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.

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.

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.

Features and Ideas - the posters' psychology

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #18

This week ends with an interesting discussion in the EVE forums. A new dev blog came out that stated the main generic objectives CCP set themselves to evolce null security space. Now, a lot of people praised them for this step, and I can't say I disagree. This is something long overdue. What I really want to look at now though is the patterns people seem to post in.

As it turns out, there are a few types to how some would like to see it go. The first is the type of player who assumes it is at a great risk that someone lives out there, therefore they shall make a ridiculous amount of money. These people are  what we could call the carebeary types.

Then there are those that whine aboout how supercapitals mean everything, and how small alliances don't really have a chance against monstrous coalitions, and how blobs can do anything better. This bunch is rather mixed, you can see people from all over the map and from many kinds of organization. Whether this is a sign that the statements hold some truth or that parrots are everywhere, remains to be discovered. Let's dub them the small gang people.

And finally you can find the hardcore alliance dudes, the ones that do not really care about supercapitals online as long as they can have their legions of blues shooting legions of reds. Their highlights are usually going towards the direction about stations, POS and generally feel offended at the thought that jump mechanics may get tedious.

First of all, let's address the profit concerns. I want to say one thing: been there, done that. It's pretty much like a solo effort with very few people who you can actually trust beyond the alliance rules. The risk is almost negligibile IF you know how to minimze it. That is of course watching intel and local, staying aligned, bubbles on gate, etc. And the profits that can be made? They ARE ridiculous, though I don't really have any base to complain because that means with sufficient carebearing I could keep two accounts going in EVE. Yeah, I ratted out two PLEXes each month... Can we move on please? So, after confirming that living in 0.0 is (was?) indeed profitable, you have to look at it from different angles. Some people go and live there exclusively because of the profits. They are the infamous 0.0 carebears, with some teeth and a grain of salt included. But what about the others? Well, ships and guns cost ISK, so it's rather obvious they need to find some way to make isk with minimal effort, using the exact same skillset they developed for PVP. That means anomalies. That means team effort. That means, when you run a top-level anomaly with a few friends, you should be able to pay for your next BS / BC / logi ship, whatever. The current state is rather awkward because many people use other characters that reside and mission in high sec just for this purpose.

The second concern is how home defense works. It is again a two sided coin. Right now, the most effective wa of defending your home is to blob up, camp choke points, hunt people that show up on intel. This sometimes becomes a small gang fight, sometimes escalates to a real battle, and most of the time - guess what? The hunted just slip away or get blobbed. So there's the source of whineage. Very few people enjoy running into gatecamps of 30+ drakes or whatever. The small gang bunch is right in this. Now, the problem here is that how else could you organize an effective home defense fleet? The incursing gang will always feel the fight was unfair if the defense gang is efficient!

The next thing, stations and POS. So, you live in a system without a station, you need some place to store your ships, modules, do ammo manufacture, etc. Compared to the station, living off a POS is so much different. Done that too. The real problem under POSes are the differences in boarding a ship in a station and boarding it inside the POS shield. The second means you don't get the shield bonuses from your skills. On a shield taked Hurricane, that means you have like one third of your EHP on you. When undocking from the station, your capacitor and shields are at their maximum capacity. Then there is the matter of modules. Not only do you lose the aforementioned benefits but you are unable to activate any module that would help your comrades repair their shields, nor can you release drones... In short, it s-u-c-k-s.

So, mandatory prediction coming up. CCP will try to wrestle with the POS code and break something else in the process. While at it, they'll think hard and discover that some things are too convenient for the big alliances, modify them, only to induce more cooperation, thus more robust cooperations. They'll probably mess with the resources so that each region would have its own technetium. You get the picture... Regardless of all good ideas, crappy otr excellent implementation the mighty people will come up with something entirely different that they expect.

Sessym out.

The Rubik's Cube

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #16

The EVE universe is divided into several areas that have very different attributes. Understanding these 'natural' circumstances will be crucial to not only the survival, but how the capsuleer fares generally. In most cases the average beginner player is not exposed to these environmental effects. If you think about it, this might be a real problem regarding the new player experience. Essentially, the people coming to EVE live in a different world than tried capsuleers - and CCP-ers do.

The first thing a new player will encounter is the much cursed UI. There are a lot of thoughts about how to fix this unintuitive and sometimes barely usable part of the game. Albeit some could be successful, there is another question we definitely must raise. Do we really want it fixed? What do you mean by 'fixing' it? Simplification? In a sense, it is logical and simple. You cannot see the logic at the first few tries, but it's there. The bewilderment that it's complexity causes to most people is a troubling thing. You know, sometimes I wonder, and this is a seriously tough question - how in the hell do you simplify something that has so many functionality in it, with almost every aspect being relied on? The game will never be the same, when the UI is changed. The ten million dollar question is, however, will it be more useful? Will I still be able to get the amount of information I do right now?

