How is "users playing" actually calculated?

[unknown0species]

So I noticed that there were nearly 30 players online earlier today so I decided to hop on, and when I did I could not find a single person! I explored all the available maps (at least the ones not past Eastern Pass) and no one was there. Usually even with low player counts, there will be someone AFK in The Grounds. It was kinda creepy ngl

So I'm just wondering now, how is the online player count actually calculated? Is it based on how many people have that page open in their browser that lets them into the game, or is it an actual count of the players playing IN the game?

[SirMeow]

I think it's just counting the players who have logged in from the website using the Play Game feature.

This is easy to test simply by logging in/out and refreshing the frontpage. When you log in, the counter will increase by 1, when you log out, the counter will decrease by 1. The more times you repeat it, the more sure you can be that the counter wasn't affected by random user logging in/out.

I tried to log in & out 10 times and refreshing the frontpage, and based on it the thing I said makes sense.

[unknown0species]

I think it's just counting the players who have logged in from the website using the Play Game feature.

This is easy to test simply by logging in/out and refreshing the frontpage. When you log in, the counter will increase by 1, when you log out, the counter will decrease by 1. The more times you repeat it, the more sure you can be that the counter wasn't affected by random user logging in/out.

I tried to log in & out 10 times and refreshing the frontpage, and based on it the thing I said makes sense.

I see. That's what I thought but wasn't 100% sure. Thank you!

[toonanimals317]

Also taking that its the play game tab into consideration, while it's true that some may just have that tab open/logged in, a majority of players, unfortunately, spend a lot of time in private maps. So even though they're online and in game, unless you have access to that same map, you won't be able to find them. Just an FYI!

[unknown0species]

Also taking that its the play game tab into consideration, while it's true that some may just have that tab open/logged in, a majority of players, unfortunately, spend a lot of time in private maps. So even though they're online and in game, unless you have access to that same map, you won't be able to find them. Just an FYI!

Oh, that's interesting to know! I didn't realize just how popular private maps are. TY for the tidbit!