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Another good point, Liang.

However, let's look at this from a business POV. As a game company, do you want to provide an incentive for players to unsub, even temporarily - to perhaps go spend their money on Perpetuum? You don't make any money when they are unsubbed, yet you still need to support their accounts.

So, no, I don't think this is the preferred mode of operation for a game company, esp. if you cannot guarantee that the temporarily unsubbed players will actually resub.

Now, consider this... (evil as it might seem)...

Knowing that your unsubbed account will be deleted - with a complete loss of game assets - is a pretty good incentive for a player to reconsider unsubbing in the first place, esp. if he/she knows that it is likely to be only a temporary thing (ie. just to play WoT for a few months or whatever). Many folks who frequently unsub and resub are less likely to bother to do so, and the loss in revenue is no longer lost.

Now, if your goal is to just have a lot of subscriber numbers - incl. both active and inactive accounts - then I suppose this sort of thinking is wrong, but if your goal is to actually to make consistent revenue... well, then.

As a side note - I also suspect that a lot fewer players would have rage-unsubbed this past summer, if they knew that their accounts would be deleted. I read a lot of the rage-quit blogs and forum posts, and most indicated that they felt that there was no risk involved since you could always just resub after CCP threw in the towel and pick things up where you left off.

When I left EVE i didnt do it because i knew at some point i will be able to get back. I left because i had enough of this game at that time.

I got back 2 years later because some friends started playing. And if i didn't managed to get my char back (i transferred him to a friend account, and had to contact him to transfer him back, and actually pay second time for transfer :P) i would not stayed long. The idea of training from scratch when I had in mind image my 40 milion SP character was something that would drive me away from game very fast.

So what i'm saying is that from Business POV. As a game company, they dont provide incentive to leave, they provide incentive to comeback and stay for another Year or two, untill You have enough again. And again.

The flip side of this is that players WILL unsub - maybe they are voting on a topic with their wallets or maybe they are simply running across a rough spot in their personal finances. Maybe they're making peace with the wife or are on a 6 month deployment with the Navy. Or maybe they're just trying a new MMO like Rift or SWTOR or GW2 for a little while. What you are suggesting is that you remove what sway you had over these players. You'll literally disincentivize them from returning to Eve by deleting their characters and assets.

Deleting characters and assets is just not a good idea - it wrecks the history of the game and makes literally no business sense.

-Liang

Don't be surprised - I might just do that. I've got a good working knowledge of database systems, but projects do come up where a more experienced person is much preferred. And, although I don't always agree with you, your forum posts always demonstrate thought and a comprehensive understanding of game play and mechanics. Respect.


I see nothing wrong with preserving history, but never at the expense of compromising the future. And, I'm not just speaking about the game.... :)

I am in favor of destructible player stations and wonder whether or not it makes any sense for a recent resub with lots of assets stranded in sov 0.0 to expect access to their stuff in what is likely to be hostile space any case. And even still, there are lots of solutions to the problem:
- Old stations are grandfathered as indestructible. New stations are destructible as of a certain date.
- Assets for all players are for-free moved to the nearest indestructible NPC 0.0 station. Players that respond within 1 month may decline this offer. After that date all stations are considered destructible.*
- Certain destroyed assets for unsubbed players can be reimbursed via petition.

At any rate, I don't see unsubbed players as putting the kaibosh on this particular feature... though thought into how to handle them is certainly merited. :)

* This is how medclones are handled for losing a sov 0.0 station. It makes sense for the same to be done in a one-time manner for assets.

-Liang

Ed: Typo. Also, when I unsubbed in 0.0 I did not expect to have access to my assets in 0.0. Notably, I still do not have access to these assets.

Question: If you are building stuff lets say Zealots for example, on a non pvp server, who is buying them?

Please tell me I am falling for a troll.

Absolutely and 100% NOT, no way, never!!! and I am a 'builder' at heart like you.

I want to make the ships that get used by other players, I like the rush of risk not an online single player game.

I just want a system that NEEDS us builders rather than one that promotes the social class separation that exists today. I like my play style and I appreciate other peoples plat style, it makes me sad when my play style is an after thought and a joke to the very people I want to spend my time building for..

-CJ

I'm surprised there's nothing said about the bad sound engine. We need someone on the CSM that plays with sound ON.

Well, a large chunk of that was once again about NULLSEC. I'm getting seriously bored of hearing about it now. The plans for Lowsec are hideous - did I read right that nerfing probing could be a possible solution?

This is COMPLETELY the wrong line of thinking. LOWSEC needs some real love and attention. i appreciate the fact that you acknowledge this to some degree. But you're thinking completely along the wrong lines. Lowsec needs something radically different to set it apart from Highsec, it needs more incentives to get people into it from highsec (Unique minerals just won't work, it's got SUICIDE GANK ME written all over it, and no carebear is going to put up with that for long.

Pirates also need love too, like the polar opposite of highsec, there should be systems you only go if your sec is between -5 and -10, or you're flying a very fast ship, or you're in a pod. Be creative, introduce new content completely unique to lowsec, that will give carebears much more reason to come to lowsec, and pirates much more reason to gank them.

I can recommend the 'X' games for a single player game with a good NPC market......