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Why EvE subscription is low (A newbro perspective)

Author
Barton Breau
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#141 - 2014-09-26 09:34:21 UTC  |  Edited by: Barton Breau
Tivook wrote:
I'd say it's because of the hardcore players getting their voices heard a bit too much, people quit because EVE is too hardcore.

By now we could have had a functioning Incarna in place which in my opinion would have opened up EVE to alot of players who prefer to have avatar based interaction.

In the beginning hardcore fans were useful but now they only bring drama and butthurt feelings if CCP aren't creating the game THEY want to see, which is a very conservative, outdated game.

It's sad to say but hardcore players are destructive and EVE would be happy to see them gone.
Subscribers pay for EVE, not those salty basement dwellers that play 18 hours a day.

EVE needs to evolve and if the hardcore fans disagree again like they did with Incarna they can go back to playing runescape 18 hours a day and bury themselves alive with pizza boxes in their moms' basements.

Next time CCP decides to do something innovative, let the customers vote. Not everyone reads the forums, a matter of fact, many dont.

Spawn a window when you log on that allows you to vote. Should we do this or that? I'm pretty sure the casual majority of EVE's players would have loved to see Incarna happen.


I see now we have both sides covered, the hardcore stupid, and the casual stupid.

Unfortunately both end in disaster, whether you shrink your possible audience by becoming too hardcore or try to compete with flying simulators (which you cant, the combat is still dull mmo "tab targeting" variation).
Tivook
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#142 - 2014-09-26 09:39:15 UTC  |  Edited by: Tivook
Xuixien wrote:


Have I read this garbage before somewhere? Its like smelling the same bad fart twice.


The only bad fart in here are typical sociopath comments like this. We're voicing our opinions m'kay? This is the forum section in case you got lost in the menu system, people discuss things here.

If you can't stand that I suggest you go yell at a wall or something.
Bob Bedala
#143 - 2014-09-26 09:54:45 UTC
From the CSM 8 Minutes (my emphasis highlighting why people actually quit):

Quote:
Dr. EyjoG .. pointed out where newbies started, and said the most traditional path was to be a
newbie (novice) and then go into solo PvE -- or at least, single-player PvE. The CSM
suggested several routes for this: exploration, mining, missioning, running anoms. CCP
knows these people tend to fall off once they reach this point, because they don't get to
the sandbox
-- they never get that engaged. Dr. EyjoG referenced the infamous EVE
"learning cliff".

Dr. EyjoG said they asked surveys about why people quit, and asked if they knew about
the sandbox. Plenty of people said they didn't and didn't want to be in it...

Dr. EyjoG summarized our working hypothesis as the idea that those who had no social
connection would come in and drop out, and Ripard challenged this, saying there was a
large set of people who came in and PvE'd and didn't really talk to anyone while being
very engaged. Dr. EyjoG said most of these were not very engaged; they tended to drop
out. They weren't doing very many activities
...

Dr. EyjoG said that the other possibility for the barrier was a "knowledge wall", which
can be addressed by social but that isn't rooted in a social connection [and] suggested that
the group which jumped to expert was just more interested and able to learn by themselves,
thus bringing them over a knowledge barrier.
Priscilla Project
Doomheim
#144 - 2014-09-26 10:00:09 UTC
Bob Bedala wrote:
From the CSM 8 Minutes (my emphasis highlighting why people actually quit):

Quote:
Dr. EyjoG .. pointed out where newbies started, and said the most traditional path was to be a
newbie (novice) and then go into solo PvE -- or at least, single-player PvE. The CSM
suggested several routes for this: exploration, mining, missioning, running anoms. CCP
knows these people tend to fall off once they reach this point, because they don't get to
the sandbox
-- they never get that engaged. Dr. EyjoG referenced the infamous EVE
"learning cliff".

Dr. EyjoG said they asked surveys about why people quit, and asked if they knew about
the sandbox. Plenty of people said they didn't and didn't want to be in it...