There is a certain beauty in EVE which comes from, what I can convey as the sincerity of the graphic elements. They might not be big and might not be flashy, but everything is there somewhere. The current representation has a very important attribute that I wouldn't want to see taken away - the way it relies in exact numbers. For example, for distance, you don't see bars - you see numbers. For transversal velocity, you can make it show the exact values instead of say, curves getting longer or shorter. Simplification and cleanup can go a long way with graphical indicators, but in EVE, it would take away from the game if you lost the ability to see the exact values of things. Colored bars moving around is just so not like the sci-fi universe we're in.

So, when the new player finally learns to tackle the environment that is presented to him / her as the NeoCom, the exposure stops. You're sort of dumped into a 'Rookie System', where you are less than aware of the universe and its dangers. Ideally you learn to run the tutorial missions, and then move systems, maybe join a player corp. Your career and the associated can shoot up if you are lucky and join the right corp. Many are not. Yet they still live in high sec, slowly learning about the games' perks, and avoiding everything else they don't know or haven't experienced.

The thing is, EVE isn't about the known! It's about learning something new every day. It's about accomplishment. The original plans of running missions in a battleship or mining in a hulk will soon ring a little hollow. Been there, done that. You know where the real fun starts? Where the boundaries of the computer game end! Human interaction is imperative. You're in a multiplayer and multilayer game...

I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and say try PVP. Without guidance, without people to work together with, it can be a bitch to learn, and could do more harm than good. I don't expect every capsuleer to dare to be bold. But if that's not the case, just learn to deal with your losses, interact with other people, and be mature. Generally speaking, EVE has an old community, most players know better than to be childish about it. I see sometimes people cursing and whining on local - don't do that, you'll just be laughed at. You'll be nothing more than a chunk of loot.

So yeah, keep on trying new stuff out. What's the worst that could happ

Sessym out.

Habitual Life

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #14

We capsuleers are so much different from the people that die for real when killed. Well, we act like we were different. In truth, there is more to this. When you stop dying, some things change. For instance, I no longer fear for anything. I consider myself and my assets already gone because both body and the battleship surrounding it is made of something I can replace. It is certainly an inconvenience, but it's good for the economy.

The crew, on the other hand, is another matter. Those people die when the hull crumbles. The sad thing in this all is that I don't really care. There are thousands more who dream of being part of an Abaddon class battleship's town-sized crew. I can replace them, too. Ethics and morals matter little to most capsuleers. They delude themselves that they fight for something honorable, though in many cases it's their own interest that is motivating them. ISK, Loyality points, more ISK, admiration, new ships, domination of a territory - ISK again. People have yet to see themselves for the animals they are.

Capsuleers are not only no less selfish than ordinary people are, they have something dangerous in common with them: habits. Some have the habit of self-destructing their ship. This is relatively harmless, since the sequence allows most of the crew to evacuate. Some have the habit of killing everything on sight. What we enjoy is not always what we do, however, we pursue our own habits. I for one, have the rather expensive habit of buying new ships over and over. I don't really need them, my trusty old battleships and haulers are up to the job for the most occasions. It's just ISK burns. I must spend it on my experiments.

Take Quintessence, the new Legion class strategic cruiser I built, for example. I didn't need it per say, yet it has five hundred millions or more in it. I wanted a ship that is mobile yet durable. It is a costly and extremely strong vessel for its size, not mentioning all the luxury that Tech level 3 equipment comes with. I really enjoyed the time I was perfecting my technique with it, the piloting it involves to allow it to emerge unscathed from the most missions classified as level four. It is especially effective against the swarms of rouge drones that like to deploy small crafts in large numbers. But functionally speaking, it only is really more useful than a battleship if you have long distances to cover. Otherwise the firepower is far from what the Abaddon sports.

What I want to emphasize with this is that even capsuleers are human, just losing grip due to the lifting of some limitations. I have a habit of experimenting with equipment and my trained crew really enjoys it. However, I know of a group that have an even nastier habit. The Jovians. They experiment on others. By others, meaning whole empires. I was wondering why did they give the capsule to the childish human races? When I think of habits, I now know the answer.

We are a fucking experiment. A large part of intelligence in humans comes from the awareness of death and fear of the unknown. They tried to take away them, to see how people would change. By this move, they exaggerated our tendency to live by habits. They made us more like the animals we thrive to leave behind.

The disease that lurks in them is that of indifference. Somehow the people that have it start to lose interest in anything. Life becomes a habit for them, they live because they haven't died yet, until they can't even be bothered to breathe. They probably try to understand this part of the human nature, the animal that they so fervently sought to purge with their genetic modifications. The ones suffering from the jovian disease, they are a sad reminder that instinct and consciousness should never be separated. We, capsuleers may well be the experiment to make them understand instinct, something they lost in pursuit of false superiority.

