Zaknussem
Caldari
The Ironbreakers
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Posted - 2008.10.20 12:37:00 -
[1]
The tl;dr version of the OP post is that he thinks it's a bad idea for CCP to even consider to try to appeal to a broader group of players.
Let that sink in for a moment and people will realise why the OP is not running CCP.
(tl;dr crowd, stop reading here)
CCP is a company, first and foremost. They will do whatever they damn like in order to stay in business, regardless of anyone's opinion, especially that of the customers. Or maybe you missed all the nerdrage about the Ghost Training nerf a week ago?
To defend your post, you raise the best known example of an online game that suffered because of "mass appeal, make more money"-decisions. Take into account that SOE were dealing with a LucasArts-owned property (Company slogan: Make More Money or George will Kill Us) and the only surprise factor in the whole SWG: NGE matter was that it wasn't done sooner. SWG isn't exactly a standing testament to the concept that changing a game to increase it's appeal is a bad thing; it's more a standing testament to the concept that changing a game too much in one go is a very bad idea. Changing a game in slower, smaller increments is the way to go. (Coincidentally, how has EvE changed over the years?)
As for Ultima Online, if I read things correctly, the Diablo-esque decisions for the game were made before WoW was released, and the Diablo-style of gameplay had proven itself to be a moneymaker with mass-appeal. EA is another company that does whatever it damn pleases, customer feedback not accepted. So no-one should be surprised that they tried to market a "sure thing" game element to the wrong crowd.
Furthermore, I see no evidence of the OP possessing clairvoyance, so his remarks of "if EvE becomes WoW, it will die" are, at best, completely meaningless. Just because you decide that the game will die if it changes too much won't make it so. Games don't magically cease to exist when you stop caring about them. Also, saying that WoW has "cooperative gameplay" as a core principle and that EvE does not...let's just say that the EvE Alliances are not one-man shows.
 Quote:
There's no way for CCP to make the game shitty and increase subscriber numbers
A biased opinion, at best. I have heard a couple of arguments that CCP started out with a shitty game which is still shitty today, but still the subscriber numbers are increasing. A more common argument is that EvE started out fine, but has become shittier as the years passed. Look to the nearest EvE player that is still whining about WTZ to see what I mean.
I am going to make an unflawed "X would make CCP more money so they are going to/should do this" argument right here. With X being one of the following (take your pick):
# Friendly UI
# Good customer support
# Good documentation
You know, the Basics that any MMO should have.
To close, your argument that the "But it will appeal to more people" point is bullshit and does not work is...well...bullshit in itself. It doesn't help that the points you use to reinforce your argument are either bullshit as well, or seen with such a huge bias as to render them moot and void.
About the only thing that we both agree upon is that if huge appeal-boosting changes were done to EvE in one fell swoop, it would surely die. Which is why no-one does so anymore, everyone agrees on it. But EvE is changing, and it is changing to be more appealing. One step at a time. Instead of the elephant stepping on your balls in one crushing action, the elephant is applying the pressure s-l-o-w-l-y. |