There has been a lot of discussion about the upcoming Winter Expansion around the community lately, and it certainly deserves to be discussed, debated, and considered. CCP has taken a big step in returning the game to its roots and at least attempting a major FiS focused expansion. And they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the attempt. But I'd like to take a deep look beyond this Winter's expansion and gaze into the crystal ball. Where will we be a year from now?
As things stand right now we have to make mention of several unanswered questions that will impact the future course of events in Eve development. Where exactly does WiS stand? And when exactly will DUST514 hit the market?
Those two questions and the corresponding minutia of answers, inter-woven complexities, and fall-out will have a huge impact on what happens after the 2011 Winter Expansion. For the sake of this article I'm going to take control and tell you what I think should happen and see where those decisions lead us. This article isn't intended as a predictive model of the future as much as it is an outline of consequences.
When it comes to WiS I have a very clear vision of what I believe will happen in the Spring. WiS cannot be totally abandoned since it is integral to the support of DUST. It is also obvious that WiS expansion plans have been slowed down almost to a complete stand-still in pursuit of FiS solutions. It is easy to predict that our first establishment will be revealed sometime in the Spring. That establishment will be a sort of "Command Center" ( As hinted at in the future vision video we've all seen ) that will allow coordination between the Eve players and the DUST players. The exact nature of the relationship is starting to become clear and will lainly focus on planetary territorial engagements. To what exact benefit to either side remains dubious at the moment. But only because we don't know.
I would also think that some type of "Communal" room would also be introduced along with the Command Center. The likely hood of this depends greatly on the WiS issues being resolved and that is far from certain at this point. So we'll leave that idea to the maybe, possible, could be bin for now.
So coordination with DUST certainly seems to be the main driver for Spring/Summer plans. If this is the blueprint for future development cycles, it isn't a bad one. Spring/Summer Eve/Dust focus and Fall/Winter FiS focused. And just because Spring/Summer is DUST focused doesn't mean it doesn't include FiS elements, it will and it should. Ignoring the foundation of Eve is what brought us to this past Summer in the first place, I'd be hard pressed to believe CCP would do that again.
Corporations and Alliances are fighting over planetary territories for some benefit to the Eve Community. DUST is on the shelves and hopefully selling like hot-cakes. ( If you are a Eve player you want DUST to do well, believe me. ) So what else does 2012 hold in store?
There will be plenty to keep CCP busy during the next year. Further balancing, V3 deplnyments ( which means new models to stations, gates, ships, modules, etc.), T3 Frigates and further work on inter-space modifications to Null, Low and High-Sec. These are all exciting, needed and welcomed changes. But they simply aren't enough to generate the level of excitement, energy and public relations needed to seriously impact growth for Eve. But what could do that?
Next year's Winter Expansion will be monumental, will echo through-out the world and raise the stakes within New Eden to levels unheard of before. Why? Because this time next year the Jovians become a playable race and take their rightful place alongside the Caldari, Amarr, Minnie and Gal as the fifth race in New Eden. Jovian space is opened and a brand new world unfolds over a three month period of time, in a slow, deliberate and measured roll-out of new characters, ships, modules, space and time.
Why the Jovians? Well, you might as well ask, why not the Jovians? It is the empty corner, it is the big tease, the last remaining unknown, the new thing, the big deal. And here is the kicker, the Jovian ships will require not only new skills to fly, but skills from all four other races to fly. That's right, if you want to fly a Jovian ship - in most, but not all bases - you'll need skills from the other four races. While it will be posshble to choose Jovian as your starting race, the true benefit of flying a Jovian ship will fall into the needy hands of the Bitter Vets alone.
This is for two main reasons. 1) It provides a new shiny to an increasingly older and extremely dedicated audience of subscribers, and 2) It provides the "aspirational" incentive that any large-scale universe requires, something to work towards, a goal$2C an objective beyond "this is cool" that can help drive players to achieve long-term subscriptions.,/span>
You can say all you want about the obvious challenges inherent in bringing the Jovian race into New Eden, and I'd be lying if I said there weren't some, but those can be overcome rather easily given the proper ground work. We've seen that type of ground work before from CCP when it came to the Sansha incursions, so the model for how it can happen has been tested.
The cool part? And this is just my own wishful thinking. ANY character can become Jovian if they wish. A bar would have to be set, say perhaps 100m skill-points, but it is well within the established ( with some minor tweaking ) to assume Jovian technology could achieve such an outcome. So come next Winter your 100m sp Caldari avatar can undergo a transformation (one that might even cost a PLEX or two) into a pure Jovian avatar.
In the end, whatever happens next year is going to be impacted greatly by what happens in less than two months. And then, again, by what happens in the Spring. To me the road seems more clearly defined than it was at this time last year, so progress has been made.
As for me, I'm looking forward to it. And to awesome new Jovian ships.
So what are you looking for next year, and what do you think of the Jovian expansion?
If you haven't read yesterday's post yet, I would encourage you to do so.
My attempt to lay the ground-work for the course of Eve in 2012 came down to several core concepts, the details of which are not as important in the strategic sense. In the planning/idea phase you are better off keeping your attention on the big ideas, the over-arching themes, and let the details form when it comes time to develop tactics to support the strategy.
