EVE General Discussion

As long as they don't leave the station in a Hulk or a pimped CNR/Golem and meet the real EVE

Do you really need someone to explain to you that appealing to a broader and/or different demographic will appeal to a broader and/or different demographic? Really?

The problem is no one has yet been able to flesh-out anything these mythical new players will actually *do* in EVE (as Avatars) that would attract them to the game, that would also have a impact on the game overall. Playing dress-up, gambling or playing mini-games as an avatar does not have any effect or consequences on the rest of the game or players.

Walk in Station is a decent idea I enjoy thinking about too, but I don't think in reality it is in any way applicable. There's the possibility that integrating avatar-centric gameplay changes into EVE Online would segregate the players between smaller communities within the broader community, the content for the Walk in Station would mostly be filler with little prospect of integration with EVE Online as a whole and it could also in the worst case lead the players all the avatar features brought away after they do not find the rest of the game enjoyable.

The content that Walk in Station promised was mostly mini-games and content that in general would not affect the whole mission, mining and combat that happens in EVE Online. What that means is that we would have this chunk of gameplay changes for our avatars that do not serve a realistic purpose into the gameplay. Meanwhile this content could help with breaking the loop from doing missions, mining, industry and combat that someone may be doing in the game on a regular basis it doesn't automatically mean that the work needed to achieve this is going to actually benefit the game or the players because the purpose of EVE Online is beyond what Walk in Station could bring into the gameplay. Hence the content that Walk in Station may bring is something that could phase itself out due to its very nature; as something essentially different from the game's nature.

Now, this new set of avatar features could bring a new number of players, or returning players, but now imagine that you come back to the game, and you try all the features that we know Walk in Stations could have offered; the content itself is not essential to the game, nor it would bring as much reward or entertainment compared to the traditional content offered by the game as its nature would be to support the existing content. Players who come or return into EVE Online to try these new features out would most likely, in the worst-case scenario get bored and leave the game.

Players would also become more segregated because of the features brought from Walk in Station; those that want to play just for the features recently added by CCP using the features amply, those that accept those features and use them on a low or regular basis and a number of people who refute the features and do not use them at all. Seeing how the community is already segregated depending on the player's interests, such as being in High Sec, Low Sec, Null Sec or Wormhole space further separation of the community might harm it on the long term as the arguments about what affects what and how with each and every patch would get even more chaotic in the case that Walk in Stations integrated meaningful gameplay that is relevant with the rest of EVE Online.

The ideas, and the possibilities for Walk in Station are many, but in all honesty we can see how as a concept it's not what could fit well with EVE Online, and even in the case the means were found to integrate Walk in Station there's doubt on whether it would truly engage with players or not.

advertisments that feature eyes or faces are more effective. at getting looked at.


but if a new feature comes up that's entirely undercooked, unusable by a good proportion of players, unlikely to deliver any meaningful content in years if ever and at the expense of development/iteration of the content the vast majority of the niche userbase enjoys, a whole lot of people unsub and shoot a statue. then development gets delayed indefinitely

~i advise you get over whining about it~

The value of having a relatable human(oid) character you can actually see and walk around with in a game that's otherwise incredibly impersonal and removed from the player is immense. WiS would work with only having a social component to avatar play in the beginning, additional gameplay is not necessary - Having a way to leave the ship and interact with other players adds a certain level of immersion and the ability to connect to your avatar in a way that's currently not possible.

This might seem like an incredibly minute and trivial issue, but i wouldn't underestimate the advantages a feature like this will bring.

I'll step in and reinforce the above, as well as add my .02:

Star Trek Online -- ship/station interiors shortly after launch.

Star Citizen -- promises accessible station interiors.

Stellarbrink -- Kickstarter project, already has support for interiors (and easily-customizable ones, at that).

All of those are less than six years old.

EVE is eleven years old, and hasn't yet done what at least three other younger spaceship games have done, or are promising to do.

The unfortunate truth for all you WiS-haters is that no matter how loudly you whine about 'spaceship barbie', ten more years of the 'same thing EVE's always been' will not sustain a playing population.

This, a thousand times.

I understand how promoting Avatar content via some "meaningful gameplay" is the smartest way to look at it's potential development if you want to win over the majority of the playerbase, but me personally I couldn't give 2 sh*ts about a gameplay aspect and would thoroughly enjoy the mere social aspect.

I was also dead once but Tribal Liberation Force brought me back. Now I'm smarter, faster and stronger.

I'm here because of Incarna and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. I don't like where they were taking WiS and I'm glad that got scrapped. I would like it revisited with actual (read: fun) gameplay, though.