Bumping again.
<Snipped quote by FinalPalladium>
I want to point out that RPG has existed a lot longer than since 2014. In early 2014 the website was entirely deleted and by the time Mahz rebuilt it on a new server it lost a massive amount of users and activity. It was actually originally made in 2007, I myself having joined it in 2008. I don't know how easy it would be to get the data from before the Guildfall, or if its even possible, but going off my memory alone the activity RPG gained once it was back up was a shadow of its former self. Don't know how I would compare it to the activity data you presented, but I'd reckon that "usual" RPG activity was probably comparable or greater than the 2017 spike you observed.
It's already been mentioned about the bot invasion that year, but also worth noting is that in 2017 that Mahz returned from a long break and continued working on the site as well as the creation of the site's Discord. Both of these could've contributed to the elevated levels of activity, as the bot invasion wouldn't explain why there wasn't an immediate drop in activity after it was resolved. I think that year a few rival sites changed their policies about accepting new users to make it "invite only" and that may have contributed as well.
That could be cool, the initial idea, if it just stopped there.
Fantasy, SciFi, Mundane Modern
Laws governing moving from one to another and imports/exports. How would knowing that that green ball in the sky is a modern world change a fantasy setting? Or knowing that that other one is a highly advanced SciFi world.
RTS is an equally fucky point of comparison when RTS games are notorious for turning into micromanaging nightmares on the highest level. Sure, it doesn't have to be starcraft II levels of bonkers micro, but watch TheViper play in AoEII and you'll see how he's just way better at pressing buttons compared to most any other player on top of knowing the game extremely well.