A Basic Analysis Of North American PUG Statistics In 2015 (#ut4pugs)

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  1. #1
    Mulsiphix's Avatar
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    Lightbulb A Basic Analysis Of North American PUG Statistics In 2015 (#ut4pugs)

    The most common question I get asked by North American gamers, who found me via my PUG guide, is: When is the best time to join a PUG?. People report hanging out in IRC for long periods of time on several occasions, but never having any luck joining a match. I wanted to be able to answer this question with certainty. BlueCloud was kind enough to provide me with a log for the channel and so I've done some analysis. For my analysis of European PUG Statistics, check here.

    Note: After much research and correspondence with numerous individuals, I have been unable to find a fully uninterrupted log file for #ut4pugs. Without a doubt, BlueCloud has the most complete log out there. He can verify that there are some gaps in the logs, no more than a day at a time, and I'm rather certain 95%+ of all channel conversation was logged. Unfortunately, no long term solution has been found to address this issue for future stat dumps. This data should be considered near complete and give you a good idea of general channel activity levels and trends.

    How Was The Number Of Unique PUGs Determined?
    When each PUG starts, LBot says something unique in chat that I can use to identify the start of each match; pug has been filled. If I count these unique lines I will have a grand total. Unfortunately, some PUGs will stop before teams can be picked because one player leaves. When this happens LBot says something else unique; pug stopped because. Those occurrences are tallied and subtracted from the previous grand total. Furthermore, this list is manually scanned to remove any instances of people quoting LBot saying, pug has been filled. What we have left is the exact amount of legitimate PUGs. The data is then formatted to be exported into Microsoft Excel.

    So What Did You Discover?
    The very first PUG was held on June 3rd, 2015. I followed the PUG activity all the way up to December 31st 2015. So this analysis covers nearly 7 months of PUGing. What I have below is what I thought folks would find useful. If you can think of another statistic that this data might reveal, please let me know and I'd be happy to figure the percentages.

    1. What are the best days of the week to try and PUG?
      • Saturday and Sunday
    2. During what hours do the majority of PUGs happen?
      • 7:00PM to 1:00AM EST (GMT -5) / 1:00AM to 7:00AM CET (GMT +1)
        73.54% of all PUGs in 2015 occurred during this time frame.
    3. How many PUGs were held in 2015?
      • 555
    4. What is the most popular game type?
      • Capture The Flag
    5. Over the last six months, what was the most active period of time?
      • 09/20/15 - 11/07/15; 64.56% of all PUGs occurred during these 7 weeks, out of 31 weeks total.
    6. How much time does this data cover exactly?
      • Percentage of 2015: 57.83%
      • Start Of Data: June 3, 2015 @ 9:54:46 PM EST (GMT -5)
      • End Of Data: December 31, 2015 @ 11:59:59 PM EST (GMT -5)
      • Total Time: 211 days, 2 hours, 5 minutes and 13 seconds
      • Total Weeks: 31 (first & last week of data are partial weeks)
      • Total Days: 211 (rounded down)
      • Total Hours: 5066 (rounded down)
      • Total Minutes: 303,965 (rounded down)
      • Total Seconds: 18,237,913


    Can I See The Rest Of Your Data?
    All of the data collected is available in an Excel spreadsheet. What follows are the grand totals for the entire time period of activity, broken down into different categories. Enjoy!

    Game Type PUGs Percentage
    1 vs 1 24 4.32%
    Assault 4v4 2 0.36%
    Assault 5v5 4 0.72%
    Assault 6v6 12 2.16%
    Casual CTF 2 0.36%
    CTF 495 89.19%
    iCTF 10 1.80%
    TDM 2v2 1 0.18%
    TDM 4v4 2 0.36%
    TAM 3 0.54%

    Weekday PUGs Percentage
    Sunday 104 18.74%
    Monday 68 12.25%
    Tuesday 59 10.63%
    Wednesday 68 12.25%
    Thursday 54 09.73%
    Friday 77 13.87%
    Saturday 125 22.52%

