This one had stopped laughing. That was unusual.

This interview had begun with mercenaries, questionable career choices and invoices.

Then came the spreadsheets.

Gold. Damage. Treasuries. Politics.

Enough API data to make this one's eyes cross.

But eventually Johnny showed this one a set of numbers that felt different.

They were not measuring which alliance was strongest.

They were not measuring who had the largest treasury.

They were not even measuring who could produce the most damage.

They were measuring people.

New people. Thousands of them.

People who found WarEra.

Created an account.

Entered our strange little world...

And then vanished.

Johnny had discovered something that challenged one of WarEra's most common assumptions.

Perhaps we do not have a recruitment problem.

Perhaps we have a problem convincing people that they matter once they arrive.

“Because They Have No Meaningful Role”

In his population investigation, Johnny examined the measurable newcomer cohorts from 27–31 July.

There were 10,790 new accounts.

When he checked who was still playing, only 1,084 remained.

Roughly one in ten.

Even stranger, the survival rate did not clearly worsen between the nine-day-old and thirteen-day-old groups.

Much of the disappearance appeared to have happened already.

Before day nine.

The data could tell Johnny that players were disappearing.

It could not tell him why.

So this one asked.

Binya: Why do you think new players leave?

Johnny did not hesitate.

Johnny: “Because they have no meaningful role.”

Not because the Work button was difficult to find. Not because they failed to understand every mechanic immediately.

Something more fundamental.

“The players who remain usually have at least one of two things. They have a strong national attachment and want to prove something for their country, even when it hurts their account.”

“Or they are high-level veterans, the ‘ancients,’ who hold political power or regularly appear among the top damage dealers.”

This one knows both kinds.

The fiercely patriotic player who will empty their storage, treasury and probably refrigerator because their flag needs another million damage.

And the ancient creatures at the top.

Players whose names everyone recognises.

When they enter a battle, people notice.

When they speak in politics, people listen.

When they move country, people ask why.

But a new player?

“New players have neither status nor influence.”

They work. They train. Perhaps they fight. And the world continues almost exactly as it would have without them.

Then Johnny put the problem into words this one has not been able to forget.

“They do not leave because they cannot find the Work button.”

“They leave because the world barely notices whether they pressed it.”

Does Anyone Know Their Name?

This one thought about their own journey.

Not the battles. Not the ranks. Not the damage.

The people.

https://app.warera.io/country/683ddd2c24b5a2e114af1612 ,https://app.warera.io/country/6813b6d546e731854c7ac8c1

The strange conversations that somehow became articles.

People sending messages. Invitations to events.

Arguments. Jokes.

Friends encountered on opposite sides of battlefields.

This one has written before that perhaps the greatest part of WarEra is not the map at all.

It is the community surrounding it.

And that creates a troubling question.

How does a newcomer discover that community before they disappear?

If Johnny's interpretation is right, perhaps the important question during those first days is not:

Does this player understand WarEra?

Perhaps it is:

Does WarEra know this player exists?

By day nine...

Does somebody know their name?

“Communities Cannot Patch the Retention Funnel”

There is an obvious response. Countries should do better.

Recruiters should contact newcomers.

Military Units should teach them.

Discord communities should welcome them.

Governments should give them something to do.

This one has seen how much difference that can make.

So this one asked Johnny who was responsible.

Binya: If those first days are where we are losing people, whose job is it to fix them?

Johnny: “Primarily the developers.”

“Communities can welcome individual players, but they cannot patch the retention funnel.”

Johnny was not letting countries off the hook entirely.

“Countries and MUs should help newcomers find friends and a purpose, but the game itself must give them a reason to matter before asking volunteers to rescue them on Discord.”

That distinction is important. A great community can save a player.

But should every new player need to be saved from the game's onboarding by people outside the game?

A recruiter might message twenty newcomers. A Military Unit might adopt ten.

A country might run tutorials and events. But thousands of accounts are arriving.

Volunteer communities cannot personally catch every player before they fall through the cracks.

The game itself has to help.

Johnny Gets Control of the New-Player Experience

This one therefore decided to make the mistake of giving Johnny imaginary power.

Binya: Tomorrow morning you wake up and somehow control WarEra's new-player experience. What are the first three things you change?

Johnny was ready. Of course he was.

1. Give New Players Something That Matters

“Give every newcomer an early role with a visible consequence, not another tutorial chore.”

Not:

Press this. Now press this.

Congratulations. You understand where the button is.

Give them something where the world responds.

A task where their participation visibly contributes toward something larger.

Something that allows a new player to say:

“I helped do that.”

