Daelise Seryu
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Posted - 2007.02.27 21:24:00 -
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Another thing to consider is that allowing multiple characters skill training simultaneously on a single account is an encouragement for those who would be more than willing to infringe upon the user agreement in trying to profit off doing virtually nothing. A number of these types would just use the extra character slots to train characters they only intend to sell off to people wanting to get into the game with a character who's already months ahead in skill training. Whether for real world money or from ISK the new player's friend is putting up to get them a pre-trained.
This sort of thing kind of kills the new player experience and unevens the playing field for legitimate players (or for those who either can't or would be hard pressed to shell out extra pay). Requiring multiple accounts in order to have multiple active characters may be a bit more hassle, but the actual investment of additional payments means that those characters aren't just some cute tag-along, they're valued property. In the end, a multiple account owner can still just shift over their well-trained secondary and close the other accounts, making a very useful background character available to them at no additional cost from there forward.
Besides, if a player wants they can try out a few configurations on their extra slots to see if they like the different style of play, then redirect their active character. Such a thing's probably done best early on though. The way I see it, the additional character slots are good for testing and throwaway. Now, this too can be abused, perhaps the best solution for abuse there is to restrict any character created similar to a new account (restrict them from joining player corporations for two weeks, disable training of certain skills for the duration, too). It could cut down on grief-play and sabotage, but the truly dedicated griefer won't be stopped by anything. Could you imagine the horrors that would arise if grief-players were given background training characters... not some random week old character just shooting people for fun, it's flying around in a borrowed battlecruiser from the player's primary account (all skills character, just lent equipment to cause some trouble with little to no repercusions to the player's primary character).
Finally in my reasoning is that having the skill training restriction it forces players to actually do more in EVE. Players will be able to pass their time with developing player relations through trade, alliance, or simple conversation. None of the mindless power-leveling that many other games fall prone to or power alts. Sure a player can train their character without even sitting at the game for more than a few hours a week at the higher levels, but if they want to get anything done, they'll actually play while the character's training, they're not just going to have a small army of characters spring into action at 3 million skill points and capital ships having only ever played one to get equipment for the lot of them. (Perhaps the real nightmare of ISK farming. One NPC pirate hunter providing all their alts the fast track to lazy power creep. The multiple account user can still do such, but by paying extra money to pull the stunt.)
In the end, I totally agree with CCP's decision to restrict skill training, it's good business sense, good player-provider policy, and in the end it contributes a lot to play value and character development. |