Dr. EyjoG summarized our working hypothesis as the idea that those who had no social
connection would come in and drop out, and Ripard challenged this, saying there was a
large set of people who came in and PvE'd and didn't really talk to anyone while being
very engaged. Dr. EyjoG said most of these were not very engaged; they tended to drop
out. They weren't doing very many activities
...

Dr. EyjoG said that the other possibility for the barrier was a "knowledge wall", which
can be addressed by social but that isn't rooted in a social connection [and] suggested that
the group which jumped to expert was just more interested and able to learn by themselves,
thus bringing them over a knowledge barrier.
Let's add something for completeness.

Rookiecorps contain griefers that tell new players to mine, run missions and avoid lowsec,
because it's a deathtrap ... pretty much making new players do and think bullshit from the getgo.

It's these griefers who have a huge influence in why there are so many dropouts.


*kinks*
  • All incoming connection attempts are being blocked. If you want to speak to me you will find me either in Hek local, you can create a contract or make a thread about it in General Discussions. I will call you back. -
Prince Kobol
#145 - 2014-09-26 10:04:03 UTC  |  Edited by: Prince Kobol
Xuixien wrote:
Prince Kobol wrote:



Ignore all those people who joined and have left?

The only people who know for sure whether Eve is growing and losing subs is CCP.


The only thing we do know is that since CCP made the announcement 19 months ago that they hit 500,000 subscribers back in Feb 2013 (that included Dust 514 and Serenity) CCP have stop giving out Subscription numbers, something they gave out in every QEN report.

So why the big secret?


Yes, the large number of new players who joined *not all of whom have left*. The influx was well above eves baseline growth rate, so you could calll it an artificial inflation, a bubble, a boom and bust or w/e. All eve did was crash a bit from a it of rapid growth but i doubt the baseline wasnt affected much.

Also, the qen stopped before 2013 i believe and the tinfoily "eve is dying, theyre masking sub numbers" surface. Then the 500k figure... And now back to tinfoil.

People always say eve is losing subs.... Meanwhile eve is 11 years old and is the only mmo that experienced 10 consecutive years of growth...

So no i am not inclined to believe narratives of a hemhorraging sub count. Worst case scenario we lost some boomers and a couple of vets.... Worst case is still not a very big deal

I typed this whole **** on a phone



What new large number of players.. you keep saying this like there was some massive spike.

QEN 1st Quarter 2009 - Eve broke the 300,000 subscriber milestone
QEN 4th Quarter 2009 - 317,593
QEN 1st Quarter 2010 - Well over 320,000 subscribers
QEN 2nd Quarter 2010 - Well over 340,000
QEN 3rd Quarter 2010 - Dips to 330,000
QEN 4th Quarter 2010 - HIts 360,000 but dips a little to 357,000 end of year.

After this it becomes guess work as CCP stopped producing the QEN reports.

In March 2011 PC Gamer reported that CCP announced it had over 360,000 subscribers, in October 2011 Nosey Gamer had Eve at appox 355,000.

In May 2012 Nosey Gamer reported that CCP had sent MMOData.net new numbers and that Subs were at 361,000.

Now this is where CCP start to fudge the figures somewhat.

In December 2012 Forbes ran an article where CCP claimed they had broken 450,000.. The reason for the big jump, CCP started to include subscriptions for Serenity which had just recently launched in China.

In June 2012 CCP had launched "A New Era" for Serenity and claimed they saw subscriptions double for Inferno later in the year.

Then we had the CCP announce they hit 500,000 in Feb 2013 but again these numbers include subs for Serenity as well as Dust 514.

Since then we have heard nothing official. For a company which seemed to have no issues with releasing subscription numbers to all of a sudden to stop does raise a few eyebrows.


Also could you please be a little bit more specific about this spike you keep talking about.
Gully Alex Foyle
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#146 - 2014-09-26 10:05:06 UTC
There are hardcore players and casual players.

