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Every year, there are less users playing, why??

First post
Author
Geronimo McVain
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#1261 - 2016-08-09 13:58:08 UTC
Jessica Starblaze wrote:
You are missing out one part. In the time I am talking about there were no strip miners. And mining was just a lot more interactive. Sure just unloading your cargo 2 times per minute is a tedious task, still it did not allow any real afk gameplay if you wanted to be even half way efficient. On top of that there were not that many people with multiple accounts and mining efficiently actually still required working as a team and the social interaction made it a lot less boring as well.

Still the main point I was making: the way mining was in the early days you had to sit in front of the pc the whole time if you wanted to get anywhere with mining. So I guess the devs back then were not sane ;).

I think it was done to keep the econemy intact because they had not enough miners/Minerals but they overdid it. But just klicking to keep klicking isn't really the way to make mining thrilling. Without the element of danger there is no thrill.
Dirty Forum Alt
Forum Alts Anonymous
#1262 - 2016-08-09 14:01:42 UTC
Geronimo McVain wrote:
Without the element of danger there is no thrill.

This may come as a shock to you...but people don't get into mining in EVE because they are thrill-seeking...

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool. They lay. They rotted. They turned Around occasionally. Bits of flesh dropped off them from Time to time. And sank into the pool's mire. They also smelt a great deal.

Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings (Sussex)

Ceres Starshine
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#1263 - 2016-08-09 16:20:04 UTC
I wanted a fresh start buying the 5 month offered package. I find my carrier in a hostile station. Gm refused to move it to low sec. As i have no friends playing I opened my second account to get aout of there. At the end I kinda frustrated and quit for good...
Dirty Forum Alt
Forum Alts Anonymous
#1264 - 2016-08-09 16:22:30 UTC
Ceres Starshine wrote:
I wanted a fresh start buying the 5 month offered package. I find my carrier in a hostile station. Gm refused to move it to low sec. As i have no friends playing I opened my second account to get aout of there. At the end I kinda frustrated and quit for good...

Ah sov space...

This is where you just sneak into the region in an interceptor and put it up for *sale* - then spam their populated systems with the contract until someone buys it.

Then go re-buy it elsewhere.

Annoying? Yep. Going to lose a bit of money? Yep.
But that has been the fire-sale tradition in sov space forever P
As for the petition - working as intended.

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool. They lay. They rotted. They turned Around occasionally. Bits of flesh dropped off them from Time to time. And sank into the pool's mire. They also smelt a great deal.

Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings (Sussex)

Solecist Project
#1265 - 2016-08-09 16:49:46 UTC
Ceres Starshine wrote:
I wanted a fresh start buying the 5 month offered package. I find my carrier in a hostile station. Gm refused to move it to low sec. As i have no friends playing I opened my second account to get aout of there. At the end I kinda frustrated and quit for good...

hard to believe.

when you unsub and get stuck at a hostile station after returning ...
... GMs usually move you with at least one ship and everything you can put into it.

assuming no alts used in that time, of course.

That ringing in your ears you're experiencing right now is the last gasping breathe of a dying inner ear as it got thoroughly PULVERISED by the point roaring over your head at supersonic speeds. - Tippia

Solecist Project
#1266 - 2016-08-09 16:50:37 UTC
Dirty Forum Alt wrote:
Geronimo McVain wrote:
Without the element of danger there is no thrill.

This may come as a shock to you...but people don't get into mining in EVE because they are thrill-seeking...

maybe they should.

That ringing in your ears you're experiencing right now is the last gasping breathe of a dying inner ear as it got thoroughly PULVERISED by the point roaring over your head at supersonic speeds. - Tippia

Herzog Wolfhammer
Sigma Special Tactics Group
#1267 - 2016-08-09 17:16:00 UTC  |  Edited by: Herzog Wolfhammer
Where it up to me™ there would never have been any players flying any non-combatant vessels. It's a bit of a contradiction that this "It's a PVP Game! HURF BLURF!" has non-combatant ships.

All mining and hauling would be done by NPCs, but if any player wanted to do those things, they would have to purchase those ships and hire the crews for them and then give them orders.

And like the NPC couriers we see outside of the stations, they could be fired on by anybody.

In a pre-crimewatch approach an antagonist becomes flashy red to the owner of an NPC ship under attack. So if you wanted to mine and haul, you had to be just as good at PVP as the people wanting to blow stuff up. The NPC ships would have been "Nostromo sized", or Pillar of Autumn size (from the inside at least - that run was way longer than the ship). It would take a fleet to kill them and it would take a while.

