantasy is having two men at once...
One Cooking and One Cleaning!"
---------------------------
"A good man can make you feel sexy,
strong and able to take on the whole world...
oh sorry...that's wine...wine does that..."
Oh really?
I thought voluntary sample got into affect because of Voluntary response bias?
Unless somehow Xfire is bias against a particular game, where's the voluntary response bias?
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
The number 3 spot, MW, is also moving closer to WoW's Xfire numbers.
Personally, I find that Xfire has its merits but they're a limited one. I think it's perfectly alright for trend analysis within a game, see how player activity develops in the course of months, but definitely less than desired accuracy when it comes to comparing between games, guesses become very rough.
You'll notice it when you see the Raptr figures: if both XFire and Raptr would be accurate enough samples to represent reality of overall player activity, then their figures would be close to eachother. However, if they're far off then it means that not both measuring tools can be right, they're apparently not random enough then.
I've found that comparing between games with those tools leads to very inaccurate figures, however, the activity trend figures for a game are fairly close to eachother when using various tools.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
One conclusion I could draw from this is that Xfire is losing popularity among WoW players.
That would be the only conclusion i could come to...
I laughed at the title LOL overtakes WOW....hehehehe
Playing GW2..
Umm the only thing you can say about this is:
Among x-fire users, more are spending more time in x-game right now,
Other than that pretty pointless, to try to make any assumptions on total subs or anything else.
I've played both games and I think I used xfire for like a few weeks when a friend asked me to install it. I didn't even have it on all the time. I never understood what the point of xfire was anyway. It counts the number of hours you've played a game? How is this useful in any way? And I've got plenty of other applications which keep me connected to my friends.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Just another wow spam hate thread fanboy showdown waste of time!
several years ago, xfire was used as a matchmaking tool for multiplayer games (i think) it never really took off though, for todays gamers its even less useful, as there are better tools available, and as for matchmaking, steam does a much better job anyway.. if steam started hosting voice chat for games, i think we'd see a decline in vent/teamspeak too.. i think another one of those matchmaking game tools was gamespy... i sometimes wonder if all these threads quoting xfire numbers etc, arent just some kind of 'viral marketing' to try and get more people to actually use it.. it has faded into obscurity.. .. though im not sure any of this would actually encourage people to use it again.. or at all..
Steam already does this....so ya.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
think i need to test it then.. just noticed the voice tab on the steam client.. doh.......
I would love to see X-Fire type statistics integrated into Steam. I know Steam already tracks individual games, but it would be interesting to closer be able to calculate how much time is spent in each department.
it does to a degree, it shows how many are playing at any given time... which... imo.. is a bit more reliable than counting hours played on a daily basis..
I agree most people I know dont bother with X-fire but your logic is flawed because the same may apply to LoL players .
I don't doubt WoW is on a slow slide now and is losing subs left , right and centre . Lots of people that used to play WoW that I know are either playing one(or many) of the free to play games or are in Rift . A general consenus amongst the people I know that have quit or still play WoW is that the quality of the game is not what it once was and is generally speaking far too simple and easy now .
I still play WoW for a couple of months a year mostly for the bgs and the arenas but outside of them I feel its a very poor game now . After seeing this have decided to load up LoL might be worth a try .
Blah blah blah... League of Legends OVERTAKES WoW.
WoW declines - LoL steady rising...
Those are the facts of the case and they are undisputed...