2. Give Them Somewhere They Can Compete

“Create a real catch-up path, including newcomer objectives and rankings where a new account can actually compete.”

A new player entering WarEra today is not competing with another new player.

They enter a world populated by the ancients.

Accounts with enormous stockpiles.

High ranks. Established companies.

Political networks. Knowledge accumulated over months.

The newcomer looks at the leaderboard...

And the top might as well be another continent.

Johnny does not necessarily want those veterans stripped of what they earned.

He wants newcomers to have their own mountain worth climbing while they catch up.

A leaderboard where day-five Johnny can compete against day-five Binya.

An objective they could actually win.

A reason to open the game tomorrow because they are currently third, and perhaps tomorrow they can become second.

3. Introduce Them to a Person

Johnny's third answer may be the simplest.

“Connect players to an active mentor, MU or national team inside the game.”

“The tutorial should introduce a person, not just another button.”

This one likes this idea.

Because buttons do not ask where you disappeared to.

A menu does not congratulate you when you finally achieve something.

A tutorial screen will not invite you to a braai.

People do.

And then Johnny returned to those first nine days.

“If a player reaches day nine without anyone knowing his name, the onboarding has already failed.”

There was the title of this one's article.

Is Johnny Still Optimistic?

This had become a considerably heavier conversation than either of us expected.

So this one asked Johnny something simple.

After all these investigations...

After counting the population...

Following the gold...

Examining the rewards...

Watching the changes to mercenary gameplay...

Are you more optimistic or more worried about WarEra than when you started?

Johnny: “More worried.”

That answer came quickly.

“The game attracts plenty of new accounts, yet over 90 percent disappear within two months, and the key issue still is not being solved.”

His published cohort analysis supports the severe early-retention problem, although the precise longer two-month claim here is Johnny's broader assessment beyond the specific late-July cohort calculation we discussed earlier.

But retention was not his only concern.

“At the same time, the July patch weakened neutral mercenary play and pushed everyone toward permanent blocs.”

And then came the contradiction that seems to keep Johnny here despite everything.

“The community keeps proving that WarEra has potential.”

“Development keeps finding creative ways to test how patient that community is.”

This one understands that feeling rather well.

Because despite everything...

We are still here.

Johnny Gets Three Requests

This one had one more serious experiment.

No unlimited power this time. No complete redesign.

Imagine the developers agreed to look at only three of Johnny's findings.

Everything else gets ignored.

Binya: Which three do you put in front of them?

Johnny's first choice required no thought.

Johnny: “First, new-player retention.”

“More than 90 percent leaving within two months should be treated as the main emergency, not an interesting statistic.”

Not another graph for people to discuss.

Not another curiosity. An emergency.

His second choice returned to the mercenary problem.

“Second, the July bonus changes. Restore a viable path for neutral mercenaries instead of making political allegiance the main combat multiplier.”

Johnny is not asking for Only Mercs to automatically receive the best bonuses everywhere.

He wants neutrality to remain a viable choice rather than a punishment.

And third:

“Transparency around treasury reversals and moderation.”

“Publish the rules and leave an auditable record.”

“Players should be arguing about policy, not guessing whether a policy exists.”

Retention.

Different viable ways to play.

Transparent rules.

Those are Johnny's three.

Unfortunately, There Are More Rabbit Holes

There remained one obvious question.

Johnny had investigated moderation. Article economics. Reactions. Mercenaries. Treasuries. Medals. Population.

Surely eventually one runs out of WarEra to put into a spreadsheet.

This one should have known better.

Binya: What are you investigating next?

Johnny: “After prestige, I am choosing between two subjects.”

This one's ears lowered. There were options.

“The first is how the July alliance changes affected wars and why resistance wars now appear to have the highest win rate.”

Interesting. Potentially explosive.

Very Johnny.

“The second is a weekly ranking of which country or MU produces the best damage for its actual cost.”

This one immediately remembered Part II.

One billion damage can mean you saved the battle...

...or set fire to a treasury with excellent graphics.

Soon Johnny may tell us exactly who is doing which.

“I have not decided which rabbit hole will cost me more sleep.”

“That is usually how the next article is selected.”

This one believes Johnny may need a healthier system.

This Interview Has Become Far Too Serious

This one closed the statistical section of the journal.

Enough.

We had discussed disappearing newcomers. Development. Political blocs. Moderation. Transparency. Combat incentives.

There was only so much seriousness one Khajiit could tolerate.

Fortunately...

This one had prepared several questions that should probably never have been asked.

Binya: Only Mercs receives a contract from South Africa. Unfortunately, the treasury is empty.

