Ice Raven
Ivory Tower Initiative
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Posted - 2014.09.11 05:51:00 -
[1] - Quote
my nod to the day:
TL;DR EvE will inevitably suffer and be crushed by the onrushing tidal surge of new Sci-Fi IPs if it cannot somehow rise above the morass and distinguish itself. I believe Incarna's Avatar focus can save EvE from that, and they must use the HD's from Dust 514 to brush the dust off of the grave in which we buried that possible aspect of the game.
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Eve online has held steady as long as I have been playing, a few minor speedbumps aside. Incarna's "p2w" possibility was a big one, and definitely the glaring issue from that particular release. So bright was this nova's glow that it eclipsed nearly everything that was good about Incarna and it's new avatars, including the possibility of character interaction outside of our protective metallic coffins, er, capsules. Coffins mostly.
At the time of Incarna's release, Star Citizen was barely more than a crowd-funded box made of hope, the picture inside the Warframe wasn't smiling at us from its place on the wall, an angelic form with it's Halo 4 was only just peaking it's head over the horizon, no one had even really hinted at humanity's Destiny, and the CoD franchise was more interested in chasing Ghosts while hiding their more Advanced Warfare intentions from the public eye. I mention Star Citizen due to it's obvious intent to out-EvE EvE, and the rest have, each in their own way, left DUST 514 behind in their respective races across the USA's Bonneville Salt Flats. For the less astute, that means "in the dust.
Now, CCP is painfully aware of all of these things. If you think they aren't, you need to poke around a bit and acquaint yourself with common sense and business sense. I believe they sought to address these issues with the avatar aspects of Incarna, but this rather beautiful solution was overshadowed by the rather vocal minority, myself included. We were ticked off about the possibility of our investments being pushed aside by a direct pay to win option. And We. Wanted. Spaceships.
In 2011, however, one fact ruled the MMO-sphere: Fantasy was at it's peak. This is no longer the case. Look around. If PGI can expand to other IP's following the fun-but-not-so-fun screw-up of MWO, the crowd in the arena has changed. After three years of CCP both gently and attentively stroking our ego's, should we not ask EvE to change? We have our game about spaceships. Can ANYONE deny that? Facing the grave fact that Science Fiction has firmly and undeniably displaced Fantasy in the entire entertainment sphere, from film to video game and beyond, we must answer the voice of Maximus from our fantastic past: "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?!?!?"
Yes, I am. But will this continue to be the case? I can build every ship in the game, and through my various alts, I can fly every ship in the game, save the Ragnarok. The ships have lost their draw to me, in a sense. Now I want more. Every issue concerning game-play has been addressed, in one way or another, and any complaints about the game's direction of the last few years just fades into the background of baseless griping out of boredom, the actions of a snotty child kicking the dirt with his hands in his pocket because he didn't get EXACTLY what he wanted for his birthday.
My point is: If we, the players, continue to keep our stranglehold around CCP's ingenuity for OUR game, it won't be here in ten years, as it so wishes to be. And I hope it will be. In the last three years, EvE has become a much better, more complete version of what it was; a game about spaceships. But that will no longer be enough. Dust was not enough. CCP has to admit that. Our game is becoming stale even as it becomes more beautiful. No matter the changes that have been made in the last three years, it is still the same old song and dance within the game itself. If we do not allow or force EvE to change it will stagnate, and we do have the power to enforce our will, the original Burn Jita being evidence of that. But we must also be realistic. EvE has to change.
I believe that Avatars have to be that change. We need to get out of our capsules and actually walk around the stations we live in and defend every day. We need to force CCP to do this if we must, and we must become aware of, if not comfortable with, the fact that just being a game about spaceships will not be enough to combat the tidal wave of newer Sci-Fi games. Make no mistake, they all have EvE online in their sights, one way or another. Are we going to support EvE, even though we do not truly support CCP? EvE is more than you, more than me, more than CCP and it's profit margin.
EvE needs to reincarnate Incarna in order to put forth a more beautiful face to the world. It will suffer by becoming a much more social game, and yes, people who only play for the Avatar aspect will play the game, and we will troll them on the forums. We will hound them until we are bored because they won't come out and fight, and our favorite aspects of the game will continue, much as they always have.
Please, CCP, evolve, and show us how beautiful EvE really is. Let the Trolling commence.
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