Valrandir
Elemental Mercury Dystopia Alliance
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Posted - 2009.10.18 23:12:00 -
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Originally by: Logit Probit These screenshots demonstrate everything that is right and wrong with EvE Online.
Before I explain, allow me to make two introductions.
Logit Probit is a scumbag who ninja-salvages other players' missions near a highsec mission hub. He's a parasite and a griefer. On top of that, he doesn't honor ransoms. He runs an association of similar players, who choose not to incorporate mainly because it makes retaliation difficult.
I'm a 29-year-old Ph.D student at a midwestern American university. I'm married, have a doberman puppy, love to ride my motorcycle, and I help my landlady take out her garbage. I'm a researcher in the areas game theoretics and mass behavior, and I love playing EvE Online.
If you are a mission-runner, Logit deserves your scorn. However, give me a chance to convince you that Logit is your best friend at the same time he's the biggest pain in your backside.
As CCP is well aware, EvE is great because it's a sandbox. The lack of constraints on us in-game allow numerous “steady states” of group behavior to arise. In fact, there are so many different behavioral equilibria that it is difficult for any one player to experience more than a few of them. Even within one “profession”, you will see different tactics in different regions, even if the strategies are the same. Mining ops in one area will be organized differently than ops in another area; FCs in the north operate a little differently than Russian FCs.
Multiple norms of behavior allow the events to occur that make EvE amazing.
Armageddon single-handedly destroys a 40-man highsec mining fleet with a surprise suicide attack. Trusted broker's conscience gets the best of him; commandeers stolen unique ship and returns it to the player it was stolen from. Bank CEO absconds with hundreds of billions. Legendary alliance destroyed by espionage.
In other words, EvE is great because the unexpected occurs.
There have been other games like EvE, sandbox games that were great, but were ruined because well-intentioned changes rippled through them, destroying behavioral equilibria. A classic example was the addition of rare tools into Star Wars Galaxies that could prevent gear from decaying to the point where they were unusable. This change was meant to preserve the hard work of some of the game's most dedicated players, and to encourage rare item use in PvP. However, the change disrupted the player-made economy; demand for high-end crafted gear evaporated, incentives to hunt for looted crafting components disappeared, and SWG was soon hemorrhaging 10k subscriptions per month. SWG had unintentionally constrained the variety of fun behaviors and interactions.
While CCP has maintained minimal constraints on behavior, its track record is not perfect. For instance, the introduction of jump freighters has reduced the number of viable behaviors available to those who enjoy the challenge of long-range, heavy-volume commerce. Soon, a comprehensive set of structural constraints will be introduced into 0.0. While the changes may turn out for the best, it is a fact that increased constraints reduce the possible number of behavioral equilibria.
In other words, with more rules, the unexpected becomes less so.
On the 4th CSM, I'll dedicate full effort to exploring the unintended consequences of the big changes that are coming to EvE.
Logit Probit may be a horrible bastard, but I'll be on my best behavior, and I'll do everything I can to preserve that sweet spot in EvE where the learning curve is just a little too high and the barrier to making horrible mistakes is just a little too low.
Trust me, that spot is where we all want to be.
Now get out there and run some missions.
There go with +4 votes. Good luck in the CSM.
This has surpassed the Yarrdware specification and has been dubbed Uberware. |