The major themes for Eve in 2012 are, in my opinion:
• DUST integration
• Subscriber growth
Tomorrow I'm planning on outlining my thoughts on building new-subscriber growth in 2012. Today however, while we are still in the strategy phase, I'd like to revisit some of the core ideas that I presented yesterday.
I believe it is time to introduce another race to New Eden. We have many to choose from, the Enheduanni, Yan Jung, Takmahl, Talocan, Sansha, and of course, the Jovians themselves. I chose the Jovians for my example simply because they have space. Certainly the folks at CCP could give any of the races additional space simply by adding it to the universe. Which is one of the great things about LORE VS. CANON.
Lore is the fictional backstory that supports Canon. Lore is constantly changing, being updated and manipulated to serve Canon. It doesn't work the other way around. Canon is the factual information present in-game. It is also constantly changing, but slower than Lore and usually in a more subtle way.
Whatever the Jovians, or any of the other races, may be in Lore can be altered, updated or modified based on Canon. So, for example, some lone ship gets sucked into a WH and pops out into Jovian space only to find it strangely empty. From that single sentence there are dozens of good writers that could form the foundation for getting the Jovians actually into the universe of New Eden. It's called imagination.
But that isn't even the point. A new playable race has been hinted at as long as WiS and it is time for it to happen. Personally I think the idea of a race based on Cross-trained multi-racial skills is extremely interesting and valid. This wouldn't limit the new race to only older players as some have suggested, you need to think differently. A Rookie player that chooses the new race would train skills the same way we all did, only he would choose from the skill sets from all four of the other races and his own. Heck, I know many players that decided to cross-train virtually from day one. This is no different.
Certainly the older players would have some benefit. Which is their right, since they are older players. But it would only be an availability issue, not one of distinct individual advantage. This kind of thing exists already. When the new BC/BS enter the game in a few weeks I will be able to fly all four of the ships from Day One. (And I plan on it!) Does that give me an unfair advantage?
And then there is the aspect that I didn't touch on yesterday, which is what to do with the newly discovered or recently available new space? My suggestion is this, since FW has been largely ignored for so long, we strive to make the new space a FW playground. Think about it for a second, newly discovered space? I think all four races would be extremely interested in taking possession of such new treasure and would fight hard to do so. So (and let's continue using the Jovians) newly opened Jovian space could be contested space. Originally it would be discovered without Gates and only accessed by jumping to cynos brought in thru newly discovered WH. But each faction now has the ability to build and control Gates for themselves. Said Gates will directly connect to their faction space in Empire only as long as they control the Gate.
Man, I am so full of idears. Heck, given that scenario I might even join a Faction and play in Jovian space for awhile. Obviously we'd need something really awesome and cool in there to make all the fighting worthwhile... and that would be the missing element. The one thing you need to build Jovian tech which can only be found in Jovian space? I dunno, I'm not as smart about industry things and anytime I try I tend to make people angry. So you guys figure that one out.
A new playable race by this time next year?
In this, the last of the 2012 posts, I want to take a look at the single most important element of 2012 for Eve - getting new subscribers. That statement being solely predicated on the assumption that the upcoming Winter Expansion and the adoption of my predictions for 2012 are in the bag, which will stabilize the subscriber base. But we don't want stability, we want growth.
So how do we get new people to not only try Eve but, more importantly, subscribe to Eve? Arguably the most complex, dense, non-inviting, dark, dangerous, incomprehensible and intimidating MMO based on a not-super popular niche genre game on the planet?
Whew. Luckily, I've had more difficult assignments. Try convincing people to give you their internal organs someday! Talk about difficult.
Getting those new subscribers is going to take some hard work, luck and serious strategic and tactical planning, but it can be done. The entire plan hinges on several important factors that need to happen to help it along:
1) We need walking, interacting Avatars in Eve.
You all know I am a huge FiS player and couldn't care less about WiS, but it is crucial to further growth of our beloved game. This is the whole reason why CCP went down this road in the first place - and I mean before WOD and DUST. Go back to the original idea, the original dream, and make it happen. A game without people in it is a turn-off to the vast majority of potential players.
2) DUST
There are 2 smart things about DUST. First of all it is set in the Eve Universe. And while that won't directly help subscribers come into the MMO Eve (Consol vs Comp, we all know the debate there. And while there will be some cross traffic, it won't be much). However, there will be a tremendous indirect benefit if DUST is even slightly successful. Taking advantage of that will require some clever PR/Marketing, but it can be done. Secondly, DUST is on the PS3, and while that might make some XBox people angry it is huge for the potential rewards... IN ASIA. Heck, XBox is considering not even selling in Japan next year. The Asian market is the largest single potential source of new players for Eve. See a connection here?
So we have further WiS development happening in the Spring which will coincide with DUST hitting the shelves (or should) and then tons of new players will jump on board the Eve train? Well, no. It isn't going to be that easy.
There will be a new sub bump in the Spring when these things happen. Heck, there will be a new sub bump at the end of this year from the Winter Expansion. Some of that will be re-subs though, but still, this is looking like a great FiS expansion so CCP will reap some benefits. Maybe 4-5%? Hard to say at the moment. ( The global economy has so much to do with all of this tbh. Family, Shelter, Food, Transportation, Entertainment and then some other stuff and then Eve - it is pretty far down the list.)
