Dersen Lowery
Scanners Live in Vain
1722
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Posted - 2015.08.07 20:17:16 -
[1] - Quote
Feyd Rautha Harkonnen wrote:So long as EvE markets itself as BR-5's and spaceships in glorious combat like in the 'This is EvE' video, while handing new players a mining laser or endless security missions in hisec (without a cattle prod to get into nullsec), it will remain a niche game that never reaches critical mass.
The giant nullsec fights were terrible PR for EVE, because everyone who read those articles thought they could just roll up a character and roll in to thrilling real-time mass combat, you know, the way nearly every other PVP game works. Those people left when they saw what the game actually is, and doubly so in sov null. The subscription count spike around those battles was inflated by people re-upping dormant super accounts, which then counted for part of the subscription sag when they were unsubbed as unnecessary again. The nearest equivalent to a huge, accessible war is RvB, and how are they doing these days? Or BRAVE, but guess what? They're in low sec now because they have a particular set of goals, and low sec is much better suited to them than sov is. Sov null makes very particular demands, and those unable or unwilling to meet those demands will either find a better-suited part of the game, or leave. And, by the way, how's BRAVE doing these days?
PR that doesn't sell what the game is really like is worse than no PR at all.
I know it's the fashion to talk about how ~sov is dying~ because of Aegis, but there's no evidence of that yet (nor, to be fair, is there firm evidence that it's a success). What's provably suffering is high sec. L4 rat kills are way down. Even incursions are down. It's at the point where the usually confident CCP Fozzie was left stammering when asked about the data. Personally, I think the nullsec buffs, and the new roles that miners and ratters have in securing systems, were enough for a lot of people to retire a lot of high sec ISK-making alts. But there could be more than that going on, and that would be bad news for CCP. Like it or not, high sec is CCP's bedrock and still the engine of its famed in-game economy.
Furthermore, the cries for incentives to fight miss a critical point: anything that's worth fighting over is also worth negotiating over, which means that a more powerful and established party can get what it wants with no logistical overhead, no asset risk, no cat-herding over Jabber, and greatly reduced odds that an opportunistic third party will complicate things. If they can do that, why would they consider the alternative? There's a saying that war is just diplomacy by other means, but at least in the context of EVE it would be more accurate to say that diplomacy is just war by other means. Given that the burden of planning and executing campaigns in sov null reliably falls on the shoulders of the same handful of people every time, and given that it's a serious burden to bear, I don't blame any of the alliances for trying it first. If the alternative was fitting a thousand Napocs and schlepping them (the equivalent of) 30 jumps while listening to everyone else enjoying World of Warships on comms, I'd do exactly the same thing.
What CCP is doing is pivoting from making a game that inflates its sub count with alts, encourages huge groups run by a handful of people with real responsibilities and second jobs leading masses of people who just do what they're told, and which creates amazing but misleading headlines, to making a game that more people can get into and enjoy more quickly and more certainly. This involves a certain amount of feeling around in the dark, because there are no games like EVE and no examples for CCP to follow, but it makes a lot more sense than the previous strategy.
Proud founder and member of the Belligerent Desirables.
I voted in CSM X!
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