EVE General Discussion

So here's an idea:
What if the game assigned the following types of tasks with a reward in isk to semi-randomly assigned players in the game:

- destroy ship of player X (assigned to younger pilots, the target would be selected from a pool containing all players of similar skillpoint levels, who aren't in an NPC corp).

- defend player X (assigned to pilots of all sp ranges. the target to defend would be selected from a pool of players who aren't in the assigned pilot's contact list or alliance, but can be of any sp level, though preferably low sp level. The target should be a player who has been assigned the first task whenever possible. the target must not lose any ships for a determined period).

The design goal here is to create interaction between players that would otherwise not have interacted with each other. It's a way of creating interaction between individuals that are outside of each other's social 'sphere' that feels like it still has a purpose.
Assigning task 1 to younger players, giving them a target that isn't in an NPC corp brings these players into contact with players who likely already know what they want to do in the game, because they've taken steps to create a corporation. This also means that the player they are tasked to attack likely has connections to additional players, so the interaction can grow beyond the two players the task involved, more easily.
Assigning task 2 to players of all sp ranges further helps to integrate newer players with older ones. And furthermore, if the assigned player is in a player corp, this can easily lead to additional interaction between multiple players.

I would recommend that this mechanic comes with the following RP story:

An unknown entity is using encrypted channels to entice pod-pilots from all over the cluster to complete various tasks. Their agenda is unknown, but it is theorized by many that this entity is attempting to de-stabilize the cluster's pod-pilot population.
Other theories suggest that they're actually trying to do the opposite, to unite the pod-pilot population to form a single force that would be strong enough to completely dominate the empires. What is known is that the signals they're using to communicate with pod-pilots has so far been un-traceable. they are not using any names to identify themselves with, but the monetary transactions they promise as rewards for completing their tasks have been consistently honored.

The problem I see with that is that that player-created content is usually either for personal use, or made by, and used by players who already have little difficulty getting involved with other players, or specifically made it to interact with players they already know or are otherwise connected to.

The feature I'm proposing isn't meant to interfere or compete with any of the existing player generated content beyond it's intended use. I'm trying to cater to a different portion of the playerbase.

For context, as what kind of Eve player would you describe yourself?

I think the OP's idea merits more thought and could possibly be worked into content for Bounty Agents.


DMC

Defeating player by a player is enough oportunity for a (hate filled) interaction already.
Defending player cant be recognized for now as defending by any system in open PvP game other than subjective human assessment. In how many games you see awards for defending other players? You see awards for healing or dps, for the most time. You see these machanics in arena types of matches. Maybe you could see defence mechanics in some matches but they are all timed for a cause. Ganking would perfectly destroy all of the opportunities to defend any player sitting in subcap in space. You know, defended player could just not log in at all during the whole ordeal, it would be bad for interaction but would be perfectly normal.

Such regulated mechanics would be perfectly ok in arenas. EVE is about freedom.

Few quick and obvious problems with the basics of this idea:

• Station Trading alts. An appreciable fraction of the characters in the game, especially the low SP ones, never undock. They're station trading, refining, or similar alts. If they do undock they do so very infrequently.


• Of those who do undock regularly the majority are going to be nowhere near where the player is. This would be a significant barrier to any kind of new player. If they get sent out to the arse-end of Sov Null to kill someone's Cyno alt they're going to die stupidly and eventually start going "why did the game tell me to do this if it's impossible!?!?"


• If this creates a kill-right on the target then this would immediately be abused by older players by making alts for the express purpose of farming these free kills. If it doesn't create a kill right then it's basically worthless. A new player will never be able to kill someone in High Sec cost effectively via suicide gank on their own, if they can even kill them in the first place. This would mostly make this something to be abused by older players on their alt as a way to offset the cost of a suicide gank.

I really feel like this hasn't been well thought out.

The general idea has potential, in the form of "give players an assignment to get them moving around and exploring more" but the forced PvP aspect just doesn't work on multiple levels.

Oh and SP total is a terrible way of evaluating combat performance outside of a *very* loose framework. Someone with 25m SP (about 1 year, give or take) can either be very well skilled into a T2 or T3 hull or poorly skilled into all four races and a variety of T2 hulls. That is a *big* difference in combat performance, and that's ignoring non-combat skills like mining, refining, research, ect.

You may be assigned a mission to someone who never, ever logs in again, or is completely out of your timezone.

I thought of Agents offering missions where a group of players have to go destroy something, at the same time another agent will offer a group of pilots the same mission to defend that something. Strict ship limitations and perhaps a time limit for both parties.

Dont make them kill or defend other players, but try to interact with them and show you are a good person. Maybe you will get new friend in a game.

The reason players dont interact so much is not the game, its the people.

You're literally describing Merc scene

See my sig for details