CCP has always done a good job with the promotional push, the offers, the bundles, the friends referrals, the incentives. And they have worked to make the new player experience better over the years. Increased training speeds, better tutorials, etc., all have made scary starter Eve less scary for the new player.
I actually have a lot of ideas in regards to the new player experience (so this actually might not be the last post about 2012 after all), but I have one new one that came to me this morning that I'd like to share first.
I call the idea SANCTUARY. Every race has its rookie systems, for me it was Todaki up in Caladri space. ( Oh Todaki we adore you, blinky lights of Gold... sorry, memories of the HS fight song. ) So each Rookie system becomes a Sanctuary system designed to protect Rookies from any potential harm while they are engaged in the Rookie tutorial program. Once a Rookie signs up for the training tutorials they are immune to harm within the Rookie system. The Rookie Training system would need some updates to take advantage of this, I see Rookie combat arenas being set-up to teach basic PvP skills - were Rookies can fight other Rookies IN SHIPS THEY CAN'T FLY YET! And this is the critical part, give them (within the context of the training program) the opportunity to train against each other in Cruisers, Battlecruisers and then Battleships. This is the great tease, the promise of what is to come, the destination objective. Train hard, work hard and one day soon you can fly this ship.
I liken this to the Danger Room from the X-Men comic books. This only works given some major overhauls of the Training Program, but it could be a relatively easy way for new players to be introduced to game mechanics, possible career paths (The PvP element wouldn't be the only one, you could easily set up scenarios in other paths. Imagine a tutorial where a veteran player falls ill and cannot deliver vital goods in his Providence, and it is up to the Rookie to do it! The mind races at the possibilities!)
Being a Rookie in Eve should be hard, we all did it. And I'd be the last person to suggest taking that away, but we also need to make the initial experience impact meaningful enough that they want to stay on course. Making the new player experience into a sort of "mini-game" on its own would be one way to accomplish that.
And then kick them out into the real universe to be killed.
This idea won't leave me alone and keeps running around in my head, so I thought it was worthy of some additional thoughts and discussion. Starting out in Eve is difficult and getting new players involved, engaged and ready to face the HTFU universe is an extreme challenge. One which has not been cracked to date.
My core idea is relatively simple. Turn the initial days of a Rookie's life into a "Mini-Game" that exists inside of Eve. Combine the best of the Tutorials, along with some serious updates and revisions, into a Training Program. Think Danger Room from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters for an idea of what I'm on about.
The idea is to slowly engage the new player into the world, the concepts and the functions of Eve, while also giving them a real taste of what lies ahead. And this is the radical step that is missing from today's engagement - letting the new player have a chance to fly ships he might not get to fly for years.
It makes sense. Think about training a Capsuleer, how much effort is involved, how much technology, expense and pure resources go into a Capsuleer's training. Do you think they just drop you into a Rookie ship and say, "Fly Safe"? Let's turn the experience of the new player into an experience more akin to Capsuleer Training. For real.
This is a unique situation and a unique opportunity, to engage the new player in our universe in ways unheard of in the MMO environment. A system of training that goes beyond the Tutorial boredom into an engaging, exciting and memorable experience!
So, how does it work?
First, every Rookie system is a Sanctuary for every Rookie signed into the Training Program. No one else. So it is not an exploitable situation. There are no kill-mails in the Sanctuary Training Program (STP), no loots (other than those provided to other STP participants) and no way for anyone other than brand spanking new players to get into the STP. While in the STP the Rookie player is immune to the rest of Eve while IN the STP system. This is also important to avoid exploitation. Any Rookie that leaves the STP system can be killed just like anyone else.
The STP has a stepped and tiered program that introduces the new player to the various play styles open to them as players in Eve. A PvP program, an Industry program and so on. Completion of each program is necessary for graduation.
The PvP program would involve Arena Combat. In yet another brilliant move, this program involves introducing the player to other players, building connections on the FIRST day! Such connections as we all know are critical to jeeping players engaged over the long haul. The STP is designed to foster such connections in every program step.
Aura would guide the combat, slowly revealing new systems, tactics and basic fundamentals regarding ship to ship combat. And here is the important thing, while it would start with Frigates, the program would escalate into Cruisers, BCs and perhaps even other ship classes. Perhaps the student would choose PvP as their "graduate program" and more complex tactics would be revealed. The same would hold true in the other programs, students that had no interest in combat might choose Industry as their "graduate program" and be brought into more complex industrial concepts.
The idea is to show the new player a taste of what the big picture Eve is all about. Engage them in the world, while protected from it. The entire STP would only last a few days, but it would be an amazing and unique experience for the new player. It would provide that most important of elements - desire.
Of course, the Rookie player could also choose to opt out of the STP and just undock and fly off. But I don't think many, other than those created as alts, would do so.
The ideas inherent in this system are numberless, limitless and with great possibilities. I'm extremely excited about the STP concept and I can't stop thinking about it. Once completed the STP Graduate would be uniquely qualified as a new Eve pilot and ready to face the challenges of New Eden in ways that we were not.
