Barbelo Valentinian
The Scope
Gallente Federation
107
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Posted - 2011.10.31 16:55:00 -
[2] - Quote
Justin Credulent wrote:
Another Interesting Fact: There are 20,000 trial accounts created each month.
Well yeah, I'm sure that if CCP turned EVE into Carebears Online it would attract a lot of people to play for a bit longer - but would they stick?
CCP is in a tricky position. They know that if they themeparkified EVE it probably would get more subs. But they also know that would be a rod for CCP's own back, because the type of people who would sub would be the type of people who would demand more content from the devs. You know what it's like in most MMOs out there - the playerbase is like a nest full of baby birds with their mouths open, a bottomless content pit that can never be satisfied.
Plus, also, I do believe CCP have a consistent vision for the game, and that their artistic integrity is on the line - even though they could go that way, they don't actually want to totally themeparkify EVE, I don't think they would want to be associated with that kind of game.
However, even to survive, they do have to have a drip feed of players to replace the old, and to grow gradually like they have been doing, and that does, inevitably, mean some degree of themeparkification down the line.
EVE is never going to be like WoW, but it will inevitably drift a bit further in that direction than it is now, just as it has drifted a bit in that direction since it started. It's just that I think the devs are holding out as long as they can, trying to keep that integrity for as long as possible, trying to stay on that fine line between keeping it sufficiently hardcore for the hardcore, while being user friendly enough to keep more casual players around, and keep a steady stream of them subscribing as newbies.
Speaking for myself, as a carebear, non-PvP-er, EVE gives me the space game experience I want, because I'm prepared to roll with the way it is. The antics of the hardcore just liven things up, give the game a kind of content that, while it's not as much IC as I might wish, certainly creates a background sense of aliveness for my own little adventures. I take the rough with the smooth - I take the occasional cheap gank for lulz that pulls me out of immersion, because for much more of the time, I'm immersed, and more often than not, fights are sufficiently IC to keep me immersed.
EVE has been broadly like that since I started in 2007, and only softened a tiny bit in minor ways since then, and I don't anticipate it changing all that much in the years to come. It wlil always be somewhat harsh and brutal. If you sign up not being aware of that, then you're in the wrong game. |