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Decline in numbers... starting to turn into RAPID!!!

First post
Author
Otso Bakarti
Doomheim
#2561 - 2015-11-22 00:05:34 UTC
More tongue-in-cheek a la 90% of all stats on the internet are invented on the spot.

There just isn't anything that can be said!

ISD Max Trix
ISD Community Communications Liaisons
ISD Alliance
#2562 - 2015-11-24 02:29:01 UTC
Deleted an empty post.

ISD Max Trix

Lieutenant

Community Communication Liaisons (CCLs)

Interstellar Services Department

I do not respond to EVE mails about forum moderation.

Raffael Ramirez
Alcohol Fuelled
#2563 - 2015-11-24 04:56:03 UTC
Jenn aSide wrote:
...I believe totally that a big part of what is happening to EVE (and I don't think it is as bad as the doomsayers think) is that people aren't reacting to it not being like other games, rather people who would have liked the EVE of old are reacting to the watered down nature of the current game. CCP unintentionally and with good intentions threw away some of the challenge that made EVE addictive. The EVE I started playing in 2007 didn't give one flip about you (and I liked that, I care about me, i don't need a video game to do that for me lol), the EVE of 2015 greats you with so much hand holding that once it stops holding your hand, you don't have a clue about what to do...until the numerous pop ups come to tell you what to to, in which case you find that being hand held is no fun (for the kinds of people who would seek out EVE in the 1st place).


That is exactly how I feel, sadly there is nothing that can be done about it.

I would rather play the broken game that EVE was in the beginning than the new and shiny EVE that lost all of its charm.
But I have been told that loyal veterans don't make money and the hordes of players with a 2 minute attention span are the cash cows nowadays so I just assume I am not the right target audience anymore.


Indahmawar Fazmarai
#2564 - 2015-11-24 07:51:46 UTC  |  Edited by: Indahmawar Fazmarai
Raffael Ramirez wrote:
Jenn aSide wrote:
...I believe totally that a big part of what is happening to EVE (and I don't think it is as bad as the doomsayers think) is that people aren't reacting to it not being like other games, rather people who would have liked the EVE of old are reacting to the watered down nature of the current game. CCP unintentionally and with good intentions threw away some of the challenge that made EVE addictive. The EVE I started playing in 2007 didn't give one flip about you (and I liked that, I care about me, i don't need a video game to do that for me lol), the EVE of 2015 greats you with so much hand holding that once it stops holding your hand, you don't have a clue about what to do...until the numerous pop ups come to tell you what to to, in which case you find that being hand held is no fun (for the kinds of people who would seek out EVE in the 1st place).


That is exactly how I feel, sadly there is nothing that can be done about it.

I would rather play the broken game that EVE was in the beginning than the new and shiny EVE that lost all of its charm.
But I have been told that loyal veterans don't make money and the hordes of players with a 2 minute attention span are the cash cows nowadays so I just assume I am not the right target audience anymore.




You know...

For many years, my country had mandatory conscription to the Army. Men in their 18-20 would be cosncripted and would take mandatory military training, so the Army was compsoed of a hard core of professionals and wave after wave of conscripts with limited and dubious military training.

Since that system was in place for almost 60 years, there's a clear divide between older men who did it, and younger men who don't.

Men who did it usaly think that they had it real tough, whereas the later waves of cosncripts had it easy, and the current generation who can't even conceive being removed form civilian life forcibly are missing a chance to "smarten up" and "toughen up" and "beat it". Younger generation, apparently, are softer, wimpier, for not suffering conscription. They have it too easy.

Of coruse, that's what veterans say. Reality, though, is a *****.

The "tough" veterans who were conscripted, for an instance, missed for 40 years the chance to topple a dictatorship in my ocuntry. Also, when they were released to civilian lfie they managed to buy their homes with rouglhy the equivalent to 5 years of salary. That allowed many of them to buy a second home and own cars and a moderate degree of consumerism in a poorish country. Whereas currently the "wimps" who never were conscripted face 50% of unemployment and the need to invest 18 full years of salary to buy a home, among other financial hardships.