    Hour (EST/GMT-5) PUGs Percentage Hour (CET/GMT+1) PUGs Percentage
    12:00 AM 49 09.53% 12:00 AM 1 00.19%
    01:00 AM 30 05.84% 01:00 AM 0 00.00%
    02:00 AM 18 03.50% 02:00 AM 0 00.00%
    03:00 AM 5 00.97% 03:00 AM 1 00.19%
    04:00 AM 3 00.58% 04:00 AM 0 00.00%
    05:00 AM 0 00.00% 05:00 AM 1 00.19%
    06:00 AM 1 00.19% 06:00 AM 2 00.39%
    07:00 AM 0 00.00% 07:00 AM 4 00.78%
    08:00 AM 0 00.00% 08:00 AM 11 02.14%
    09:00 AM 1 00.19% 09:00 AM 14 02.72%
    10:00 AM 0 00.00% 10:00 AM 18 03.50%
    11:00 AM 1 00.19% 11:00 AM 23 04.47%
    12:00 PM 2 00.39% 12:00 PM 35 06.81%
    01:00 PM 4 00.78% 01:00 PM 38 07.39%
    02:00 PM 11 02.14% 02:00 PM 53 10.31%
    03:00 PM 14 02.72% 03:00 PM 80 15.56%
    04:00 PM 18 03.50% 04:00 PM 73 14.20%
    05:00 PM 23 04.47% 05:00 PM 55 10.70%
    06:00 PM 35 06.81% 06:00 PM 49 09.53%
    07:00 PM 38 07.39% 07:00 PM 30 05.84%
    08:00 PM 53 10.31% 08:00 PM 18 03.50%
    09:00 PM 80 15.56% 09:00 PM 5 00.97%
    10:00 PM 73 14.20% 10:00 PM 3 00.58%
    11:00 PM 55 10.70% 11:00 PM 0 00.00%

    Week # PUGs Percentage Duration
    Week 01 9 1.62% 05/31/15 - 06/06/15
    Week 02 8 1.44% 06/07/15 - 06/13/15
    Week 03 12 2.16% 06/14/15 - 06/20/15
    Week 04 11 1.98% 06/21/15 - 06/27/15
    Week 05 5 0.90% 06/28/15 - 07/04/15
    Week 06 4 0.72% 07/05/15 - 07/11/15
    Week 07 5 0.90% 07/12/15 - 07/18/15
    Week 08 5 0.90% 07/19/15 - 07/25/15
    Week 09 0 0.00% 07/26/15 - 08/01/15
    Week 10 0 0.00% 08/02/15 - 08/08/15
    Week 11 4 0.72% 08/09/15 - 08/15/15
    Week 12 1 0.18% 08/16/15 - 08/22/15
    Week 13 9 1.62% 08/23/15 - 08/29/15
    Week 14 21 3.78% 08/30/15 - 09/05/15
    Week 15 25 4.50% 09/06/15 - 09/12/15
    Week 16 23 4.14% 09/13/15 - 09/19/15
    Week 17 41 7.39% 09/20/15 - 09/26/15
    Week 18 54 9.73% 09/27/15 - 10/03/15
    Week 19 55 9.91% 10/04/15 - 10/10/15
    Week 20 45 8.11% 10/11/15 - 10/17/15
    Week 21 57 10.27% 10/18/15 - 10/24/15
    Week 22 44 7.93% 10/25/15 - 10/31/15
    Week 23 36 6.49% 11/01/15 - 11/07/15
    Week 24 26 4.68% 11/08/15 - 11/14/15
    Week 25 8 1.44% 11/15/15 - 11/21/15
    Week 26 2 0.36% 11/22/15 - 11/28/15
    Week 27 6 1.08% 11/29/15 - 12/05/15
    Week 28 11 1.98% 12/06/15 - 12/12/15
    Week 29 14 2.52% 12/13/15 - 12/19/15
    Week 30 7 1.26% 12/20/15 - 12/26/15
    Week 31 7 1.26% 12/27/15 - 01/02/16

  2. #2
    Administrator SAM's Avatar
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    Thanks for the post. I've had a number of discussions around the possibilities of opening up our NA location with @WeeDMaN for UT4. I wonder if it's a coincidence or something he asked you to post? In either case, it's a welcome post for sure.

    These stats really help in determining that there is an appetite for an NA location. However, along with a number of other issues, the question remains around who will maintain the pug channel as most people here play UT99 and generally, I don't have the time required to commit, in making a PUG channel successful.

  3. #3
    WeeDMaN's Avatar
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    Hey @Mulsiphix thanks for stopping by for me with this info. Yes, @SAM I sent him to show stats for the NA & EU scene to not only show other admins the activity for the scenes but with new players wanting to pug & old players thinking of pugging I think all these stats help everyone get a good idea of the pug channel & what's played most also which is the best time to catch a pug or even come on for activity because lots of these players if they ain't pugging their in public shooting around.

