Do players stop my horror game because of the story or because it is bedtime?

Quits pile up at certain hours of the evening, and it is tempting to blame the scariest scene. But the real cause may be the clock. This entry shows how to find hours where people leave far more often than usual, even when sessions run past midnight.

Why this works

Bedtime pulls players out whatever the scene. Dividing quits by playing time in each hour of the day shows this clock effect, and removing it before comparing scenes keeps you from blaming a scene for the hour.

When not to use it

Skip it with few players, or when everyone plays at one time, as in a demo at an event: the clock effect is flat then. Compare the scenes directly.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• 29 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "Do players stop my horror game because of the story or because it is bedtime?" (read_entry horror-quit-by-hour-of-day) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP