Blog Banter 31: Attemting the impossible

So, this year's last Blog Banter, issued by Seismic Stan at Freebooted, blogger chevalier and PvP duel extraordinaire is effectively about a very challenging topic:

As any games journalist would probably tell you, a true and complete review of a Massively Multiplayer Online game is impossible. MMOs are vast, forever evolving entities with too much content for a single reviewer to produce a fair and accurate review. However, a collection of dedicated bloggers and EVE players (past and present) with a wide range of experience in various aspects of the game might be able to pull it off.

This special 'End of Year' Blog Banter edition aims to be a crowd-sourced game review. Using your gaming knowledge and experience, join the community in writing a fair and qualified review of EVE Online: Crucible. This can be presented in any manner of your choosing, but will ideally include some kind of scoring system.

With each Blog Banter participant reviewing the areas of EVE Online in which they specialise, the result should be a Metacritic-esque and accurate review by the people who know best.

So, yeah, I'm definitely going to write objectively, with a scorecard about the game I love... Or at least I'll try. Most of us read a lot of game reviews, so establishing a scorecard might be easy, but to accurately describe a game, I have a different idea than the conventional reviews use. The success of a game depends on the customers and how vividly they approach the product. MMO's could not be reviewed witht he conventional criteria, because those are usually largely irrelevant in the context. What we will do is to establish a - what I, as a somewhat experienced MMO player - thinks is a good indicator of how people should look at MMOs before they decide. The aspects will be:

1. Atmosphere - How you feel ingame is a very distinct factor in MMOs. Basically, if the atmosphere of the game is bad, if it can't immerse you, it can't surround you, you'll probably stop playing within a month. 
2. Presentation - This category accounts for the graphics, sound, and usability of the game. A game that has a good presentation will have informative, easy-going interface, well thought-out graphical and audio styles and effects.
3. Scale - Some games are tuned towards small groups of people, sometimes even limiting how many players can interact in a give activity (for example, Guild Wars). Some are geared towards more people, featuring epic battles and such. This indicator shows how well the game incorporates this. A low score indicates that the game universe does not align well towards the intended goupsize.
4. Entry Barriers - In many MMOs, there are a set of requirements you need to comply in order to access content. It is sometimes hard and sometimes easy. A good MMO has appropriate entry barriers for each level of content, be it mechanical, social or mental.
5. Longevity - An MMO is a peristent world, so you expect long hours of gameplay from it. Longevity also tries to condense the amount of time it takes to get bored with most content.
6. Synergy - The relationship between the players and the developers must be a constant loop of comunication and feedback, lest the game will become outdated and irrelevant, or worse, deserted.
7. Community - The people playing a game adds to the game very much, but an immature or exclusionary community can detract from its attractiveness significantly.

Armed with these seven points, I'll try and give a thorough (and hopefully objective) review of the game EVE Online. The raings will represent how satisfied I am with the aspects. 0% represents a non-existent feature, or a 'would be better if you didn't even try' scenario, 50% means acceptable performance, while 100% signals perfection, (and thus, never achieveable).

1. Atmosphere

EVE Online is a sandbox-type game. In essence it presents you with choices and the tools to carry out your decisions. It does have a lot of scripted content, but it's usualy revolving around what players do with it. In this sense, EVE can be very immersive. The prospect of being a capsuleer is evidently shown by the game mechanics. How do you punish someone who does not die, does not feel pain and is free of any regulations? The only way to punish someone therefore is through their ingame wallet. Some people see their assets as achievements, but that mentality quickly fades as you learn from interactions with other players. This is, in fact, one of the most attractive features of the game. Player interaction is inevitable, final, and consequential. Whether you are shooting at someone, join their corporation, or by simply selling loot to them and buying stuff off the market - you are bound to interact with people. Once you come to understand that, it is really a thrillride, meaning new friends and enemies. You know you're either going to ruin someone's day or make it - or both.

On the bad side, the game at the beginning does little to convey this to the new player. How many times did people joining on their own end up running missions on mining alone? How many times did they get irritated by the small glitches to leave after their trial?

EVE takes understanding and honest will to get into, but those who do, are rewaarded with a great experience. This yields Atmosphere a fair 70% rating.

2. Presentation

EVE has astonishing graphics. It always has been a very pretty and beliavable game, but with the Crucible expansion, there simply are very few games that could stand up to it, especially when we're talking space flight. Though your first steps are hindered with a clunky, wall-of-texty UI that was built on outdated principles, you are really feeling yourself at the controls of a powerful starship... Or a financial empire... Or a space colony... The things to do are available to you with a whole lot of information, and the sounds are amazing. Wait, EVE has sound? Well, it does! And they go well with the game. The environmental effects that accurately convey the forces that are at work, Aura's human but emotionless voice - they all come together in a nice unity that helps you enjoy the game.

Though I already mentioned the UI problem, there is more to it. Namely, there are only so much things a screen can tell you, and it would be very hard to find a slick, simple graphical representation of the things that are displayed as text. This means I'll have to rate Presentation to a whopping 80%.

3. Scale

Scale is one of the trickiest of categories when it comes to EVE. There are many levels of engagement one can think of. The sandbox nature of the game allows for very varied and diverse scaling in all professions. The good thing is, rewards ususally scales with effort, and usually appropriately. What the game has an inherent difficulty handling is that there are situations where the meeting of different scales in the same area is not desirable.

EVE has a long way to go to cater for the needs of all type of playstyles, but it'll eventially get there. I still would still highlight Scale as the strength of EVE, granting it 90%

4. Entry Barriers

In all games, there are points where you are interested in something, but it seems too much fuss before you can get into and enjoy it. In EVE, overcoming these barriers is part of the fun, and is very muc incorporated into the game experience. Who of you didn't feel good when you discovered something new? When you realized that you know things that other don't? That's the gratification coming from overcoming barriers right there. However, looking back at my EVE career, I can sadly honestly say that there are much room for improvement. The most obvious barrier on everything is read, read, read. Then there are skill trainings, which sometimes feel tedious, and are in some cases relied on to keep people from abusing game mechanics. This is a poor choice, and makes the game feel uncomfortable at times. Then there is the mental barrier. Yes, EVE very much has them. I'm talking about PvP and related stuff. Is it obvious for a newbire how easy it is ti get into? Hell,no.

So, accounting for everything I have to concede that Entry Barriers are manageable and sometimes fun, but poorly utilized throughout the game, in numbers, this is 50%.

5. Longevity

There is only so much a game can include. There are a lot of limits, posed by hardware, software, and game design. In all that, EVE struggles to give you the most enjoyable content in most compact form. I mean, the client's size is respectably low compared to the plethora of features it bears, from the hundreds of ship models to the thousands of different graphical assets. In short, there's a lot to get bored of. This, ladies, gentlemen and capsuleers, is one way to go. The other, is make the conent repeatable, and by that, I obviously don't mean repetitive. What I mean is that you can use the same thing over and over, without getting bored. The third way to achieve longevity is to allow people to do other things parallel while the game is doing whatever you want it to do.

Guess, what? You name it, EVE has it. Problem is, you can't have your cake and eat it too. See, the content that is repeatable usually is so because it never is the same, meaning that it requires constant attention. The content that is semi-passive will get your brain oozing out of your nose soon if you don't do other things next to it. That is a paradox weakpoint here that devs constantly try and fail to address in the gaming world. So, what rating would I give for the Longevity of the game? 90%.

6. Synergy

There is a big challenge that MMOs must live up to: their players. Yes, the whiny, bitchy, impossible to please players, every dev's nightmare. However, some games are justr better at it. Some games have devs that are vigilant and always look for new ways to improve the experience. And, some players offer ideas to do just this. Synergy is the measure of how this comes together. Are the devs in touch with the gamers? Are they incorporating what they learn from the players? Are the players encouraged and empowered to help with the game development? Are they shown of the changes and allowed to feed back in due time?

If this review was created a few months back, the answers would probably be very different. CCP, the developer of EVE had, in the early years of development been focused on Synergy. They watched the players closely and provided. This old core value is now being rediscovered, as the Crucible expansion's improvements show. This is the reason, why I, in this case can honestly answer yes, yes, YES, hell, YEAH!

I'm going to give full credit to the staff that can pull this out, but I am, as the majority of the vocal players, actually very pleased about the direction this is heading, netting a rating of 95% for Synergy.

7. Community

MMOs by their nature support a very large number of people, who, if they are not satisfied, simply leave for greener pastures... Or do they? Well, if you love a game so much that you get not only pissed but outright enraged when you see it ruined, that must mea something, no? The players of EVE, the comunity if you like, just saved the game from the inevitable plunge in the pursuit of money. The fact that they'll make more money by stopping to crave it is hilarious. But I digress.

When you look at a game's community, you try and find traces of people bonding on some level over the game. When you look at the EVE players, you see not only communities, but in some cases a network of communities - a society developing over it.

Also, as a new player entering a frightening and challenging new univers, you always look for other people that might help you get started. You'd think the nasty players of EVE would be bad at this, but actually if you have more intelligence than a mildly educated crocodile, you'll be amazed at the sheer number of player orgnaizations that do just that - help newbies get a grip, and hook them on.

Granted, there are playerss who enjoy killing the innocnet fun of newbies, but losing your pod virginity is a cruicial step in EVE anyways. All things considered, the Community related to EVE gets 90%.

The Verdict

I could go on an pull an average of the numbers and be done with it, but what kind of ranter would I be if I did that?

So, we have a ourselves and MMO that struggles to let you in, with its many challenges, like skill training, bad UI, and so on. But, if you overcome those problems by reading, reading, and reading, you can actually start having fun. At that point it does fuel that I'm better than you feeling which many gamers look for. You're ejected into an... enthralling universe, which can quickly become your new hobby you spend time and occasionally money on, the kind that you aregue about with the wife because she wanted to buy a new pair of shoes instead. Then when you realize that playing a Massively Multiplayer Online game means interacting with other people, you get ever more hooked and suddenly shooting white boxes while trying to understand what the Fleet Commander yells at you seems much more fun than the candelight dinner on your anniversary. The devs are these spooky nordic guys who watch your every move, and you log in to your game suddenly finding a news item about the mass testing of how they'll ruin your endgame because that's just how CCP rolls. Yes, this is EVE, the second job you are charged for...

If I must summarize EVE in one word, what would it be? I'll probably go with internetspaceshipnerdgasm.

Cliffs and Hangers

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #31

Time and time again something pops up in EVE talk that has everybody perplexed: the 'learning cliff' of EVE. Yes, while other games have learning curves, EVE has a learning cliff. I don't really know the origins of this phrase but it aligns well to the natue of EVE. Today, we'll go on and dissect this one phenomena, and probably gain an understanding of what's behind this funny yet important phrase.

First off, what is a learning curve? It could well be represented by a graph, where one axis would be the knowledge of given game, while the other would be the time spent playing, so that the more you play, the more you know about the game. The steeper this curve is, the harder it is for a new player to learn the basics and start enjoying the game. However, in this regard, EVE is unique.

"The UI: just another player filter"

Some might argue that the EVE UI is logical and informative (I know I will in a short time), but let's face it - it is not your average game UI. The thing is, it is not a game UI at all. What you see when you log in is much more like a desktop of a specialised operating system, than a game UI. I don't know what others think, but if you look at it this way, it starts to make sense. There are a miriad of things to do in New Eden, would a conventional game interface serve the user well? Probably not. There are so many things you need to know at once.

The most game-like element is the ship HUD - which has to be all-at-a-glance, and it is. It may have a few shortcomings, but it generally speaking serves well. Then there is the character sheet, which in essence is nothing special - a sheet that displays categorized data on your character. But the other elements? Well, they are part of a toolset more likely. This is the reason why 'EVE feels like you're working with spreadsheets', because that is essentially what you do. There is only so much information graphical enhancements can convey without being overcrowded. Text and tables however, they are slower but much easier to keep clean. I bet this is the reason why the overview looks like the way it does, for example.

Looking more closely, I'd say that the first ledge of the learning cliff of EVE is the UI complexity. In essence, when a new player logs in, she is presented with the plethora of options at once. This results in something I call the Cockpit Syndrome. You get confused due to the sheer amount of information you are presented and you semi-conciously push away the source. This is not so much a learning challenge than one to overcome ones instinct and keep playing. Some (many) new players are lost this way. Is it a bad thing? I'm not really sure. I have already expressed my opinion on this.

Choices, choices, choices... and RTFM

So our intrepid new player succesfully overcame the Cockpit Syndrome and starts fiddling witht he game. She tries out a variety of things through the tutorials, settling in one or two professions, loosely defined by the skills she keeps in the queue... Wait what? Yeah, there are thousands of skills, from the obvious Rapid Firing to the not-so-intuitive Frequency Modulation. Once she successfully climbed up on the UI ledge, the first lesson our newbie learns is to always read and read and read - because there are a lot of things to know, and reading is the easy way of learning it. The hard way often involves ships blowing up and/or wallets emptying.

This part is really the worst ledge of the learning cliff. It looks as if you are almost there - then it moves away. Not everybody likes this. Most people, in fact, don't enjoy learning for knowing's sake. Yes, you read it right, and you should now think a bit about it.

Still, this aspect is the best part of being a newbie. There is always something cool you didn't know, something to explore and be amused at. Many bitter old veterans crave this feeling of 'shiny everywhere', but of course, nostalgia's never going to be the same. Still, the choices you make as a newbie will affect the entire EVe career - not in the traditional, class-gear-skill sense, like other RPGs, but more likely in an emotional sense. I, for example still enjoy missioning (thogh of course get bored of it after a few missions) and the reason is simple - we did them together and had much fun as newbies in our corp.

Regardless, if you want to enjoy the game you'll likely be wnring to concentrate on something, especially because skill training is the key of unlocking the awesome features EVE offers. But what to train, for example, if you want to fly a Raven battleship? Surprise, surprise, it has all the certificates in the Show Info window. How do you know that? Because you read, read, and read about the things you are interested in. What? You don't want to read? You'll have to learn to want to read because if you jump into that Raven without the relevant certificates, you'll most likely lose your ship, learning the hard way that you skills are inadequate. So, there goes simple, jump-in-do-it activities for you.

Complexity for... complexitys sake?

To those brave people treading the learning cliff of EVE, how many times did you wonder, shouldn't this be simpler? Shouldn't this be a one click activity? Well, you may be right. Given the sheer volume of content EVE provides, it is not hard to meet suboptimal choices and implementations. On top of that, there are things that are just too complicated... Or are they?

The key word is entertainment - since EVE Online ultimately is a game and the goal is to entertain you. The how is what is constrainted only by the player herself. Are you entertained by the fact that you have to learn a whole lot of things to have a good understanding? I know I am, even if some of those things seem illogical at first. Usually when you know more about them, you'll see why is it that way.

Complexity is not a bad thing. It drives your mind to face a challenge, and gives you the satisfaction of understanding. Never in other games feel you so good about knowing than in EVE's darkest corners. It is a game from another era, the era of thinker-gamers, when computer games were the privilege of educated people. The basic paradigms of EVE build on the the intelligence of the user, and I for one would hate to see the learning cliff entirely lost. Maybe have a few ladders to the most important ledges, but still.

There is owever a phenomenon that must be separated from the 'cliffs'. That some things are complex is a good thing. But there are a lot of little things - in the UI, the process of how activities work, that cause frustration by being too complex, even tedious. I'll dub these the 'hangers'. Those things that make you want to kill ('hang') yourself. So, if you are a vocal and caring player, you should stop complaining about entertaining complexity (even if its something you don't like - others still might) and start pointing out the hangers. They'll probably get around to solve them.

 Sessym out.

To boldly go where thousands have gone before...

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #30

Since the review for the Blog Banter 30 is out, I thought I owe an expansion to my banter post... Since, guess what, Bold Pilot Log entries are hitting 30 as well! So, Stan probably has got a take on the original concept, or if not he thought it was fitting into the profile of ORE and aptly named the mothership concept "Athena", which in his honor, I'll use as the name of the Gallente Mothership.

So, we have ourselves a ship that's capable of serving as a core for a deep space operation, such as Freebooting Freelancer Inc. Unauthorized Bounty and Resource Extraction, Manufacturing and Research Company. The idea here is to help small entities that probably wouldn't have the numbers to get a hold in wild space. They're only a few people a corp, with possibly less than ten active members, who usually are online for a limited time. They think the life in null or wormholes is really fun, but the POS is too permanent for their liking. Setting up a tower is too tedious if you have to be constantly on the move. Sou our wily space nomads get themselves a Mothership, the type of ship that'll serve them as their makeshift home, and will allow them quick movement if the ground gets too hot for their liking. All they have to do to move the whole base around is have it unanchor (come out of deployment mode), and jump the whole fleet at once (if they are on grid, and unless they are in combat) to a system far, far away...

Development of the Mothership concept

But guess what... It wasn't ORE's idea in the first place! In fact, the Minmatar people, especially the Thukkers always had a taste for a nomad lifeform... The problem was, they couldn't afford to run stations or towers in the far reaches of space, so what they did was is to re-purpose an existing capital ship design to suit their needs. Now they had everything they needed in the place they wanted in the time they wanted. The military implications of such a mobile outpost had not been considered at this time, and the concept was dismissed as a civilian effort. With the strengthening of the capsuleer militia however, the Republic started to look at ways to mix the effectiveness of the capsuleer vessels with the mobility of the Thukker Motherships. After a few months of engineering, this resulted in the Wolverine, the first capsule-fitted Mothership ever designed.

Meanwhile in the Empire... A few very bold Blood Raider attempts were led by ships with huge cargo and docking capacities, hauling hundreds of Raider dropships to the site of the Raid, similar to the first Incursion tactics. Soon, the military experts at the Empire realized what was happening - and that they can't fight off the Raiders without their own forces having a way to deploy full mobile operations. Searching for ways to achieve this goal, they put forth a commission for the most effective Mothership design. It was shortly decided that the Imperial Armaments' 'Reclaimer' will win.

The Caldari agents had ears and eyes everywhere again, and the Raata kind of liked the idea of having a ship serve as a mobile base for the quick response fleets. The race began as every major armaments provider started to test their own designs fr the task. In a somewhat heated discussion, the leaders of the State finally decided that the Kaalakiota Corporation's Albatross will be fitted for capsuleer usage.