It would have also made botting meaningless as content that screamed to be botted would have been botted out of the box, but you had to be ready to defend them from players and NPC pirates alike. There would be no "fire and forget" involved. And those operating in deep null behind intel channels and gank pipelines would be dealing with both players and NPCs in dreads. (that is, we would not have had to wait this long for pirate dreads) .


But long ago someone said "let there be sheep" with a hope that Stockholm Syndrome would be something paying players would want to experience so hence the high turnover and this hunter and hunted thing. A good PVP time could have been had by all. Another game might get it differently in the future someday.

But that's the way I would have done it.

Bring back DEEEEP Space!

Joia Crenca
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#1268 - 2016-08-09 17:26:36 UTC
Herzog Wolfhammer wrote:
Where it up to me™ there would never have been any players flying any non-combatant vessels. It's a bit of a contradiction that this "It's a PVP Game! HURF BLURF!" has non-combatant ships.

All mining and hauling would be done by NPCs, but if any player wanted to do those things, they would have to purchase those ships and hire the crews for them and then give them orders.

And like the NPC couriers we see outside of the stations, they could be fired on by anybody.

In a pre-crimewatch approach an antagonist becomes flashy red to the owner of an NPC ship under attack. So if you wanted to mine and haul, you had to be just as good at PVP as the people wanting to blow stuff up. The NPC ships would have been "Nostromo sized", or Pillar of Autumn size (from the inside at least - that run was way longer than the ship). It would take a fleet to kill them and it would take a while.

It would have also made botting meaningless as content that screamed to be botted would have been botted out of the box, but you had to be ready to defend them from players and NPC pirates alike. There would be no "fire and forget" involved. And those operating in deep null behind intel channels and gank pipelines would be dealing with both players and NPCs in dreads. (that is, we would not have had to wait this long for pirate dreads) .


But long ago someone said "let there be sheep" with a hope that Stockholm Syndrome would be something paying players would want to experience so hence the high turnover and this hunter and hunted thing. A good PVP time could have been had by all. Another game might get it differently in the future someday.

But that's the way I would have done it.



We've got several other space games out there, but I don't know if any of them fit this description. Have any others like this been tried, and how are those games doing? Successful? Couldn't get subscriptions? EVE seems to give an indication of the lengths players will go to both have a space game like this and not be involved in PVP.
Dirty Forum Alt
Forum Alts Anonymous
#1269 - 2016-08-09 18:09:10 UTC
Why should every EVE player have to be a thrill-seeker or adrenaline junkie?

Socialites who mine to pay for "Chat Room Online" aren't hurting anybody - they are making at least a small contribution to the game (arguably more in keeping others interested than in the minerals they provide, but whatever)... Why try to force them out of the game?

Similarly the hard-core miners...what is wrong with them? These are the sorts of players who enjoy playing Minecraft without using any cheat-codes or modifications to make the game easier (they might mod it to make it harder). The sort who will actually excavate and mine until they *find* 10,000 diamonds to build a palace out of - just because they enjoy the process. Why should these players not have a place in EVE?

Even the AFK miners aren't *hurting* the game significantly...even if they don't add anything to it...

The only miners who are any kind of a problem are bots...and CCP has taken steps to minimize their impact as well. I would argue that botting carrier-ratters in 0.0 have a far greater impact in the modern EVE than botting miners do...and even that is fairly nonexistent for the most part.

If you want thrills and adventure and content...Then get out there and do the things that provide that. There is no reason mining has to be one of them...



As for your "Only Combat Ships" proposal, because "It's a PVP Game!"...I have a few things to say.....

#1) This is an odd sentiment for, if I recall correctly, an anti-ganker?

#2) Yes, in terms of PvP *Combat* content, the miners are sheep. However, most *good* miners who stick with EVE (and there are a surprisingly large number) find ways to deal with Combat players without unduly disrupting their mining operations. This is all part of the game - and I see no reason to punish them or remove their play-style just because they aren't dealing with Combat in the way you wish they would... Some people can't handle it, and they will quit - as long as they are the minority and/or they get replaced by new recruits, the game won't even notice. When that balance is upset - THAT is when CCP acts to change the game...but not to chase the rest of the miners out of the game - they only act to try to bring more players in, whatever form they may take.


#3) PvP DOES NOT ONLY MEAN COMBAT!!!

Seriously, get it through your thick skulls. PvP can take many forms - they do NOT all require weaponry or open combat. EVE is 100% a PvP game - *NOT* 100% a Combat game. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

Trust me, an active miner who collects a ton of ore and then speed-sells it at a rock-bottom price that crashes an entire market sector will draw far more tears than any PvP player killing a miner...Even if he never hears the crying/whining directly.

