EVE General Discussion

No, I am not talking about the 4 racial empires. Unifex asked the CSM what they think should be the theme for the next year.

If you asked 10,000 EVE players what they thought of their empire, and what they wanted to do with it, you'd likely get just as many different answers. Empires come in many forms and sizes, but everyone wants to have their own empire, from the solo miner to the massive coalition leader. The concept of an empire applies to every playstyle, every location, every amount of time commitment, essentially everyone that plays this crazy game.

Every single fix, update, iteration, completely new feature can be looked at through the glasses of "how will this help or hurt my empire". Players already read every devblog through those glasses, based on what empire we want to grow for ourselves or our followers. The apocrypha and exodus expansions were popular because people could clearly see how they could create their empires based on the new content.

Grow the concept of empowering players to build their empire, whatever size, whatever activity, and people will love EVE.

Nope.

Interesting feature ideas; I can definately see where they would help alot of organizations, and create new types of player interaction. There are pages upon pages of great ideas, many of which would be similarly helpful.

It's very hard to market the tweaks and updates (that all of us want) to outsiders. You cant make a compelling youtube video about new POSes, 5% extra range per level on this certain ship, market interface tweaks, corp/alliance management improvements, or new sov mechanics. Roll all these much needed features into a well thought out theme, all saying the same thing, and you have a marketing tool.

CCP's new development philosophy starts with the big picture, an overall direction for a large majority of features, iterations, concepts, and tools delivered in an expansion or expansions. Ten years ago when I was working as a product designer, we called this top down design; where you start with the bigger, more influential parts first. It's much more logical. Unifex asked for suggestions or opinions one what this overall theme, which includes all areas of gameplay and playstyles, should be.

I say EMPIRES, because that's what eve is really about, pushing and growing your influence in the world of EVE through your chosen path to glory.



OK, your chosen empire is your wallet and your shiney ship hanger. Or perhaps its your killboard.

Whatever gets you to log into eve and start pushing buttons. When someone asks you "whats eve all about?" you answer "well, Ive been playing X years, and I did THIS"