The Gallente Federation's own engineers were still busy revising their Hybrid designs, when this new challenge was put forth. Luckily, ORE had been in the process of creating a ship design that would be more suitable for the hostile environment of capsuleer-inhabited outer space than the Rorqual. They sold the plans for an undisclosed (and probably incredibly high) sum of ISK to the Federation. A small group of talented scientists from all areas spent about a year, re-purposing the original blueprints to fit into the Federation's military profile.

Properties - what makes a MS a MS?

So, here we go. All the four factions have their own Mothership designs. There are things they share, in the form of base stats and bonuses, coming from their role. However, them being racial, this allows for a diversity of small boosts they can give to the fleet they are supporting. Let's go through the commonalities first:

• They have no drone bay or hardpoints. There should be a whole group of people that are (should be) able to defend them at all times.
• They have the ability to fit POS modules as if they were regular ones, and have the role bonuses to reduce the grid requirements to an acceptable level. The POS modules allow them to be used the corresponding station service. A list further down.
• They have the resources comparable to that of a Tier 3 Battleship. If they had more, they could fit capital modules in their spare slots, or they shouldn't have spare slots, both of which makes them too pewerful in combat or much less interesting to fly.
• They can support up to two gang links in their high slots.
• They can use their POS modules and gang links when in deployed mode, other modules can only be activated when they are mobile.
• Deployment itself does not consume fuels, but the usage of the station functions does.
• They cost about three carriers' worth of materials to build, and their hit points are tuned in a way that they have sufficient buffer to last through a low-number capital engagement with capital support. Dreadnoughts will be the bane of these ships.
• They have a cargo hold of 5000 or more. There are a lot fo things that you'd want to put in them even if you don't plan to participate in cargo heavy activities.

The POS modules would all fit to High Slots, allowing the following functions:

• Assembly Array: We want to be able to sustain ourselves in space, right? That means it has to be able to fit assembly arrays, fuel cost linked to manufacture job scale. It should also be able to construct ships, so allow the fitting of up to Large and Medium Advanced arrays.
• Ship Maintenance Array: Docking (as in a station) of up to a balanced number of people with subcapital ships only. Timed ship and module repair and capacitor recharge (which use fuel), fitting service (only when docked).
• Corporate Hangar Array: Storage of modules, commodities and ores within the hold of the ship. Essentially a corp hangar that's again only accessible if docked. Moving items, stacking, repackaging should cost fuel if there was at least one item to be executed on.
•  Mobile Laboratory & subtypes: Research slots. Each job consumes a certain amount of fuel depending on the scale it represents.
• Moon Harvesting Array: Yeah, you read it right. They can mine moons. Fuel is consumed for each cycle.
• Reactor Array: If they can mine moons, why not be able to react the materials? Well, they should be able to. Fuel, again is consumed per cycle. Silos are not wanted here, the materials could be placed in the cargo of the ship.
• Refining Array: The ability to reprocess minerals in deeps space is a really good thing. It should definitely not step on the toes of the Rorqual (compressing ore must remain a valid way of operation) and neither should it be more preferable than a station. Stuff can be refined from a corp hangar or the cargo and a balanced time will lapse before the end product appears in the location of origin.

Racial Bonuses

Now that we have looked at what the Mothership can do, let's stop for a moment. I did wish for factional ships rather than only one, but we can look at it from the other angle - why would I pick an Athena over a Reclaimer? Well, because they have different bonuses, meaning that the other might suit your play style! Remember, this has to keep small group in mind when in design. So, let's look at what kind of bonuses the ships would offer.

Wolverine:

• Bonus to traditional Minmatar Command links.
• Bonus to capacitor need of jumps.
• Bonus to Refining Array efficiency.

Reclaimer:

• Bonus to traditional Amarr Command Links
• Bonus to the maximum number of docked ships (when a ship maintenance array is fitted)
• Bonus to  Assembly Array slot number

Athena:

• Bonus to traditional Gallente Command links
• Bonus to jump range
• Bonus to Corporate Hangar capacity

Albatross:

• Bonus to traditional Caldari Command Links
• Bonus to jump fuel consumption.
• Bonus to Laboratory slot number

Closing Words

So, here we have them. The pride of any nomad group - their Mothership, their mobile home. No longer are they forced to carry around POS modules in clumsy ships, and no longer does it take hours to move from one system to another. Just unanchor the Mothership and go. Well, there obviously have to be some drawbacks, righ? Well, here is the list I can offer:

1. The whole stuff only works if the pilot is online. Account sharing is a bannable offense. I leave the conclusions to you.
2. It consumes fuel for every freaking operation (just as a POS would, maybe even more). You have to keep the checkbooks tight if want to rely on this thing.
3. The tank on this ship is really thin for its size. No capital modules means that the Motherships can barely be fitted to be saved by a good triage carrier when caught by a gang.
4. The only safety this ship has is that in can sit on a deep space bookmark and cloak up.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of ways that you can exploit these things, and there may be big holes in the idea, but that's why I'm putting it out there - take a look and please comment if have any suggestion as to how it could be improved.

Sessym out.

Space Zombies

The capsuleer sat back in his couch. His eyes narrowed and his face tightened. His voice was quiet and dripping with anger.
-I don't care how you'll fix it, Kem. I didn't ask you to do this. You shouldn't have come here and I will not move a finger to save you. I'll take you with me if you're still alive, but don't expect me to save you.
The video transmission cut off. The capsuleer eyed his handgun. The trusty 'Regimen'  lay on the table, loaded, armed. All it would take him to save the girl was to take the gun into his pocket, walk down a few stairs, use an elevator, turn on a corridor, and fire two rounds. His reflexes were polished within the capsule, no ordinary man could possibly match them. But this has grown out of control. Even his mind, very much used to parallel operations, could not digest the complexity here.There were unclear intents, missing reasons, unforseeable consequences. Besides, the girl needs to learn her place.

Kem was shaking as she closed her PDA. The adrenaline in her veins was burning, and the roar of guns did little to calm her. She was hiding behind a crate, the people shooting at her were standing at the entrance of the hangar. If only she could turn the lights off. She fumbled with her pockets looking for the small hidden gun she was always carrying, to no avail. Beams of energy struck near her. They must have heatvision too. The coolant pipe did help to hide her signature, but the trails of residual heat were there. She couldn't just wait here. She could barely see from the blood that was seeping into her eyes from her wound. Suddenly a small door opened next to her. She couldn't hold it anymore, and fainted. Blake walked silently over her. The bulky engineer gently took the fragile seibestor woman over his shoulder, and disappeared into the station's twisting tunnels.

There was a knock on the door, then it opened wide. Blake had no weapon, so the only thing he could do is to try and cover Kem from view. The capsuleer stood in the doorway, hand clenched, eyes narowed.
-You've become jumpy in this place. Get your bearings, we'll leave in ten minutes.
They both knew it was no joke. He needed them both, and that also meant they would be using the ship that made Kem's skin crawl. From afar, the monstrous battleship looked intimidating, from the inside, it was the embodyment of the name the authorities gave to the class. Nightmare. The crew's quarters were comfortable, if a bit creepy. The maschinery in the fighting compartment however, Kem was no friend of those things. The huge stabilizer coils were snaking all over the place, and the web of arm-thick cables made it very similar to a spider's lair. In combat you'd hear the endless rattle of the turret mechanisms and the low growl of the coils as they infused the turrets with the huge energy without overheating them. Sometimes the cooling of the shield generators would scream up, as the Gist C-type shield booster did its work, sapping the capacitors almost as intensively as a full wolley of Tachyon beams. Kem's mind screamed at her not to board the ship, but fear overcame memory and soon she would be behind her console, monitoring the weapon systems, as they awakened by the attachment of the capsule. Blake came over to run some checks on the riggin he installed in the past few days. For her relief the shield booster of dubious origin was gone, a technology level two shield extender sitting in its place. Mounted, that thing was monstrous, and added even more complicated wiring to the already fuzzy matrix. However, this could only mean one thing. This time, it is not some petty conflict in a small system somewhere in empire. They will be going up against real tough stuff now.
-I need to check on the MWD. Home tech ain't trusty-rusty anymo'e - Blake hummed and stormed down the corridor alone. MWD? This is serious shit. For days now, Kem calmed down. This was the eerie calm she liked to work in. They will really be putting their hides on the line. She gave the green light for weapons systems and the ship undocked.

They went from warp to jump and warp for about an hour, then the movement stopped. The comms arrays lit up. They joined a fleet. The capsuleer maneuvered the camera drone around. Greenish light everywhere. Incursion. The Sansha is here. After a few ship-ahoys, the fleet commander came in clear and loud. This was it. The capsuleer opened a shipwide channel and spoke as the tachyon beams started to vaporize the shields of enemy ships:
-Here we go. Man all stations. This is not the joke of missions you people are used to. Time to roast some space zombies!

Precipice of Change

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #29

This morning I saw something on youtube, and I got the nerdchills. For a long time, about EVE, again! The short video was showing engine trails and a new warp effect from the Singularity Test Server. With the beautyful backdrops of the new nebulae, the impression was incredible.