**** - even just mining out an ice belt before the other miners get a chance to get any will net you a boat-load of tears. PvP takes *many* forms.

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool. They lay. They rotted. They turned Around occasionally. Bits of flesh dropped off them from Time to time. And sank into the pool's mire. They also smelt a great deal.

Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings (Sussex)

Teckos Pech
Hogyoku
Goonswarm Federation
#1270 - 2016-08-09 18:10:32 UTC  |  Edited by: Teckos Pech
Geronimo McVain wrote:
Jessica Starblaze wrote:
You are missing out one part. In the time I am talking about there were no strip miners. And mining was just a lot more interactive. Sure just unloading your cargo 2 times per minute is a tedious task, still it did not allow any real afk gameplay if you wanted to be even half way efficient. On top of that there were not that many people with multiple accounts and mining efficiently actually still required working as a team and the social interaction made it a lot less boring as well.

Still the main point I was making: the way mining was in the early days you had to sit in front of the pc the whole time if you wanted to get anywhere with mining. So I guess the devs back then were not sane ;).

I think it was done to keep the econemy intact because they had not enough miners/Minerals but they overdid it. But just klicking to keep klicking isn't really the way to make mining thrilling. Without the element of danger there is no thrill.


Really? That is why mineral prices were in the toilet? I don't think so. Minerals were actually quite abundant due to drone poo. In the drone regions, drones did not have bounties and dropped alloys (aka drone poo) which when refined gave you some nice minerals. So you'd see people living in the drone regions go to Jita and drop gigatons of minerals on the market. Tritanium was often sitting around 3 ISK/unit for buy orders. It was **** ISK.

Mining has never been thrilling and in fact I don't think it can be made thrilling (or even mildly interesting). I have come to that conclusion after reading a number of threads on "making mining exciting!". Usually those attempts involve some sort of horrible mini-game....which means more clicking to get a crap reward (mining is still pretty meh ISK).

In fact, I have argued that in fact, the ability to semi-AFK mine was probably the allure of mining. You can mine and make ISK while doing other Stuff™ either in or out of game.

When it comes to making ISK it has always been a pretty "meh" process. Missions? Boring. Mining? Boring. Ratting in NS? Boring. PI? Boring. Reaction farms? Boring. Even alliance level ISK making is pretty awful. Moon mining? Boring. You have use a JF and make fuel blocks and on-lining and off-lining stuff is pretty boring. Managing a rental empire? Not all that different than working in property management I suspect. As a result we all try to find ways to make ISK with as little time spent in game as possible....or we tend to go semi-AFK.

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."--Friedrich August von Hayek

8 Golden Rules for EVE Online

Teckos Pech
Hogyoku
Goonswarm Federation
#1271 - 2016-08-09 18:17:07 UTC
Dirty Forum Alt wrote:
Ceres Starshine wrote:
I wanted a fresh start buying the 5 month offered package. I find my carrier in a hostile station. Gm refused to move it to low sec. As i have no friends playing I opened my second account to get aout of there. At the end I kinda frustrated and quit for good...

Ah sov space...

This is where you just sneak into the region in an interceptor and put it up for *sale* - then spam their populated systems with the contract until someone buys it.

Then go re-buy it elsewhere.

Annoying? Yep. Going to lose a bit of money? Yep.
But that has been the fire-sale tradition in sov space forever P
As for the petition - working as intended.


That is what I had to do. Couldn't get my carrier out before our systems fell. I did have a JC in the station though, so I JC'd there, put the stuff up on contracts and posted the contracts in local at a very nice price. The people living in our old space got a carrier, I got a nice load of ISK...so everyone is happy.

Oh, and not the first time I had to fire sale stuff. I mentioned that in local chatting with the guys there and the response was, "Yeah, we've all been there."

So confirming Dirty's statements...

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."--Friedrich August von Hayek

8 Golden Rules for EVE Online

Dirty Forum Alt
Forum Alts Anonymous
#1272 - 2016-08-09 18:20:27 UTC  |  Edited by: Dirty Forum Alt
Teckos Pech wrote:
That is what I had to do. Couldn't get my carrier out before our systems fell. I did have a JC in the station though, so I JC'd there, put the stuff up on contracts and posted the contracts in local at a very nice price. The people living in our old space got a carrier, I got a nice load of ISK...so everyone is happy.

Oh, and not the first time I had to fire sale stuff. I mentioned that in local chatting with the guys there and the response was, "Yeah, we've all been there."

So confirming Dirty's statements...

Oh I speak from experience on this point lol. Not a carrier - but we had a WH connection direct to a market hub (ok 3 jumps out) for a while and I severely overstocked my first sov-space home...

