Zimjin
Caldari
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Posted - 2007.09.05 18:28:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Neveren
I for one having been apart of this game for oh 3 years nowish.. Im wondering why it continues to grow..
Why EVE grows:
* CCP has done a good job of advertising the game. I see EVE advertisements periodically on web sites and that was the tipping point that got me to try it -- 14 day free trial, what did I have to lose?
* CCP has also done a good job of continuing to improve the game. I get the feeling that they are really reinvesting all available money back into the game, whereas Planetside or even WOW clearly are not. Planetside is a better comparison, really, because I think it has a similar sized audience (or used to), but Planetside is dying because SOE does not reinvest in the game. They take $10 net profit, re-invest $1 back into the game and pocket the other $9 for investment elsewhere -- that's my impression. I'm personally impressed by CCP's dedication to improvements. Same thing with Cornered Rat Studios and World War II Online. EVE and WW2O are quite similar in the way they continue to invest in improvements and I'd say that's why these games are still alive while some other, once popular games are dead or dying.
* There's apparently still a market for really boring PvE.
Quote:
Are these new pilots.. just sitting in empire grinding missions actually having fun and enjoying the game? im not exactly sure what is attracting new players to this game.
Personally, I'm about ready to quit.
Reasons why EVE is growing slowly and not quickly:
* Missions are mind numbingly boring. You basically just loadout your ship and manage your power. The battles aren't very dynamic at all.
* 0.0 corporations are inaccessible. Everyone is afraid of spies, so unless I know someone IRL, it seems I'm not going to get into an established 0.0 corporation. I see no point in joining a high sec corporation since that's what I'm in now -- the newbie corp! Newbies are restricted to some really boring content until they build up enough skill points to attempt to prove that they aren't an alt and thus a spy.
* PvP is inaccessible to newbies. We can run around with throw-away tech 1 frigates and accomplish basically nothing. We could run around in slightly less disposable tech 1 cruisers and still accomplish mostly nothing, as most gatecamps and so forth are done in battlecruisers, battleships and groups that will kick our ass. I have a battlecruiser but I can't afford to lose it and I think I'll go insane before reaching Level IV missions and a battleship that would allow me to afford to lose battlecruisers.
* There is no "off the beaten path" PvP encounters. In an RPG, you can stay off the roads, sneak around the back fields and look for fights you can handle with just 1-2 people. In EVE, there is no "off the beaten path". You MUST follow the road, which is to say, the gates, so you can only ever engage in big group fights, which is a problem if you don't have a big group.
* PvP is non-tactical. In an FPS or RPG, you can run in out of range, you can hide behind rocks and trees, there's a lot of room for dynamic action. In EVE, the battle comes down to three things: ship loadout, group size and personal skill, however, the significance of personal skill drops to 0 as group size gets bigger (most of the "personal skill" in EVE PvP is knowing how to load out your ship). I've only been in a handful of fights, but exactly 0 of those fights involved any degree of personal skill. We were always either outnumbered or outgunned by so much that anything we did really didn't matter, we just needed more people or bigger ships.
I think those are the reasons why EVE grows slowly rather than quickly.
It's a beautiful game, I personally love the "death penalty" and the guild vs guild warfare, but it's really inaccessible to newbies unless you commit to 6+ months of boring and highly restricted gameplay.
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