tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942059813481083566.post4666693051172352343..comments2023-10-25T07:19:08.019-05:00Comments on The Nosy Gamer: Eve's Secret SauceNoizyGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17315716516032999133noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942059813481083566.post-88263280196927872362012-06-16T13:33:03.912-05:002012-06-16T13:33:03.912-05:00I'm not an Eve Historian by any means. Howeve...I'm not an Eve Historian by any means. However, CCP has reacted to player wants and needs. When they made Incarnia the entire player base exploded in a negative reaction against what CCP had done. They apooligized and changed direction. (this is a very simplified condension of a major game breaking time period).<br /><br /> I have read discuss how CCP wanted Eve to be this rich, player content created game with them pushing it along but the player creating it.<br /><br />It is one of the reasons our PvE tends to suck. We don't have raids. Our 'missions' are repetitive and boring. You can also completly avoid them.<br /><br />One of the best ways to make money on Eve is to play the market. The ingame market is player controlled/effected. There is a very small amount of items that NPCs seed into market. These are things like skillbooks and BPO (blue print originals for basic ships and modules). They do not seed ships into the market. We have to build them. They don't seed minerals into the market. We have to mine them. They don't seed basic modules and ammo into the market. We have to build them from the blueprints. The prices are set by who will buy what. Speculation can crash a market or drive it into crazy inflation.<br /><br />They tweak and balance and nerf and try to keep order. Eve's player base is creative and will exploit something in moments. However, the tweaks/balances/nerfs go both ways. We are currently experiencing a back and forth over altering some PvE content (incursions) and the war declaration system as they use player feed back for balance.<br /><br />Sometimes, they don't listen to us (Unified Inventory's test server feedback).<br /><br />Another example is Concord. Concord is the NPC police. They keep some rules in high security space enforced. However, they simply punish. You break said rule your ship is exploded, the end. There is no shade of grey, no trial, no debate over why and how bad. Some say that they should be protected by the police and events stopped before they happen. Yet, CCP has ignored this and continues to ignore it and allow players to do as they wish if they accept the consequence. They are not stopped before they do it.<br /><br />And there is the fact that when we lose our ships in Eve we lose them. No respawn. If another player steals/scams from you, you should have been smarter, no ban. <br /><br />CCP allowed its player base to be jerks if they wanted to and didn't punish them for it.Sugar Kylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15437978687639772023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942059813481083566.post-63762185911980580332012-06-15T05:32:56.516-05:002012-06-15T05:32:56.516-05:00Back when MMOs were new, and I played my first eve...Back when MMOs were new, and I played my first ever MMO, I expected it to be like a pen an paper roleplaying game.<br /><br />I just assumed everyone would share the one world. The idea of an NPC infinitely cycling through the same scripted missions, with the world unchanged as a result was just not something I had considered.<br /><br />And quite frankly, as a result, I found MMOs sad and disappointing until I learnt to think of them as a "computer game" and not a "computer roleplaying game". But the thing with computer games is that they are ultimately not compelling in the long term. When your content is driven by NPCs, it has a threshold, at some point, you get bored. Compare that to pen an paper RPGs. I'm still playing the same game 20 years after I first started.<br /><br />In my opinion, EVE is different, because it is the closest you can get to replicating the pen and paper RPG experience. Forget the literal roleplaying, but you have a shared world, in which your actions have lasting impact and the gameplay content is primarily from interacting with other people, so is infinitely variable.Bel Amarhttp://twitter.com/bel_amarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942059813481083566.post-17949592537049015202012-06-15T04:45:14.164-05:002012-06-15T04:45:14.164-05:00"The games did not punish me for wandering of..."The games did not punish me for wandering off and doing my own thing"<br /><br />I think that may be key here - all three games mentioned are famous for letting you do Pretty Much Whatever You Want. (Minecraft is very close too - not too many stories, but plenty of great "oh wow" moments even for non-players - and again, doesn't punish deviance from "normal" play). <br /><br />I'd be interested to know - did EVE develop broadly as CCP expected, or did they adapt their design to what players ended up doing?<br /><br />Another thought - all four games reward intelligence and lateral thinking.MMO Melting Pothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13451099568021136442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942059813481083566.post-46604699127694589072012-06-14T15:55:03.226-05:002012-06-14T15:55:03.226-05:00Excellent article and a very good look at what mak...Excellent article and a very good look at what makes EVE unique in the MMO world. The stories and the 'legends' of the game are what kept so many of us playing for the past nine years. EVE also allows anyone with the drive and ambition to make a name for themselves to do so. It's truly remarkable. Thanks for taking the time to write this.Seleenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10195823019802193238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942059813481083566.post-22074887695867265792012-06-14T14:18:58.986-05:002012-06-14T14:18:58.986-05:00Eve and Skyrim are both rather open depending on h...Eve and Skyrim are both rather open depending on how you play. I was level 25 in Skyrim before I killed my first dragon. I had just wandered off at the second quest and didn't get back to it for 25 levels. I was wondering why I couldn't use my dragon powers I was collecting, but I didn't care because I didn't need them and I was enjoying being a werewolf.<br /><br />In Eve Online I detracked from the normal new player route about 3 weeks in and fully scummed to the riskier, richer, darker side of playing by living in low sec as a new toon. It was not easy but by abandoning the normal 'mission' progression steps of a new player I learned how to be flexable and creative and drag my content from the game in a way that was functional for me.<br /><br />The games did not punish me for wandering off and doing my own thing but they were capable of rewarding me for doing it and using my creativity to define my play.Sugar Kylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15437978687639772023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-942059813481083566.post-7402482357144729862012-06-14T13:09:30.125-05:002012-06-14T13:09:30.125-05:00I'm flattered - thanks! Interesting piece, and...I'm flattered - thanks! Interesting piece, and I think your central point is right - EVE succeeds by having game mechanics that make players *behave* like fictional heroes and villains in a hard-SF universe. (The Mittani being a primary case in point.) <br /><br />It's interesting you mention A Tale In The Desert - to my mind, one of the other fascinating, unique, and extremely successful MMOs out there. It's not making millions, but as a sustainable business it's close to unbeatable. <br /><br />However, ATITD doesn't generate stories on anywhere near the scale of EVE. Cooperation and entertaining gameplay yes (although like EVE it rewards extremely hardcore players), but I don't hear wonderful tales of Things That Happened in ATITD. <br /><br />To the best of my knowledge, there are only three games out there that generate such retellable stories - even for people who don't play the game - as EVE: EVE itself, Dwarf Fortress (which is legendary for its wierd adventure tales) and Skyrim. <br /><br />I'm still trying to figure out what they all have in common.MMO Melting Pothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13451099568021136442noreply@blogger.com