Imagine being a new player and asked to take over the piloting of a huge transport like the Providence? Or being able to slug it out in Drakes against another Rookie player? Imagine the bonds that could be built between players, the desire to get out there and make something or yourself, to change the sandbox.
I'm sure there are holes in this and those that will poo-poo, but given some serious development and thought I believe this could easily form the foundation for a new player experience that would set the standard for the industry and engage new players in ways unheard of, especially for Eve.
I continue thinking and look forward to your thoughts and ideas.
This is a quick one, but no less powerful and much needed for being so.
Eve is getting a bit long in the tooth in some ways, a universe that has been going strong for almost a decade now and it is slowly getting filled up with junk. One example is the sheer amount of old, dead, defunct Corporations and Alliances still in the Database. I was helping someone name a new Corporation on Friday and I can't tell you the number of times we came up with a name that was already taken - but the Corporation was long since dead. Or the single player holding it hadn't played Eve in over three years.
Mostly this hinges on the five letter Corp Ticker, there are only so many combinations available to us and most of them have been taken.
It is time to clean house. Any Corporation or Alliance that has been inactive for more than three years needs to be wiped from the Database and archived. Any holding players that remain transfered into a NPC Corporation in the off chance they return to the game. This will free up the Corp Tickers and names for new use.
Simple. Clean and much needed.
The ideas just keep rolling here on Eveoganda! Today, with one bold stroke, we shall re-invigorate one of the long ignored areas of play within the Eve universe. Faction Warfare.
Within New Eden we have four types of space - Hi-Sec (Empire), Low-Sec, Null and WH. (NPC Null and a few variants, but those are really the big four.) I am suggesting the addition of a new type of space - Contested Space.
If you've been following along with the 2012 Series (and why wouldn't you, they are friggin' brilliant!) then you know I've been talking about the Jovian race. Now this could be any race, even a brand spanking newly made up one, but the Jovians just happen to be a great example. Mostly because they already have an entire region of space to themselves. So I'm going to continue using them as an EXAMPLE. Get with the program people.
So, what is Contested Space?
Imagine for a moment that at some point next year reports start to emerge from Empire of ships that entered a WH only to emerge deep within Jovian space... and return? Suddenly these reports are confirmed as intrepid players themselves chance upon these newly opened pathways. At first the WH's are the only way in to this vast new region of space. It isn't Null space (since the normal Sov mechanics don't seem to work there, huh.) and it isn't Empire space - no CONCORD. So what is it?
Well at first no one knows. But then a few strange things start to become obvious. Newly discovered BPOs from those that brave the Jovian rats reveal something unexpected. Apparently you might just be able to build Faction Controlled Gates (FCG), the key ingredient of which is a newly discovered mineral that only appears in certain Asteroid belts and PI processes within Jovian space and no where else. In addition, there appears to be a new type of Probe that can be built - the Explorer Probe.
This new region of space is vast, rich and extremely hard to get to. But all of the Empires want it to themselves, certainly possession could tip the balance of power significantly to one side or the other and settle centuries long conflicts. It isn't long before players realize that by using the Explorer Probes (with the right skills) one can determine the exact location where their Faction should build a Gate. Now these Jovian gates are special in that they can be manned, they can be built with special defenses that normal gates do not have, and they can be contested. Just because you build one, doesn't mean you get to keep it.
But once these gates start connecting to Empire space, the flood is on. And this opens up another new game aspect - The Treaty. Treaties have been talked about for ages, but now we have the perfect situation to implement them. Let's say you have an Industrial Corporation that would like to move into Amarr Contested Space within the new Jovian region. In order to be protected and gain access thru the FCG, you'll need to sign a treaty with the Amarr Empire. The terms of that treaty will be negotiated and agreed upon by their representatives the Amarr Faction. But most likely will include monthly fees and percentages from your operations. In return you gain access to new materials, belts, rats, the whole ball of wax. Including new BPOs to build those new Jovian ships the new Jovian players want to fly.
And yes, Pirates are a problem. And yes, other factions will be able to not only attack, but gain control of systems by controlling the gates into those systems. Let's say XYZ system's gate leads directly to Gal space, but the Minnie Faction takes over the gate... well now that gate leads directly to Minnie space.
Suddenly FW has a purpose and directly and POWERFULLY impacts the entire universe of New Eden... something that it truly needs and has never had. And the new Jovian region becomes an interesting, vital, important new arena for a brand new type of combat in Eve.
There are literally hundreds of other ideas inherent in the above, what about the Jovian's themselves, what about Stations, missions, and every other aspect of game-play?
I'm no expert at Faction Warfare, it is the one play style that I haven't tried. So I'll leave the details to those that know and the ideas on how this new system could grow, evolve and adapt will remain to be seen. But I do know that something needs to be done and within the confines of the other ideas I've already outlined in the 2012 Series - the new playable race, the Sanctuary Training Program and the others - that Contested Space is just another piece of the puzzle that would make for a very exciting 2012.
And, more importantly, keep Eve a growing vital game.
What are your thoughts about Contested Space?
