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Richter Zorn
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Posted - 2003.12.03 08:43:00 -
[1]
Hello fellow players.
Hopefully this can be a uniting thread that developers might take some inspiration from. Now what do you think will make this game expand instead of losing the current playerbase in a small trickle? I didn't want to post this in the Idea-Lab since that is more oriented towards technical ideas for this and that module.
I have a few suggestions, none of them easy to implement.
* There HAS to be a major increase of the main storyline. This is the overall all largest opinion if you read peoples comments on news. Many people want a war - even though that sounds like a big thing It might make the story more interesting. It should also impact game mechanics. A Caldari/Gallente war should remove any sechits in warzones.
* Marketing, this is the hardest - since the game is not "new" I think word of mouth may have been a bit silenced. Perhaps there is no money left to do any ad campaigns. But maybe if PR worked on getting som updated reviews on the various gamemags and gamesites heads would turn.
* Players have no tools. One argument against CCP getting more involved in the storyline has been for players to do more role-playing themselves. Some corps have done this very well but to be frank we players don't have any tools to use besides the local chat in order to set up events. That is somewhat limiting.
That was all for now. This is intended as a base of discussion or constructive critism. Treat it as such.
Thanks for an otherwise great game
Kris
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Richter Zorn
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Posted - 2003.12.03 09:24:00 -
[2]
This is a part of the bigger problem that I haven't heard of before and I agree that it is a big one. Even though the game is downloadable now I think the box market is far more important. There is a distinct feeling of buying the box - its the pleasure of getting a packaged product. Im not sure of how the dynamics of business works but I imagine its fairly hard to get a new publisher 6+ months down the road. This also opens up for a "gift market" especially now in Christmas times.
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Richter Zorn
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Posted - 2003.12.03 15:00:00 -
[3]
Edited by: Richter Zorn on 03/12/2003 15:02:08
So there seem to be at least three categories of people here:
1. The ones that want content and want it all fast and preferrably yesterday.
2. Those who want content to trickle in in a steady but not too rushed tempo.
3. Those who think the content is really up to us players.
I have some thoughts about the previous posts. Firstly I agree that the GM's need to arrange more events and preferably more spread out - in universe as well as in real world time.
However I don't think this should be to emphasized. The problem with the GM events we have seen are that they are very short and have prettly low impact on the main storyline. Perhaps not the Emperor selection which in my mind seemed well planned and might give some long term impact on the story if done right.
Secondly ....
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The content thingy is bull imho. The tools are there and more are coming for us to weave our very own stories. And some people do every day.
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Well, this is not a really tolerant opinion. I know we have the basic tools for interaction but in my humble opinion we don't have enough ... yet. What about corp owned space, our own sec laws etc. etc. I know this has been said to come, but that was a long time ago - where is it?
Some of us just don't have the time to set up elaborate plots for others to participate in - or perhaps some of us lacks the imagination to come up with good internal stories.
Whatever the cause being the fact still remains that we pay for this service. It's like I go to the theater to be entertained, I don't pay the ticket to entertain others.
Third
The issue about the number of players need to increase is a though one. Right now I think it boils down to word of mouth. This will not happend until the majority of the player base is satisfied with the game.
I don't recommend games to friends if I don't think its super cool and I really enjoy it. Right now I'm too aware that people are leaving the game to recommend EVE in it's current state.
Fourth, about the opinion that gamers have come to the games end is unfortunate and true. I too feel slight effects of this.
I have a Scorpion and feel that I have no higher goals part of going around and shooting up other people or hunting pirates.
There should always be a goal set in the future that you know you almost can't reach. This keeps people interested in my opinion. We always wan't what we don't/can't have. In the nature of this game it becomes materialistic values like ships and stations.
Fifth, I also agree on the levels of customization. I would like to see different styles of ships. I am aware that this has to some degree have to do with net load and loading specific loadouts take time and might cause lag.
But still, ships have different kind of guns which is rendered unique in the game. Why not have the ability to paint ships like we choose colors/patterns for our corps.
That should just be a matter of sending a short line of code when you encounter a ship (I don't know Im not a programmer) since all colors are stored locally on your drive. I still can't get over the fact that my Scorpions red markings were worn even though it came straight from the factory ;)
Sixth, market manufacturing requires some serious makeover since one play correctly stated - it serves no real purpose now since all loot is essentially better.
Seventh, Im not sure I see what the problem of downtime is. I mean I don't play all day so in what way is one hour downtime a problem. Enlighten me ... I do agree its a bit unfair that market can't get cleaned out for thos who live down under but I belive this is changing soon when the new "constant re-supply" of the market is comming, don't hold your breath though.
Ok, that got pretty long. I wan't to make it clear that Im not all about *****ing. I think the game has a great potential but some things definately need to change. I know people always has different opinions on what needs to change but MOST people agree on that we need "more" - the definition of "more" is left open.
I don't work at CCP so I can't speculate on the manpower they have but I might feel that more focus should be spent on the game now than on other external issues. If my cars engine isn't working properly I send it to the mechanics - I don't get a new paintjob. Silly analogy but you get my point I hope.
I like CCP and I like EVE but I am also a paying customer, I am like a stockholder - my opinions count. I would like to hear more from CCP but right now they aren't exactly sharing on what their organization is going through. That leaves only us and our opinions to CCP to do wan't they want with.
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Richter Zorn
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Posted - 2003.12.03 16:41:00 -
[4]
I'll guess we won't be seing you around K
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Richter Zorn
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Posted - 2003.12.03 17:05:00 -
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I wonder how many players there are in total getting a bill every month. A somewhat safe assumption is that the playerbase is something around peak users x 3 for the different timezones. What would that leave us - around 6000 players? I know these figures are somewhat playful but anyway that amounts to $60.000 per month. I have no idea how far this takes CCP every month. My guess there are huge loans for 2-3 years of development. Substract wages for all the employes, again I have no idea how many they are. Substract money for the insane internet hookup and costs for their hub equipment.
Safe bet is that that leaves very little money for marketing. CCP needs a publishing house but as I stated above that is probably not going to happend.
My guess is that no game got a new publisher once it was released to the market. Therefore I only see new players arriving by word of mouth - again, this will only happend by directly improving the game. Not spend time and effort on making new websites. Not that I don't like it - I just think it might be poor resource managment.
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Richter Zorn
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Posted - 2003.12.03 17:26:00 -
[6]
I have to agree with Newg, I am seriously put off that the game/back story works so far from each other. I mean, we see the Amarr and Minmatar that absolutely hate each other freely flying around each others ships like in a big hippe fun-flower gathering. Minmatar should be refused to buy Amarr ships, having to pay ridicule amounts of money and risk being shot at by Amarr police. The same should go for Amarr the other way around.
Expand this set of problems to the other races as well. Right now we have a story with some serious flavour but the practical use ends up being some sort of bland mixture that crippled the story in return
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Richter Zorn
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Posted - 2003.12.04 08:49:00 -
[7]
These are all very good points. One can only hope this thread get to be a sticky and that someone from CCP actually reads it. A company that doesn't listen to it's customer is destined to live a very lonely existance.
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