Assembly Hall

You may have noticed the lower and lower number of pilots online. I shouldn't be able to easily get into Jita on the weekend or during midday in the week, and yet, no Jita congestion.

We need to bring those days back.

But how?

I've mentioned before that EVE players aren't likely to go door to door like Mormon missionaries, preaching the word of EVE Online, and word of mouth by other means doesn't seem to be bringing people in.

Has CCP mentioned anything about any advertising?

PVP is pretty central to EVE Online, however. Are you suggesting a 'no non-consensual PVP' area of null or something? I think we'd see interesting trends from that, but it'd still be against the grain of EVE.

This is summer time, a low time for Eve, plus a few more possible factors at work like players waiting for the new sov, or the removal of isboxers. I would not say the current low numbers are too surprising, or dire.

Efforts to bring new players in should be focused at the start of college/school i.e. September, not the middle of summer, but imho the main problem is not really about bringing new players in, is making those players that come in and try Eve to stay.

If we do not improve efforts toward retention, then efforts to bring new players are just a waste.

From the newcomer perspective, there are so many systems that favor vets: High cost implants, off-grid links, purple modules, fancy expensive tech/pirate ships, existing networks and batphones, without mentioning the fact that established powers can so easily spy and collapse/scam newer corps/alliances, or vet players with multiple accounts paid from the taxes of the many and top down income that most new players can't even dream of unless they stay engaged in the game for a few years.

New players must be presented with perspectives that they also can achieve something, within a few months.

I believe Fozziesov can deliver on this perspective, which of course goes against the interests of the established powers/players. This is a very difficult balance to maintain but retention is the core of the subject at the moment, more so than acquisition of new players

Eve is science fiction that has by nature not such a large fan base like other genres. I'm pretty sure that many people who are into science fiction and online games have already tried Eve and decided for or against it, for whatever reason.
So who are the new players? For which kind of player CCP should make advertising? This is a question we have to ask ourselves.

A shiny tv spot at the prime time sure will get a lot of subscriptions, but if the game can't fulfill the promises it is pointless. The subscriptions will climb fast and after some time go even so fast back down.


What long term effect has it to pay youtubers or twitchers to play this game? Already the point you have to pay them to play is an argument against the game.


For me the strength of this game is its diversity. That's something that needs more attention, not only the pvp elements. So Eve can reach a broader variety of players and potential subscribers.

I don't think that Eve is too hard for new player to start. Yes people can be assholes and some of them will always be but in terms of ISK I think it's easier today. If you don't agree with the latter, throw your Venture away and start mining with an Iteron.

Unfortunately, they fired the staff that got 75% of CQ done, if I read the article from last year correctly.

Think of your spaceship as your confines, but you move your confines with you rather than moving out of them... unless you get ganked and podded, THEN you move out of your confines... mostly. And if a corpse collector comes along, it gets new confines while you buy or build a different set of confines for your new clone.

Better incentivize youtube content. I'm a recent trial account gone full subscriber, and it was the "This is EVE" trailer that got me to jump on a longing standing desire of mine.

But it was the plethora of really great content by youtubers like Wingspan (hey!), JohnnyPew, Scott Manley, and others that made me hit that upgrade to full account button.

Now imagine someone like Day9 streaming the NPE to 600,000 viewers.

Can you think of any reason why that might not end well?

The problem here is that we have two types of personalities.

The ones who can entertain himself and the ones who need someone/something who says what to do. Most people are of the latter kind even if many of them may disagree.

And here we have a problem. A youtuber/twitcher leads through something. Same with articles and books. But Eve is different. After the tutorials the player is left alone. Many of you would now suggest that the newbie should look for a corp, to find someone who shows him/her how much fun Eve really is.

Exactly here we have again the problem that the player has to be active by himself to get to that point. He has to look for a corp, has to ask, to try, eventually to leave to try it with a new corp again and so on. That all doesn't look like fun for me. It also gives a new player a lot of time to think about the differences between selected youtube content, a few single battles which made it into the press and the reality of Eve.

That's why I would like to see more NPC and story driven content or even WiS. Keeping new players busy, showing them the diversity and possibilities within New Eden and give them more time to get into touch with real peoples.

The end of the story is, without changing the game itself youtubers and adds alone won't get many new players.

I think you mean "get people to stay."

I played a long time ago, took time off, came back, and now I'm done for good.

And this is why: There is nothing interesting to do that doesn't involve getting messed with by jerks.

I've watched pirates camp market-hub stations with only two cruisers.

This is, literally, the only game I can play for 50 hours in a week and make no meaningful advancement at all. And that's why EVE is losing players, and that's why I've no cancelled my three accounts. For most players, it's a huge learning curve leading to a miserable experience.

o7

Goodbye.

It's true that there needs to be a reason for new players to stay.

I have seen fairly high retention rates of my own referrals, but mainly because a lot of them specifically join the game and train to sign up for WINGSPAN corporations.

If media personalities were to act as ads for Eve, they would most likely need to helm corps to capitalize on their fame and retain players who want to FLY WITH SENPAI.

I have tried to convince some of my YouTuber fans with decent followings to play EVE, but have not been successful. They see it as a niche game they won't make money on with YouTube/Twitch monetization. I would like to be able to tell them they'll make money with the EVE Affiliates program but the program website is in shambles so good luck selling anyone on that.