EVE General Discussion

I'm about to go to bed, so I won't be around for a few hours to see or respond to immediate replies to this thread, but I would like to see some discussion about encouraging players to leave NPC corps. I know this discussion has occurred before, but it seems to have fallen off the radar, and a conversation with some associates of mine has sparked a few ideas that I think we can hash out and debug.

For one, we talked about a more in-your-face approach by CCP by way of perhaps a set of NPC corporations that new players will 'graduate' to when they hit a certain number of SP, or by some other grading measure. When they hit this 'level' they are bumped out of whatever starter corporation they were in into the new one, which is subject to the same war declaration mechanics as a player run corporation. We understand that there are a few flaws with this idea, such as the wide range of corporations that would automatically wardec such corporations if they were to be introduced.

So, another idea we talked about was perhaps an incremental increase in tax rates for players that remain in NPC corporations for extended periods of time. For example, tack on an extra 5% a week or something with a notification to the player stating that joining a player-run corporation with lower tax rates would improve their income.

But we don't really like either of these ideas, even thought they have their pros, mostly because they don't really address the problem of the difficulty a new player may have in joining a corp without being made immediately aware of new-player-friendly corps like Brave Newbies, EVE Uni or RvB and they don't really encourage inclusiveness. Nor do they address the paranoia that a new applicant might be faced with if trying to join a corporation that is perhaps a little elitist, and they don't directly address the "I'm going to play an MMO solo" attitude that many such players that remain in NPC corps are often afflicted by.

We've had other ideas, but none worth mentioning for the time being. We do feel, however, that more can be done with a little thought and discussion, and we also feel that more needs to be done. In any case, I'd like to reopen this discussion again and gather the thoughts of respected GD regulars on the matter. I know being a very socially awkward person myself that one of the hardest things in this game for me was getting involved with the right group of people, which after much hassle and discomfort, I finally managed to do. I've never felt more like part of the game, and part of the community, than I have with the guys and girls I fly with now.

What makes you think that people will pay for the privilege of being dragged forcibly outside of their comfort zone?

Log on.
Choose Character.
"Oh, look! A wardec!"
Log off.

any corp requiring > 1 million SP should be banned from the new-player tag on the corp finder. there are corps using that tag who want 10 mill SP furfuxsake. this is especially bad because the finder has a finite number of results, or at least did when i last used it. no wonder people don't leave the npc when they can't even find a corp that will take their SP.

/Fixed.

Improve incentives for the player run corporations, and remove incentives for the NPC corps. Highsec corps really, if you think about it, have very little reason to exist aside from the small benefit of shared resources in a corp hangar. They have no assets worth defending, so they think nothing of dropping corp for a wardec, or just never logging in.

And NPC corps are way too lenient. I believe that after a certain period, perhaps after the first 30 days of paid subscription, your NPC corp should tax you to death. That's a good reason to move to a real corp.

"solo rewards" aren't strictly the problem, though, not as I see it. More of a distinct lack of both carrot and stick vis a vi player and NPC corps.



Plenty of places out there who aren't so Srz Bizniss. You're exaggerating the issue.

I can't see how any of these ideas would meaningfully change anyone's playstyle. If CCP did this then someone would just make a player Corp with 0% tax for people who want to play solo. You can't force social interaction by changing game mechanics.

Hotel New Eden announcement:

"With regards to our clients who stay at the kids' pool rather than go swim at our gorgeous and world-unique sharks pool, we have decided to interrupt the ongoing operations to incentivate the use of the later over the former.

Thus, no more piranhas will be added to the kid's pool, we will forbid to throw electrical appliances into the water and our personnel will be advised to not use the kid's pool as a toilet.

Also we want to deny the rumors about adding a springboard to the kids' pool so our clients enjoy their stay better. The experiments to wire springboards with claymore mines have failed so far, but we will keep trying.

~The Management"

Firstly, MMO does not mean MUST MINGLE ONLINE.

Eve is a sandbox, if you want to be the hermit in the corner than more power to you. That having been said, let's stop pretending that NPC corps are not social constructs. In NPC corps you have hundreds of potential conversational/play partners just as you do in large alliances and or player run corps. However, while an NPC groupie, you are able to team up with people without dealing with some micro-napoleon director and or CEO telling you how to play the game. You are safe from the horrible mechanic that makes corp thefts so stunningly easy and yes, while you have to deal with the real time threats of gankers, pirates and griefers, you are able to avoid stunningly boring, unwanted wardecs. Gankers, pirates, thieves, small gang pvp and bumpers can be fun, for the most part, unsolicited hisec wardecs are not.

Most importantly, to revisit an earlier point, while I was able to interact and form relationships with other players, I wasn't beholden to them. For some people being a cog in the machine is exactly what they want and they excel. More power to them. For others, having others around while calling their own shots is the path they demand. So let's stop pretending that NPC corps somehow lessen player interaction because A. you can't wardec them, or B. you can't tell them what to do.

And lets stop pretending that they don't also serve an important logistics role for those massive null sec alliances where people are playing the game the "real way."

In the spirit of contributing to the solution to this so called problem, perhaps the answer is not getting rid of NPC corps but creating sub divisions where NPC players can voluntarily make themselves potential targets in exchange for lower tax rates or some other creative reward. I imagine this could be modeled on the Faction Warfare system in some way and would provide a potentially large pool of motivated targets.

While I agree that any mechanic change in Eve is fraught with the potential for fiery failure, I would be interested to know what misconceptions you are referring to.