Re: EVE and getting new people to play

On Sun, 11 May 2025 19:16:58 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

On 10/05/2025 14:20, Spalls Hurgenson 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.

>
It's something that World of Tanks also suffers from. As they added more
crew skills and equipment types for tanks in an effort to give long
standing players something to work towards the gulf between them and new
players has significantly increased.
>
I kinda feel sorry for new players who are encouraged to get to the
higher tiers as fast as possible (that's where WG make their money) and
they encounter players with maxed out tanks that will just shred them to
pieces before they even know what's happened.

<ramble mode>
But with World of Tanks (and Ships, and Planes, and whatever other
variation on the theme they've made) it's always been pretty obvious
the game was pay-to-win. It's generally why I avoid the franchise (I
gave it a chance a few years back). In terms of gameplay and polish, I
was actually rather impressed; it /is/ a fun game but boy-oh-boy,
there was a lot of push --both by the developers directly and by the
way the game was designed-- to get you to BUY BUY BUY. And while it
was galling, the obvious intention from the start was for new players
to Git Gud through the power of their wallets.

EVE, though, is different. To some degree you CAN buy your way to
success, but deep pockets will only get you so far; it'll get you a
leg up, but you'll never 'win' that way. For that, you need to master
the mechanics, engage with the playerbase, and just play-play-play
until you have built out your stellar empire. Success in EVE requires
a lot of work and effort; it is the absolute opposite of a casual
game. And its this demand on your time (combined with its rather niche
gameplay) that is what is keeping EVE from attracting as many new
users as it wants.

So while both games --"World of Tanks" and "EVE"-- may suffer from a
similar onboarding problems for new users, it's one I think WOT has
solved whereas "EVE" still struggles.
</ramble mode>