EVE General Discussion

A quote from "The Professional"-


Mathilda: "Is life always this hard, or is it just when you're a kid?"

Léon: "Always like this."

I know a lot of players that were introduced to the game by people who would be considered "non-carebear". They lead a happy and fulfilled Eve Online existence.

Then there is everybody else.

The whiners, the crybabies, the carebears. Those who don't take responsibility for their actions, their ignorance and their stupidity.

I think that the key problem here isn't the "students" (players), but the "teachers" (CCP). People start playing the game with concepts and paradigms derived from all of their existing experience with other MMO games. Eve is not just another MMO. It is THE MMO. As such, it's CCP's responsibility to immediately reset a new player's expectations about what the game is about and how the new player fits into the existing universe and its player culture.

Imagine what the perception would be if these were the first words a new Eve player heard as the game loads for the first time, the galaxy unfolding before him/her:

(Aura's beautiful haunting voice)

"Welcome capsuleer- welcome to a universe of infinite possibilities and infinite destruction, where you can take what you want by force of will alone, if your will is strong enough. But be warned- you are not alone: hundreds of thousands of others just like you want what you have and will stop at nothing to deprive you of everything you have, including your very existence.

From the moment you awake the threat of complete destruction exists at all times, nowhere is completely safe. You can be destroyed at any time, any where, for any reason. Be vigilant capsuleer, for once you leave the safety of the station you bare your chest to those who would dine upon your heart for no other reason than it's Tuesday. You have been warned."

Or something similar.

My point is, start off right from the beginning with an intense indoctrination of what to expect from other players: impress upon new players that finding a good team to work with is crucial to their success. That their stupidity and ignorance will be repaid with unhesitating and merciless violence. And that the only person they can really depend upon is themselves.

Another idea: design an NPE (New Player Experience) mission where the player has to mine some minerals, and then NPCs warp in and one volley his/her ship, just so the new player can experience overwhelming firepower and that sense of helplessness in a controlled environment under controlled conditions with no real loss. This will get them acclimated to loss and set their expectations of the real possibility of what could happen to them in the near future.

By setting the expectation that this is a normal occurrence (not probable, but possible), I think that CCP will experience less whining and crying on the forums with respect to "OMG, he shot me!!!"

The players that I know that were "born and raised" in Eve on PVP and killing other players never once thought that being killed was "unfair" because it was explained to them at the start that "this is how Eve is". It's not cheating. It's not griefing. It's just Eve. Get used to it, or get out, but don't whine about it.

It is 100% CCP's responsibility to push the new hatchlings out of the nest and into the world, with both carrots and sticks. Kick players out of NPC noob corps after 90 days and into a random NPC holding corp that can be war decced. Explain to the new players that this is what is going to happen in 90 days so that they're not surprised. Explain to them that the NPC corp they're going to be moved into is probably at war with numerous player corporations that want to kill them and take their stuff. When you set that expectation and work to ensure that it sinks in and is fully understood, I think that we'll see a player base that is less focused on "WHY ME?!?!" and more focused on "KILL THEM ALL."

To the players that don't want any part of killing: that's fine, but players still need to recognize that destruction is a core fundamental of Eve and that it's not a problem and/or a bad thing that they were destroyed. As long as this key understanding is learned, mission accomplished.


So, what say you, Eve players?

Hmmm, I actually think this is a REALLY good idea. I hope CCP implements this:

"Welcome capsuleer- welcome to a universe of infinite possibilities and infinite destruction, where you can take what you want by force of will alone, if your will is strong enough. But be warned- you are not alone: hundreds of thousands of others just like you want what you have and will stop at nothing to deprive you of everything you have, including your very existence.

From the moment you awake the threat of complete destruction exists at all times, nowhere is completely safe. You can be destroyed at any time, any where, for any reason. Be vigilant capsuleer, for once you leave the safety of the station you bare your chest to those who would dine upon your heart for no other reason than it's Tuesday. You have been warned."

+1

tl;dr

/ignore insult slinging troll

Brilliant. Gets my vote.

YOU, you dumb F***

"Here is a Rubik's cube, go F--- yourself!"

Some sort of clear, "if they want to kill you they can and it is just part of the game" message should be explained.

Then again, telling a suicide bomber that it might hurt a lot before you actually die might not be the best recruitment message.

Q:"Where do you recruit suicide bombers?"
A: "The suicide hotline."

I think you're on to something here.

I also think that CCP should adopt the "Top Gun" approach to things. The U.S. Navy realized that if a pilot could survive his first few air to air combat engagements that he would probably live through the whole war. The learning curve was steep, but predictable. If CCP could replicate what the Navy does with the Top Gun program- get the new pilots to shake out all the bugs in a controlled predictable fashion, including being shot down a few times, then new players would become more acclimated to losing ships and how to maintain awareness so as to not get in a bad situation in the first place.

The deccable npc holding corps you are talking about should be the different races respective militias.

This fits with the lore of the game, and makes a lot more sense for cramming noobs into an environment where they are going to learn pvp as part of a team, and perhaps be picked up by one of the militia corps/alliances.

Yeah. It just pops. That doesn't feel the same as having three different alarms screaming in pain at you is it pops.