EVE General Discussion

TLDR: personal incredulity at the way that CCP chose to advertise the awoxing restrictions in the latest release, plus a contest with an ISK prize, because why not.

I don't make threads often, but something happened today which made me unable to let it go. A friend linked this to me, while laughing uncontrollably. I stared at it for a while in incredulity, but then the sad truth hit me: this is the logical conclusion for which this game was destined all along. It's simply unable to exist in its originally-promised state, due to the continued pushback of the wallet-wielding majority. Not as a for-profit project, at least.

But that's irrelevant here. I've come to terms that "friendly fire" no longer has a place in this warm, friendly universe. Just like I've come to terms that a lot of other game mechanics soon won't have a place here either. EVE is evolving. Into what, I don't know, but obviously something different from what we've been playing and talking about all these years. Herzog Wolfhammer stated in one of the recent threads that "there will be a "second age" as opposed to the game dying from the changes, which I agree with. I don't think that even a flat-out removal of pvp from EVE (or at least high-sec) would truly destroy the game at this point. Yes, it will suck if this game becomes something that I'll no longer enjoy playing, but if humans can recover from natural disasters and deaths of loved ones, I'm sure I'll get over it. For now, I'm still here, as there are enough core concepts still intact to keep me interested.

Still, it really got to me how CCP went about advertising this recent change to high-sec aggression rules. They could have said "a rebalance of high-sec aggression laws" or "changes to CONCORD response rules" or something along those lines. Instead, they specifically used the wording of "taking control of friendly fire." As if "friendly fire" was this major oversight that somehow slipped through the cracks for the past twelve years, and they've just now realized how much it was hurting players, and how letting players turn it off is a revolutionary new gameplay addition that's bound to take EVE to new heights of success.

Note how the banner makes it seem as if the "feature" being presented is something without which accomplishing the intended effects is downright impossible. Like "friendly fire" wasn't something you could already control with diligence in recruitment, proper corporate policies, et cetera. It makes me feel like they're targeting this advertisement not at people who are interested in seeing this game progress from a balance standpoint, but at people who are inherently offended by the very concept of "friendly fire," because they're obviously employing the term with a very negative connotation attached to it.

And to me, after years of various blogs, press releases, and forum quips from the developers themselves about the inherently unfair and violent nature of this game, that feels downright dishonest. But more importantly, it makes me consider various other feature removals that CCP can pass off as content additions, while creating colorful marketing propaganda that obviously targets a very specific, very coveted player demographic. So, let's consider some examples. And no, I'm not going to focus them entirely on the high-sec pvp aspect of things, but I'll sure as hell start with them:

(Inability to steal from other players' cans/wrecks and board others' ships in space)
"TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR ASSETS! NEW TOGGLE IN [EXPANSION]"

(Inability to declare wars on player corporations and alliances)
"TAKE CONTROL OF CORPORATE SECURITY! NEW TOGGLE IN [EXPANSION]"

(Inability to mine in a belt someone else is mining in, or shoot rats in a complex someone else is running)
"TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR INDUSTRIAL OPERATIONS! NEW TOGGLE IN [EXPANSION]"

(Inability to accept a trade or contract that's not within 90% of its market value)
"TAKE CONTROL OF BUSINESS REPUTABILITY! NEW TOGGLE IN [EXPANSION]"

(Inability to use a locator agent on someone unless they're mutual contacts with you)
"TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR PRIVACY! NEW TOGGLE IN [EXPANSION]"

Notice how all of these already have existing player-driven solutions.

Actually, let's make it interesting. Make photoshops of similar parodies of the banner ad (be original with the text, don't just copy my examples above), and I'll give the best submission a billion ISK. The only rule is that it has to do something with any in-game mechanics, and not something stupid like "taking control of your forum tears" or other similar meta crap.

Edit: Please note that the 1b prize is only for a picture. I might reward clever text versions, but not nearly as highly.

I think this is less to do with a philosophical change within CCP, and more to do with the fact expansions are now so thin on content that a new checkbox warrants its own banner ad.

Still waiting on a checkbox box.

That's an interesting perspective. However, don't you think that if this was the case, then EVE would be too much like already-existing games on the market? Even in terms of just space-themed games, if you want to narrow the selection down to a single genre, there's plenty to choose from. There's a whole bunch of space-combat games on Steam, and none of them do particularly well. As far as having a Planetside 2 type of game, I think it would be fun too, but I doubt there's anyone who can pull off something like that with current technology, or we'd have it by now. I mean with actual aiming and thousands of people at the same time. Or are you simply talking about a version of EVE in which ships are free? That actually sounds pretty boring, considering how dull EVE combat is. If not for the economy, this game would be entirely terrible.

(highsec moved to separate server)
SAY HELLO TO TRAMMELSEC!

All jumps between Trammelsec and Feluccasec will now require you to log out completely and log back into the appropriate server.

(CCP begins selling designer jewelry)
TAKE CONTROL OF WIFE AGGRO!

TAKE CONTROL OF HUNGER, PLEX4BACON COMING IN MICHAELANGELO

PLEX4BACON, the long awaited and much requested feature will finally be hitting Tranquility with our Michaelangelo release!
Also, were abandoning titans, gods and other names and going with Ninja Turtles now.

(CCP introduces a new toggle where the player had to use a breathalyzer before undocking)
TAKE CONTROL OF DRUNK FLYING!

(Using a Data Analyzer on a character using Sansha related implants gives the chance to take over that character for a bit)
TAKE CONTROL OF OTHER PEOPLE!

(The Mittani goes up for sale in the character bazzar)
TAKE CONTROL OF GOONSWARM!

EDIT: Sorry, I'll stop now.

the OPs post in CP End of the Awoxer proof, that this is a whine thread.

We've been over those Trammel numbers and it certainly looks like it was pretty good for UO, kept it running for several years with a subscriber peak 3 years after Trammel.

Lots of people don't like non-consensual PVP, UO catered to that group and reaped the rewards for years. It worked for them, just because a loud minority of gank-bears didn't like it doesn't make it a bad thing. Will Eve go that way? Who knows vOv, but I'll still be here, flying spaceships.

truth-in-advertising: I made those posts with Aredontis, sold him shortly after and bought UberFly.