So in the end I can only conclude with one statement that may have been said when they thought of this:
"Let's see what happens."

Sessym out.

To 'win EVE'

Bold Pilot Log, Entry #13

I have read some interesting thoughts this week. You remember the butterfly effect trailer, don't you? Well, what my thoughts were revolvign around lately are just this. The story of the trailer is that a lone capsuleer roams about 0.0, and saves a miner who in return invites him into a fleet that in the end escalates to a giant capital battle. I mean, can you really do this? It would be amazing if you could. Then again, it might not be that simple.

First off, I don't really think you could find a miner who is a member of a 0.0 alliance mining alone. It's too dangerous, and miners are the kind that likes being protected. So most likely by the time you find a lone miner, you're reported like 10 times in their intel channels, and he's the one left behind from the other warping off, a gang of combat pilots on the way to gank you.

For the sake of storytelling, let's assume you somehow do succeed in saving someone from an alliance. Maybe alt characters or something. Now you aren't just simply invited to fly into the next blobfight. You'll be milled through the careful security process they have. IF they find you adequate, then MAYBE you can participate next time there is a major battle.

And here we are done picking that trailer apart. But 'I was there'... Yeah, another masterpiece of a video. That's another sort. What that guy is talink about is the flow experience I have talked about way back. It also lays out a future(?) vision for EVE flying in space experience. Right now, it is more likely that the enemy is bridged in from a Titan, onto a cyno, with capital ships on the field, and the battleship fleet that is depicted in the trailer is more likely to be evaporated before the hero interceptor can make the legendary run. There are things to do. It was mentioned in the CSM minutes too, that large fleets provide little opportunity for individual heroism. You have a fleet commander yelling out commands, and grunts following them, while the logistics pilots, either in their advanced cruiser hulls or in their carriers are trying to keep firepower from dropping like flies.

EVE is a good game. It provides opportunity for many things. But when it comes to focusing on your goals, you may end up with the feeling that you can't 'win EVE'. You can't get the thing you are looking for. Because you were not there. You were sitting beyond your computer, trying to make out what the FC just shouted for the fifth time, while trying to get a lock on the primary, struggling with the low framerate you are getting on the screen.

So what can you do if you want to be there? You need to change role. You need to change purpose. Or, wait for the oh-so-rare moment, and get more and more disappointed by each encounter. From all the activities I tried, the best were the rookie roams. Because I was totally there. I was flying my frigate, I was unstoppable and indestructible. I didn't try anything. I did it.

For today, this is the primary lesson. To win EVE, thou shalt not try, thou shalt do. It may be sometimes hard. It may mean many different things at once. As a die-hard miner, you may strive to suck up that huge spodumain roid. As a filthy pirate, you may want to keep your status perfect -10. As a faction war participant, you may wish your supported empire to own all lowsec. As a market guru, you may want to make billions a day. As an alliance leader, you may want to lead your people to triumph, to own all of 0.0. It is possible. Sometimes, you get the impression it's not. But if you get out there, you may as well succeed. There are hundreds of others trying. But you have a plan, and you don't just try, you do.

The point of EVE, where you 'win' it, is not even when you accomplish your goal. That's too easy. The true win is when you have fun.

Sessym out.

Carebears and their ilk

Bold Pilot Log, entry #2

In EVE, there is a strange air around this type of person. Actually, the term Carebear has evolved in quite a predictable way. Originally it way used for the 'why can't we all just get along' type of people. Nowadays you are a carebear if don't have tackling devices or long range optimization fit to your ship. It doesn't matter if you are just grinding to get the ISK for a new shiny toy. So let's narrow down the term 'Carebear' to the people who try to live peacefully.

It's not going to happen. Because of sandbox. Because of other beople. Being safe in EVE doesn't mean that there is no threat. It essentially does not allow a situation where you are not in danger of losing something. That's assuming of course you're not sitting in a station and spinning your favourite ship. What safety boils down to, is that there are no threats that you are not able to avoid. This property fo the game has been cause of much whining in the past. Actually it is one of the things that has kept it alive.

It is simply much more fun to play a fully competitive game than it is with a fully cooperative one. By the latter, I can think of games like Guild Wars. A Guild Wars character is pretty much lost without a guild. Without buddies to play with, it gets old really fast. Not EVE. Being a privateer in EVE has its upsides. You don't have to trust anybody. You don't have to share with anybody. But you also will not get much help. It's no Carebears haven. It may seem like, if you are living in high sec or deep in 0.0 with a nice pvp alliance to protect you. But that, just like safety, is an illusion.