The former are arguably more skilled at games than the latter, but that doesn't mean that the latter are all RL morons: they just have less time and/or interest for videogames. It also doesn't mean that the hardcore guys are all teenage basement dwellers, I'm a fairly hardcore gamer myself even though I'm 40 and unfortunately I have to pay my own bills...

Furthermore, we all know that casual gamers make up the large majority of videogame customers - it's unwise for any game company to ignore them altogether.


When hardcore players play among / against eachother, all is fine.

When casual players play among / against eachother, all is fine.


But in EVE, everybody plays together in the single-shard, PVP-always-on game environment.
This is very cool, but sometimes the hardcore vs. casual clash just doesn't work.

In the best case, the casual dude gets slightly annoyed that he can't enjoy EVE without devoting a fair amount of time to learning game mechanics (e.g. how to not get ganked). In the worst case, he/she rages and quits, especially if the hardcore dude that just blew up his spaceship or scammed him felt like 'rubbing it in' a bit with some smack-talk or such - in-game, of course. Blink


Sure, we can say HTFU - but what that means is basically 'EVE is not a game for casual players - so you should better leave'.


But is this really what we (I mean, the hardcore people) really want and/or need?

While I'm PVP-ing with and against like-minded spaceship explosion enthusiasts, should I care if the ship I'm flying was built buy some casual dude that mines and produces in highsec, possibly with razor-thin margins because he isn't even a hardcore industrialist?

Should I care if the server and software development is also being payed by some casual gamers missioning in highsec in their fail-fit Raven?


I understand it's hard for CCP to cater for both casual and hardcore players, but I think they should make this their priority.

One example is the 'dojo' idea that has come up. Sure, it's not 'real PVP' but why should we care? As long as I can still PVP the 'real way' with like-minded friends & opponents, I'm fine with new features that could quite possibly attract players that prefer something different and less demanding.

Make space glamorous! Is EVE dying or not? Ask the EVE-O Death-o-meter!

Rain6635
GoonWaffe
Goonswarm Federation
#147 - 2014-09-26 10:32:07 UTC
I... ****. as much as I'd like to top that word count, I don't have it in me right now.

Rainf1337 on Twitch

David Therman
#148 - 2014-09-26 10:55:00 UTC
Priscilla Project wrote:
]Let's add something for completeness.

Rookiecorps contain griefers that tell new players to mine, run missions and avoid lowsec,
because it's a deathtrap ... pretty much making new players do and think bullshit from the getgo.

It's these griefers who have a huge influence in why there are so many dropouts.


*kinks*


My sarcasm detector just melted upon reading this, so... I haven't got a clue if you're being serious or not. I needed a laugh though P

For the record, I don't "tell" people to mine/ run missions until their face meets their keyboard. Funnily enough, the few people who do ask for advice already planned out what they were going to do before-hand, be it from the streamer they watched on twitch, a friend telling them how to make isk quickly/how to play safely e.t.c.
Captain Soju
Failed Diplomacy
#149 - 2014-09-26 11:00:55 UTC
Hanz Hrible wrote:
So I've been in the game for about a month and I have made several observations on the game from a completely fresh set of eyes on the game..

A new player wanting to explore, trade, or mine is highsec is completely free to do so- But beware joining a player corp- because you'll likely get war dec'd by a corp such as the Marmite Collective and you'll be shut down financially unless your corp pays them for surrender. So be prepared to hire a freight company to move your stuff for you.

A new player may join a powerful nullsec alliance and have Sov space to play in- But don't go exploring, because you'll be locked down by a warp disruption bubble by a player that has a 20million SP on you and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

A new player is free to make isk through faction warfare- But that new player likely won't have the DPS for the faction spawns on the complexes- and again, if another player shows up, don't expect a fair fight, because that player will not be a fellow newbro and the fight will be anything but balanced.

I really enjoy how deep and immersive the game is, with so many options- I do, but the way this game seems to be played is "hide in the shadows until you think you can sucker punch a newbro, and run away if anything else shows up"

I don't fly ships I can't afford, I'm not quitting the game, and I don't have isk problems- I'm having fun doing what I do, but it just seems like I'm limited to running with fleets in nullsec since I have no way to defend myself from rudes that have been playing the game for years and enjoy picking on people who've barely started.


