Sometimes real life gets in the way of playing games. That's bad for a game like Wildstar, in which player advancement depends on playing the game. Not so bad for an EVE player because CCP set up a skill system that doesn't require playing to advance your character or, perhaps more importantly, characters. Given the nature of EVE, that also allows for time to watch a little of what's happening in the EVE community.
I guess the big news is The Mittani is back to writing, and not just his inspiring speeches to his alliance. In his typical fashion, he stirred the pot Saturday by calling for protected newbie starting areas and eliminating high sec awoxxing. A lot of players in the comments went one step further than a protected zone and thought of making the tutorial a computer simulation. That fits in with the lore, but I don't think accomplishes one of The Mittani's (and CCP's goals) with the New Player Experience. That goal is to take some of the fear of losing a ship or a pod away from new players.
Now, fear of loss is a wonderful thing in EVE. I think that fear contributes to the adrenalin rush that players experience in PvP. Has anyone experienced that type of rush in any other video game? I know I haven't. After a fight in which I actually walked away with a kill mail, I was shaking for 10 minutes afterwards. Sometimes I still get a touch of the shakes after busting through a gate camp or escaping from someone who thought my Procurer was an easy kill.
But, fear of loss is bad when a player gives into that fear and won't venture into dangerous space. I have no problem with a player making a rational choice, like choosing to run level 4 security missions in high sec instead of low. Then again, if a player has a blockade runner, especially after warp speed changes in Rubicon and rebalance pass in Kronos, is doing level 4 distribution missions in high sec instead of low, that possibly is fear coming through. Then again, I did take the time to create instaundock bookmarks for stations in several constellations, so maybe I'm the one who's crazy after all.
I think, though, that most people look at the issue of fear in whether players will join in PvP. A lot of players don't want to lose something that they've worked hard to acquire. In most games, dying at the hands of an NPC or another player only means repair costs, not a loss of gear. A player will only lose the gear when it is no longer valuable through either selling it or a mechanic like transmutation or salvaging. To a player used to playing other MMORPGs, losing gear and getting nothing in return not only hurts, but is weird.
Looking at The Mittani's proposal, a player would get a taste of loss. Lose a ship? No big deal. Get podded? So what? In both cases, the player was rewarded, not punished. Sometimes dying isn't so bad. And if the player managed to kill another player's ship or pod, then that's a success too. But if that happened in a simulator, a big part of the experience, loss, goes away.
Eliminating high sec awoxxing is also about the fear of loss. But instead of addressing the fear of loss in a new player, the target is the fear of loss residing in the mind of a corporation CEO. With greater responsibility comes the chance of greater loss. Does a high sec CEO want to risk allowing an awoxxer into his corporation and wind up with a friend losing his Orca, Tengu, or blinged out Vindicator? Safer just to not allow that new player into the corporation at all. After all, awoxxers will create a clean account to get around any background checks. And if someone is going to propose a change that hurts espionage in EVE, I highly doubt the former head of the Goonswarm Intelligence Agency is the one to do so.
The change I think The Mittani has in mind is simple. Make CONCORD intercede in high sec if a corpmate makes an agressive action. I do see a problem with that, however. The old tactic of webbing a corpmate's freighter for faster travel would go away. Would that also make MiniLuv's freighter ganking operations go smoother? I don't know. Besides, I'm sure other methods exist to eliminate the practice.
Looking at the details, however, I don't think was The Mittani's purpose in his article. I think he just wanted to set goals. How the goals become reality in EVE is up to CCP. Assuming, of course, that CCP agrees.
