EVE General Discussion

That's a lot of fancy words you're using there. The funny part is that you're confirming what I, and many others, have been stating all this time and you don't even realise it.


- fact is of course that, yes, most games cater for the average player

- fact is also that there's a whole bunch of non-average players in many different ways who are looking for something more

- there's really just one game that offers this: EVE. so there's always an audience and it'll always grow slowly because many people who were kept down by silly games try EVE and while at the start they might not be "EVE material" they see the light and become it anyway

- because there's no other games that compete for this player pool there is no reason for EVE to change

- would it do so anyway, to appeal to the more average player, then that player will enjoy that for 1-3 months and then move on to the next new average game as they always do. And the people who enjoyed the uniqueness of EVE will stop playing so EVE will lose both types.



It really isn't that difficult to understand, unless you don't WANT to understand it or just... can't.

Lucas must be the record holder of blocks by now.

Actually they downsized the server cluster.

They went with smaller numbers of more powerful (newer) technology and changed locations to a more cost effective system. Kinda like spending money on a new car because the old one was costing so much to keep repairing.

They also fired 2/3 of their staff, moved into smaller offices co-located with the University and started grabbing free interns from the school.

They also merged Dust into the Eve Cluster, so they downsized and then added 10% more workload.

Everything they have done, from the layoffs to the selling off of Intellectual Property, to the sale of two seats on their board screams a company milking the last dime from an existing legacy system in hopes of coming out with a new hit in time to right the ship.

But I don't care much about CCP as a financial product, I just want them to recognize that Eve can still be that cash cow, they don't need to abandon us again like they did before. It was their mistake before but we forgave them. I don't know if Eve can survive on legacy support.

No, I simply don't care about what you trying to pretend you were saying. Let's face it, no matter what anyone responded to you with your intention was to claim they misunderstood and that's not what you were saying all along. If that's not the case, then what are you even arguing for? If you agree that PCU and ACU aren't the same thing, agree that the last years has been a steady decline and aren't claiming that this month proves the decline has stopped then it would seem we are in agreement.


Market McSelling Alt I think you're pretty much on the money with that last post. If you can't increase your profits by selling more product then you increase then by saving on your expenses. I doubt EVE will go anywhere until it stops profiting, but that doesn't mean they'll keep the same level of attention on it.

What?!

Eve had its best growth between 2009 and 2013. During which time we got Wormholes, Incursions, Lvl 5's, POS Sov removal, new ships and FW.

Eve didn't start its decline grabbing main streamers, it started its growth spurt doing that. It started its decline when they backed off on content infusion and started the nerf/balance act and kicked us down the support ladder to try and save WoD and start Valkyrie.

It's obvious they can shrink, as the mainstream moves, the niche become more niche compared with the "average player" until eventually there's less people coming in than going out. If you want evidence of this,there's a game called EVE online. It's a niche game that has been hemmoraghing players and has had to start working on attracting a wider audience while the company also branches out into other games to keep in profit.

Also, I find it absolutely hilarious that because my last 3 years have been in SMA (which in themselves are an EVE alliance) that my entire ten and a half years in EVE mean nothing. Seriously mate, get over yourself. You're just a guy that likes a video game. That's it. You're no better than anyone else that plays or doesn't play EVE. Your ideas that I'm not EVE material just because I don't want the game mechanics to remain the same stale mechanics they've always been are ludicrous. CCP are changing things, adapt of die.

Bull, absolute bull. Prove that prior to 2009 they had no interest in pulling a wider audience and prove that after 2009 attempting to pull a wider audience was the cause of the (supposed) decline and not the effect.

It doesn't matter how many times you repeatedly state wrong information. The reason I don;'t agree with it is because you are wrong, not because I don't understand what you are waving.

1. There are certainly more than 2 types of player. There's even a category for people with extreme superiority complexes that think they can force people into two categories (which by the way boil down to "Agrees with Tiberius" and "doesn't agree with Tiberius", which in itself is very telling).

2. What makes EVE different is that it's an old game that struggles to move with the times because it's overly protective of a dying and ever more bitter core playerbase. It's way past time CCP took their game and did whatever the hell they want with it, and said "if you don't like it you can **** off to another game". I believe they are good developers hat could make some really entertaining gameplay if they didn't end up with a monument shooting riot every time they want to change a frickin icon.

3. You can't say that because you have no idea what it is what want. EVE has a lot of good characteristics it just has some crappy mechanics, a toxic playerbase and very little appeal to players who want to be entertained. It's funny you mention first person controls, since CCP are shifting focus to VR game development. Again, because they know what sells and they are interested in growing their business. If they can't do that with EVE you can bet your ass they'll phase it out.

4. Of course it can. Most of what would entertain those people would require very small changes in the mechanics. Also, CCP have already laid out plans to cater for those people. You are aware they are planning a PvE overhaul and loads of additions, right?

5. No, trying to do it results in teh loss of a handful of players, while most "core players" just threaten to quit but never do. If CCP have the bottle to actually push through with changes then I have no doubt it results in new players from a new market segment, and inflexible people like you become obsolete. I am a core EVE player, and I embrace and adapt to change.

6. See 5.

CCP do care. You don't and neither do I think you should. What you should care about is what CCP need to do to build their business and how you can adapt enough to make sure you fit into their new vision. Stamping your feet and demanding everything remains exactly as it is won't work.

I already play other games, because EVE really isn't that interesting. And mate, I like a challenge in games, whether that comes from PvE or PvP isn't all that relevant to me. You can pretend it's dark and harsh all you want, but EVE is an incredibly easy game. It's far too easy to wind up with more isk than you know what to do with and there's very little you can't buy with isk. In addition, it's pretty much impossible to lose anything of significance. It's funny how many people bang on about carebears when they don't realise how stupidly easy the entire game is.

No mate, I like challenging games, ironman modes and ridiculously difficult achievements. If you think I'm a carebear because I want EVE to have more dynamic mechanics and challenges, you are sadly mistaken.

Edit: Market McSelling Alt nailing it again.

Frankly, it is easier to stop losing customers than to improve the retention of good customers...

At CCP Printing:

"See, maybe if the elevator was in order and the receptionist wasn't a ogre, more people would get into the office and ask for our printing services..."
"No, what we need is a new photocopier, the old one stains paper and afer all most people comes here just for the photocopies"
"Photocopies?? No! We're a top-notch printing office! What we need is to offer 3D printing to our loyal customers!"

(later)

"CCP Printing? Why the hell did you fix that broken elevator? Now this place is full of fat dudes who just want a photocopy! This company is SO going down the drain!"
"Maybe if the photocopier..."
"Photocopier? Meh! What we need is to include a 3D modeling service to improve the usage of our 3D printers!"

Subscribers numbers were always sought after. So just to be clear though, you concede that broader appeal increases numbers and declines in player numbers have nothing to do with broader appeal.

I thought you said CCP had no competition...

Again, I understand what you are saying, I simply disagree. You problem is that your massive superiority complex doesn't allow you to realise that you can be wrong. It's not my fault if you don't understand that there are various reasons for people being in nullsec alliances. I'm in SMA because it benefits my playstyle to be in a big null group and because a bunch of dudes I used to play with picked SMA when they decided to stop renting and get involved in big battles. It makes absolutely no difference to my amount of experience with EVE or my opinions about the development of the same.

Well done for describing one single situation for one single perspective and pretending that's how it works in general. The tl;dr there is you don't like big groups. *shrug* Get over it, this is EVE.

Victory is mine.

So you're saying there's a good reason he's in SMA then. Noted.