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From: Piter De Vries <horchata12839@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: EVE and getting new people to play
Date: Sun, 11 May 2025 17:44:48 -0500
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candycanearter07 wrote:
> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 13:20 this Saturday (GMT):
>>
>> So there's this article, discussing the problem on getting new players
>> to invest their time in EVE, the long-running sci-fi MMORPG. One of
>> the issue the game has is that many of its current players have been
>> playing the game for literal decades, and -as such- newcomers are at a
>> distinct disadvantage when starting up their virtual empires. There's
>> just much less room for newbies to manuever.
>>
>> CCP Games is suggesting that the solution is to give the players
>> themselves the ability to create new missions. Right now the game has
>> its own starter missions to get you into the game, and then some
>> procedurally generated stuff, but none of those take into account the
>> actual politics and state of affairs in the virtual universe, so -once
>> they leave the safe 'tutorial zone', new players are often dropped
>> into deep end, surrounded by a lot of very large, very hungry sharks.
>> With user-created missions, those missions would be under the aegis of
>> some of the larger empires, offering some protection against the other
>> sharks and allowing new players a chance to level up some more before
>> taking off on their own.
>>
>> Will it work? I've no idea. It might, but that's not really -as I see
>> it- the problem anyway. Because I think EVE has a bigger issue, and
>> it's obvious in how CCP Games frames this new advance. They describe
>> it as "freelance jobs" designed to create a "player-driven,
>> player-created gig economy." And that's the biggest issue right there.
>>
>> EVE isn't suffering from a lack of new users because they can't level
>> up fast enough. It's got a problem attracting new users because the
>> game isn't seen by outsiders as something that would be particularly
>> fun. It's been described as a sci-fi spreadsheet, and too much of the
>> discussion about the game -by its creators and its players- revolves
>> around the BUSINESS aspects of the franchise.
>>
>> So describing your Big New Idea as a way to create a "gig economy"
>> isn't, I think, the best move.
>>
>> Again, it's not that I have an objection to EVE, its gameplay, or this
>> new idea. But EVE is struggling in how its /perceived/ and if your
>> annoucement makes it sound like this game is going to be WORK then I
>> think marketing has missed the point entirely.
> 
> 
> That's definitely an interesting approach, but I still feel like it
> might be one of those games where you can't do a lot impactful if you're
> an "outsider", and I hate those kinds of games.
> 
That's not handled so badly.  There are about 16 divisions of class and 
specialization along with Frenchness etc.  Anyways, every time you 
restart in your small little world you will see this chatter from 
like-minded others and can get information and advice.  No need to join 
a guild explicitly because everybody is in one of 16 "guilds" from the 
get go.
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