AlleyKat
Gallente
White-Noise
Skunk-Works
   |
Posted - 2007.10.24 21:58:00 -
[1]
It's all about the ships.
The entire economy and therefore the game revolves around it. Without new ships the game will die.
What happens when you've (effectively) flown the biggest and meanest ship in the game? You've saved up and skilled up to fly the ship you want to and now what? No more ships? nothing bigger, nothing better?
Sure, there are options to do other stuff, play in other ways and other roles. But if you were to reduce this game down to its bare essentials, it's a spaceship game - and without new ships to play with, people will quit.
Purely from a game design point of view, once people have reached the final level, they will rarely play a game again. With online games such as this, the thing which keeps people playing longer is the people they play that game with. Yes, I know EVE does not have levels, but it does have perceivable goals which people wish to reach and for the most part this means new ships to fly.
Those that stay will do so because their goals are on a more personal level; they want to be the best alliance leader; they want to be the best trader; the want to be the best pirate; etc.
So, in five years - I do not predict the number of subscribers will drop, it will probably go up, but the remaining players will consist of veterans and new players. It will look like an hour-glass, with great numbers of people at the top and bottom and a fraction of people going any further forward once they hit the 'ship ceiling'.
It will get harder and harder to satisfy the veterans and too easy to alienate the new players, but the game will last.
Who will be running the game is another question, because I do not think CCP will hold onto the game for much longer and probably sell the management of the accounts to another company while the 'stock value' is as high as it is. Why? because as much as you can love creating something, there must be a time when you want to create something else, instead of continuously trying to re-create your initial creation or perfect it - you have to put the varnish on it and sell it (new graphics engine?).
Probably not this year, or even next year, but this game will eventually not be managed or supervised by the people who first designed it.
Not being negative, it's just the way I see it.
AK.
|