Eve seems to follow a reactive Wild West paradigm in how criminal acts are handled. Even though i'm not a great fan of this, completely removing such features would greatly hurt the sandboxy experience of the "Do it how you want to do it".

With that being said though, i definitely do not enjoy how CCP is held hostage by its hardcore playerbase. It is one of the reasons that eve is and will remain a niche game for a time to come.
Balshem Rozenzweig
24th Imperial Crusade
Amarr Empire
#150 - 2014-09-26 11:14:41 UTC  |  Edited by: Balshem Rozenzweig
the guides to eve are outdated, sometimes scarce and sometimes presented in ever irritating form of a video, but they are there and you can learn the basics for high sec. You will know how to grind some missions, mine and manufacture and join a corp. From that you can do shitloads of things and I dare say they make much more sense than playing Minecraft just for the sake of unearthing stuff and surviving just for the sake of unearthing and surviving Roll (talking about myself here ofc :P). And people love minecraft because it's not about aiming guns at people's heads.

Problem comes when you are supposed to go low/null/wormhole when all of sudden you die because the dude writing the guide forgot to mention something. Bad luck - costly lesson instead of profit, but hey... Grind your way back, and come back stronger (even if only in SP).

Then comes the "discovery part" like - do not use ECM Burst when near stargate :P

All that is kinda true but then - Eve is eve. It can irritate, it can infuriate (I kinda rage quitted for 3 months), but hey - it is different and new and this is what I wanted. I'd take the said problems any time over well explained wow clone, because there would be nothing new there. Some people in this thread already pointed to that, and I think it was underestimated as a factor.

Eve was developed as an elaborated copy of Ogame or some other browser game and it was a brilliant idea :D

Also - I think people dislike that eve is slow and gratifying. My friends love fast and insta gratifying games even tough I sometimes cannot understand why. Maybe Eve is just a niche, and maybe we should be happy even for that :P

"NUTS!!!" - general McAuliffe

Priscilla Project
Doomheim
#151 - 2014-09-26 11:21:36 UTC
David Therman wrote:
Priscilla Project wrote:
]Let's add something for completeness.

Rookiecorps contain griefers that tell new players to mine, run missions and avoid lowsec,
because it's a deathtrap ... pretty much making new players do and think bullshit from the getgo.

It's these griefers who have a huge influence in why there are so many dropouts.


*kinks*


My sarcasm detector just melted upon reading this, so... I haven't got a clue if you're being serious or not. I needed a laugh though P

For the record, I don't "tell" people to mine/ run missions until their face meets their keyboard. Funnily enough, the few people who do ask for advice already planned out what they were going to do before-hand, be it from the streamer they watched on twitch, a friend telling them how to make isk quickly/how to play safely e.t.c.

I was being serious, but not addressing you.

These people really exist and I'm not even the only one who calls them griefers.

On my occasional journeys through rookiecorps I saw this happening every time ...
... anx had lots of talks with people who really thought they HAVE to mine or run missions.

Which bored lots of them to death ... and they really thought that was what the game was about!
And THAT is really bad....
  • All incoming connection attempts are being blocked. If you want to speak to me you will find me either in Hek local, you can create a contract or make a thread about it in General Discussions. I will call you back. -
Xuixien
Solar Winds Security Solutions
#152 - 2014-09-26 11:32:47 UTC
Tivook wrote:
Xuixien wrote:


Have I read this garbage before somewhere? Its like smelling the same bad fart twice.


The only bad fart in here are typical sociopath comments like this. We're voicing our opinions m'kay? This is the forum section in case you got lost in the menu system, people discuss things here.

If you can't stand that I suggest you go yell at a wall or something.


im just voicing my opinion. i guess youre a sociopath...

