EVE New Citizens Q&A

We all know EVE Online is a great game, but should it be free to play?
I don't mean free to play as in you can just come and do everything a paid user can do, I mean do everything a person on trial mode can do.
For example; everybody knows of World of Warcraft and how you used to have to pay every month. Then it changed and created a new rule instead, it became free to play. You could play to your hearts content until you reached level 20, of course there were restrictions, however those restrictions were the same as if you were playing on trial. If you wished to advance further and no longer have restrictions you then had to start paying the monthly fee.
So why not do the same thing with EVE Online as well? 14 days of free trial is always nice but why stop there? Like WoW they could go ahead and make EVE free but still keep all the restrictions and limitations that you would have if you were on trial.
Like this, players would be able to enjoy playing EVE to their complete satisfaction, more than just 14 days, and when they decided they wished to go further and explore everything else EVE has to offer, they could then go ahead and pay the monthly fee.
Of course by doing so those who own EVE will not be able to gain as much money anymore at first, but in the long run it will make people enjoy playing EVE even more. Instead right now we have new players come and ask if its worth paying $15 to play this game.
So what do you people think? Would it be better if EVE Online became a free to play game? While of course still keeping an appropriate level of restrictions and limitations so as not to reveal all the wonders EVE has to offer?

no, no it should not

There are a number of professions that need a minimum of skills (less than 1 month) to affect the game in profound ways.


Mining? Even if you are locked out from using a Retriever (as trial users are) you can make an "infinite" amount of free accounts and use Ventures to make up for the lack of "high-end equipment."
This way... you can earn a steady "free" income (until the prices for minerals crashes from oversupply as everyone and their mother does the same thing).

Planetary Interaction? The only PI skill that trail accounts are locked out from is the one that gives more accurate surveying data.
Outside of this... trail accounts can set up as many planets as they want. Last I heard, you can make a very pretty penny on a solo account if you know what you are doing. Now imagining everyone else in the game doing it on a free account.

Do you like trading? Enjoy manipulating the market? Trail accounts are not able to make contracts, margin trade, or do massive bulk orders due to skill restrictions. Everything else is fair game.

Does a newbie want to be a scout for your fleet? Forget it. You already have a "free" account in a Rookie Ship to do that for you. No need to compromise your fleet or your sanity by allowing someone you don't know and/or doesn't know exactly what they are doing to keep "eyes" out for your fleet.

Do you like PvP? Train 3 accounts for a month so they can use a frigate or destroyer semi-decently (there are no skill restrictions). Get the rest of your alliance to do that too. Now you can attack your enemies in WAVES.



Basically... it would not take much for people to create multiple "free" characters to create "free" income streams for their paid main character. And if they are really good... they would be able to afford PLEX doing this (free accounts allowing you to play for free... what delicious irony!)

No. And also a little bit more no.

You get a 2 week trial (a month if you just ask a current player for a buddy trial) to decide if you like the game. If at the end of your trial you still aren't sure, you can pay for 1 month to decide properly.

If you're that desperate to enjoy flying around eve for free and don't mind the trial restrictions you can always do another trial later to decide if EvE is something worth paying for.

Free to play is a really bad idea from the perspective of the serious player, because it means the company must find new ways to make money from us, which generally speaking means making the game so bad it's literally no fun without a whole host of micro-transactions.

I'd also add that the F2P model tends to attract a certain casual (young) crowd i personally wouldn't like to see swarming over my EvE.

Indeed. It should be like WoW, a game which probably won't be free any time soon, but got long enough trial to make yourself known with the game before making the decision whenether to buy it or not. I really disagree with the f2p on EvE, really!

No, it keeps out the riff-raff. Besides, it makes us behave, just a little bit

no. Eve does not need a gimmick to exist. A good game is worth paying to play.

Free to Play boils down to Pay to Win, surviving on microtransactions that impact the fairness of a game. It cannot be expected to be funded by buying Space Barbie clothing for avatars that never leave their CQ. The moment Eve begins selling any item that actually impacts more than the appearance of ships, is the day I quit it forever.

FTP relies on players simply wanting to buy their way to 'winning' which is not how Eve works.
Buying stuff in Eve has never been any guarantee of victory, famously so (see Awful Loss Of the Day at TMC for examples). Thus far, the only people I've ever seen support an FTP Eve Online have fallen directly in the camp of people that RL money should equal 'win'.

Eve is a constantly evolving game that still offers major changes and updates. That costs money. If all Eve ever got was yet more clothing or ship skins, the FTP might cover that cost, but since CCP does much more with Eve than that- it requires a source of reliable income.

Considering the vast amounts of time I spend involved with Eve, both in game and out- it is by far one of the cheapest sources of entertainment I know of.

In several years of playing Eve I have never chafed at the cost of a pizza for a monthly subscription. Nor have I ever used a PLEX to get around paying for it. If I can afford a computer capable of running it, an internet connection, and live in a stable enough environment to have the time to waste on a video game- then arguing over pocket change to play would be pathetic.
I think Eve would be better served if it removed PLEX entirely. Although we would lose out on mocking the ALOD purple warriors that come to Eve believing they can buy victory with RL money, we would at least remove RMT as a constant blight on the economy.

Eve needs better players, not simply more of them. It certainly doesn't need players convinced that the more they spend, in game or out, should be the deciding factor of who wins and who loses.

sure you can have your f2p...but as an npc, no clone

Good thing you are posting from an NPC Char. We all know NPC Chars opinion is worth nothing and therefore irrelevant.

On the flip side, prolly a good thing as well since you would have been wardecced already.

Thank you for that.

It does look nice. It is almost as if CCP created something for people like me. It re-invigorated me because I was at a point of selling my char.