Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Dear CCP,

I love your game, and respect that it is a challenging game with a steep learning curve. Indeed, this is what sets EVE apart from all other games, and makes it, IMO the single best strategy / RPG / MMOG in existence . . . I realize that you may not think of EVE as a strategy game, but it most certainly is a strategy game and, in fact, I would say it is the best strategy game.

However, you are making a terrible mistake and likely deterring new players with one prevalent shortcoming in your game design: many of your missions (esp. it seems Level 1s which are most likely to be done by starting players) involve obscure, cryptic or hidden objectives that wind up wasting player time, creating player annoyance, and undermining player engagement.

I'm aware that most of these missions are documented on Eve Survival and I'm also aware that the mission descriptions provide at least some clues as to what must be done to complete a mission. However, this does not change the fact that, missions should not feel annoying, tedious, or akin to a reading comprehension quiz. Nor should they necessitate accessing a third party web database to insure that they are completed in a timely manner.

The Mission "Onslaught" is a prime example. The mission description describes the Objectives as: "Make contact with a small operation that's fallen silent during a mining rights standoff." No highlighted warning about moving items between containers, or retrieving items is offered anywhere in any of the ingame descriptions.

EVE survial provides these additional details: "After warp in you see a survey post (cargo container - 10km out) + a mining outpost (large collidable structure - 30km out). flying towards the survey post will get you a message about some technical failiures at the mining outpost (clicked away the message too fast so can't post it) In the survey post container you have to pick up 4x scientists (4m³) you need to transport to a container that spawned at the mining outpost: scientists' message: Please, get us to the mining outpost as fast as you can!"

What happened to me in the course of this mission was as follows. I noticed the Survey outpost and took the scientists out of it, but my overview was not set to include the Mining Outpost. I flew back to Mabnen to drop off the scientists, which is a very common mission requirement, and discovered I had not completed the mission. I emptied out my cargo of salvage and loot (and scientists) and headed back to the mission site . . . noticed the mining post, opened it (empty, hmmm?) . . . still no green tick for the mission. Access Eve Survival and I then realize what I did wrong . . . So completing this Level 1 mission will involve a total of 6 trips between Mabnen and Arbaz which is 4 jumps = 24 jumps, when all that was requisite to finish the mission was 8 jumps.

In some cases these obsurities can be rectified by simply reading the mission descriptions more closely and in most cases consulting Eve Survival can help. However, these points do not represent meaningful caveats to the central message of this petition: Missions Should Not Be Annoying.

It should be universally possible, and indeed even 'easy' to understand missions requirements and to complete those requirements, based on only the information provided in game, and without having to puzzle through hidden meanings. This imperative is not mutually exclusive with missions retaing some degree of mystery and suspense for first time players. Reducing the obscurity and annoyance could be achieved by a simple a revision as, including a generic red-text warning for all missions that involve retrieving items or moving items between containers, simialr to that which is provided for distribution missions when the cargo capacity of the active ship is inadequate for the cargo requirements of the mission.

If this Onslaught mission to which I have referred as an example were unusual, this flaw in game design would be a trivial point. But in fact the obscurity and crypsis of this mission's requirements are sadly representative in my experience. I have buddies I've followed salvaging while they do Level 4s; these are players who have been playing the game for years. They too fairly routinely wind up flying back and forth between missions sites and agent bases for similar reasons of having missed some obscure mission objective requirement, typically involving taking an item out of an onsite container and either taking it back to a station or putting it in some other container.

To put it bluntly: your game is challenging and not very appealing to a broad spectrum of MMO players beause of its complexity and difficulty (which is all well and good . . .). However, exacerbating that inherent lack of broad market appeal with game design problems like not including comprehensive, clear and even cautionary descriptions in something so fundamental to the game as missions is just plain bad business. I love your game, and I would love to see your subscriptions swell, so it is with an intent to be construtive that I offer this feedback.

Please, consider assigning one or two dedicated writer/social scientists (even if only consultants) to revising ALL of your in game mission descriptions so that they do a better job of warning players when there are special objectives required, thus reducing player error, wasted time and player annoyance.