EVE General Discussion

_My thoughts on the EVE decline

I've mentioned this elsewhere that I previously worked at a social network company. One that has had its moment in the sun with large numbers. The website/service is now heavily in decline and many of us who have left (or are currently there) wonder what happened.

It was less clear to assess the problems while within the organization but might be clearer on the outside. Might be. Either way I draw a connection between my experience at this social network company and what I'm observing with EVE Online. Let's call the social network company, "Social Inc."

They developed a niche, specialized community (that also hates facebook) since around 2001. This community came to develop their own rules of engagement, culture, needs, and expectations. All this developed despite mainstream services like Facebook paving their own direction.

Over time, Social Inc. became frustrated with stagnating user numbers. The company attempted to analyze the reasons for this. Their conclusion was that their service was too specific and too niche. It only focused on a narrow audience and that outsiders were not comfortable enough to stay on the network. So after many years, Social Inc. made changes to some algorithms that impacted search results. They also tried to make their website easier for newcomers--offensive content was made more discreet (through algorithms); weird content was pushed to lower rankings; all the content that mainstream audiences would not like was pushed to the side in an attempt to appeal to them.

It may have seemed like an obvious way to break the stagnation and gain more users. However, a swift decline occurred after these changes. And this decline persists today which is why I no longer work for Social Inc.


_What happened?

Now I'm not sure what could have prevented this. I'm not even sure what has caused the decline but I do know that despite the changes made at Social Inc, the mainstream audiences they wanted to attract never came and are already using other services instead. In other words: Mainstream audiences were NEVER going to come over to Social Inc. This is because their needs were satisfied elsewhere.

For example one of Social Inc's competitors is Tumblr. A mainstream user on Tumblr has had no incentive to move over to Social Inc because Social Inc has a strong reputation and Tumblr has all the features a mainstream user wants. That's it. So where does EVE Online fit into this?


_Where is EVE Online in all this?

I can't thoroughly analyze all the developments CCP has put into EVE Online but I have played EVE Online since 2007. At least very casually. I've witnessed most of the changes. I consider most changes to be very positive and some changes I'm extremely ambivalent towards. However I do worry that they believe they can overcome their reputation by simply "improving" or "changing" their game. I do not believe any longer that this can work.

Again, I don't have any major complaints about changes over the years but IF they're done with the intent of attracting new users then I do believe CCP needs limited expectations. Mainstream gamers are likely going elsewhere because other games do exactly what they want that EVE Online can not do. Much like Social Inc could not replace Tumblr. CCP has to accept that. EVE Online is what it is.


_Where should Eve Online and "Social Inc" go from here?

While speaking to a former coworker we both agreed that Social Inc. should have created a new service designed entirely for the audience they were pursuing. Instead of changing, altering, and "fixing" their main service to an extreme degree, Social Inc. should've eventually realized there was only so much they could do. Social Inc. should have focused more aggressively on new services that appeal to more users they are after.

I feel that way about EVE Online. There's only so much they can change about their primary product. Luckily though, CCP is doing better than Social Inc. since they have branched out into Dust and Valkyrie. I suspect CCP already knows it needs to branch out and this will be positive for EVE Online. If anything, I really hope CCP considers the importance of accepting and embracing EVE Online as it is and doesn't confuse this decline as just a failure of their service but maybe a result of limited appeal. Maybe CCP needs to let EVE Online remain as a niche specialized game and let their new products, Dust and Valkyrie, chase after new audiences on the horizon. Perhaps with this approach, CCP can focus on less on making EVE "easier" to enter and go back to celebrating it's unique qualities.


_tldr
I worked at a social network company with a niche audience. They made changes to appeal to a broad audience. They saw a big decline in numbers. I left the company. Now I believe this company should have branched out and created a new product INSTEAD of dramatically altering their current product. I feel the same way about CCP and I believe they should use DUST and Valkyrie as a means of appealing to broad audiences and should ease up on certain kinds of changes in EVE Online.

Other games have made this same mistake, when they've tried to compete directly with the wider competition instead of solidifying their niche position.

I don't think I was saying they're doing "everything" to attract a wider audience. I'm really saying that they're focused on getting more users which means trying to appeal to a wider audience. I don't entirely know all the things that CCP may be doing.

Well, I'm referring to the big picture of the past several years. CCP has made the barrier to entry for EVE Online much easier. Additionally their infamous attempt at creating avatars (Walking in stations) was designed to appeal to more and different types of users

So how are things at Myspace/Bebo/etc.?

new player retention has been a problem for as long as I have been playing. Most corps wouldn't even accept anyone under 2 weeks old, and the ones that did had many hit that 2 week mark and never come back. Now that the trial period is 30 days it would be interesting to see if that helps at all.


speaking of advertisements, I just saw a destiny ad, and damn I want to go play that. would be nice to see some progress on project legion, would love to get into that. Wouldn't mind getting into dust, but really can't justify buying a ps3 right now

Wow, confirmation that EVE is Dying™ by a pro, once again.

Contract stuff @ Webvan, Jita 4-4, the Forge, 1337-69

Closing EVE is Dying™ Thread #8365120.