EVE General Discussion

The chess analogy is an interesting one, but I always saw Eve as being more like poker.

I was into chess before eve. Both have allot in common. I have a much longer post in my head that I will write later and post here.

But I just wanted to say that I am glad the developers in eve are still asking basic questions like "what makes a great game great?" instead of just looking at other mmos (which eve is head and shoulders above) and saying "they have elves we need elves!"

I think there are definitely similarities between pvp and blitz chess. Both have servers that are subscription based. Both are enjoyable games for adults to play.

I will go into a bit more indepth in my next post.

"Solo" is not, shooting npcs by yourself. Solo is you, as a "sole individual" playing against another "real person and/or persons". MMO doesn't mean you have to gang up with a bunch of other people. You are playing with/against other people. Player versus Player. Some people want to test their skills against other people on a semi equal playing field, not be apart of a glorified circle jerk chat room.

This.

I used to play chess - I am what they would call a patzer. There are definitely certain similarities in what motivates people to play that I think Eve can take advantage of.

I realize not everyone is a chess player. So what I say won’t apply to everyone. That said I think I understand why there are many chess servers, at least a few of which have over 100k members. Its people looking for a “chess fix” via blitz chess. I think allot more people would play eve if they could get a “pvp fix”
Let me explain a bit more. In chess you can study certain openings. You can study them several moves deep with the help of computer programs. In eve the “opening prep” is sort of like getting fittings right, in eft. People in eve are critical of peoples fits in a similar way that chess players may be critical of opening mistakes in chess. Moreover I will get excited to fly a new ship fitting I figured out in eft just like I would get excited to try a new opening I prepared in chess.

The middle and end game is sort basically when you are making decisions in the fight itself flying the ship.

A 70 year old chess grandmaster can play a game of blitz chess and his heart will start beating faster and there will be other similar physical signs. This is no doubt what happens to players in pvp. It’s the same type of rush although eve pvp can actually be more intense. But the craving - for blitz chess to try a new opening or eve pvp to try a new fit - is very much the same.

Currently chess does a much better job allow players to get their fix than eve does. Even if you don’t have allot of time I can sign onto a chess server and play a quick 10 minute game. Some people play even faster time controls. I can log on and in less than a minute I will be playing a game against someone. In a half hour I might play 3 or 4 quick chess games. In any case its one battle after another I am never roaming around out waiting for a “fight.”

But for eve if I go looking for a pvp fix its much harder to find a decent fight. I can sign onto the eve server and go looking for over an hour and not find one. I tend to get the feeling that the time I spent planning this or that fit out was wasted time.

That is not to say I think CCP should opt for instanced pvp. To be clear, I don’t think they should. I think the unpredictability of who might show up when definitely adds to eve. But I do think CCP needs to help pilots looking for that “pvp fix.”

I really think the proposal in my signature for faction war would allow players to get pvp fixes in a reasonable amount of time. I definitely think of my experience with chess servers when consider what that could bring. If eve could bring something like that I am sure the numbers would continue to grow.

Instead of trying to follow gimmicks like mt that bad mmos do in order to generate money eve could become a classic game that can provide entertainment. Chess is an example of such a classic game. Just imagine if you had the copyright to chess and anyone who wanted to play online chess had to go to your server. If ccp continues to develop and tweak eve, without dumbing it down, I think that could be a reality.