Many little things that make together EVE be closer to the thing it can become. The trails are a good addition to show how powerful these ships are, the warp tunnel now looks as if we were really travelling in the bubble the canon talks about, bending the very space with it. Turret flares missing the ship andds another layer of credibility, immersion. What we will look at our monitors is vey close to the great graphics that stare back at us in the sci-fi movies, except that those recordings are rendered for weeks, not fragments of seconds.

CCP was always good at capturing the subconscious of people. There are small details, hidden complexity, which you are not aware, but your brain registers them and they contribute to the overall immersion much more than the things you actually realize do. Look at the same picture with different lighting effects and you'll see what I mean. The space environment in EVE just got the most important thing it missed (and started to miss more and more when the devs were no longer concentrating on it) - scale and perspective. Only when a lumbering battleship draws engine trails longer than its own lenght, do you realize how terrifying a speed 117 m/s is. Only when you see phenomena that have their sizes measured in lightyears shrink jump by jump do you realize the distance you are taveling through in seconds. I could continue this on and on. The reason I don't do is that this isn't what I want to talk about.

EvE Online: CRUCIBLE is going to be a turning point, and we all know this. But it's going to change the game we love in some aspects not many people think about. This last two years, the relatively stagnant Flying in Space EvE is going to be gone. God willing, forever. You'll undock into a whole different universe. What we leave behind I would call the era of tears. We, the society of EVE, CCP, and the New Eden were crying a lot. Sometimes at each other, sometimes with ourselves. We have to go forward. And this means things will change. The pvp in space will evolve. CCP wants it to evolve beyond the best practices we are used to now. Some things get simpler, and we have to accept that. Some things get easier, and you have to be ready for the other people to learn the tricks only you knew...

In other words, let's be ready for what CCP throws at us. We will be heard. Yes, they are a business, and we are customers, but before everything else - let us be a game creating society. The people, they work at CCP because they love the concept and potential of EVE. The players, they should play the game because they love it. Let us stop treating CCP as a company and ourselves as customers - companies never, ever listen to their customers. They listen to their bank accounts, nothing else. The relationship is indirect, no matter how many PR they apply. But if we become a society in and of itself, we will have a direct connection to each other - gamers and developers. That is something fearless, something no profit-oriented organization have attempted before...

Sessym out.

Blog Banter 30: Immersive Marketing

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #28

'Tis a new month again, and our favourite British Minmatar Keeper O'Records Record-A-Worthy, put forth another two questions to banter posts for his keeping o'records. The first question cometh:

"With the Winter expansion possibly being named 'Crucible', it certainly is a melting pot of refinements and tweaks aimed at making the EVE experience smoother and more wholesome. If the developers suddenly found themselves some spare resources and approached you for an additional feature to include before release, what single concept would you pitch them and how would you implement it?"

You probably already know that I'm a lazy person, so I'll just point you at my previous post (funny how I answered the question before it was asked, huh? ). I'll wait patiently until you read my Letter to Sansha Claus, then, if you still want more rants, welcome back here.

For bonus points, the one thing lacking from this "patchwork" of iterations is a cohesive storyline to package "The Crucible" together. How could this expansion be marketed to potential new customers?"


Now that, ladies, gentlemen and capsuleers is a good and hard question. Exactly the ones that I like! So let's start dissecting it. So we want something that makes 'Crucible' make sense. I'll answer with another word. "Embrace". The whole excpansion is about breaking stagnation and embracing a new concept. To hold something close that's so dear to everyone. And that thing is violence and change. Let this expansion be the finger that points up: it gets only better! So how about this narrative:

"There are things that never change. Or this is that some want to believe. But they are wrong. We all were, at some point, wrong. The absence of change is something none desire. Change is your test, your challenge put forth by the universe. We, capsuleers are the cavaliers of change. Creation, destruction, violence, compassion - they all serve the same purpose. The world is merciless, harsh. Despite this, the whole has a purpose - and that purpose is ours to shape..."

I would certainly enjoy a trailer with something like that. It could be a nice sequel to the "I was there" episode saying that "we are capsuleers, we are the symbols of change".

I must however, put forth a disclaimer before continuing. When looking at new players, I'm very picky. I'm not content with 'any players will do'. This may seem an elitist attitude, but don't get me wrong. In my belief, there are people that have no need of the EVE universe, and it's probably better off without them, too. I know some of those people, and I'm certain you know some. These are the people that cannot enjoy the game for the same reasons long-term EVE players do. This is mainly because if you're living on a wormhole colony or something and hadn't already noticed, we have a say in where the game develops.

There are voices that should and shouldn't be heard. Those that don't play, those that can't accept the parts of the game they don't like, those that are not prepared to stay with the game - they'll probably never shut up... but they can be ignored in my opinion. I know that's a bit harsh, but so is EVE, and I like "her" that way. If I need love, I go to my wife. If I want violence and challenge, I'd prefer to pixel shoot pixel people in pixel spaceships than real fights.

And guess what? Crucible is a very good name - a well defining name. There are all kinds of people doing all kinds of things to each other. Because they want to. Because they can. And the heat of it all, the challenge, the test is yours to jump in. With a little care and clever design, CCP can show the world a new class of marketing: the active, interactive, immersive one. The "we'll give you what you want" message is well received from the existing players. And in my opinion, CCP should build on the tight community, keep it that way. Inflated subscriber numbers may not be as good as the beancounters think. EVE is not about fun - it is about complexity, longevity, planning, understanding, learning - the things that really define a hobby. Many people look at it that way - and that is what CCP should look to achieve. Because favourites, games are cycled throughout the lives of people - usually in a seven-year cycle - but hobbies persist. You never really quit hobbies. These are the things you enjoy spending your time on - and EVE should always provide a lot of opprtunities to reward the time spent on it.

There's something in marketing that many sales specialists build on when advertising: perceived vaule. In this world, in this economy, soon there will be only one thing that has substantial perceived value by the 'simple' people: longevity. EVE is good at it, but not as long as the database is running on Tranquility (and its descendants) - only until people consider the game to be worh talking about and the players worth helping. Do you really think they should ignore that?

Sessym out.

Letter to Sansha Claus

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #27

Dear Sansha Claus,

Many people deny your existence, but I know you're out there. I believe in you! And I know the wishes made with your name become true! I've been a good little capsuleer. I may have been a little sloppy as of late, but real life and all, you know about that shit... Of course, you know about everything! So let's go ahead and look at what I yearn to see within EVE Online:

1. Missile launch animation rewamp
2. Firing and module look&feel rewamp
3. Introduce territorial Planetary Interaction so that we finally can rivalize with each other
4. True 'Mothership' concept to support the nomadic lifestyle

Missile launch animation rewamp

Ships right now just poo smoke and a glowing orb is hurled towards the target. Clearly, this is not the finest example of EVE's astonishing visuals, so it is only right people will want some new animations. When most people say they want missiles to have new effects when launched, they usually mean 'turrets for missiles', which is one good solution, but is does not come near to what it coudl be. First, we have two groups of missles: guided and unguided.

Surprisingly enough, guided missiles have lower payload and are able to follow their targets for a longer time, while unguided ones carry greater payloads in shorter ranges and usually take slower, larger targets to score a perfect explosion than their guided counterparts. It's not that they can't follow enemies - they too have some 'dumb' sensors that also lock on the target, but being slower and worse at following movement, these things do much better if they are aimed. Guided missiles, however, they would probably benefit better from a system that lets them leave the launchers at nearly full speed.

So what I'd like to see is that guided missiles are launched from silos that open up and close on the ship hull, while unguided missiles have bulky launchers that track the target just as turrets do. But wait, there's more! Engine trails for missiles... 'nuff said, methinks.

Firing and module look&feel rewamp

Even with the upgraded turret effects, some firing animations just look too underwhelming. I love lasers because of their bright flares. Autocannons also do a decent job now, but blasters, rails and artillery aren't really that good.

Let's begin with the easiest: make laser flares match their size and type. For example, make quad guns flare four times, duals flare twice, you get the hang of it... On impact, show hotspots where armor damage is taken.

Autocannons should leave sratches in the same way, while they could fire from all their guns, so dual guns should have two trails for example.

When you fire railguns, the tremendous force and speed should be shown with botha flare and a smoking and hot trail. Those shells are moving at relativistic speeds, damn it.

Artillery vents a lot of particles into space. That's how it should be, you're firing projectiles that are usually the size of a small car. But where do those particles go? I vote for more fire from the barrels and more pronounced smoke trails. Impact should also show an effect that wears off in two or three seconds. Firing many (6 or 8) artillery cannons should leave you in a cloud of smoke and dust.

And now the trickiest thing. Blasters.Right now their animations is something between (pardon the wording) spit and ejaculation. It's not pretty, and certainly does not convey the heat and kinetic energy of the slug. We need something that looks more like you just processed tons of material to glowing hot plasma, and shot it with a speed proportional to that of the light. The beams could have a spiraling effect around them or something.