TL;DR: the fact that some people thrived or "beated it" in a difficult environment doesn't means that said environment was better than the current milder one, and even as younger generations don't face the same hardships of the past, they may be facing some even tougher ones. Like a game where veterans just ravage through your hardly earned space because they outnumber you 10 to 1 in members and 20 to 1 in experience and organization.... aka "Imperium vs the Cloud Ring noob threat".
Spyra Gryra
Cartamundi
#2565 - 2015-11-24 12:36:33 UTC
Nice story, Indahmawar Fazmarai. I'm not sure how you thought your little socioeconomic essay was analogous to some noobsec alliance blobbing you and your band of bumblefucks.

Jenn aSide
Soul Machines
The Initiative.
#2566 - 2015-11-24 13:42:00 UTC
Indahmawar Fazmarai wrote:


TL;DR: the fact that some people thrived or "beated it" in a difficult environment doesn't means that said environment was better than the current milder one, and even as younger generations don't face the same hardships of the past, they may be facing some even tougher ones. Like a game where veterans just ravage through your hardly earned space because they outnumber you 10 to 1 in members and 20 to 1 in experience and organization.... aka "Imperium vs the Cloud Ring noob threat".


That's just BS (and those cloud ring noobs are delivering some nice punishment). What you jut said amounted to this:

OLD GUY: "I foughtn in WWII, I landed on Omaha beach on D-Day and watch all my friends die. When i came home from the war I had problems readjusting, but eventually I made it through those dark days, met your grandmother and lived a good life. But we had out ups and downs, we almost lost the farm 3 times before you were born.

YOUNG D-BAG: "Blah blah blah gramps, you don't know what hardship is. Yesterday I lost the charger to my IPhone and it was too late to go get another one. All night I was stuck at home chained to my laptop just to see my facebook page, it was HORRIBLE!"





Lucas Kell
Solitude Trading
S.N.O.T.
#2567 - 2015-11-24 13:57:39 UTC
Jenn aSide wrote:
That's just BS (and those cloud ring noobs are delivering some nice punishment). What you jut said amounted to this:

OLD GUY: "I foughtn in WWII, I landed on Omaha beach on D-Day and watch all my friends die. When i came home from the war I had problems readjusting, but eventually I made it through those dark days, met your grandmother and lived a good life. But we had out ups and downs, we almost lost the farm 3 times before you were born.

YOUNG D-BAG: "Blah blah blah gramps, you don't know what hardship is. Yesterday I lost the charger to my IPhone and it was too late to go get another one. All night I was stuck at home chained to my laptop just to see my facebook page, it was HORRIBLE!"
To be clear, are you suggesting that because life during WW2 was tough we should never progress beyond that, and modern improvements should just be thrown away? And are you saying that the same should apply to EVE, the game should never be improved because back in the day when half the mechanics didn't exist or didn't work, it was tougher for us?

The funny thing is that if you got a WW2 vet to tell a WW1 vet about hardship it would seem just as ridiculous.

The Indecisive Noob - EVE fan blog.

Wholesale Trading - The new bulk trading mailing list.

Chopper Rollins
hahahlolspycorp
#2568 - 2015-11-24 14:00:29 UTC
Indahmawar Fazmarai made a very good point and you both completely missed it.
Shame.
Then Lucas drops in with inanity.
Come on guise.
Indahmawar, there has to be a way to make the same point in a much shorter fashion, i'm with you %100 on that one.


Goggles. Making me look good. Making you look good.

Indahmawar Fazmarai
#2569 - 2015-11-24 14:03:19 UTC
Spyra Gryra wrote:
Nice story, Indahmawar Fazmarai. I'm not sure how you thought your little socioeconomic essay was analogous to some noobsec alliance blobbing you and your band of bumblefucks.



Analogy is a risky technique, since it doesn't suits to all intelects.
Lucas Kell
Solitude Trading
S.N.O.T.
#2570 - 2015-11-24 14:18:04 UTC
Chopper Rollins wrote:
Indahmawar Fazmarai made a very good point and you both completely missed it.
Shame.
Then Lucas drops in with inanity.
Come on guise.
Indahmawar, there has to be a way to make the same point in a much shorter fashion, I'm with you %100 on that one.
I didn't read it to be honest, I responded to Jenn's demand to cling to a status quo that no longer exists. Don't get me wrong, I was going to read it but it was long and there's a broken English problem so I thought "**** it". Having given it a quick scan I'm going to make the wild assumption that the point was "people always think they had it tougher in their day but that's not necessarily true" followed immediately with a not-so-subtle "grr goons".

