Kile Kitmoore
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Posted - 2012.02.23 21:31:00 -
[1] - Quote
And here we go againGǪ
Sorry CCP, but another vague devblog concerning the future of WIS is starting to feel like days of old.
Why develop WIS at all? You already have a growing community that didn't need this function before, so I can only assume that CCP's thoughts are towards attracting new customer and/or better subscription retention from new pilots. If that's the case would it not be a better idea to try and ascertain as to what those groups would expect to see in WIS? Might be a good idea to reach out and gather feedback outside your own gaming community. I really hope you are not pinning all your hopes on a FanFest round-table discussion, which certainly does not hurt but in no way should be considered the end all be all of feedback for future WIS development.
If you really want ideas I wish you guys would put some parameters up? What are your capabilities? At this time multi-avatar environments are not possible and with such a small team should are ideas be grounded in this little thing called reality? Big picture is great but you can talk about that big picture until the cows come home and nothing gets accomplished.
CQ, what a mess, and really was the downfall of Incarna. Talk about not meeting expectations would be a gross understatement. You gave us an avatar with a small static room with absolutely no game play value and you thought micro transactions in this environment would fly, congrats. If that wasn't bad enough, you pulled in a metric ton of resources from Papa (EVE Space) to give us this not so grand expansion.
Righting the wrongs, actual ideas:
Let me just preface that I have absolutely no idea what your Carbon engines capabilities are, I am running on an assumption that multiple avatars are not in the cards. These ideas are really how to possibly get CQ in better shape.
1. These static rooms you created, did you guys leave room for players to place objects into them? If not, what kind of hurdle would it be to allow players this capability. Customizing the CQ's, to me, is a no brainer. You make it fit into the space side of EVE by making everything player created using the good old fashion blueprint/material side of the game. Maybe consider some items requiring materials from both PI and mining and I would not rule out rare materials only acquired from certain sec's of space (looking at you LowSec). The micro transaction side of this should (if ever) come much later. Items like bed, tables, chairs and other common items go without saying but what about cool stuff like a display case where I can put a corpse into or a pole to place the head of a corpse? Alliance or Corp. logo holograms? Hang pictures on walls, which could be portraits of other players or even a screen shot of an actual battle someone took. The possibilities are endless but the bottom line, this stuff is built and sold by the players. The important part here is the implementation, meaning someone can truly customize their CQ the way he/she wants without the limitations of all tables should be placed in this exact location and oriented in this exact way. SWG, gone, but man did they have a kickass housing system and COH/COV's base building isn't to shabby either.
2. The customizing above should be on a station by station bases. You got this really cool setup but you have now changed corps. and are moving, you need to move your CQ stuff also which of course opens them up for the great gank. Don't want to move your stuff, fine, rent another room and rebuild. Oh, did I just say rent, I did. All new players should have a basic CQ, no question. After that people should be paying rent for additional CQ access. Don't pay your rent, your stuff is kindly kicked to the curb and placed back in your station.
3. Create different interiors with different sizes and configurations like a CQ with no ramp but a window to my ship. Rent obviously changes based on the size of the room. Heck, you could even go so far as to require these different configurations to be actually constructed with blueprints and in space materials and to be made and sold by players. With all that of course means opening access for room additions which of course means more rent and in a perfect world player created and sold.
4. You did it, you created this highly customizable single player environment that fits into the EVE economy. Players are gathering materials, building and selling this vanity stuff. While some might think that is actual gameplay, which it can be, you still need some other things to get people to want to use their CQ. I can't have other avatars visit me in my CQ but you still need an actual purpose to have a CQ. You NEED this because in other games housing is used more often then not for simple loot dropping, something CQ will not have. You need a some type of mini-game that allows players to challenge other players. The device or table used for this mini-game should be something, once gain, built, sold and bought by players. The game should allow players to bet and if possible allow you to see your opponents full body avatar while playing. It could be a hologram but anything that gives a person a reason to show off their avatar's bling, thus a reason to get tattoos on my arms or legs.
I really think soliciting input from people who don't play may be worthwhile regarding WIS ideas. The ideas above are not new but what I like about them is you start small in a single player environment then if you bring WIS online this same foundation can be used. If people ever do own storefronts you don't want the same look and feel to every store but a uniqueness that identifies with that player.
If you are serious about adding and supporting to the WIS side of the game then please don't let this be the thread that a year from now people are still bumping and asking, "Any word?". |