Player Totals Misleading to Quitting

[Pipesnake]

Short version:
Subtracting bots and mods in addition to kicking non-mod spectators after a certain amount of time will alleviate new player disappointment.

Long version:
I rejoined a little before the Steam launch - my profiles take me back to 1999 with my current since 2002. Saw 22 players in zone. Forgot about the bots so I was disappointed and thought BS at first because nobody was actually playing but had my "oh yeah, duh" moment of remembering and hung on for a little dueling on the weekends with some other old names. No problem, mentally subtract 20-22 players from total before choosing PLAY or QUIT - I'm invested with a love for the game and wanted to see what happens with Steam.

Then came the Steam "launch" - awesome community popped back in for a bit. Coworker and nephew joined and like the game and even prefer the ships I hate the most (2 and 6) - but at least they play. I warned them up front about the player totals on the launch screen and to stay the heck away from trench wars and their associated trolls. Took vacation, came back, and my coworker notifies me that we now need to subtract 30-32 players before choosing PLAY or QUIT. Coworker's brother-in-law didn't get the disclaimer and declared BS immediately and deleted from library.

"I'm glad you told me about the player total thing or I would have never given it a chance" -coworker
"This and Total Annihilation - good calls on old sh*t" -nephew

So...Can anything be done? Client change, subtracting bots, kicking inactives, or even shutting down unused arenas? Adding a second DSB zone just for the various arenas besides Public? I want to see DSB to get a fair chance and not fade away again.

[Ssseth]

Interesting point. I thought having more people showing was a good thing but I can see the other side of the coin as well.

I'm not sure what if any can be done. Kicking in anactives is possible I suppose.

[unclouded]

I don't really see anything wrong with this... there's at most 10 bots, right? Not 20-30.
And I don't see why people aren't allowed to spectate... or why people would assume spectators aren't counted in the amount of players that are logged in to the zone.