Epic Space Cat, Horsegirl, Philanthropist

Tivook
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#153 - 2014-09-26 12:49:00 UTC
Xuixien wrote:
Tivook wrote:
Xuixien wrote:


Have I read this garbage before somewhere? Its like smelling the same bad fart twice.


The only bad fart in here are typical sociopath comments like this. We're voicing our opinions m'kay? This is the forum section in case you got lost in the menu system, people discuss things here.

If you can't stand that I suggest you go yell at a wall or something.


im just voicing my opinion. i guess youre a sociopath...


Not so much. Your reply didn't contain anything but empty negativity. No arguments, no thought behind it. Just a cheap way to try to be funny.
galaxyexpress999
Hedion University
Amarr Empire
#154 - 2014-09-26 12:56:42 UTC
there are many little "tricks" u can pull off in eve in which you cannot in other games, mmos
using such "tricks" that is not apparent to a player is considered a "exploit" in those games whereas in eve , most of them are not
this is what turns alot of players / friends i had away, and there's alot of little things to do to do things "right"
for example this toon is clearly an alt,
alot of players train up their toon to fit a certain purpose (trade alt / cyno alt / scouts / combat perfect for certain ship alt etc),
things that newbies will clearly not know , eg : flying the ship manually (flying to the place you want it to without orbit / stay at range),
the list go on and on and on up to a point that a new player will either enjoy the challenge and the discovery or get frustrated and leave, the whole problem here is that it takes the player money (sub) to continue, so given you have 10 challenges and you like 9 of them , hating 1 out of it is enough to turn a player away.
surly some random "vet" will show up and say OMG qq carebears blah blah blah, but lets be real, losing subs and having a low count on players does not get the game anywhere, given you own the whole of new eden , alone , how much does that worth ?
Lucas Kell
Solitude Trading
S.N.O.T.
#155 - 2014-09-26 13:08:09 UTC
Tivook wrote:
Xuixien wrote:
Tivook wrote:
Xuixien wrote:


Have I read this garbage before somewhere? Its like smelling the same bad fart twice.


The only bad fart in here are typical sociopath comments like this. We're voicing our opinions m'kay? This is the forum section in case you got lost in the menu system, people discuss things here.

If you can't stand that I suggest you go yell at a wall or something.


im just voicing my opinion. i guess youre a sociopath...


Not so much. Your reply didn't contain anything but empty negativity. No arguments, no thought behind it. Just a cheap way to try to be funny.
That's Xuixien for ya. Ignoring is generally the best way to go.

Another soon to be issue with EVE subs by the way is Elite. My fancy shmancy joystick turns up tomorrow!

The Indecisive Noob - EVE fan blog.

Wholesale Trading - The new bulk trading mailing list.

Jenn aSide
Soul Machines
The Initiative.
#156 - 2014-09-26 13:24:24 UTC
Lucas Kell wrote:


Another soon to be issue with EVE subs by the way is Elite. My fancy shmancy joystick turns up tomorrow!


You know people have been saying this for 12 years right? Star Trek Online, Black Prophecy, Jumpgate, the Star Wars games and others. The ONLY game launch that we know of that coincided with any kind of sub or pcu decline was 3 weeks of Diablo 3 in 2012.

Even after all these years people cling to the "x game is going to affect EVE" false belief. It's like that guy on the corner somehow acquired an internet connection.
Junkiloton
Corporate Retail Operations With Y'all
#157 - 2014-09-26 13:50:51 UTC
Any overwhelming issues that affect the subscription numbers have more to do with the fact that this game "requires" you to read and test things than any other factor.

Do you know how to apply the tracking on your turrets?
Do you know when you should orbit and when you should keep-at-range?
Do you know how to adjust your ship's speed in-flight?
Do you know how to ferry from point a to point b without using the approach button?
Do you know how to sort market orders?
Do you understand how to use the price history?
Do you know how to modify market orders?
Do you know what resists to use in missions?
Do you know what ammo to use in missions?
Do you know which ammo to use in PvP?
Do you know how to do PI?
Do you know how to scan with probes?
Do you know how to avoid a wardec?
Do you know how scrams and bubbles work? What they are?
Do you know how corporations work? Alliances? Do you understand the point?