The Indecisive Noob - EVE fan blog.

Wholesale Trading - The new bulk trading mailing list.

Jenn aSide
Soul Machines
The Initiative.
#2571 - 2015-11-24 14:23:00 UTC  |  Edited by: Jenn aSide
Lucas Kell wrote:
Jenn aSide wrote:
That's just BS (and those cloud ring noobs are delivering some nice punishment). What you jut said amounted to this:

OLD GUY: "I foughtn in WWII, I landed on Omaha beach on D-Day and watch all my friends die. When i came home from the war I had problems readjusting, but eventually I made it through those dark days, met your grandmother and lived a good life. But we had out ups and downs, we almost lost the farm 3 times before you were born.

YOUNG D-BAG: "Blah blah blah gramps, you don't know what hardship is. Yesterday I lost the charger to my IPhone and it was too late to go get another one. All night I was stuck at home chained to my laptop just to see my facebook page, it was HORRIBLE!"
To be clear, are you suggesting that because life during WW2 was tough we should never progress beyond that, and modern improvements should just be thrown away? And are you saying that the same should apply to EVE, the game should never be improved because back in the day when half the mechanics didn't exist or didn't work, it was tougher for us?

The funny thing is that if you got a WW2 vet to tell a WW1 vet about hardship it would seem just as ridiculous.


No one ever said anything about not improving anything. I was responding to the stupid idea that people who experience a milder version of something somehow have it "just as hard, or harder" than People from the less mild Era.

In the real world The lesson to be learned here is that "progress" needs to be controlled, tempered, and understood (while also never forgetting the fundamentals of life ie life is short) unless you want to create a weak and decadent "entitlement class" of people that couldn't find their back sides with both hands and a flashlight. Victor Hugo said it best: "Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters".

In game it means stop spoon feeding and coddling people if you want them to enjoy your game. While people instinctively and unconsciously seek comfort (prosperity), it's actually Challenge (adversity) that makes a game worth while. CCP has killed much of the challenge of the game (without intending to).

For example, when i started, getting a "faction ship" was an accomplishment, now it's literally 20 minutes worth of FW missions in a stealth bomber.


On a side note, it's not surprising to see Lucas Kell jump to the defense of decadence, selfishness and learned weakness.
Indahmawar Fazmarai
#2572 - 2015-11-24 14:36:12 UTC  |  Edited by: Indahmawar Fazmarai
Chopper Rollins wrote:
Indahmawar Fazmarai made a very good point and you both completely missed it.
Shame.
Then Lucas drops in with inanity.
Come on guise.
Indahmawar, there has to be a way to make the same point in a much shorter fashion, i'm with you %100 on that one.




I'll try.

The game was different when veterans started. We know the story of those who survived to it and they are OK with how it was, since they survived to it. The hardships of that EVE past, are also past now.

The game as is now, is something veterans don't know since they are not new players. New players are learning what are the hardships of EVE now, even if those hardships are not the same as when the veterans started.

Veterans see how the game changed, and they think that if it was good for them so should be for everybody else, even if the game is not the same since the veterans changed it with their actions.

The irony is that the worst hardship for new players are veteran players.

Veterans players convinced CCP that the game didn't needed radical new content that could be assimilated and mastered from scratch. So now the game just keeps adding content which demands to learn older content already mastered by veterans, in order to reach it. Like moving golaposts, new players are left behind by game evolution. When they master T1 dessies, CCP adds T3 dessies and then command dessies, so the veterans have new toys, but the new players will never enjoy those toys since they're still mastering T1... flying them against the veterans with T3. (That was an analogy, btw)

Veterans had a tougher game but that game didn't included veterans as they are, and didn't included CCP turning a deaf ear to anyone not old and organized enough to complain and demand change.

The new sovereignty wasn't made for new players. Maybe new players wouldn't want a sovereignty system to start with. We will never know; CCP and the powers that be decided that the game needed a new sovereignty for those already enjoying(?) it.

