EVE General Discussion

Cynics be damned.

Nothing.

And I mean nothing causes more bilious ire, broken crayons, torn construction paper, and furious sixty character per minute chicken peck typing, than the mere suggestion that CCP is pushing New Eden closer and closer to a "theme park" MMO.

Perhaps I have gone mad for composing the following. But if there is anything I do so dearly enjoy, is a bit of civil controversy.

For those that are unfamiliar with the terms "theme park" and "sandbox" MMO, here is an unbiased description of both.

I personally would feel far less enthusiastic or passionate about EvE if CCP directs the game into the tedium and mediocrity of a true theme park MMO. However, I do not feel that this is really where things are heading for New Eden. The success of theme park MMO's is undeniable. People like to go on rides, they are simple, engaging, and they are very good at aquiring new players. They also bring in capital. And like any corporation a steady capital flow keeps the bread on the table, tobacco in the pipe, whiskey in the jug, and internet space ships in our hangars. The downside to the theme park is that the individual player is not really capable of standing out of the crowd, and is ultimately expendable to the game developer. The business model is almost predicated upon it.

It is no secret that EvE Online is a niche MMO. A brilliantly successful one. It is also good at retaining it's senior player base. Many of it's current subscribers have been around for years. This does not negate the fact CCP still needs to grow as a corporation. And growth means more capital, more players, and diversification of their available products. Which brings me to the recent efforts of CCP to make EvE online more accessible to new players. The campaign of improving core features of the game such as the interface, tutorials, are steps in the right direction. DUST 514 is also another effort to bring in fresh clientele and breach a new market while simultaneously doing something that has never been done before. Merging an FPS with an already established MMO.

But why are they doing all of this? Because greed is good? Because we, the player base, are all just money in their eyes?

I am disinclined to believe this because I don't think that CCP is truly that cynical.

In fact I am inclined to believe that CCP is genuinely as passionate about their products as we are. CCP has a vision for the universe they have created and we have given life. Internet space ships are serious business.

THE VISION.

A fully integrated science fiction MMU. No, it's not a typo. Massively Multiplayer Universe.

I see New Eden encompassing everything a science fiction fan loves about space opera. From personal combat with rifles on terrestrial battlefields, titanic battles of the largest warships humanity has ever created. I venture to speculate vicious and brutal dogfights between "space planes" at some point as well.

Incarna, the Captain's Quarters, Noble Exchange, Monocle Gate, the Jita Riots. All of this was a direct result of the vision I think CCP has for New Eden. CCP just botched the execution. It came off in such a way that the majority of the player base couldn't see the long term potential that Incarna/WiS has. Had WiS been more than doing laps down a gantry, circling your space recliner, and staring at your moored vessel, tempers wouldn't have flared quite as much as they had. I think Incarna was just a stepping stone to a much bigger, and exciting possibility that CCP may have in mind. Despite how many of us felt betrayed. I often wonder how long until Walking in Stations turns into Murder in Stations. And from there to manned space exploration of sites. This trailer from Fanfest sure seems to foreshadow such aspirations.

NEW EDEN THE THEME PARK

Despite the massive protestations I am likely to receive, New Eden could use a little "theme park".

I'm thinking not so much along the lines of Six Flags in summer. More like Jurassic Park in a hurricane.

And certainly nothing that would make hi-sec more "safe" than it already is.

The new player experience and tutorial missions could do with even more than what is currently being done with them. I recently attempted to get a friend of mine into EvE. I got him signed up with RAF, downloaded the client, and he got set up. Thirty minutes into the first tutorial mission, he became rather frustrated with the UI. Why? Aura didn't explain where the "Dock" button was, or what the station icon looks like, or what anything in the Overview means. Needless to say, he hasn't been back since.

While some may mock his experience. I assure you he's not a stupid man. Yes, EvE is hard. And yes, EvE's UI is really obtuse. No really. It's bad. It is probably the biggest hurdle CCP has to jump. While smashing people in the face with a learning curve that resembles standing at the bottom of the Hoover Dam and looking up may be amusing to the rest of us. It is not inspiring to the person that has been handed a set of dull pitons, some baling twine and told to scale said dam. I feel this is where a little "theme park" could do EvE some good. Gentle guidance, a handful of missions a toddler could figure out, some pretty cut-scenes and in-game demo explaining how the EvE UI works. I feel this would be better than pulling the rug from under the feet of the new player.

EvE should be easy to learn, hard to master. There is a line between something between having an engrossing amount of depth, and being needlessly complicated.

TO BE CONTINUED.

tl;dr

troll on brotha

What? A post on GD that isn't stupid whiny bullshit? Doesn't feel right

RESERVED

.......

About 25 years ago I bought a DOS emulator for my Atari STE (1040?)

I looked at the little black screen with the white flashy bit. I typed Load *8,1 or whatever the f it was from the C64 days and got bad command or filename. (for truth, this is in my bio it had such an impact)

Instead of chucking it in I worked at it. Got quallies and experience. I worked harder, learned more.

25 years later, Ive as good as retired - I aint even 50 yet.

As an ex ASM and C cuttter I made squillions doing COBOL rebuilds during that superbug affair you all call Y2K. The years after were basking in - I did it proper contracts that paid the bills and put some coin away.

Today, I play Eve in my spare time, which I have lots of. I enjoy it.

I enjoy it because people that can't be bothered spending more than 20 minutes to learn something don't play. It means in general, the people in Eden have at least half a brain and just a touch of committent.


STOP trying to change the fn thing.

Posting in yet another tedious 'pixel hardman' thread.

Eve can never be hard enough or tough enough. Yawn.

If more than 5 people subscribed to EVE because of the WIS expansion then you'd have a valid point. But that didn't happen. CCP sold WIS and no one bought it. Sure people want WIS for free but not at the expense of the rest of the game turning to garbage and no one will pay extra for WIS development especially when there at at least 30 games out there with way better avatar gameplay than WIS can ever dream of having.

I think CCP should do a WIS kickstarter and just let the project fund itself or die so we can stop these threads.

Really can't be arsed to read all that.

So what change, nerf, WIS related, Dust related, or Goon related event are you upset about?

Subtle plug