The concept of metabolic architecture
Player lifecycle
The Player Lifecycle describes the stages a player goes through in a game, including: New Players, who are just starting to explore; Core Players, the most active and engaged group; Risk Players, moderately active but showing signs of decreased engagement; Lapsed Players, inactive for a set period (commonly a week); Dormant Players, inactive for over a month; and Resurrected Players, returning after inactivity.
These categories help analyze player behavior patterns and understand typical drop-off rates, such as 50% becoming dormant within six months, even in high-performing games.