Will you accept payment in moon sugar?

Johnny did not even hesitate.

Johnny: “Yes, but it will be valued at market price on delivery, and any skooma related friendly fire is excluded from the guarantee.”

“Khajiit has wares. Only Mercs has damage.”

“Johnny has accepted stranger payment methods in previous professions.”

This one decided not to ask about the previous professions.

528

Unfortunately, this one had another question.

A hypothetical question. About someone else.

Binya: Suppose a Khajiit accidentally deals exactly 528 friendly-fire damage during an otherwise successful counterattack.

How many additional millions of damage must this entirely hypothetical Khajiit deal before everyone agrees to forget about it?

Johnny calculated.

This was the moment this one realised asking a data engineer had been a terrible mistake.

Johnny: “Exactly 4,752 million.”

“That is 528 multiplied by a Khajiit's nine lives. I checked the methodology twice.”

This one stared.

4.752 billion damage.

“After 4.752 billion damage, the incident will be reclassified from friendly fire to experimental targeting calibration.”

“This one's ‘acquaintance’ should still send an apology and some moon sugar.”

This one immediately regretted asking.

The incident was supposed to be forgotten.

Johnny has now established a methodology.

Doctor. Astronaut. Mercenary. Veterinarian.

There remained the matter of Johnny's increasingly implausible collection of professions.

Binya: What profession will Johnny Sins inexplicably become next?

Johnny: “Veterinarian, apparently.”

“I am already being interviewed by a Khajiit and offered payment in moon sugar, so the onboarding process has clearly begun.”

This one objects to being described as onboarding material.

“After that, alliance marriage counsellor.”

“Half of WarEra needs a divorce... the other half needs a prenuptial contract.”

This one withdraws the objection.

WarEra may genuinely need that service.

Do Not Give Johnny 10,000 Gold

There are questions one asks simply because one needs to know.

Binya: This one gives Johnny 10,000 gold and absolutely no instructions.

What happens?

Again...

No hesitation.

Johnny: “Nine thousand becomes equipment, 995 becomes operational reserve and 5 gold becomes a tip for Binya.”

This one approves so far.

“Within 48 hours there are three completed contracts, two diplomatic incidents and a 16:9 infographic explaining why the entire operation was economically optimal.”

This one approves slightly less.

“Please do not try this unless you enjoy notifications.”

Noted.

Khajiit Has Wares. Only Mercs Has Damage.

Before ending, this one allowed Johnny one final advertisement.

If someone reading these articles actually wants to hire Only Mercs...

What should they do?

Johnny: “Send me or one of our active negotiators the battle, side, timing and damage required.”

“If you wait long enough, there is an 80 percent chance we find you first.”

Somehow that sounds both convenient and threatening.

As for price?

“Bring enough gold to cover the real equipment cost.”

“There is no universal price because every battle is different, but there is one fixed rule...”

“We promise only damage we can deliver.”

And there we were again.

Back where this interview began. Promises. Numbers. Delivery.

Perhaps Johnny really does only have one profession.

He simply wears many uniforms while doing it.

One Final Question

This one closed the journal.

Johnny relaxed. The interview was finally over.

Three articles.

Mercenaries.

Statistics.

WarEra's future.

Far more spreadsheets than this one had expected.

But there was still one thing bothering Khajiit. This one reopened the journal.

Johnny looked suspicious.

Binya: Johnny... you spend an extraordinary amount of time counting everyone else.

What is the one statistic about Johnny Sins that you hope nobody ever decides to calculate?

Johnny considered this.

Then finally answered.

Johnny: “The ratio between the hours I spend analysing WarEra and the number of people who actually read past intro.”

“I strongly suspect it would prove that Johnny spends far more time working than doing the thing he is famous for.”

This one stared at Johnny. Then at the journal.

Three articles.

This interview had somehow become three articles.

Perhaps this one had just provided enough data to calculate it.

This one slowly closed the journal.

Some statistics...

Are better left uncalculated.

This one came looking for a mercenary.

Instead, Khajiit found a community player who fights the battles, sells the damage, analyses the invoice and occasionally discovers that everyone—including himself—was wrong.

WarEra has plenty of numbers.

Damage. Gold. Population. Prestige. Rankings. Bonuses.

But perhaps Johnny's most important finding was ultimately about something considerably harder to measure.

People need to feel that they matter.

The veteran whose name everyone recognises.

The mercenary whose word means something.

The friend you refuse to fight regardless of the gold offered.

And especially...

The new player who arrived yesterday.

Perhaps someone should learn their name before day nine.

May your roads lead to warm sands. 🐾