"A quick view of the Eve Online forums can always find someone complaining about being suicide ganked, whining about some scam they fell for or other such tears. With the Goons' Ice Interdiction claiming a vast amount of mining ships there were calls for an "opt out of PvP" option.
Should this happen? Should people be able to opt-out of PvP in Eve Online. Should CONCORD prevent crime rather than just handing out justice after the event? Or do the hi-sec population already have too much protection from the scum and villainy that inhabits the game?"
Over the past two years I have written extensively regarding PvP in Eve, the challenges that new players face, the perils of Null, Low and Hi sec space, and offered solutions from both sides of the fence. A few months ago I even wrote the entire opening Chapter on what could potentially become a paradigm shift in the new player experience - The Sanctuary Training Program. ( Essentially Newb systems would become Sanctuary systems, plus other incredibly intelligent stuff )
I've even spent a good portion of time debating a way to make consensual PvP actually work within the framework of Eve with The Thunderdome concepts, HERE and HERE and even HERE.
Despite all of those attempts and more, the truth remains the truth. Player Versus Player combat remains the cornerstone of the Eve experience. And it should remain the cornerstone of the Eve experience for all of eternity, in my mind it is sacrosanct. Almost Holy.
Having said that, let's move on to the real issue at hand. Fundamental changes are needed to the underpinnings of that experience. In order to make the universal experience of Player Versus Player combat more fair, more even and more predictable for all of our players.
True Sec status needs to be implemented universally across the board in all systems.
That Sec Status, per individual system, needs to be used to generate Global Criminal Countdowns. Aggression timers need to be eliminated, as they serve little purpose other than confusion. GCC needs to be based on the True Sec status of the system in which it was initiated. Period. The lower the Sec Status the lower the GCC timer. Predictable, fair and even-handed.
As a consequence of this system of True Sec based GCC, True Hi-Sec becomes virtually impossible to engage in ganking. War Decs would continue, and they really are a side issue like Faction Warfare. But "ganking", while not 100% eliminated, would become very, very rare. And here's why. Anyone with a negative sec status that enters a Hi-Sec system with a high enough True Sec rating - would be destroyed at the gate. Boom. Anything other than a Pod gets blowed up real good.
This does not eliminate ganking in Hi-Sec. In fact it would keep it the same in systems with TS status hovering above low-sec for example. It would only make it increasingly difficult the further up the TS rating you went. And virtually impossible in say .9 systems. I'm certainly not against ganking, heck I've done it myself more than a few times.
It makes perfect sense. Why does CONCORD tolerate criminals in Hi-Sec anyway? They say they don't, god knows I get enough warnings, but they never do anything about it. They should.
In order to "gank" someone in Hi-Sec the attacking party would have to manage their Sec Status, pick systems on the borderline of True Sec Hi Sec, and hunt only when those two things matched up. Conversely, the rewards for those mining, missioning, or otherwise using those systems would go up correspondingly based on lower True Sec ratings. Higher risk means higher rewards for everyone - both hunter and hunted.
This doesn't change anything about Eve that we all love, it works within the already established frameworks, and ensures an almost safe haven for anyone willing to spend their lives in highly rated Hi Sec systems. The reward for living a life like that would be small, to encourage them to move along, but for new players especially it would give them a fighting chance to get started off on the right foot. Not 100% safe, but very close.
I don't think we need special mods, special ships, or special anything to achieve what we all want to achieve. A viable, vibrant, dangerous universe with a few places that are safer than others.
So let's do this. Like next week, k?
For more opinions on this exciting topic, visit FREEBOOTED!
In my darkest hours I feel that I will never get the hang of this Eve thing. I study, I practice, I read, learn, talk, discuss and write about Eve and yet - after three years - I still don't really feel like I'm any gosh darn good at it. There are moments of course, moments when I feel like a God.
But during the last three plus years I've had the distinct pleasure of meeting and flying with about a half-dozen players for whom Eve makes total sense. This "sense" has nothing to do with knowledge, ability, rhyme or reason, it has everything to do with... what exactly?
Let me try and explain the person I'm talking about first and maybe, just maybe, by doing that we can help to explain this "sense" thing. There are 'elite' pilots in Eve, well-respected pilots in Eve, well-known, regarded, feared, pilots in Eve. But this thing I'm talking about doesn't have anything to do with that. Perspective isn't a part of it. Especially outside perspective.
I call them Pod Gods for the sake of this post. And I think it is an apt term. So I'll stick with it for now.
I can undock and travel solo thru eight or nine systems and find nothing to fight let alone kill. A Pod God gets two solo kills in my home system. I get bushwacked by two Canes and a Caracal and explode, the Pod God manages to escape. I land on the belt 145k away from the Naga, the Pod God lands right on top of him. Coming back from a roam in my Drake I come out of a Gate into 40 fast-locking FW ships, the Pod God comes out into a small gang of Frigates and kills three of them. I could go on and on.
Are you starting to think of pilots you know?
When I was younger I played a lot of Basketball. I loved basketball. And I was very good at it. I worked hard, practiced and really loved playing the game. But there was this one kid that never practiced, didn't care one way or the other really, and yet he could hit shots like there was no tomorrow. One after another, with little or no effort. He was on my team and I loved that guy like a brother with a different mother, but secretly - I wanted him to fail. And suddenly Rixx reveals a bit much about himself on the blog. Back to our story.
