Aldus Zero
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Posted - 2008.04.02 06:29:00 -
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First û really interesting (and for the most part surprisingly mature) thread! Naturally, I have a couple of reactions.
Someone mentioned UO(Ultima Online). UO is remarkable for its amazing focus on allowing its new player base to wipe out by being griefed to death. The Ultima series of single-player games had been a top seller for years, so they had the ethos right, the mechanics, the back story. They had a good development team at that time, and good management too. Unfortunately, old players moved on as old players will in time, and new players were turned away with a ferocity that was second to only one other game û EVE.
First, no way are there 200,000+ individual people playing this game. Whatever the number is, itÆs far less than that (personally I think 25,000 and dropping is about right). Nice that CCP can claim 200K accounts and the resultant income, but their motivation û and ours û is that the game continues. If we donÆt attract a constant stream of new players who stay, this isnÆt going to happen. I don't mean talking existing players into buying their 3rd or 4th account either.
And we arenÆt drawing new players. Most of the noob areas are empty barring alts. This thread shows a few things. One is that even the most motivated new players (the ones who write here) perceive much of the game to be inaccessible. It doesnÆt matter if theyÆre right or wrong û the perception is what counts. And letÆs be honest û they arenÆt entirely wrong. Going over every killboard I could find in about an hour of looking, I see most of the killing blows arenÆt made by Kestrels, Rifters, or Caracals. Almost all are T2 ships, and these DO take months to get into. Maybe û if you know your stuff û you can outfit something from Tech 1 and try to make it work in LowSec, but most of us canÆt. Figure around 4-6 months to be independent. Less if you know everything you need to know the day you start (which means youÆre an alt ); more if you donÆt.
As to 0.0, IÆm sure there was a time when one could strike out on their own and start a new POS, and perhaps build a base for themselves, but that time is long gone. Make a POS on your own now (or with your new group of 20 buddies or so), and it takes about a week before one of the mega-alliances drops by and makes you an offer you canÆt refuse û and then youÆre theirs. DonÆt get me wrong û IÆm not bashing alliances here. But I do want to paint an accurate picture and nowadays, I think this is it.
As to a new player joining a 0.0 corp and/or Alliance, the truth is if youÆre new, youÆre cannon fodder. One writer mentioned that the corps typically will give you a T1 ship to get killed in so it wont cost you anything, but spending 3-6 hours every time you log in, pressed into a gang to take on BoB, Goons or whoever, then getting re-killed yet again -- just isnÆt fun.
So I think itÆs true. The new player is confronted with one of two choices: make a living in Empire (if you can avoid the new gank-the-noobs-in-Empire trends) until you get your half a year or more in, or get press-ganged into 0.0. Going back to those killboards, lowsec just isnÆt an option.
I think the answer is a path we arenÆt going to take. IÆd like to see an Empire where new players can grow, stay interested, and eventually move outward when they want to. IÆd like to see LowSec not be a death trap, either in perception or reality. And itÆd surely be nice if 0.0 was a place you actually could move to without joining in the 100-years war thatÆs already been going on for so long youÆll only ever be a spear carrier in someone elseÆs conflict.
How to do it? Not sure that I know. But as CCP are the pros here, I turn to them with hope that they get this right before EVE becomes one of those interesting milestones in this past history of MMO gaming.
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