http://mudstats.com/World/CarrionFields

I don't know what the average of 16~ says about 30+ players without knowing what the variance is.

I didn't have 30 player logins (rarely even 20 players), but there are enough 2014 logs on the log board with 30+ player who lists for me to believe that. Guess I didn't play prime time.

When some of the imm drama was kicking off it was pretty much empty on my hours. For me it was certainly a dead game, especially in new-CF where people care about ratios so much they reflexively quaff fights they have a reasonable chance to lose before they happen.

Edges came in 2006, got changed in Dec 2014, Jan 2016, Sep 2016, and Nov 2017. I don't really see edges causing any surges up or down here. In general I don't even see much changing at all except the pattern of slow decline, the numerical means are nearly the same as years ago, with a net loss of what looks like 2-3 players.

I don't care about edges or edge points, I'm cool with people just having them. Definitely preferable to having gatekeepers.

I wouldn't want Ray back, not because of rewarding (you got used to it, you knew you were a good evil player if people got rewards for dying to you) but because of meddling. I never really cared about the Nep drama so I wouldn't care if he alone was back.

I think in the long run, what probably set the game on a slow, but steady downhill trajectory was, a lot of things (drama didn't help, edges can be part of it), but mostly because around 2013-2014 we lost almost all at once: Valg, Daevryn, and Zulgh, who were all coders. I think there was also a total crash right around then. But I agree with the sentiment about having people back in general. *edit: And I'll give credit where it's due, a lot of people really liked having Baer around.

Anyway I'm just pushing back against assertions like:
"Reverting edges (and making XP even more easy?) will bring back 40+ players"

Because they're positing a simple answer to a complex problem, and doesn't really seem to correspond to number movements. (Admittedly, my position about player vs. imm rudeness doesn't seem to correspond in the grand scheme of things either.)

There is probably a grain of truth to it but from where I'm looking, while edges seem to make people very opinionated, they don't seem to have much to do with the general direction of the count.