This "sense" has nothing to do with Killboard stats and everything to do with something that can't be measured. You either have IT or you don't have IT. The same phenomenon is true in all walks of life. In all facets of your life there are always people that have IT and those that don't. The falling into shit and coming up smelling like roses people. The ones that always win the office pool. The guy whose rich Uncle left him everything. The ones that roll easy and life pushes forward with a gentle breeze.
This phenomenon in Eve reveals itself in the Pod Gods. Pilots for whom Eve comes as natural as a stroll in the park. Things just work out for them. They just happen to find the missioning Carrier, just happen to land right on top of the ratter, just narrowly escape the War Dec gate campers, warp off before the reds land, are in the POS when dog poo hits the fan, and every other way in this game that one thing works out better for someone else.
Being around a Pod God comes with a dark side though. IT doesn't always translate to YOU. And YOU can become rather prickish about it can't you? All that happenstance piled onto the shoulders of that other guy really rubs you the wrong way doesn't it? Why him? Tell me, in secret back rooms of your mind, you want him to fail don't you?
I don't. I'm not a third grader playing basketball for the first time any more. I'm an adult now and I'll continue to play the game the way I want to play it. I may never have IT the way other players have IT. Not all the time. But there are days, moments, when I do. When I can feel the Pod God blood flowing, and I live for those days.
That kid in third grade? Came down to the last play of the game in front of a big home crowd, he cut the ball away from the other team and took it to the basket. No one on him. Easy lay-up. And he missed. Guess who got the rebound and made the winning shot?
Yeah, that was me.
I'm going to date myself horribly in this post. Way back in 1979 when it came to video gaming the Atari system was all the rage. The Atari 2600 was the coolest thing you could own and one of the coolest games you could play was a game called Star Raiders. ( Asteroids was fine, Space Invaders was popular, but for my money Star Raiders was better. Oh and Defender was awesome too! )
The more I think about this game the more I've come to realize the direct lineage between it and Eve. And while SR was four-color 8-bit and cheesy by todays standards, the game-play and strategy sounds awfully familiar. Let's take a closer look.
While SR was the direct ancestor of today's first-person shooters, other aspects of the game can't be ignored when considering its Eve heritage and inspiration.
Consider the "Galactic Chart" pictured here. Each square represents a Star System. Your ship could fly around each star system in sub-warp speed, but to get to another star system you needed Hyperspace. You selected another system and jumped to it, much like our Eve Gates today. Some of these systems even had Starbases in them, which you could use to repair your ship.
For those of us alive at the time, the sight of the SR Hyperspace warp tunnel in store monitors was extremely common. Video stores would run loops of the warp tunnel effect to showcase the graphics of the Atari. But the similarities don't end there.
The whole point of Star Raiders was combat. And to aid you in that combat you had radar, in fact you had two types of scanning, short and long range. This "overview" type system also let you know when enemy ships were locked and ready to be fired at. There was even a primitive version of tracking to enable hits on the bad guys.
Unlike many of the multiple lives games out at the time, in SR you only had one life. One ship. Your ship could be damaged by bad guys, by collisions with asteroids ( or Meteoroids as they called them ) but could only be destroyed when your shields get low or won't work. In fact, multiple damage types could hurt your ship in different ways, shields, weapons, engines and even your overview could become damaged. ( something even Eve doesn't have ) You even had to manage your Cap ( Energy reserves ) to effectively stay in business long enough to keep fighting.
Oh wait. While you could dock at Starbases for repair, the enemy could also destroy your Starbases. If they surrounded one and you failed to defend it, it could be blown up and lost to you. Sounds kind of familiar doesn't it?
The picture to the right shows the screen view of a Starbase and the shuttle you used to dock with. You can see the ship information along the bottom and the "overview" on the right.
The entire game took up only 8k of ROM and worked with only 8k of RAM. A far cry from today's system requirements huh.
Understand, I am not saying that Eve is a rip-off of Star Raiders or anything nutty like that. That would be silly. But anyone can see the direct lineage that today's games have with those that came before them. Star Raiders isn't the only game on that tree, but it is probably the most significant example and truly the Great-Grandaddy of Eve.
For me personally, Star Raiders represented the first time I had played anything remotely like a real, immersive ( for its time ) space game. It wasn't the arcade classic Asteroids, or Space Invaders, in which you were displaced from the action by the screen. Star Raiders was unique for putting you into the action, it was first-person before first-person was even a concept.
And it planted a seed in my young brain that became fully grown when I saw Eve for the very first time. And for that, I thank you Great-Grandfather. You rock.
Lately I find myself actually looking off into space while I'm flying around in New Eden. For the last three years space was mostly the same dark inky place, much better than when I first started playing ( heck, just a month ago I would've sworn it was cool!! ) but still... I mean, just look out of your window!
We all get that. We've seen the purty nebula, the stark contrasts, the deep blacks, the crispy color, the sharp defined edges, the new shaders, models, and other unexplained something or others that make New Eden post-Crucible just friggin awesome to look at. We get it. It sure is real purty.