That kind of top-heavy development permeates everything. And veterans, with their "tougher" game, never faced anything like it. For the most part, they were merrily ignored by CCP... P


TL;DR again. EVE is a gerontocracy. Old farts complain on how easy have it young ones since they don't face the hardships of the past, but can't understand the hardships of now since those hardships include the old farts themselves.

Old guy: I was in Vietnam! I saw my brothers die! You don't know!
Young d-bag: I was in Paris! I saw my brothers die at Bataclan! You don't know!

(One last irony is that younger generations facing the hardships of now, tend to underestimate the hardships of the past since they're past... and if they're gone, then they weren't that terrible, were they? Past with a known solution is always 100x less frightening than the present without a known solution)
Jenn aSide
Soul Machines
The Initiative.
#2573 - 2015-11-24 14:54:49 UTC  |  Edited by: Jenn aSide
Again, nonsense. Like in real life so in game, you can measure hardship.

Economically: A couple years ago a friend introduced another friend to the game. We taught him how to run missions and explore and such. A couple months into the game he wanted to join us running incursions for TVP. I loaned him my old rookie incursion Maelstrom. 2 days later he gave it back because with the isk from the incursion he was able to buy and fit the TVP 'basic' t2 fit Machariel. 2 days from new to incursions to flying a Pirate Faction battleship in pve...

When I started in 2007 my buddy sold me his navy raven on an installment plan. Took 2 months to pay it off running missions every day.

When i started there was no warning to you are about to go into low sec. Now there is. When i started there was no warning that you were about to undock without mission critical items. Now there are. When i started missions would tell you the objective but NOT how to complete them, now they do.

CONCORD could be tanked or evaded. Gankers got insurance pay outs from ganking, can flipping was real, ships had less EHP. Many of the defensive modules like MJDs and target breakers didn't exist. If you got jammed and thought you were smart for carrying FoF missiles, before your ship exploded you got to watch FoF missiles slam into the nearest structure, now they ignore structures unless you directly agress the structure 1st.

A noob in null sec was limited to belt ratting, now that same noob can be in a navy Vexor making 50 mil per hour in a matter of days after subbing. Before if you wanted to make 80k LP form one mission you had to do serious work training and getting into a ship that could do level 5s and grinding the hell-standings to do it. Today, you sub, train caracal for a few days, join a FW corp and BOOM, 80k LP from one FW mission.

On and On and On and On I could go. Half this game is aquisition, and it's so easy to aquire wealth now it's crazy. 1.2 bil plex crazy.
Robert Sawyer
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#2574 - 2015-11-24 15:05:52 UTC
Remember that the high number of players during the 2013-2014 period was because of the Crimewatch update, where a lot of interesting content was added to the game. The playerbase has gone a bit down because of Fozziesov, where the devs, in their infinite wisdom, dumbed down sovereignty mechanics and removed some depth from the game, causing a lot of vets to quit. But also take note that many capsuleers are adults / busy teenagers with work / school to attend to. The player count will go up during the holidays.

"And when, at last, the moment is yours, that agony will become your greatest triumph."

Gorebane
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#2575 - 2015-11-24 15:09:22 UTC
Indahmawar Fazmarai wrote:


Veterans players convinced CCP that the game didn't needed radical new content that could be assimilated and mastered from scratch. So now the game just keeps adding content which demands to learn older content already mastered by veterans, in order to reach it. Like moving golaposts, new players are left behind by game evolution. When they master T1 dessies, CCP adds T3 dessies and then command dessies, so the veterans have new toys, but the new players will never enjoy those toys since they're still mastering T1... flying them against the veterans with T3. (That was an analogy, btw)

Veterans had a tougher game but that game didn't included veterans as they are, and didn't included CCP turning a deaf ear to anyone not old and organized enough to complain and demand change.



Your problem is, is that no matter what people tell you, you think Veterans suck and you're hard done by. When we started you needed almost every skill to level 5 before you could learn the next. So veterans the way you see them, didn't exist, but they did, because people that went a PvP route from the start left PvEers behind by (and I jest not) YEARS.