Territorial PI

Planetary Interaction, or as they call it 'pai' right now is just a few dots and lines that produce goo for your stuffz. This is so non-eve that it almost hurts. Why, oh why can't I mess with other players' planets (beyond draining them of their precious resources faster)? There are richer and poorer deposits of materials on each planets, which is a good thing. These deposits move over time, but what would it be like if you had only a given territory of a planed to exploit for your pleasure? Say, you play 'rent' to CONCORD and they let you play simcity on an area that's size depends on the 'rent' you're billed for (which is also increasing by security status, of course).

In short, I want everything they talked about at Fanfest 2009 on planets. I want to be a dictator on a planet that herds the common people to his service.

Motherships

This is the big gun. Or more likely, the big ship. I'm thinking of a mobile base of sorts that you can take deep within unknown space, with several of your buddies, and deploy / move it faster than you could move a POS. There are a few key functions that consitute a true 'mothership' concept.

1. It must have a jump drive. It's a capital ship for obvious reasons - and more like a small station than a spaceship. The tank and firepower on this thing is not exactly a priority. It's more like a multifunctional carrier than a real combat ship.
2. It must be able to enter high-class wormholes. The mass on this should be not much higher than a regular capital.
3. It must allow the fitting of various modules that helps it function as a makeshift POS, able to manufacture, research, refine, repair. The catch is simple - if the pilot's not online, it doesn't work.
4. And the point of all this: people are able to dock in it, up to subcapital size! There should be limits of course, but this is beyond the scope of this letter right now.

So dear Sansha Claus, I know you're busy planning your next incursions to known space, but please set aside some time and consider these things. I know you have a lot of little elves working for you now up high in Iceland!

Sessym out.

Power to the Masses... What could possibly go wrong?

Bold Pilot Log, Entry 26#

After Hilmar's apology to the player base, I couldn't stop thinking. I believe there are a few things we must  consider carefully about this situation. Some blogger already took the letter apart, but as much as I try to avoid being redundant, I will need to examine it for the post's purpose.

The first part is taking responsibility. With this, Hilmar openly states that the driving force beyond the last two years' stumbling was him. A vision that still lives, but the road to that vision was misinterpreted. This 'I've bitten off more than I can chew spans a few paragraphs, detailing how he presumably got carried away. This part closes with the big admission. I applaud him for this, just as many people do, but this is one thing that got me thinking. More on that later.

The next section explains that he understands the error in trying to sell the present Incarna content as a full-fledged expansion, especially in a game that revolves around entirely different things. The letter also shows that they are aware of the way they always overestimate their capacity in regards of development. It is also made clear that beyond the little result we saw there were much technology development that should have been built upon much more.

Then he moves on to the virtual goods fiasco. After a short recap of how they have erred on that, he restates and confirms their current standpoint towards virtual goods. It should be a relief for many people, but there are things that never change. Let's move further.

The next part of the letter speaks again about Incarna, and how it ties into the CCP vision of EVE. The general principles are outlined with a promise that Incarna will not be prioritized over the crucial space improvements. This seems a good thing, too.

The last section is where the letter becomes almost cerebral in tone. Hilmar personifies EVE, and boldly goes where few dared to go before: he promises to listen more to the community, to have their voice taken to heart, and the will to mine the full potential of the EVE universe.

Now, this is all good and nice, but let's be a bit realistic here. The company that we knew as CCP has grown rapidly from a garage inc. to a 600-people company. The growing pains we all felt. They had to build a corporate culture, and probably they are still trying to find their way around being able to operate as a large entity. Their CEO seems to have comitted himself to the new culture, he (or the one helping him) writes:

 The greatest lesson for me is the realization that EVE belongs to you, and we at CCP are just the hosts of your experience. When we channel our passion for EVE constructively, we can make this vision a reality together.

So his vision of a corporate culture is where the whole corp works together with its customers, the capsuleer community to achieve its goals. As much as this is heartwarming,  it has some prospects we need to be aware of. Going from the back of the letter to the front, there are a few concerns that my thinking revolved around.

The last part of the letter remains to be taken as truth, but if it is, it means we, the players will be given the power to change the game. Depending on how they plan to achieve this, it has an interesting aspect. Greater power means greater responsibility. My bet is on the philosophy 'look at the way you use something, and try to help', which has worked great in the past and probably is the easiest to make a policy of. That said, it will be interesting to see if the very vocal players would really get a word in the development of the game.

Incarna is considered a failed thing by many players. There's a good chance CCP is monitoring the rate of clients that have it turned on. I don't think that rate is very high. Regardless, we mustn't forget about Incarna. It's rightly a part of EVE, only, it should be a working part, not the tick we knew it to be. And for that, ladies, gentlemen and capsuleers, it requires no less than development resources! I know many of you would happily play around in your fragile bodies out of their pods. The ideas need to be transformed into actual work, and for that , CCP needs us desperately. Incarna won't be real until we make it real, just as with everything else from EVE.

Virtual goods are one thing people tend to be very sensitive about. Basically, if you're already paying for a service, you shouldn't be forced to pay for another service to make the first one enjoyable. That's what Hilmar promises. I, just like many others resent the idea of purchasing game advantage with real money. It just feels dumb. You could argue that you already RMT with PLEX, but the truth is, with plex, you buy other people's playtime that he or she used to make ISK, nothing else! In this regard, we too have responsibility. If the players buy it, they will continue to sell it. It's not that it cost much to create...

The second section of the letter is about expectations. The hype, the way they got everything riled up and screaming we want it is only possible because the people en masse act like they usually do. So the lesson here is that we too should step back and do some soul searching. What can we do to prevent scandals to break out? Shouldn't we try and be more constructive? Shouldn't we HTFU? Hysterical responses have their use but they are effective only so many times. Let's stop being the screaming mass of idiots and start carrying ourselves as real stakeholders, shall we?

And this leads me to the heaviest sentiment. The apology. In that letter, the CEO of a corporation apologizes to a bunch of players calling a box a box, balls to the wall.

Will we, can we, as a community, admit when we are wrong, with the same honesty, the same sincerity?

Sessym out.

Blog Banter 29: EVEmersion

Bold Pilot Log, Entry 25#

A week ago, Seismic Stan on Freebooted put up the question for the 29th Blog Banter. Somewhat late, but ladies, gentlemen and capsuleers, feel free to enjoy my part of the Banter:

"EVE Online is renowned for its depth. Its backstory, gameplay and social aspects are all qualities that draw players in. What does immersion in EVE Online mean to you?"

Immersion is a word that's thrown around a lot these days in the EVEosphere. Now, I could look up the definition for the word but the question here revolves around exactly what it is for the players. So, this topic ties in closely with the 'seven souls of EVE' I have mentioned before. I shall take a look and examine what immersion in and with a game can mean.

For many games, it is  rather simple, even shallow. You think about the game, you think about how you will try things, and that is all. But EVE is somewhat different. When someone is immersed in EVE, he or she does one of the following things:

• The things that you love to do for some reason. This usually triggers a flow experience at some point.
• The things that allow you to do the things you love to do. This creates an atmosphere of anticipation, which is a very real and tangible feeling.
• The things that other people (sometimes not even present or real) make you do. Caution is a big driver of acts.

So what exeactly is immersion? It is a state of mind, a flow of thinking that lets you interpret the depth of the world you are in. Immersion is not about entertainment. It is about learning. By embracing this artificial yet very natural world, EVE immersion is about learning things about yourself. What would I do if... That is the question immersion answers over and over not by words, but by experience. EVE online is in a unique position in this.

When Hilmar, CCP's CEO looked at the ISK Guide, his reaction was: 'God, what have we created?'

They, CCP, are a company that created a new place of immersion. Once you start to 'get EVE', you'll feel that you are a part of it. Your actions will affect things in many different ways. You may not be aware of their significance, but back in your mind there's always the looming feeling that you may have just ruined or made someone's day.

Once you understand these things, once you feel that you get real value out of a game, you are immersed. The value thing may or may not be true, but you must always remember: in EVE, the things are what you make of them.

I know I make a lot of EVE. I think about all the things I see in game, and try to imagine how would this look like if it was 'real'. Human imagination has its ways with creation. According to some beliefs, anything can exist that you imagine. I am immersed in EVE when I imagine myself in the place of the character that represents me. Stories are to be told here, millions of reasons, wills and deeds.

I love that CCP tries to look at a universe as a whole, not just take one perspective and stick with it. In that aspect, I can fully appreciate their intent to expand the game beyond spaceships. I'll be honest. I'm not here because of the spaceships. I'm here because everything else that goes with them. They let me talk with people I never would have known. These conversations arc through cultures and generations. Immersed in EVE means that you're no longer playing a spaceship game. You're part of a virtual world that is very similar to your own, because the people you play with are real. Thus, immersion in EVE begins with understanding the sentence: "EVE is Real."

Sessym out.

Wounded

He maneuvered the camera drone softly around. The look of the site was spectacular but he was much more concerned about the red crosses Aura marked his adversaries with. The Wolf class advanced frigate, now labeled 'Flameburst' was taking ages to reach the warehouse. Ages, as in ten or so seconds. The capsuleer quickly brought up the cargo trasfer interface, and the robotic arms pulled in the reason for him entering this deathtrap.
-Watch the heat sink! - yelled Kem, as the Wolf, propelled by the extreme power of the oversized afterburner drifted towards the warehouse, nearly scratching one of the weakest parts of the ship. Fortunately the kinetic barriers kicked in, and the frigate bumped off with almost equal velocity. The capsuleer turned the warp drive on, and within seconds the fickle Wolf was leaving the deadspace pocket, the angry Serpentis still trying to achieve a target lock until they realized no one's there anymore.

