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[PROPOSAL] improve info tab
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Solo Player
#1 - 2011-11-08 00:04:44 UTC
(a pet peeve of mine, but more importantly, an example of what I think a porposal should look like - discuss)

[ISSUE]
Info tabs suffer from bad layout, restricted useability and lack of interesting background information. While players have long learned to cope with the former two, the latter has become intolerable.

[SOLUTION]
Add a couple more properties to info tabs:
- "dimensions" to sublunar objects in space
- "population" and "gdp" to celestials

[DETAILS]
All properties would be added to the list of attributes.
"Dimensions" would reveal length, width and height of ships, stations and big dumb objects, helping out with the sense of scale EVE so often lacks.
"Population" and "gdp" would be randomly generated for celestials, modified by celestial type, size and sec status. They would offer just a little more insight on why we should care about those pretty marbles in the skies.

[PROS]
- adds flavour, satisfies curiosity
- squelching curiosity engenders more of the same and, through that, increased identification with the EVE universe
- won't require much work
- will hardly require any QA
- "population" and "gdp" may offer a basis to some later PI feature
- will not realistically wreck some other aspect of gameplay

[CONS]
- it is quite useless
- info tabs will go on sucking
- clutters up my view even more
- takes artists away from fixing those bugs

[TL:DR]
Some uncomplicated additions to info tabs would add much flavour and satisfy curiosity of so inclined players. Have a heart, dammit!
Endovior
PFU Consortium
#2 - 2011-11-08 01:36:57 UTC
This sounds like a job... not for any actual developers, but for ISD. The developers are busy doing big, important things that only they can do... but grinding out flavor-only numbers for every item and celestial in all of Eve? Yeah, that kind of thing would work best as a volunteer project.

As an ISD project, supported; heck, I might join such an effort myself. So long as it doesn't distract the devs from anything important, I'm all for it.
mxzf
Shovel Bros
#3 - 2011-11-08 03:03:15 UTC
Endovior wrote:
This sounds like a job... not for any actual developers, but for ISD. The developers are busy doing big, important things that only they can do... but grinding out flavor-only numbers for every item and celestial in all of Eve? Yeah, that kind of thing would work best as a volunteer project.

As an ISD project, supported; heck, I might join such an effort myself. So long as it doesn't distract the devs from anything important, I'm all for it.


This. Due to the fact that you're adding pure, unadulterated fluff it should definitely be purely a community volunteer effort, no devs involved wasting time on meaningless fluff.

With that proviso, I can see how it could be interesting to a few people. I personally couldn't care less about seeing meaningless information like that, but if some people in the community want to do it and it doesn't affect me, I don't mind.
Solo Player
#4 - 2011-11-08 12:19:23 UTC
I'm not sure it could be done by ISD alone - I doubt they'll have the tools to do anything like that. If anything, anyone might start an effort to enhance 'pedia entries for planets and stuff on their own that might at a later point be integrated or linked with the info tabs in-game.

However, any modification of info tabs (i.e. to add another entry to the attributes table) will require a few minutes of dev effort. If they did spare that, they might as well put in a seed that gives a weighted random value to all planets. ISD might or might not be able to adjust those values afterwards.
Considering the amount of physical nonsense that mars planetary attributes (climates getting warmer at more distant orbits...), somebody needs to have a look at those numbers at some point anyway.
Montevius Williams
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2011-11-08 20:18:01 UTC
Empire temperate planets should have population details

"The American Government indoctrination system known as public education has been relentlessly churning out socialists for over 20 years". - TravisWB
Endovior
PFU Consortium
#6 - 2011-11-08 20:36:26 UTC
True, ISD probably doesn't have the tools to add extra slots to the existing info tabs. That said, it should be fairly trivial to get them a database which they can populate with reasonable-seeming numbers, and which, once populated, could be imported into the game itself to add extra fluff to the universe.
Solo Player
#7 - 2011-11-08 22:25:02 UTC
It would be trivial, if ISD were actually an active entity. Not sure what their status is, but no matter which branch, they do not seem productive. This job here would probably be down Team Yarr's or team M's alley, and neither showed any activity at all in recent months.
Hell, I'd do this myself if they let me, but I feel intimidated by their signup form.
Endovior
PFU Consortium
#8 - 2011-11-09 04:55:40 UTC
I meant it'd be trivial to set up the database; very non-trivial to populate it! You're looking at multiple data entries for every place and item in the game!

But yeah; if this were to be implemented, there'd have to be some kind of public announcement / call for volunteers; it's an epic task, requiring of an epic amount of work, almost certainly beyond the current scope of the current ISD projects, but within the scope of ISD's mandate.
Tidurious
Blatant Alt Corp
#9 - 2011-11-09 18:51:39 UTC
Let's let the DEVs focus on actual issues, not fluff.

-1
Solo Player
#10 - 2011-11-09 19:05:45 UTC
One man's fun might be another man's fluff. ;)

On a more serious note, fluff does have some justification - I don't think you'd enjoy EVE quite as much without any. Fluff is especially good if it doesn't cost much and yet holds some appeal for a sizeable group of players.
Of course, it's up to this thread to determine there is that sizeable group! Ugh
Smiling Menace
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#11 - 2011-11-10 02:48:14 UTC
Undecided on this one.

Although it does seem trivial, it does add a little more depth to EVE.

However, there are other more important things to take up CCP's time so I would probably add that one to the 'Nice to have if you have a spare moment' category.