Solecist Project wrote:Beta Maoye wrote:Extract a database of all about the lost players for the past 3 years. Analyze their daily activities that they spent most time in the game. Form a list of activities from the most popular to the least popular. Compare these activities with similar features that provided by competitors. Honestly sort out the advantages or disadvantages of EVE against competitors for these activities. A general picture of why the game is losing players will be revealed.
Invalid.
This works only for games that are equal.
EVE works on completely different base mechanics than the crap you seem to be playing ...
... which is tailored to the masses to enjoy.
And we all know the masses. They're horrible.
That's why pre-MMO era online games were better imo.
I have played and forgotten perhaps 20 MMOs. However I still recall every MUD (!!!) and in general late 90' - early 2k online game I played. These were 100-500 people communities, they had a massively insane rate of players retention because you'd form very strong bonds.
Even today, I still have fun and I *** shoot videos *** when I play an early 2k "MMO" and meet Felicia, who effectively meets and play with me since 14 years.
14 years online friendship, many marriages last less than that.
EvE came right after that early wave and EvE in fact formed an incredibly solid "ancient players" core. EvE still had the goodness of those "pre MMO" era games (and in fact, it did not launch with 500k subs at day zero like other games did).
EvE started declining in the soul before in the subs, when those ancient players started quitting (turnover, jobs, whatever) and got replaced by a more "current" playerbase, including the elite of such playerbase. They are elite but not the old "we'll form a 12+ years long bond" kind of elite, but "just" good players.
I know this is an extremely hard to describe, subtle - very subtle change that happened without anyone noticing at first. But it happened.
I have known some corp mates in EvE who were beta players... they were just different. I have know many excellent, even awesome newer players who now rank high in alliances but... it's not the same thing. There's something inside that got lost, the feeling you cannot forget when you first defeated your foe in an old game where
actions mattered.
Also, not really too distant from the above:
In modern EvE, you go -10, you biomass. And forget it's forbidden, nobody is going to catch you. In modern EvE, there's always "alliance reimbursment" so your screwups don't matter.
In modern EvE, you put a bounty and.... who cares.
In modern EvE, return to success is always a couple of PLEXes away.
In a game having its very foundations built on
consequences, this change in direction has undone the very reason to play EvE:
a competitive game where victory or return back to competitivity is always as close and your credit card is.