Each of those questions represents a LOT of reading of blogs, forum posts, and databases, as well as hours and hours of trial and error (sometimes months). And that's not even remotely close to covering what could be considered "the basics." Unless a player has a voracious hunger for knowledge within a game, or else that player just likes throwing things onto a ship and bludgeoning himself against vets until he figures out what he's done wrong, there's almost too much data to process in a trial month.

Those of us who remain have a genuine interest in the game... if you couldn't tell be the sheer volume of people who post 3+ paragraph responses to questions.
Maxpie
MUSE LLP
#158 - 2014-09-26 14:02:47 UTC
OP, you must understand, this game is filled with long term players, 'bittervets' as they are called. The social milleau has become bizarre to the point that there are a significant number of people who simply do not want new players. They can no longer enjoy the game, and crave interaction, so the just seek to put others down, harass, grief, etc. They want to sit in a cesspool with their buddies shouting 'htfu' and making Chuck Norris jokes.

This is not the majority of the playerbase though. Most 'normal' people don't come shouting on the forums that Eve is a cold harsh place (while carebearing with their alts). They quietly go about their business enjoying their game experience. It's simply a matter of finding the right group and location for you. You may find some awesome null people who will welcome you, teach you to avoid bubbles, make isk, etc. Or maybe you will love wh space, who knows? Whatever gameplay style you choose can be fun.

My suggestion to you is, don't bother with these forums for these kinds of issues. You'll just get lots of hate. Stick with it, try different aspects of the game, explore different areas and try to find the right corp for you. It may take time, or it may not, but it's worth it.

No good deed goes unpunished

Lucas Kell
Solitude Trading
S.N.O.T.
#159 - 2014-09-26 14:11:37 UTC
Jenn aSide wrote:
You know people have been saying this for 12 years right? Star Trek Online, Black Prophecy, Jumpgate, the Star Wars games and others. The ONLY game launch that we know of that coincided with any kind of sub or pcu decline was 3 weeks of Diablo 3 in 2012.

Even after all these years people cling to the "x game is going to affect EVE" false belief. It's like that guy on the corner somehow acquired an internet connection.
Yeah but STO was... well it was star trek. No surprise that died. Black Prophecy was written by incompetents (have you ever played Neocron? It was a great game, then they kept nuking it and smashing it and failing to fix bugs until there was nothing left), Jumpgate was riddled with issues from the start, Star Wars was just terrible. Elite though... It's Elite. It's like what EVE was built to be. I'd be very surprised if it didn't even cause a dent.

The Indecisive Noob - EVE fan blog.

Wholesale Trading - The new bulk trading mailing list.

Prince Kobol
#160 - 2014-09-26 14:17:29 UTC
Jenn aSide wrote:
Lucas Kell wrote:


Another soon to be issue with EVE subs by the way is Elite. My fancy shmancy joystick turns up tomorrow!


You know people have been saying this for 12 years right? Star Trek Online, Black Prophecy, Jumpgate, the Star Wars games and others. The ONLY game launch that we know of that coincided with any kind of sub or pcu decline was 3 weeks of Diablo 3 in 2012.

Even after all these years people cling to the "x game is going to affect EVE" false belief. It's like that guy on the corner somehow acquired an internet connection.


For me Its not so much that any of these games can every kill Eve because Eve will always have its core players just like any MMO and I don't believe any one game can kill another. There is always other factors at work.

The issue is that if each game takes small amount of players and those players are not replace then it becomes death by thousand paper cuts.

I do believe that Subs are down, of course I can not prove this by any direct evidence, just as nobody can prove the opposite, however CCP going from having no issues with telling the world how its gaining subscriptions to complete silence is enough for me.

One of the reason will be small amounts of players leaving with each new game, not coming back and those players not being replaced.