The station was one of the few permanent homes for the capsuleer. The dock coordinator smiled at the timely return, and then sent the little ship to the capsuleer's favorite hangar. The amarrian design provided a magnificient view of the station interior. The pilot did not leave the ship, but contacted the agent he was working for. High security space was always busy, and a lot of people meant a lot of criminals. There's always a new job for the venturing capsuleer, provided he or she climbs the ropes of official corporate trust. The capsuleer was well known in this station, at least in the official circles. Sometimes people would knock on his room right next to the dock. In the age of nanites and people not dying because of some gadgets and computers within their bodies, who in their sane mind would think to register a knock on a metal door in any system? Those people who did knock usually had something fishy in mind and wanted the capsuleer to take care of them. Kem marveled at the extent of some of these requests. Simple deliveries of small trinkets and leading large scale military operations alike. The capsuleer had well-tried crew for these runs, including the lead engineer, Blake, who was sometimes harsher than a brutor farmer boy, but Kem really didn't mind the attitude. The man always pulled his weight and beyond all the cursing and spitting, he had a heart, and women like Kem had a good eye for that. Her thoughts shifted back to the capsuleer as the elevator carried her down to his hangar.

The man talked not a word more than was necessary. He always seemed to be suspended deep in his thoughts. Kem did not question him about his past - the wrinkles around his eye and the pale reflections in his iris told all she needed to know. Some people become capsuleers to leave their proletarian roots behind. Many dream of profits and challenges unknown to planetside people. Some others try to break free of the traditions their nations are entrenched in. And some, probably the most, have something they'd rather leave behind. No matter the reasons they admit, each and every one of them is trying to escape something. This particular capsuleer seemingly had multiple things to escape from. Who she saw was a man without fears and regrets. He probably lost his family to something horrible, she mused, because he never talks about them, nor does he reveal his family name. The capsuleer always introduced himself by his callsign, and with subordinates preferred the address 'pilot', rather than any fancy ranks or titles. This appealed to the seibestor woman, though she noted that for an amarrian - and a khanid of all kinds - the capsuleer was awfully humble and very kind in his own way. Some of the crew were slaves before the 'mighty Empress' decided to release them to the four winds - without food and jobs. The capsuleer took these stragglers in, and gave them work and hope. He actively encouraged them to seek ties with their families. In case they died when he lost a ship, he sent the remainder of their belongings to their families, along with their remaining pay to help ease their grief. It wasn't much, but it was a nice gesture. The pilot actually took care of his people. The small battleship and cruiser fleet he maintained gave them homes and employment. In return, the rules were strict. He always undocked with a skeleton crew, no errors, no slackers permitted. Rather dead than useless is what he believed a crew member should be. As much as he approached the people casually, he demanded complete attention and precise work. This duality is a marker for a kind of people who Kem could refer to with only one word: wounded.

Of panem, circensis and hopes

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #24 

The current senior producer for EVE Online, CCP Zulu, has released a dev blog. This somewhat ordinary-looking event has caused quite a stir actually. The moments that define history, as he puts it, are now. The last Blog Banter had already put forward the question about what is going to happen to EVE? If it hasn't ended already I'd recommend Stan to add the devblog to the summary. What we see here is CCP going 'whoa! if :awesome: is no longer awesome then wtf is?' I wish I could tell. But there is a lot of room for a lot of words to explore just this.

So, we have a company that prides itself on listening to the players and delivering the 'awesomeness' they all crave. Yet in the past months they not only failed to do exactly that but suddenly realized it. So let's stop the Bullshit Hardener II's and start the Damage Control III. Arnar's blog is a sign of that. Many in the comments thread observed it had nothing of substance. To the more observant, however it said a whole lot of things. The main message of the blog is that they started massaging the brainpower at their disposal to resolve the situation.

Let's take a look at what CCP and the players want, and what they don't. First of all, Both want EVE to live as long as it has a point. Both parties want EVE to thrive and grow. Now, this is all good, but they imagine it in a different way.

Those players that rave and rant about EVE are the keepers. They are already sold, they will stay, pause and come back. They want more people to shoot at of course, but they mind the content much more. New things to do in their eyes is inavoidably equals or is better than new people to do it with.

CCP, however, as a company, logically sees it the other way around. To go on, they need money. To expand, they need lots of money. The only way they are going to get more money if they get more players.

Those of you observant enough to have spotted the snake biting its own tail, congratulations! Because this is exactly what happens. The existing players' demand for expansion can only be fueled by the extension of the playerbase. A company can develop both ways. Expansive development is when they build upon the existing concept and try to increase its scale. Extensive development occurs when a company takes on new concepts and tries to integrate them with both itself and the customer base. In EVE terms, 'FiS' (blech, ugly word) development is expansive, or vertical. The new things that are not related to you undocking in a spacehip (such as Incarna) are extensive, or horizontal.

This has caused several conflicts of interest in the past, Incarna being at the peak of it. I start to see 'what went wrong' is that CCP decided to move away from the demand for expansion to facilitate extension. Players see this as neglect, which in truth is a grave misunderstanding. But the problem was magnified by both parties with how they reacted to the deployment of Incarna. All the players got is a tech demo rather than true extension. And so the riots and media storm began. Now journalists in the gaming world like to pick on developers, especially one as anecdotic as CCP. Everyone knows they have a 'fucking hard game'. The misconceptions mixed with the drama hace caused damage even managers without any passion for EVE have to deal with. The moments that define history are those when it becomes apparent to even the most apathetic or diconnected that something must be done.

But if Incarna failed, then what won't? In truth, it isn't the idea of Incarna what's failed, but the rollout. It is still a valid concept and will still be, so those wanting to ditch it are lying to themselves. There are those that agrue that the forum posters and bloggers and media stir is the word of the vocal minority, but guess what do those people do that 'just play the game?'. They use the content. CCP can tell which content they use. CCP will judge player reception not only by those who do :words: but by metrics that are produced by the whole of the playerbase. This is why you have POS towers. Guess why you have Incarna? Because many people that you have invited to play EVE said on leaving 'I just can't see myself as a spaceship'. Actions, not words - there is a blur here. Some words are the action itself, some become the action (unsubs induced by the mass hysteria) and some stay hollow. And some echo chambers sound louder than others. So in all this chaos and flow of not accurate information, how would you expect CCP to save EVE?

Everyone has an answer for that, even if that answer really is 'do what The Mitanni suggests' (notice the use of word). Mine might not be the correct one, but I 'stay a while, and listen'. So the moment that defines history will be a positive one for EVE's future, if CCP can resolve the conflict of extension and expansion. There is a way to do this. It can be summarized in one word: balance. Balance efforts. Give something new, refresh something old.

The latter is more obvious. There are a lot of things that can do with improvement. Make them work. Make them complete. Revamp them so they become more challenging or engaging. Add on top of them so they have consequence.

The former? How can you extend without pissing off people? This became increasingly hard over time. The only way to push EVE beyond the niche that gives a hard cap on its player count is to add horizontal content to it. To add no-spaceship content. Actually, many people would welcome this. The thing is, with all those spaceships and warping around, you sometimes want to take a break. EVE also lacks instant gratification. It is a good player filter, but a costly one. Incarna has the perfect setting and potential to give EVE what some people struggle to find in it: a place in the sandbox.

The old saying 'panem et circenses' comes to mind. MMOG players are very much that simple from a business standpoint. Give them something they see useful, and give them things they can lose themselves in. In this context, 'panem' refers to the necessities of life - features that make playing the game enjoyable. 'Circenses' is the concepts that link them to the game, the entertainment, the reward they get for using a feature. If 'panem' is missing, the players will revolt and whine that the game is broken. If there are no 'circenses', players will be angry at the developer and say that the game is broken, full of grind, too hard, pointless, take your pick. It is difficult times we're facing. Difficult times indeed.

In summary, whatever the changes, there should be a few things that are kept in mind. I call these the seven souls of EVE.

1. Scale. You should feel the enormous thing that you are part of around you. YXou should be constantly made aware how many things your actions touch.
2. Consequence. Everything you do must have one. A permanent one. Nothing should be excluded. The cold harsh universe is not a place where you could do something and change nothing.
3. Choice. You must be able to make your own. Work for it or pay for it? Keep it or kill it? It must depend on you.
4. Risk. Everything you do must have a chance to go south. Excitement and entertainment cannot be truly experienced until you know you were risking something for it.
5. Competition. This is the point of playing with others. You must in each activity compare to another player and success should be granted to the better.
6. Interaction. Anything in game must do something meaningful. Meaningful in a sense that other players must be affected, both directly and indirectly.
7. Foresight. EVE rewards planning and organised effort with increased rewards. This should be always the case.

As I have seen it so far, anything that goes into development and misses the fine alchemy of these souls, will either have rotten 'panem' or be a boring 'circensis'. Let's hope CCP too knows this.

They have one more chance:

Sessym out.

