where have the non-playing players in my Friends list gone?

Deryck

@QueenB Just noticed today all friends in my list who hadn't played in months/years have been removed from my Friends list (consistent for both mobile and Win app).

My question is this: did King simply make those inactive players hidden from view, or did they delete/scrub those accounts? If the latter, what gives King the right?? And if this is some new policy, King must make it widely known now.

On the one hand, I like being able to know everyone in my list is now active—I don't have to pause and choose who to send lives to. On the other hand, what if those inactive players are just taking a break from the game and may return someday? Now they can't.

Edit: For reference, the "oldest" player in my list is listed as "Played 38 days ago". Since I have hundreds of friends in the list, I didn't click on everyone though, obviously. So that raises another question: what's the cutoff point for getting your account hidden from view/deleted? 2 months?

christinewupp

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/461937/where-have-the-non-playing-players-in-my-friends-list-gone

I think the Terms and Conditions state that any account that has not seen any activity for six months might be deleted? That might be what happened to your friends, maybe? Perhaps King have had a huge tidy up of inactive accounts.

Deryck

😲 Interesting, @christinewupp! I've been playing since the Kingdom days (via the King site platform), and I never heard of that condition. Looking forward to @QueenB's confirmation on that.

It's mysterious this happened so out of the blue though. As recently as yesterday I saw those same friends in my list, and when I saw the compressed list today, I thought maybe King's sorting system was at it again, placing those friends all the way at the bottom. But no, they've simply vanished altogether.

For reference, some of these inactive players lasted on my list as long as "Played 736 days ago," "Played 448 days ago," "Played 90 days ago," etc. Makes me wonder why King kept them in my game all this time only to yank them away now, then.

Alienscar

When you say you haven't heard of that condition @Deryck do you mean you don't remember reading it in the T&Cs

3.6 We reserve the right to delete your King Account if no activity is conducted by you in relation to the King Account for 180 or more days. In such an event, you may no longer be able to access and/or use any Virtual Money and/or Virtual Goods (as defined below) associated with that King Account and no refund will be offered to you in relation to the same.

I will check my game now as I have some people that haven't played in over 180 days

Thing is just recently I have had a couple of friends that hadn't played in over 200 days suddenly start playing again

After seeing your post it makes me now think those players that have suddenly started playing again after such a long time might have been emailed by King about their pending deletion

Guess King is trying to save server space for all the 'sweet' changes they are making to the game recently.

Deryck

Thanks @Alienscar. Yes, that's what I meant—though admittedly I never looked too closely at the T&Cs of playing.

Cool info; a lot of the inactive friends I've had abstained longer than the approximate 6 months. It does make sense if King is now enforcing the rule and, like you, I made the same observation in recent days of seeing a couple inactive friends suddenly resuming playing. I think you're right about the connection. Maybe one of those inactive returning players will pop in here to confirm.

Sure hope so! With all the space to be gained from those purged accounts, maybe it means all the recent issues will finally be solved. 🤞

Alienscar

Hmm I have just checked my game and I still have my inactive players. I have one that hasn't played in 659 days and a couple over 200.

I wonder whether the number of friends you have @Deryck might have some bearing on what has happened. I think I remember you saying that you had over a thousand friends in your list. I have less than 140.

I wonder if they are targeting large friends lists if they contain a lot of inactive players

Deryck

Wow, so it gets stranger. Now I'm even more eager for an explanation from a Kingster of what's going on. 🤔

Yep, you recall correctly @Alienscar. At last count, I had over 1,400 friends in my list. Let me do a count now and edit that number in here when I'm done…

Edit: So I'm guessing King is capping how many friends we can have now. I counted my current list twice—1,000 friends exactly. Not sure why King bothered hiding the other 400+ from view as 1,000 is still large. 🤷‍♂️

Edit 2: I think King also removed a couple of my active friends to satisfy the new 1,000 cap. That I dislike even more.

Alienscar

I guessed that might be the case @Deryck though I am pleasantly surprised that they might have capped the limit at 1000.

Removing active players from your (anyone's) list with asking/telling you does seem very objectional, but once again I think it is covered by their T&Cs

They even went to the trouble of writing it capital letters

3.8 YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT YOU WILL HAVE NO OWNERSHIP OR OTHER PROPERTY INTEREST IN ANY KING ACCOUNT THAT YOU CREATE USING ANY OF OUR SERVICES. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE MAY SUSPEND, TERMINATE, MODIFY OR DELETE ANY KING ACCOUNT AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON (SUCH AS CEASING A GAME FOR ECONOMIC REASONS DUE TO A LIMITED NUMBER OF USERS CONTINUING TO MAKE USE OF THE GAME OVERTIME) OR NO REASON, WITH OR WITHOUT NOTICE TO YOU.

Deryck

I just realized this still leaves me with more questions. I wonder what criteria was used to remove players from the list. I don't get why I lost players who play every day in favor of keeping players who haven't opened their game in 20+ days or even 10+ days (the case for many players still in my list). One distinct name in particular, a Greek guy in the L5000s who definitely played daily, is gone; makes me sad he'll wonder why I don't send him daily lives anymore. 😥

Alienscar

I don't get why I lost players who play every day in favor of keeping players who haven't opened their game in 20+ days or even 10+ days

That's is anyone's guess when it comes to King, @Deryck

Personally I wouldn't mind betting that it is a method of them controlling the number of lives you receive. That is, the more non-playin friends you have the less lives you can receive.

QueenB

https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-saga/discussion/461937/where-have-the-non-playing-players-in-my-friends-list-gone

Hi Deryck and thanks for your question!

We've been making some adjustments to enhance your gaming experience, and we wanted to keep you in the loop about an upcoming change to your Friends List.

To improve game performance and ensure smoother social interactions, we will be introducing a limit to the number of friends you can have in your list. This means that if you have more than 1000 friends, your list will be adjusted accordingly.
This change aims to help you connect better with active players. 

We understand that your friends are an important part of your Candy Crush Saga journey, and we’re here to make sure this adjustment is as seamless as possible.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support 🙂