Re: EVE and getting new people to play

I tried EVE Online last year, but it was too grinding and confusing so I
gave up.


Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

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.

--
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." --2 Peter 3:9. Hot ma's weekend!
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