CCP have catered massively to the "I want it now" crowd as has been explained to you multiple times by allowing you to be n pretty much any ship you want in the space of 2 months from a brand new character.

Stop bitching about veterans, the reason they are the bane of your (noobs) life, is not because "they" make your life miserable, but because of your impatience and "I want it now" attitude, YOU make your own life miserable.
Lucas Kell
Solitude Trading
S.N.O.T.
#2576 - 2015-11-24 15:22:32 UTC
Jenn aSide wrote:
No one ever said anything about not improving anything. I was responding to the stupid idea that people who experience a milder version of something somehow have it "just as hard, or harder" than People from the less mild Era.
But then that in itself isn't stupid either. I'm a programmer, I write software. If I were to have learned to do so 15 years earlier, it would have been low level languages with significantly less evolved tools. It would have been without a doubt harder to learn. But then the end products would generally have been significantly simpler and jobs would have had far less competition. Just because the tools to do the job have evolved to make the basic mechanics (the actual programming) easier doesn't mean that as a career it's easier.

The same is with EVE. Basic mechanics are safer and simpler, but there are more mechanics, far more players and the players that are already here know a heck of a lot more to use against you.

Jenn aSide wrote:
In the real world The lesson to be learned here is that "progress" needs to be controlled, tempered, and understood (while also never forgetting the fundamentals of life ie life is short) unless you want to create a weak and decadent "entitlement class" of people that couldn't find their back sides with both hands and a flashlight. Victor Hugo said it best: "Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters".

In game it means stop spoon feeding and coddling people if you want them to enjoy your game. While people instinctively and unconsciously seek comfort (prosperity), it's actually Challenge (adversity) that makes a game worth while. CCP has killed much of the challenge of the game (without intending to).
Or perhaps in game, like in real life, progress simply needs to be controlled, which is what CCP are doing. You seem to reject any progress that makes things easier. If we're going to go with random quotes, Harold Wilson said: "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."

Jenn aSide wrote:
For example, when i started, getting a "faction ship" was an accomplishment, now it's literally 20 minutes worth of FW missions in a stealth bomber.
Times change. Now there are new challenges. And if the game is still around in 10 years time there will be people who started playing now sayign "In my day...".

The Indecisive Noob - EVE fan blog.

Wholesale Trading - The new bulk trading mailing list.

Kaarous Aldurald
Black Hydra Consortium.
#2577 - 2015-11-24 15:44:17 UTC
Indahmawar Fazmarai wrote:

TL;DR: the fact that some people thrived or "beated it" in a difficult environment doesn't means that said environment was better than the current milder one


No, but the part where the older version of the game was both more popular and grew more quickly does.

"Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws."

One of ours, ten of theirs.

Best Meltdown Ever.

Lucas Kell
Solitude Trading
S.N.O.T.
#2578 - 2015-11-24 15:46:08 UTC  |  Edited by: Lucas Kell
Jenn aSide wrote:
Again, nonsense. Like in real life so in game, you can measure hardship.

Economically: A couple years ago a friend introduced another friend to the game. We taught him how to run missions and explore and such. A couple months into the game he wanted to join us running incursions for TVP. I loaned him my old rookie incursion Maelstrom. 2 days later he gave it back because with the isk from the incursion he was able to buy and fit the TVP 'basic' t2 fit Machariel. 2 days from new to incursions to flying a Pirate Faction battleship in pve...
You say that like it was impossible back in the day. Step 1. Buy cheap ship, Step 2. Give it a faction name. Step 3. Sell it for an extortionate price. Step 4. Moonwalk away.

It's always been possible to make buckets of isk if you have the knowhow and are willing to put the effort in. It's also easier if you have friends to loan you stuff.

Jenn aSide wrote:
When I started in 2007 my buddy sold me his navy raven on an installment plan. Took 2 months to pay it off running missions every day.
So because you seemingly took a long time to learn, noobies should be punished now?

Jenn aSide wrote:
When i started there was no warning to you are about to go into low sec. Now there is. When i started there was no warning that you were about to undock without mission critical items. Now there are. When i started missions would tell you the objective but NOT how to complete them, now they do.