Random Brain Fart - EVE Races Warfare Philosophy

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #23

Amarr - Give up! My armor is strong as my faith in God, no weapon can harm me. His holy laser light will reach you no matter how you try to run!

Caldari - Can't dodge missiles, eh, punk? And yeah, I shield tank because I'm not gonna buy damn nanites.

Gallente - Just wait till I get in range, you're so fucked monsieur. By the way, armor tanks are manly, m'kay?!

Minmatar - RATATATATA! AAAAAAAAH! RATATATA!

Sessym out.

Blog Banter 28: "The Future of EVE Online, CCP and the CSM"

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #22

Today's topic is the courtesy of Seismic Stan and his blog, Freebooted. Whilst I admire his sense of humor and lightweight writing style, I want to reflect on the questions he puts up as the new organizer of the old Blog Banters.

The Question

In recent months, the relationship between CCP and it's customers has been the subject of some controversy. The player-elected Council of Stellar Management has played a key role in these events, but not for the first time they are finding CCP difficult to deal with. What effect will CCP's recent strategies have on the future of EVE Online and it's player-base? What part can and should the CSM play in shaping that future? How best can EVE Online's continued health and growth be assured?

The Re-cap

To better understand the question first,  let's recap what exactly happened here. Many people can think back until the release of Incarna, Monoclegate and such. But actually where it really began was the ambition on the side of CCP that they can manage running a healthy MMO (which requires tremendous effort and resources on behalf of the developer and exceptional persistence on behalf of the player-base by the way) and develop two revolutionary games at the same time. Impossible? No. "Fearless"? Rather insane, I'd wager. What see here unfold is very much like when one tries to ride not two but three horses at the same time, even though only one of them has a saddle. It is only expected that you try to keep over the other horses by clenching the saddle, which is infuriating to the horse wearing it.

More directly: the first wing flaps of the infamous butterfly were the decisions made at CCP that they take this path. Before embarking on the journey of becoming a multi-product company, they launched a last great effort that awarded EVE players with the much beloved Apochrypha expansion. When it was finished, most people went over to the other projects, namely Carbon and DUST. Incarna had working prototypes for over a year even back in 2009, but for some reason it didn't match the standards CCP set for themselves. Then came Dominion, which turned the sovereignity mechanics of the game upside down. A lot of players felt the impact of this, but it only hit months later, and people only get angry about a change when the negative impact on their situation and interests is apparent. Guess what did it coincide with? You bet, it was the :18months: scandal, or Summer of Rage if you will.

The gist of that situation was that it then became visible to the CSM that CCP no longer concentrated on EVE. No matter what they say, no matter how they praise the community, the reality of EVE development was that it received little attention within he company compared to the Carbon framework and other stuff. That alone would not be a problem, since as we learned later, EVE can benefit greatly from its development. What hit people square in the jaw was that the plethora of existing bugs and usability issues seemingly received little in the way of attention. To quell the fires, Team BFF and Team Gridlock were launched or rather more emphasis put on them in terms of communication. Regardless of their effort, rage in the playerbase started to cyclically build up. Tyrannis failed miserably and just like CCP, I don't want to mention that expansion more than it is necessary.

So, moving on, people seemed to calm into a steady frown, some looking at everything on the dark side, others shouting 'I want to believe'. Regardless, Fanfest did go in a positive tone, aside from the nVidia guys who didn't know when to STFU & GTFO. Everyone seemed to want to forget all the arguing that came out of Summer of Rage '10. Then, suddenly "Fearless". We all should know by now how this went from 'the most successful release eva' to 'this is the time when we look at what CCP does not what they say'.

The Answers

There is a resounding question hanging over most people's mind who followed the events that unfolded:

"What will happen to my EVE?"

I'll once again give you the now classical answer: it depends. It exactly depends on the actions CCP takes in order to:

1. Communicate intentions to the players. Most people can contend with being screwed over if they are warned upfront.
2. Understand that the tremendous content already existent in EVE allows every staying player to love something in the game. This they will care for, nothing else.
3. Strike a balance between FiS and WiS resources.

First, a company as transparent as CCP is (no matter how other people try to distort it, they do speak a lot about what they do), needs to get more serious about speaking to the dangerous lot EVE players are. 'It's going to be awesome' isn't an adequate communication, especially, when for a lot of people, it's not so awesome. Everyone, including developers and players have their own perception of reality, and CCP should at least try to affect that perception, not just dump their own on us. As an example, to some people, mining is boring. To others, it's great because they can do whatever besides it. Some people love solo and small gang PvP, some (*gasp*) don't. The vast majority of people will agree though that they don't like when CCP 'promises' something (if you are familiar with their style, the never truly do) and then break their promise.

Second, the astonishing variety compared to other games means that many people will have different expectations and different interests. Some of them will want life to be easier, some will want it made harder. In the end, nobody truly cares for the things he didn't ever touch, and chances are, that is a long list. They will, however, care for new types of features (such as CQ and Incarna) and if the content fails to fulfill its perceived purpose, they get angry. Now, what is the perceived purpose of Incarna as of yet? Humane way of interaction through lifelike pixel bodies.

The key word is interaction. INTERACTION. INTERACTION. INTERACTION...

Currently, there is no meaningful interaction out of your spaceships. You could argue contracts and market, but that is core gameplay, and not a feature. A feature is something that you can choose to use or disregard. Incarna and Captain's Quarters are empty features. You can use them but you get no real benefit. I can understand why CCP decided to roll it out to see what it messes up (it's an eight year-old game after all), but it got the hype from the wrong angle. This is not the way EVE's future lies at.

The third concern is balance. Just like Torfi described at Fanfest with expansion vs. iteration, CCP will need to strike a balance between WiS and FiS. The reason is simple. Some people will not use Incarna at all if they aren't forced (hell, they shouldn't be, more on that later). Those people will feel abandoned if you roll out just stuff related to Incarna. Other people though may be set off by the miniscule amount of content EVE currently provides outside the space game, so more needs to be developed ASAP.

The Verdict

I don't really feel entitled to say such an important thing as a verdict over a gem that's loved by more than a hundred thousand people, but I do feel entitled to my opinion, so I'll just go ahead and say it.

I think that the future of EVE depends greatly on the decisions that are made to patch up the current situation. The prospect of our favorite game losing its soul is unnerving. There clearly has been a change of direction, which can be perceived through the trailers as well. Up until now, CCP and EVE was all 'this is yours, play with it' and then it somehow went to 'we own your ass and you know it'. I don't like either the transition and the direction. Despite this, many positive things can come out of this.

There are things that CCP needs to return to in order to keep players satisfied. Some little game mechanics help with what they actually do can go a long way to please even new players. It's not the invitation part that's hard - keeping players is. So if EVE can keep its wonderful players while adding new ones, it will stay alive and dynamic - and that means better communication and more concentrated effort for improvement. CCP's growing pains affect both the players and the game greatly, and if the EVE society dies in them, so will CCP.

Sessym out.

Titanium Sabot H

The mechanical trigger hit the cartridge, giving heat to the few metallic sparks that erupted inside. The propelling compund, a careful mix of explosive and oxigen  sprung to life. Small molecules burst from the heat of the sparks, rapidly devouring the air they were floating in. In a matter of nanoseconds, the whole charge was spent, and the giant surge of energy split the cartridge open. It didn't waste much energy, so the inflation of the flue continued to push the bullet forward, into the rotating spiral of the barrel. The outer sheath of the bullet slightly melted, and took the shape of the barrel, allowing it full control over the motion. A few more nanoseconds, and the explosion given away all it's pressure, directly into the bullet, which accelerated to five times the speed of the ripples it would make in the air. It left the barrel instantly, further propelled and shaped by it, launching into the open. Some of the flue had escaped with it, with no containers restricting its inflation, giving a last nudge to the small projectile. The bullet darted through the relatively thick recycled air of the station, connecting on the metallic surface it was aimed at.

The outermost sheath heated up further due to the friction from the air, and the pressure poised by the armoured cloth. The heat dissipated quickly as the molten matter flew off the bullet, weakening the molecular structure of the armor. The cords started to split as the blunt and soft outer shell gave way to the second, hardened and sharpened sheath. Soon this layer of the bullet took all the heat that the tremendous force it was fired with caused upon impact, and its hot, pointy front combined with the polished surfae pushed it through easily. The second layer of the armor was more problematic. The ceramic scales that overlap each other beneath the clothing stood ready to take the energy away from the shot. The third sheath however, an incredibly dense but flexible metal compund broke the second sheath into sparks and caused the bullet to pivot slightly and turn around the edges of the scales, bypassing the resilient ceramics and breaking through right into the skin. The sheath was spent in the process, and the bullet had lost four fifths of its energy, but the sheaths had done their job and penetrated the armor. Now it was the shell's turn - there were nanofiber reinforced bones it its way. The hot metal burned through the flesh, and the volatile matter slowly took the shape of a waterdrop, it's titanium core tearing into the flesh and bones, finally stopping in the left chamber of the heart, leaving it essentially disfunctional, though neither of the other wounds caused by the projectile were bleeding.