Took me years to firesale it all off, as I wasn't willing to settle for heavy isk losses.

Lol

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool. They lay. They rotted. They turned Around occasionally. Bits of flesh dropped off them from Time to time. And sank into the pool's mire. They also smelt a great deal.

Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings (Sussex)

Teckos Pech
Hogyoku
Goonswarm Federation
#1273 - 2016-08-09 18:22:57 UTC
Herzog Wolfhammer wrote:
Where it up to me™ there would never have been any players flying any non-combatant vessels. It's a bit of a contradiction that this "It's a PVP Game! HURF BLURF!" has non-combatant ships.

All mining and hauling would be done by NPCs, but if any player wanted to do those things, they would have to purchase those ships and hire the crews for them and then give them orders.


Yes, I too hate spontaneous order.

Quote:
And like the NPC couriers we see outside of the stations, they could be fired on by anybody.


Yes, I too want to have my stuff taken all the time whenever I want to move it.

Quote:
In a pre-crimewatch approach an antagonist becomes flashy red to the owner of an NPC ship under attack. So if you wanted to mine and haul, you had to be just as good at PVP as the people wanting to blow stuff up. The NPC ships would have been "Nostromo sized", or Pillar of Autumn size (from the inside at least - that run was way longer than the ship). It would take a fleet to kill them and it would take a while.


Yeah, that will totally dissuade people from ganking.

Quote:
But long ago someone said "let there be sheep" with a hope that Stockholm Syndrome would be something paying players would want to experience so hence the high turnover and this hunter and hunted thing. A good PVP time could have been had by all. Another game might get it differently in the future someday.

But that's the way I would have done it.


Or it could have been a balance issue. Moving lots of stuff does have an impact in game. Butting a dread sized tank on a freighter would mean that one could move stuff in near perfect safety. And considering that being prudent gets you very close to near perfect safety, I really don't see the problem here.

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."--Friedrich August von Hayek

8 Golden Rules for EVE Online

Teckos Pech
Hogyoku
Goonswarm Federation
#1274 - 2016-08-09 18:27:41 UTC
Dirty Forum Alt wrote:
Why should every EVE player have to be a thrill-seeker or adrenaline junkie?

Socialites who mine to pay for "Chat Room Online" aren't hurting anybody - they are making at least a small contribution to the game (arguably more in keeping others interested than in the minerals they provide, but whatever)... Why try to force them out of the game?


Because they aren't playing correctly dammit!!!!! Don't you see it?!?!?!?!

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."--Friedrich August von Hayek

8 Golden Rules for EVE Online

Robert Caldera
Caldera Trading and Investment
#1275 - 2016-08-09 18:59:11 UTC  |  Edited by: Robert Caldera
I reduced playing eve since I cant relocate to a different area without 20 cynos. Since CCP nerfed jump ranges so much I cba to do all the work of 20 mids to get somewhere, albeit I kinda understand the point of the nerf. Still hurts solo guys like me too much. They also nerfed wormholes into oblivion.
Dirty Forum Alt
Forum Alts Anonymous
#1276 - 2016-08-09 19:10:51 UTC  |  Edited by: Dirty Forum Alt
Solecist Project wrote:
Ceres Starshine wrote:
I wanted a fresh start buying the 5 month offered package. I find my carrier in a hostile station. Gm refused to move it to low sec. As i have no friends playing I opened my second account to get aout of there. At the end I kinda frustrated and quit for good...

hard to believe.

when you unsub and get stuck at a hostile station after returning ...
... GMs usually move you with at least one ship and everything you can put into it.

assuming no alts used in that time, of course.

GMs will only move you + 1 ship if *you* are stuck in the station, though it very rarely comes up since your medical clone usually gets moved elsewhere anyway...

I believe Ceres only had a *carrier* stuck in the station - not himself....though it could also be that the carrier has a jump drive so they didn't feel it was necessary...

In any case, fire-sales are always an option.

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool. They lay. They rotted. They turned Around occasionally. Bits of flesh dropped off them from Time to time. And sank into the pool's mire. They also smelt a great deal.

Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings (Sussex)

Herzog Wolfhammer
Sigma Special Tactics Group
#1277 - 2016-08-09 19:26:21 UTC  |  Edited by: Herzog Wolfhammer
Dirty Forum Alt wrote:
Why should every EVE player have to be a thrill-seeker or adrenaline junkie?

Socialites who mine to pay for "Chat Room Online" aren't hurting anybody - they are making at least a small contribution to the game (arguably more in keeping others interested than in the minerals they provide, but whatever)... Why try to force them out of the game?

