EVE General Discussion

What you say is a bad mechanic, I and many others feel is what actually attracts many people to the game and has been a solid contributor to its longevity.

Mr Epeen

There's a surprise -- a 7-year-old character who enjoys playing a game wherein "**** people over!!" is the key selling point.

Here are some taglines:

"EVE: Because Griefing Isn't Allowed in WOW"
"EVE: For When Everyone Is Better Than You At Everything Else"
"EVE: If The Players Won't Grief You, The Developers Will"

Cheers,

Meykud

Don't see why it should be locked.

I've always been intrigued by the design philosophy behind a game set up to punish the weak. Are they really weak? People lose stuff then crawl off and rage, then come creeping back. It's like a horrified fixation. Maybe it encourages masochism, I dunno. Some seem to take it as a challenge and then engage in different types of strategies for coping. But it is character building, and it does reflect the harshness of real life in many ways. Which might be why some older players can pick it up faster - because they've experienced RL loss/hardship before. Where for younger or more innocent people it's their first taste. So they either reject the principle (and blame other players/CCP for the design) or they try bypass aspects of it by grinding in a risk-free environment.

But losing is actually fun, and it does create a self reinforcing idea of mental resilience. So some of the most hardcore people in EvE are actually losers.

But yes btw, overt griefplay purely for spite indicates signs that the playerbase is in decline and locked into a cycle of self-loathing. So that needs correcting, and I think once the balance is tipped in various areas it'll become something players actively promote for the health of the game going forward. I'm hoping CCP meetings consist of identifying these high level issues, then working out how to fix them. And the most effective way within a virtual environment like this is to get players to do it.

You should report those problems here, and if it can't be fixed by people willing enough to coach you through them, the thing has to be nerfed. The playerbase can whine all they like, but creating systems to harass new players is poisonous. And change is good, sometimes. New people can be indoctrinated into an evolving game by people willing to evolve with the game.

you know when i play a game i tend to usually read some stuff on what the game is about and what you can do, isnt that what everyone does?

Other 'we hold your hand' video games over there --->


This IS EVE.

Of course, I'm exaggerating, right? Because, if somebody ganks you in hi-sec in EVE, then for only 1 billion ISK you can flag them and retaliate!! I mean, that's cool, right?

And do you ever notice how all this pricing and letting the economy run red-hot and letting players have no place to be left alone for a moment other than inside a station amounts to one thing: Pay CCP money.

I hear their CEO got his start in business running a little street-side stand in Iceland where people could pay him to get punched in the nuts. He has now scaled that philosophy to an entire virtual world.

Incidentally, I'm especially down on EVE now because I've realized that years worth of talk about how the uber players are often CCP devs who kind of drive the game along -- is actually true. So you're not just paying for other players to grief you. You're paying CCP to actually come and grief you. That's some customer service...

Cheers,

Meykud

Right. They're rational people, and they play games, and pay to play games, and CCP's attitude is "Screw that!!"

You know, some games have PVP flags...
And some games care about scammers...
And some games want players to afford things, especially when they're paying a subscription...

Cheers,

Meykud

I can't say this is my experience of eve

and the things you state as problems, aren't - since they all have ways around them

I hear that several other games, that don't allow the stuff that Eve does, are looking for subscribers.

So, imagine this...

First off, let's just assume that there are thousands of MMORPG players who aren't morons/scrubs/sheep etc... who don't play EVE. I know it's hard for the typical EVE player to imagine that this is possible but, believe me, it is. There are many, many great, capable gamers in the world who play other MMORPGs (even WOW -- shocking, I know).

So, one of these people has $15 per month to spend on a game. They can either spend it on a game that's really challenging, but doable, and enjoy themselves, feel a sense of hard-earned accomplishment, and slowly accomplish interesting things in the company of good people.

Or they can pay CCP that $15 to pretty much let people like you rub their faces in **** for two years before they figure out how to have even a cursory fulfillment.

Why would that person spend that $15 on EVE? For the pleasure of your company?

And this isn't even taking into account that every possible occupation in EVE takes at least five hours of research just to understand and do. We're just assuming that's a given. EVE, by default, literally asks people to pay money and do hours of homework just so you people can screw them over and laugh at them.

Again, why would anybody pay for this?

Cheers,

Meykud