CONCORD could be tanked or evaded. Gankers got insurance pay outs from ganking, can flipping was real, ships had less EHP. Many of the defensive modules like MJDs and target breakers didn't exist. If you got jammed and thought you were smart for carrying FoF missiles, before your ship exploded you got to watch FoF missiles slam into the nearest structure, now they ignore structures unless you directly agress the structure 1st.
And you could log off and know that in 15 minutes your ship would be safe even if bumped, gankers were significantly less organised and wardecs were heavily limited and able to be protected from by purpose build dec shield alliances.

Jenn aSide wrote:
A noob in null sec was limited to belt ratting, now that same noob can be in a navy Vexor making 50 mil per hour in a matter of days after subbing. Before if you wanted to make 80k LP form one mission you had to do serious work training and getting into a ship that could do level 5s and grinding the hell-standings to do it. Today, you sub, train caracal for a few days, join a FW corp and BOOM, 80k LP from one FW mission.
You can't really go just by that though because prices have changed. Trit was worth like what, 2/unit back then? You certainly wouldn't be paying today's battleship prices either. I think my first dominix was like 45m.

Jenn aSide wrote:
On and On and On and On I could go. Half this game is aquisition, and it's so easy to aquire wealth now it's crazy. 1.2 bil plex crazy.
Wealth is relative. Also noobies really need the better methods of acquiring wealth if they are to stand any chance of keeping up with veteran players.

The Indecisive Noob - EVE fan blog.

Wholesale Trading - The new bulk trading mailing list.

Jenn aSide
Soul Machines
The Initiative.
#2579 - 2015-11-24 16:12:58 UTC  |  Edited by: Jenn aSide
Lucas Kell wrote:
You seem to reject any progress that makes things easier. If we're going to go with random quotes, Harold Wilson said: "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."


Reckless change is stupid. And too much prosperity (ease) leads to laziness. The reason this is the best Louis CK inteview i've ever seen, because it speaks to a much deeper truth: handing people stuff is a good way to create people who don't appreciate stuff. Make them earn it, and you make it mean something (while also fostering a respect in them for other people's stuff).

Lots of people seem to lack the ability to scrutinize individual situations and changes to judge whether a change would be good or bad, which is what leads to the stupid "change is good" thinking that creates more problems than in solves.

Quote:

Times change. Now there are new challenges. And if the game is still around in 10 years time there will be people who started playing now sayign "In my day...".


And whether they are wrong or right will depend on how well CCP controls the evolution of the game. While they haven't done enough to kill it so far, they have watered it down . Not everything in EVE's past was good, many things were worse than they are now (like the UI). But CCP has made the avoidable mistakes rich parents make. Parents from poor backgrounds who become affluent tend to not want their kids to suffer like they did, inadvertently creating horrible immoral monsters who think the world owes them something.

The best part of EVE (for people like me) was it's undocumented 'find out for yourself and HTFU' nature. Newer players are robbed of that and the opportunities to gain pride from overcoming barriers. Pride is one of those emotional ties that keeps people playing and the game simply has less for an indivudal to be proud of today than in the past.

I was proud of my Navy Raven I grinded in high sec for using a regular raven i had to train for after training those stupid learning skills, not so proud of the TFI BPC I bought after ONE NIGHT of FW missions 2 weeks ago in a bomber on an alt I created 2 months ago....
Jenn aSide
Soul Machines
The Initiative.
#2580 - 2015-11-24 16:21:16 UTC
Lucas Kell wrote:
So because you seemingly took a long time to learn, noobies should be punished now?
Working for something you want is not punishment.

People like you (in game and in real life) think you are helping people by making things easier for them (or advocating with the powers that be). You aren't, you are taking something important from them. Namely , the ability to survive on their own after you stop giving them stuff. My buddy who loaned me that Navy Raven I eventually bought taught me this in game (i already knew it in real life). Thats why he SOLD me the Raven rather than gifting it to me.

The whole idea seems to be that if you eliminate their need to wrk for what they want, they will spend their time doing greater things because they are free of mundanities. What you actually find, instead, is boredom and an inability to appreciate things (in game, that leads to quitting, because nothing they do has any real value).

CCP is about to repeat their mistake with the Tribute System btw. I will benefit from it, but the game won't.