ToDo: Server Status

This thread will be used to describe the work that we should be doing to improve the Game Server Status part of the Data API.

 

We should add a "score" to the server status to replace the "high", "medium" and "low" values.

It is SOE policy that we don't publish exact population counts for our game servers, which limits the fidelity of the status.  However, we *can* normalize these values and provide more granularity using a population "score".

To make this happen, we establish a value based on the highest population for the busiest server within the game over a particular period of time.  For instance, say this server had a population of 1 Million (read this with your best Dr. Evil voice) over the past month (or quarter or whatever).

Then, if another server has a population of 100,000, it would have a "score" of 10 (essentially 10% of the highest population peak over the past month). If the busy server (the one that achieved the peak) is busy, it will be closer to 100 (100% of the peak).  Essentially, the score is the percentage of the highest peak.

Each [period] (or whatever the period should be), the baseline would adjust to account for long-term changes in server capacity, seasonal usage, promotions, etc.  It doesn't really matter as long as the value means something to a customer.  A score closer to zero mean that the server is relatively unpopulated while a score closer to 100 is one that is relatively busy.

This is important to players as some prefer to play in isolation ("don't bother me") while others enjoy having a crowded server.  Still others may like playing with lots of population, but not too much (say, between 50 and 70).

It would be very nice if the data API could provide the current "score" for a server to represent this.  It would also be nice to provide enough information to render a trend line that shows the time of day when the population is at its low and high scores so that one can plan their playtime.