  4. #4
    Mulsiphix's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SAM View Post
    Thanks for the post. I've had a number of discussions around the possibilities of opening up our NA location with @WeeDMaN for UT4. I wonder if it's a coincidence or something he asked you to post? In either case, it's a welcome post for sure.

    These stats really help in determining that there is an appetite for an NA location. However, along with a number of other issues, the question remains around who will maintain the pug channel as most people here play UT99 and generally, I don't have the time required to commit, in making a PUG channel successful.
    I think there is a pretty solid reason for why the NA community isn't as successful as the EU one. It is largely made up of the hardcore competitive players and newbies who are just finding UT for the first time. The competitive players tend to chew up and spit out the new players, whether that be through a beating in game or verbal harassment, resulting in the number of new players who stick around a very small bunch. I've seen plenty of new people come in, have trouble finding a match, and leave. Others come in, play once, get verbally reamed, and never come back; often spreading the word to other potential newbies as they flee. Then there are those who can't cope with the insane jump in skill required to have a fighting chance when switching from Public servers to PUG matches.

    The overall vibe in the NA community is pretty gloomy, aggressive, and self-righteous. The NA community, at least concerning PUG players, is almost exclusively composed of past UT competitive players. Folks who have very specific expectations for a UT game and who, because of their long history and personal investment in the series, feel largely insignificant or marginalized when Epic doesn't listen to their suggestions. They're used to playing among talented players and find it hard to enjoy themselves with players of a lower caliber enter the fray.

    Currently, the only real NA channel is full of people who sit around and just talk crap about the game. I understand there is some natural frustration when a bad build comes out or the developers implement a change nobody seems to desire (like the default team sizes for different game types back in the September 2015 update). That isn't what I'm talking about though. I mean folks who sit around and find any possible detail to sit and complain about for hours on end. People who are not objective and lash out at others who express differing viewpoints. When you see this sort of behavior over and over again, especially if all you want to do is share your passion for the game with like minded UT players, it can really start to weigh on you.

    I myself had an extremely tough time when I found PUGs. People were downright mean, unhelpful, cruel, and made me feel guilty for playing when I wasn't on the same skill level that they were at. Some folks in particular seemed to go out of their way to troll new players in an attempt to scare them away. So I started writing a guide as I learned and after 85+ PUGs (roughly 185 actual matches) I am just about done with it. I didn't want anybody to have to go through what I did. I wanted new players to have a fighting chance and to be prepared for the possibility that these jerks exist within the community. I try to redirect troublesome conversations in the channel and I come to the aid of anybody getting bullied.

    Thankfully I'm not alone. There are definitely others out there with similar mindsets who want to see the NA community thrive. Who have the nerve to stand up to the bullies and who readily come to the aid of anybody getting verbally reamed in a PUG match. It is heartwarming and it gives me hope that things can improve. I see more and more people joining the community and doing their part to help turn things around. To create a fun environment where people are able to socialize while enjoying a shared experience among friends. There is a strong need for a different kind of NA channel with higher ups who care about the individuals in the community as well as the game itself.

    With enough people I think this imbalance would naturally correct itself. The easiest way to achieve this, given the early state of the game, is to try and cross pollinate the NA and EU player base. Get the players who ping well to East Coast based USA servers to start playing UT4 with the NA folks. There will probably be plenty of West Coast USA players who have a similar ping to the EU guys if the server is on the East Cost. Hopefully we can start seeing some iCTF love take root here in NA and vise versa for CTF and the EU folks. The EU guys seem to be nicer all round too. One of the problems with the existing NA channel is that none of the higher ups really seem to take an interest in the community aspect of running a channel. Quite a few set the tone for others in the channel by taking part in or starting a fair share of the UT4 flaming conversations.

    I think a new channel, with new players, and a different admin hierarchy could be just what the doctor ordered. Making game types for both casual and competitive play would be helpful too. Currently there just aren't enough casual players to make this a viable option yet. The potential for a successful NA based channel is definitely there. With more active players it wouldn't be too difficult to organize some community events and those would go a long way to help establish some much needed camaraderie and strengthen bonds among the players. If you have resources and can find some solid admins, I don't think there is any question of whether your channel would be successful. All of the resources are already out there. Someone just needs to come along and assemble them all properly, to create a cause others can be proud to be a part of .

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