I am building an online game much like Mafia Wars. I was thinking of displaying the number of registered users on the home page, but then I thought:
"What if a new user sees that the total number of registered users is 5?!" :D
That would be too embarrassing to my still growing game. Then another thought came by:
"Why don't I display 500 instead?!" ;)
Nobody would know if there is actually 500 users registered to my website unless of course they start actually playing and interacting with other players.
However, I just have a feeling that this isn't ethical. What if this generates a negative publicity to my website?!!
What's your opinion should I fake the number? or should I honestly display it? or should I wait till I have 1000 real account then start displaying the number?
And most importantly is this legal?! :D