But there is something else going on here. When I'm looking off into space now, I can see home. It is over there. And it keeps getting smaller and smaller the further I fly away from it. And the place I'm going for nefarious purposes? Why, it keeps getting closer.
For the first time EVER New Eden is an actual place. You can drive thru it and kinda tell where you are headed. And where you've been. Somewhere out there in the twinkly stars is the one star you call home. It used to be those stars were like a randomly generated background not much different than the old Atari Star Raiders star-field. ( And yes, Star Raiders is the direct ancestor of Eve, but that is actually the post for tomorrow! It has been sitting in the dust bin unfinished for long enough. ) But now, even though they still might be randomly generated, they don't feel that way.
One of the biggest reasons is the new wonky Star Gates. They tilt, lean and generally point DIRECTLY at the next Star! In fact you can watch the Gate thingie shoot your disassembled and suddenly incorporal mass directly to the destination star, which is all big and twinkly in the path of said beam thingie.
What an odd and unexpected thing. A sense of place in this vast and virtual universe, a place we like to call home. Huh.
The other day whilst out on a roam, the nebula were all around us. Off in the distance was Cloud Ring and other still un-named ( to us anyway ) nebula. Back behind us though was the one featured in the post image above, which is my own home system of Hevrice. It was much smaller and more distant than when we started the roam. It was actually far away. Really far away.
My point is this. I think the impact of this perception goes way beyond the purty pictures and sense of time and place. In fact, I think this single little thing might very well become the most significant and important change to come out of Crucible. Over the Summer CCP held a contest/event called "Eve is Real" in which players were asked to contribute things that made Eve seem real to us. But we had no clue yet how real Eve could potentially be, how much we were missing this sense of place. You can't miss what you don't know you don't have. Cause we thought we had it. But we really didn't.
And now we do. It sends chills down my spine.
I could almost navigate New Eden without using my map now. Simply look off into the steller distances and see something that interests me... and head in that direction. Like our Fathers before us, navigating vacation without GPS and Navigation Systems, sure we'd get lost every so often. But on those trips getting lost was sometimes the best part, the discovery of the World's Largest Ball of Yarn, or the Weird Hole, or Gravity Hill.
New Eden. One of those twinkly stars is my home.
It took me five seconds to fall in lnve with Eve the first time I saw it.
It took me five seconds to fall in love all over again yesterday.
I won't soon forget dragging my ships into the hanger one by one to see how they've changed and giggling like a school boy when I kept hearing the subtle 'thrum' noise when they slowly changed into the next ship. I may never forget the sheer unadulterated joy I felt when my Myrmidon slid out into... into what exactly? Words fail to describe the beauty of the new nebula surrounding my home Station in Hevrice. I quickly docked the large Myrm and undocked in a small fast Daredevil so I could swim in it, watch the engine trails swirl and... well, gosh darn it, my ship and I danced in space.
We danced.
I just kept undocking all my ships one by one, just so I could see how incredible they now look in space. And I have over 50 ships. I wasn't in a hurry.
A moment of panic when my bookmarks seemingly lost their folders. That had happened once before during one of the previous expansions and with over 4k bms it can take a long time to re-organize them. It all snapped back into place once I opened the People & Places window. Nice.
I love the new font. I love all the little touches. I love just how amazingly beautiful space is now. And here I thought it was pretty gosh darn beautiful before.
A few of us spent some time shooting a Customs Office. And then I had to leave New Eden for the night.
I'm sure there are issues, problems, concerns and whatnots to deal with. I'm sure the forums will be full of the usual usual, the haters, the whiners, those without joy in their hearts. Goodness knows those of us that love Eve complain because we simply want it to be the best it can be. Like caring parents we want it to grow up to be something, anything, we can be proud of.
I warped away and left my drones at the Customs Office. When I warped back later and they were not visible in space, I feared they had been lost. Then I remembered. Reconnect to lost drones. More joy.
I've used the word 'love' a bit in this post. There are those that will probably consider that a negative. Those are the immature that do not fully appreciate the meaning of the word yet. The young. For those of us a bit more 'mature' >cough< who have been around the block a few times, the feeling is appropriate because of what Eve has come to mean to us. I mean, c'mon, I write a stupid blog about it. I do artwork to it. And I play an internet spaceship game! I should know better.
I should grow up. Seriously.
But that's love for you. Thick and thin. Good times and bad. Sticking it out. Refusing to allow the worst to over shadow the best.
What happened this past Summer. Don't EVER do that again. Don't confuse love for Eve as love for CCP. Don't take advantage of us again. Love forgives, but love isn't stupid either. They say love is blind, but those of us that know better, know that true love sees everything.
All is forgiven by that moment yesterday when my ships kept undocking into a Hubble photograph. The fire was rekindled.
I could just undock and fly around the universe and be perfectly happy.
But happiness is only one emotion. And I have others that require more immediate and thunderous attention as well. So I will enjoy watching things explode against the backdrop of glorious space. Ka-Blooie.
It ain't all sappy love songs baby. Some of it can get a bit rough. But you like it rough, dontcha?
Oh baby. You are such a bitch.
I had a dream.
A dream of an Eve in which obvious holes in balance were corrected on a regular, on-going basis.
