Maxine Stirner
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Posted - 2005.05.25 16:17:00 -
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At the level where people relate to objects, don't most of you feel that EVE has become too accumulative and insufficiently a game of zero-sum gain? Where's the impetus to competition?
Where people are concerned about the space between themselves and others, isn't there a lack of narrative definition surrounding most individuals in the spacelanes? It seems odd that my standing can still allow me to dock at just about any station in the known galaxy. What are we tied to? How are people supposed to track us down? It would seem that if people were always tied to a port of call, even skallywags, then there would only be a certain number of areas one would have to monitor in order to run across them. If it were only possible to have acceptable standing to two factions at a time, then even if the mechanics of running into people in general were a little harder, the mechanics of running into specific people would be more likely.
Ports of call don't have to be strictly indestructible npc stations, they could very well be little unpopulated and uncharted islands in the middle of nowhere, loaded with schwag and extra supplies of rum, and goods otherwise vital to survival. In some way or fashion, ships should be made towhere they need to return towards some kind of fixed outpost, or any instance of a wide variety of outposts, at least once every 24 hours for their ship to operate really functionally and to keep the crew in high spirits.
Bounty hunters could not help but like this. NPC farmers will hate it, but damaging a ship's capacities in some way after every otherwise successful encounter will really keep them tied to the vicinity of friendly ports. Perhaps damage should always sink through to modules only from npc turrets. Too much of an issue for PC exchanges really. (A real encounter encompasses ships actually "trading" fire - any multiplayer game that does not endorse this model in most instances is rather fraudulent.) The real side effect of this, would be to encourage the player to tackle the biggest isolated target available that is combustible, probably with comrades in tow, rather than many, less profitable easier targets.
The other aspect, is that almost all players should feel the need to seek to entertain a property-operating faction of some sort, even if they are not npcs. Even the worst pirate does not shoot all of the bartenders on the east bank or all of the ugly wenches. Everyone's preferred port of call should always be in some jeopardy, and his overall welfare along with. If a pirate isn't going to contribute much to it's economic welfare, perhaps it should be in his tangible best interest to encourage humbler folk that share his sympathies by only roughing them up a little.
Obviously, not many players are going to be inclined towards operating on the fringes of established communities or between them in a predictable fashion until the mechanics exist to encourage that. Clearly some folks will always be able to continue to ignore such concerns, but there should be the absence of fortuitous consequences to greet them for their intransigence. (I think standing should be locked in more aggressively with equal losses and gains, and you should need a 2.0 faction standing at least to dock in anywhere by the most non-descript and unhelpful places.)
Real consequences of maintaining ports of call would be interesting. A person's research and sp development should be tied to them along with their maritime and economic welfare. Even if stations are not destructible, their efficacy in all areas should fall if they go into decline from disuse. The end result is an increased need by local denizens for friendlies to coexist.
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