Out of Pod Experience

So, we're still seeing declining population numbers day by day. Changes have been made to increase the retention of new players, but... EVE still needs new players to be able to retain them. Could CCP roll out a low-bandwidth, yet wide-net advertising campaign to bring in new folks?

How about you go find someone, maybe a irl friend, and tell them how great EVE is. Maybe get them to play even if you pay their account for a month or two rather than just wait for a reward of PLEX for yourself for advertising EVE. That's really how games expand past the initial pre-launch hype, which in those cases often just decline as no one brings their friends to play.

That's the primary way how it's done. Secondly, the old way (and still done by some) is to make a new slick box and place them in stores for people to see and buy. But with things like Steam Powered, and stores removing 99% of their computer game shelves, not as easy to do any longer.

Internet ad campaigns are just not really effective. Generally it's pre-launch hype driven, otherwise can be very costly, even have a negative effect on a game.

As for your concern, I don't see it. You are speaking of peak activity numbers, which has actually been up a little since the new SOV mechanic. Not just peak (which is more geographical), but overall density through all hours. Doesn't reflect actual active accounts nor multi-training slots. But if you are worried, tell your friends how good EVE is, get them to play.

Tried, did something wrong, failed. Went to forums and demanded CCP to do something about it.
Am I doing it right?

Well, jokes aside, this is pretty much what happened. In the process I've realized that I'm actually terrible at explaining EVE to people. I mean, I know a lot of small things and details, I understand how certain mechanics work etc., yet I cannot handpick what's truly important for beginners.

I can't mirror my own experience too because there would be no point in basically saying "Read sh**ton of guides here and there, install half a dozen utilities and go search for communities on 3rd party boards while you are training skills found under this link. Are you having fun yet?".

I mean, I did...

err...
Tell > Explain


Though, cant say I've had any luck recently either. I've gotten irl people I know to play UO (many), also EQ1 and EQ2, but not really any good success here.

I almost did recently. I know this guy, has been playing EQ2 for maybe seven years. He plays the game almost every single night, mostly raiding. I told him that he might like EVE, that I'd set him up with a trial and PLEX his account some, no strings attached. He likes the idea, has played other space games in the past, just not mmo yet.

The following week, ready to get him hooked for life, I found out he canceled his EQ2 account, shut down his computer, and that he went off to play pool every night after joining a league. Pretty much no one has seen him since lol