A vision of updated ship graphics, where design sensibilities of a decade ago were not considered sacrosanct. Only a good start.
A dream where evolving play-styles were supported by new fixes aimed directly at supporting evolving play-styles. In which existing content was made better.
A world in which surprises often come out of left field, not hinted, not teased, only revealed.
A dream where progress is measured by a truly expanding universe. A universe that only gets larger, deeper and more complex as time marches on.
I had a dream. A vision of an Eve that becomes more deadly, more challenging for the veteran player - and yet simpler, and more inviting for the rookie player. A world in which Eve unrolls itself before you, not behind you.
An Eve that constantly adds new ships, new content and new tools on a regular basis.
A vision of a company that streams, dialogues and engages its player base consistently and openly.
I awoke with a clear understanding that often the best course of action is to shake up the status quo, that the answer "it has always been that way" is not an answer at all.
I had a dream.
I dreamed that Eve had always been this way. That Eve would always be this way. That Eve would evolve, grow and challenge us the way we want it to. For all time.
I dreamed that Eve was.
And I awoke to the possibility that it might be.
Maybe on this day of numerological oddity, dreams might come true.
Some potential names to consider. Apologies to those that may have actually come up with a few of these already. Feel free to take credit in the comments.
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| Click to embiggen baby! |
@RockCalledSteve (or Moose) twitted this morning looking for a blogger that happened to be on. GIven recent events he felt compelled to record a bit of a rant regarding the CSM/CCP debate and the changes that Eve has undergone. Here is the message in his own words:
"Greetings Bloggers of #Tweetfleet.
I come to you as a third party, essentially on my knees, asking you to consider sharing something of mine to the community.
I have found a lot of the current grief the CSM is getting is from people in EVE - mainly in Empire - who have not been around long enough to understand what EVE once was, compared to what it is now.
With this in mind, I have created a 22 minute long explanation of what's happened and why, with a bit of history thrown in, for people to listen to.
I am not using this as an advertisement for a podcast of any kind - this is a one off recording that, bar maybe a single new recording answering criticism, won't have a sequel to it. Or rather, that is the plan.
I would like you to have a listen to it. If you're willing to post this to your blog, I would be very much in your debt. Feel free to post any negative or positive comments you have for it as well.
I will leave it up to you."
- Moose
You can listen to the recording by using this link.
NOTE: There are some potentially NSFW moments of profanity, mild by most definitions, but perhaps not by all. Worth mentioning.
I just finished listening to it myself, I felt I should hear the whole thing before I post it obviously. And while it is a bit of a ramble, the general thrust is simple enough. Eve was a different game when it first started out, and while my own experience only goes back three years, others were here from the beginning. This does provide a unique perspective, having been there from the beginning, and a worthy one.
I think we can all agree that CCP has dropped the ball in many, many instances. Promised iteration of various game mechanics that never developed further, abandoned areas of opportunity, have become more and more commonplace. This has sadly become more and more true as time has gone on. The recent "Straw that broke the camel's back" moment this Summer was simply the culmination of years of this slow, rotten decay.
And Eve began to smell. And while Moose and I may differ slightly on some of the details and levels at which we may give praise and/or blame, one thing unites us - and that is the power of the Eve Community. A power I tend to place more squarely in the hands of the masses and which he seems more likely to place in the hands of the CSM. Ultimate responsibility matters little in the face of success however, the important thing is that CCP has changed direction and re-focused efforts on FiS and other areas. Before it was too late. Hopefully.
I encourage you to listen. This is one voice that has been here since the beginning. And while it is only one voice, so am I, and so are you. But together we can have meaning and power.
And ship spinning returns on Tuesday.
All I know, is that to me, you look like your lots of fun.Open up your lovin' arms, watch out here I come.
I am both incredibly glad that ship spinning is returning and incredibly BLAH about ship spinning returning. Goodness knows I am no fan of staring at that damn door all the time, which is why I typically avoid it and undock! Which is also, part and parcel, why ship spinning tends to not excite me. Because I am usually UNDOCKED.
This won't change. Now I know there are those that were hurt by CCP's removal of your favorite pastime, the afore mentioned ship spinning, ( and they were kinda poo poo heads for doing it in the first place ) but Eve is a game that takes place in space. Or is it? Gosh, at this point I admit to being more than a little confused about all that. So let's table that discussion for a later date.
Confusion though, that is kind of rampant. It makes it more difficult to write posts about things when they change so rapidly under your feet. And now I feel a little dizzy. Plus I've given myself a horrible '80's song that is running around and around in my head now.
Ship spinning is back. I'm happy about that despite my upper caps above. A lot of my time is spent in station too, just like the rest of you. I do like to undock, but even I can't avoid the down time and the bio breaks. Weeee, look at me manipulate this 3d model in real time! Truly, it is endlessly fascinating.
Now I'm off to open iTunes and rescue my brain. Maybe some Mumford & Sons, oh no Dropkick Murphys!
EDIT: My apologies. For those of you unaware of the pure genius referenced in the above post, "genius" here being used in a way diametrically opposed to "good", please watch this video. Expect the song to b stuck in your head for the rest of your natural life, only seldom pushed down into the background noise of your subconscious. But never, ever truly gone.
