Where are all the players?

[Salty Dog]

Steam Charts states there are 12k players. I have checked the server browser filters; both maps, all game modes and regions and see there's a few hundred playing. There's only a couple servers with 30+ people, and hardly any with 10-20 people.

I've been playing for a year and always seemed to notice that there weren't nearly the amount of people playing as Steam Charts states, but it seems even more obvious now.

Am I doing something wrong? Again, I've checked all filters, map name, game mode, regions....and still finding only a couple options.

[Zeel Ara]

A lot of people play single player and on private servers. Personally I have never once touched an official server and I can not fathom why anyone ever would. Seems like an absolutely miserable way to play the game. And clearly there's a lot of people that feel the same way.

[Tamika]

Lot of people play solo and lot are playing on private servers. I have never played on a offical server. I rent a server for me and my friends or play solo.

[Theory]

i can see a massive difference , my wife and i have been spending days looking for a decent server. they either have pay to win or heavy rp. vanilla is boring but at this point we might have to play without mods cause these servers are getting pretty bad and empty