Just about when the bullet passed through the last layer of the victim's skin, the Imperial Armaments 'Regimen' PER-60 started its recoil cycle. The barrel retracted in the bullet's wake, and the second round was lifted into position within the gunlock. The trigger loosened back as the murderer's finger released the trigger and the spring pushed it back into its place. Most of the kinetic energy from the recol was spent by now, and as the first ripples of yound started to emanate from the shot, the handgun returned to its previous position, no longer forcing the hand upwards.

The murderer, a certain capsuleer from a certain corporation looked at the target. The tripple-sheathed, high velocity Titanium Sabot H round did it's job well. He was thinking about the globalization capsule technology brought to the unverse. He just left his Jovian-made hydrostatic capsule in a Gallente station in Amarr space, only to be assaulted by an assassin of Intaki origin, who was probably working for a Caldari corporation, judging by his equipment manufactured by the Kaalakiota Corporation. The sidearm he used to protect himself was designed by an Amarrian corporation to fire rounds favored by the Minmatar, no less.

Interesting weapon, the IA 'Regimen' series. These sidearms were designed to use conventional explosive-propelled projectiles of 6 mm caliber, which aligns well with the corporation's core philosophy. It was no coincidence that the 6 mm 'H' series of traditional minmatar design fit well into this handgun. The logic there ould go like this: if you are out in the open, where you are prone to assaults, it is best that you have a reliable gun at your side, one which can be fired immediately with good efficiency and cheap charges. The mechanical firing method also came as a side effect of this - you can't jam a weapon that doesn't have microchips in it. Alas, the PER-60 could fire a nail if it had the proper cartridge.

The assassin was well prepared. Killing a capsuleer in his quarters would not necessarily dispose of him, but, especially if they last died a long time ago, could wipe a lot of memories out of them. What, however, he failed to register is this particular capsuleer's bad habit to be always alert and don't trust anyone and anything. That's how life went in New Eden.

Business As Usual

It was freezing. The sudden decrease in pressure surely perforated some of the cruicial parts, but the temperature drop took over much faster, leaving it solid, pale. It was really unconcerned about the situation, though. In fact, nothing really could concern it, seeing that it was a frozen corpse now. The only thing that would be of interest about it could be if it rejoined to its old self in form of cheap biomass, but seeing that the unsignificant event that led to its current state happened far in deadspace, nobody is likely to pick it up.

A few region farther, three red warning lights lit up over a tank. The first signaled a new arrival, the second signaled that the reason for the arrival was death, and the third signaled that the new body is functional and no medical attention required. The fluid started to drain down the pipes and it was time for the awakening serum to be introduced to the patient. As the drug was injected, the tank opened and the man stepped out, seemingly staggered but with freakish calm on his face for someone who just died. He strained one of his eyebrows looking at the novice doctor assistant, like he was saying 'what the hell are you looking at?', but the capsuleer did not utter a word. The assistant woke from his stupor and handed him the towel he was holding. The capsuleer wrapped it around his pelvis casually, and walked towards the shower. He twitched his nose, the irritating smell of the statis fluid his clone was in took over his senses for a moment. He frowned, then entered the cabin and opened the tap. Hot water poured down the well-built body. Some twenty seconds later, he was walking towards his personal quarters. The aisle was surprisingly quiet this hour, leaving him to his thoughts. He entered the capitain's quarters throughout the Door. From here, he had an almost perfect view of the insides of the station, where like small dots and muscles the maintenance crew was moving al kinds of parts and ships around. It reminded him of the work colons do, taking in and ejecting their volatile food continuously.

He looked back at the Door. That thing meant a gateway between two worlds to him. One was the known, the thrilling and the profitable. The other? He had no real feelings about the other on top of indifference. For many years, he perceived people beyond that door as parts of the body that served his existence. They did not matter much to him - he wasn't interested in their ailments, problems, hunger and affairs. But sometimes he is just forced beyond that Door, to the world that he doesn't want to be a part of, or, more accurately - not this way. He shook off the thoughts of his head, and then walked up to the console, ordered a new capsule, requested his Hurricane to be prepared for boarding, and sit down on the sofa, waiting for the fleet and alliance comms to light up. Flying into dangerous space in a capsule-fitted ship and getting even his pod blown up was his way of business-as-usual afterall.

Obvious Celestial is Obivous

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #21

There are times when you fuck up. These are not the times you should worry about. There's always some little room to correct mistakes. But there are those moments when you fuck up while others are fucking with you.

Pardon the explicit language. So let's stop a little and analyze what led to this moment.

I log on, load grid in space. I warp to my gate watch safe (It's home system afterall), see a small gang camping the gate. Corp mates are planning on hauling stuff in. The industrial carrying the first round of fittings and ammo jumps in from the high sec gate, just as pinpoint and I report the camp.

Docked, I have to leave the computer for a few secs. By the time I return, the gatecamp is busted, and a lowsec roam is being planned. It's one of those nano roams, so I hop into the shield-fit Hurricane and x up. I have a hunch and take some redundant faction ammunition out of the 'cane. It hits hard, but the stuff's expensive if you never get to use it...

Recon ships and a black ops BS is added to the mix, we decide on the tactics and prepare to undock. The other corporation is amassing in our home system, bent on revenge. The nano-fit is the better idea, yeah.

So we undock and crash the gate, barely slipping their fleet. They're close behind, time is of essence. Discussion goes on about how to deal with the whole situation. This is where we as a group fuck up. People get a bit disoriented and they catch up on the next gate. Order is issued to scatter.

And this is where I fuck up while others are fucking with me. I warp off the gate by warping to a planet, making a bookmark in the process. All good, I gave them the slip. Or not? Landing, I see two of our merry enemies, one at 0, one at 50. Crap. Trap. I'm not going to give up, start aligning, burning out of range, and open fire. Then the whole gang jumps on in. Time to spam the warp button.

So, my ship turned into something like an egg, did I level up? Sure I did. New things I learned:

1. Don't warp off to obvious celestials if you're about to flee. First, last planet, sun, station are all bad choices.
2. Don't warp at zero. Don't warp at 50 either. Everyone warps at 50.
3. Align the moment you land. Don't look at people on overview thinking what are those about. They're out to get you.
4. This is not my first ship loss, and won't be the last. Also, looking at my previous losses, I didn't lost a ship when I did everything right. That feels comforting.
5. I still feel honored that people must assemble fleets of 10-20 people to have the balls to fight a 6-man battlecruiser gang from Fla5hy. If that's not blobbing, I don't know what is.

Sessym out.

Holy Shit, That Guy's 5.0!

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #20

Note to self #1: pirate corps that look at your sec status as a primary objective are being unprofessional at recruiting.
Note to self #2: when a 5.0 guy joins a pirate corp, he's up to something :P

I tought I'd give a little background about me. Not that I think I'm interesting, but there are some people who might get something out of it.

So, I was born a capsuleer a fewmonths more than a year before, and ever since then I was striving to do something to make a difference. Not as in big 'make a difference in a world', but do something I can look back at, and say, 'yeah, god, was that cool.' I've been hunting those moments all the time, and had quite a few. I'm not going to go through them, because it's realy hard to ecplain why would I remember some things this way. Rather, I'd go through the history of what I thought when I was doing things.

I joined EVE because a bunch of long-time gaming friends did and we saw the way we could make our game pay for itself. That was a cruicial point as we had to organize our carrers around it. This wasn't really much fun, but learning the roper was certainly an experience I look back and smile. We did try to make up a pirate corp, but things kind of fell apart as our mentor and the CEO of the corporation decided he had enough of EVE for a time. So we were sitting there, missioning for our PLEX. It wasn't fun, a side from the occasional challenging mission or getting into a new ship, devising new fits. Then we decidd we want to take a look at 0.0.

Joining a renter corp in Tenerifis was a kinda-good idea. In hindsight, it taught me one thing: grinfing for ISK and flying carriers is not what I want. Some of us stayed, some of us drifted on, now to a corp that was then part of a pet alliance. They had their own space in Period Basis, and the months passed by slowly as the alliance fell apart. The corp was forced back to high sec, but in about a month, it could return to its previous hunting grounds. Really good bunch of people. Had gun talking to them, but unfortunately we've slipped inot inactivity due to our alliance being in the learning stages, leaving many people unsatisfied. Back to high sec, and summer hit.

So I was sitting around, looking for lowsec systems to scout for weeks, and then saw a recruitment post somewhere. The thing is, most pirate corps have an attitude in their recruitment posts that deters inexperienced people. FLA5HY RED doesn't. They let me in, afterall. I'm not sure where this is going. There are times in your life when you feel you just have to do something. If nothing else for, jsut to see if this is what you really want. So I'll stop worrying about the 400 millions a month, and lurk in the forlorn wasteland of EVE, low sec.

The lessons I learned?

1. Tough I can and do enjoy PVE activities, I'd rather have the opportunity to cease shooting crosses and start warp scrambling people.  I have too much repressed aggression to be a carebear.
2. 0.0 blob warfare isn't particularly a place where I feel I'm useful.
3. I now have a life to atted to, and that's not an excuse, it's a fact that drives my playstyle.
4. I don't like half-assed attempts and disoriented leadership. I'm not going to comlpain, just go my way (and probably die in a fire).
5. Don't look at my sec status. I'm still a pirate (wannabe).

Sessym out.