Similarly the hard-core miners...what is wrong with them? These are the sorts of players who enjoy playing Minecraft without using any cheat-codes or modifications to make the game easier (they might mod it to make it harder). The sort who will actually excavate and mine until they *find* 10,000 diamonds to build a palace out of - just because they enjoy the process. Why should these players not have a place in EVE?

Even the AFK miners aren't *hurting* the game significantly...even if they don't add anything to it...

The only miners who are any kind of a problem are bots...and CCP has taken steps to minimize their impact as well. I would argue that botting carrier-ratters in 0.0 have a far greater impact in the modern EVE than botting miners do...and even that is fairly nonexistent for the most part.

If you want thrills and adventure and content...Then get out there and do the things that provide that. There is no reason mining has to be one of them...



As for your "Only Combat Ships" proposal, because "It's a PVP Game!"...I have a few things to say.....

#1) This is an odd sentiment for, if I recall correctly, an anti-ganker?

#2) Yes, in terms of PvP *Combat* content, the miners are sheep. However, most *good* miners who stick with EVE (and there are a surprisingly large number) find ways to deal with Combat players without unduly disrupting their mining operations. This is all part of the game - and I see no reason to punish them or remove their play-style just because they aren't dealing with Combat in the way you wish they would... Some people can't handle it, and they will quit - as long as they are the minority and/or they get replaced by new recruits, the game won't even notice. When that balance is upset - THAT is when CCP acts to change the game...but not to chase the rest of the miners out of the game - they only act to try to bring more players in, whatever form they may take.


#3) PvP DOES NOT ONLY MEAN COMBAT!!!

Seriously, get it through your thick skulls. PvP can take many forms - they do NOT all require weaponry or open combat. EVE is 100% a PvP game - *NOT* 100% a Combat game. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.

Trust me, an active miner who collects a ton of ore and then speed-sells it at a rock-bottom price that crashes an entire market sector will draw far more tears than any PvP player killing a miner...Even if he never hears the crying/whining directly.

**** - even just mining out an ice belt before the other miners get a chance to get any will net you a boat-load of tears. PvP takes *many* forms.



I had a friend like you some years ago. We called him "Conan the Contrarian". Unlike the Barbarian counterpart he needed to hit the gym.

I stopped reading when you showed your assumption that anti-ganking means anti-PVP. That display of ignorance is all I needed to know about the value of your opinions.

Bring back DEEEEP Space!

Dirty Forum Alt
Forum Alts Anonymous
#1278 - 2016-08-09 19:30:23 UTC  |  Edited by: Dirty Forum Alt
Herzog Wolfhammer wrote:
I stopped reading

Yeah, I got that...you clearly didn't read a word I wrote...I presume because you don't know how.

edit:
So just for the official record -

Per Herzog Wolfhammer:

Anti-Gankers think all non-combat pilots should be forcibly removed from the game.


And I'm bad because I disagree?

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool. They lay. They rotted. They turned Around occasionally. Bits of flesh dropped off them from Time to time. And sank into the pool's mire. They also smelt a great deal.

Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings (Sussex)

KaarBaak
Squirrel Team
#1279 - 2016-08-09 19:40:54 UTC
Teckos Pech wrote:

When it comes to making ISK it has always been a pretty "meh" process. Missions? Boring. Mining? Boring. Ratting in NS? Boring. PI? Boring. Reaction farms? Boring. Even alliance level ISK making is pretty awful. Moon mining? Boring. You have use a JF and make fuel blocks and on-lining and off-lining stuff is pretty boring. Managing a rental empire? Not all that different than working in property management I suspect. As a result we all try to find ways to make ISK with as little time spent in game as possible....or we tend to go semi-AFK.


I've always wondered at the players that look at accumulation of ISK as a goal of the game. Seems so pointless, and no doubt the reason that so many players feel bored playing.

I do believe that the whole purpose of a game is to keep score, using some metric or other. But wallet-balance never made sense to me.

KB

Dum Spiro Spero

Robert Caldera
Caldera Trading and Investment
#1280 - 2016-08-09 19:52:58 UTC
Teckos Pech wrote:

When it comes to making ISK it has always been a pretty "meh" process. Missions? Boring. Mining? Boring. Ratting in NS? Boring. PI? Boring. Reaction farms? Boring. Even alliance level ISK making is pretty awful. Moon mining? Boring. You have use a JF and make fuel blocks and on-lining and off-lining stuff is pretty boring. Managing a rental empire? Not all that different than working in property management I suspect. As a result we all try to find ways to make ISK with as little time spent in game as possible....or we tend to go semi-AFK.


in which MMO is making money not a boring task?