Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I posted this on Reddit here where it was fairly well-received. Someone suggested that it might gather more interest here as well.

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There have been a great deal of people who have talked about making the tutorial a "simulation" or some other type of :lore: scenario where new players experience the game in a microcosm of the "real" thing. I feel that this is an excellent idea and can incorporate a ton of the great ideas I've seen posted about improving the NPE. I will describe the concept as it would likely exist I hope that the benefits present themselves with little explanation or justification. This idea is different but it maintains all of the aspects that make EVE such a joy to play, and demonstrates them to new players in the most clear-cut way possible.

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In the spirit of CCP's usual grimdark religious naming scheme I've conviently called this place "Purgatorio" (the second in Dante Alghieri's *Divine Comedy*). Purgatorio is a unique wormhole constellation. Unlike wormholes it follows normal sec-status rules, and its various systems are linked by gates. The only reason this constellation exists in unique, hidden wormhole space to explain the fact that **once you leave, you may never come back**.

Items obtained within Purgatorio cannot be taken out, especially on account of the fact that Purgatorio uses a token economy. That is, ISK is not used within Purgatorio. Instead, various NPCs throughout the stations in the constellation accept the fruits of your efforts in exchange for skillbooks and skill point injections. For example, hacking sites yield unique loot that can be exchanged for boosts to Scanning, Hacking, and Archaeology skills up to level 3. Ore can be mined and exchanged similarly, as can tags from NPCs killed via ratting and missions.

EVE wouldn't be EVE without PvP, and recent data from CCP indicates that players who die to other players in their first week of EVE have a much greater chance of sticking around. For this reason, not all of Purgatorio is high-sec. Within Purgatorio there are both low-sec and null-sec systems. To combat griefing and "smurfs", these particular systems have a low SP limit. Furthermore, the layout of the constellation would be such that there are no single-gate chokepoints to camp. To emphasize the benefits of taking risks, the rewards from each of the activities here would be amplified, allowing new players to cap out their potential SP boosts more quickly.

For those interested in PvP, tokens are exchanged for one of a selection of fully-fit T1 frigates at a reasonable rate. This provides new players with the opportunity to experience PvP on "even" footing like they can expect to find down the road when they're sufficiently specialized in any given ship. At the same time, it teaches them that they have to work (in this case for 'tokens' or LP to exchange) for the ships that they will eventually lose in combat. The pre-fitting is important because it sets a precedent for what an acceptable (single tank) PvP fit looks like. Their hands will be shaking like the rest of ours as they brawl to the death in less of a one-sided manner.

Such a configuration allows for new players to communicate with one another to team up, something not regularly seen with the current NPE. It also creates opportunities for new players to share their knowledge of the existence of new player-centric corps like BNI, HORDE, and so on. Like the current system, griefing in starter systems would be taken into account in order to prevent abuse.

When players are ready to leave Purgatorio and head out into the universe, they do so in a unique fashion. With their clones then-set to a system designated by their faction, they are promptly dumped into a 0.0 system with a ship of their chosing (either a PvP-fit T1 frig or an exploration-fit T1 frig). If they choose to do so, they can initiate this final mission with a fleet of friends and be dumped out together. An on-screen warning alerts them that they are in danger and may not survive their trip to empire. Rather than die in a mission (as is part of the current tutorial), they will likely die in the cold dark expanses of 0.0 and be podded back to high-sec to begin their journey.

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I feel that this systems keeps intact EVE's greatest strengths - constant danger, risk vs reward, social interaction, and emergent gameplay - all while offering a more structured, directed experience that gives new players a number of clearly-defined goals (like earning all of the SP boosts they want before leaving).

I hope that spitting them out in a random 0.0 system accomplishes the "unknowingly dangerous" task considering that most null-sec exits are usually camped. It's likely that they will die this way. However, by making it an experience that they could survive and one that will differ from everyone else's, at the very least it will give them one vivid memory of the game to share even if they decide EVE isn't for them.

I don't have a problem with this in theory, but I do have a few questions.

1. How do I, as an older player, meet and recruit new players early on? How do I give them advice? Who answers their questions in local? Corp chat? etc.

2. If I start an alt, am I expected to spend two-three weeks slurping up free SP in the newbie area before I can start using him? If not, how would you handle this aspect of the game?

3. Related to #2, is there a way to opt out on the newbie zone? If so, what stops a new player from leaving and regretting his decision later? With the current system, I can go back and complete the tutorial at any time if I so desire.

I guess I just don't have a problem with the current system, but that may be because of the way I joined Eve over eight years ago. I had real life friends who played. They started six months before I did. I joined Eve, ran a bit of the tutorial, then joined a player corporation within a couple of days. All of my original Eve friends have since moved on, but I have hung around - because at critical points in my Eve life I formed social connections that kept me engaged in Eve. To me, the success or failure of the NPE hinges on that factor - not just how well it teaches you how to press F1 or warp from gate-to-gate.