High sec is only safe until you aren't interesting. You start building your way, and then without a way of avoiding the upcoming dangers, you are beaten back to where you came from. Others will want your stuff. They want it because the best way for many things to be acquired is to take it from someone. That is why just can't get along peacefully. You have a moon that I want, I will shoot your POS. You fit shiny expensive modules on your missioning ship, I will find a way to blow it up and take it. Nothing is safe but there is hope. There's a tool that will keep you safe in eve. A neat little feature that comes embedded in all players. Brains. Use them.

A little hint on how might be useful you say? Well, I might try.

• Scout for threats before risking something valuable.
• Don't risk what you can't afford to replace. Yeah that's the correct advice. You maybe can afford to lose your Tengu because you have the ISK to build another. You maybe can afford to lose your Nyx because it's not your ratting ship, just a tool for battle. You might be able to afford risking to fall for a scam because you then just sit back into your carrier and rat for another evening. Got it?
• Research subjects before venturing into unknown areas. Someone has done it before and surely, he was clever enough to leave out the important details. That's where your own brain can help.
• Analyze your losses. What did you wrong? What was inveitable? Did you have a hunch that something's not right? What was helpful? What can you do to make sure it does not happen again?

This EVE online is a computer game. Your brain is inevitable part of the play. It sometimes can make you feel you are a failure. Maybe. Maybe it's just a kind poke to get better. You ain't gonna lose anything valuable. It isn't serious business or anything right? :)

Sessym out

You have become what all men should fear...

Bold Pilot log, entry #1

Nerdchills. That's what they call that strange feeling that rushes through you when you see something awesome of a pixel-play. And then there is that odd way you lose yourself in something, thinking, dreaming about some awesome pixels while time rushes by and after having some fun with it it occurs to you that the Sun's rising. "You are about to become what all men should fear..."

No, seriously, EVE Online is one of those games you can forget yourself in. You even find yourself doing things out of habit. I find a sweet irony in the intro video that tries to establish your role as a capsuleer, and what that means. The irony being that those who forget themselves in the EVE universe indeed become something all men should fear. Nerds. Haha. You may be reading this and thinking that computer games are evil or that I'm insulting your favourite game. Let me reassure you that either is not true. What I mean is not a trait of a game but a very human reaction.

It is called the 'Flow' theory. Namely, when the challenge and reward is kept between the right constraints, a special state of mind occurs, where time is of no concern, and the side-effects of the activity are not noticed. Some people live it so strongly, that even the memory of such a flow state is a reward and an incentive of its own to repeat the activity over and over. Some people cna go to extreme lengths trying to re-live the flow. This, my dear reader, is what I dub the cause of game addicton. A good game is addictive in a way that it rewards the challenges you are up to. EVE in this regard is, as in many more ways, unique. The sandbox theory it builds on allows you to pick your own challenges, and, more importantly, mostof the time your rewards as well.

This is, however, a double-edged blade in more than one regard. Firstly, chosing your own challenges in a proper, flow-generating way requires a special type of person. This loophole of the sandbox is what repels the unfitting personality. There is no need to see this as an insult: some people simply don't find this kind of entertainment pleasing. When I'm saying you are not an EVE-player personality, it's not a deterrent, you could still be a very clever person with three degrees seeking refuge from your daily chores. What matters however, is the way you pick your goals. Most people point to the learning curve when they are prompted to name the main cause of people leaving EVE. The second duality in the nature of the sandbox is that the soul of the game is competition. You are competing with all players at all times on many levels. This, too can deter people of specific personality. The third thing is the response of the environment. It is not very game-like in the way that faults do come back to bite you. This is etched into EVE so deeply, that if I, for one, found out that you can make mistakes without paying their toll in time or isk, I'd definitely leave the game alone. But there are many people that don't like when silly moves backfire. This too is a trait that is required to fully enjoy EVE.

And then there is another interesting element. The people who have been playing this game for a long time, and remember things many don't. They sometimes are described as 'bitter vets'. This, I tell you, is too the flow theory in work. They had many flow experiences. So many in fact, that it is now long-term memory. You know the saying about time and memories... Yes, the human memory is selective, and gradually leaves out the undesirable memories. This causes them to recount the past flow memories as 'good old times'. They too long for the flow, and often have formed some sort of neither with nor without addiction, that often crystalizes as being pessimistic or indifferent.

Now let us slip into the backstory a little more. You are about to become what all men should fear... Why should New Eden's people fear you? Because you don't just die? Because you can be more powerful than their empires? No. The reason, they should fear you, dear capsuleer is that you have just the right psychology to get flow experience while knowing full well that you are crushing lives and destroying billions worth of assets with a few buttons. The true reason they fear you is that they don't know what you enjoy most, yet you directly or indirectly interfere with their lives and bring change. People fear change. People fear those that enjoy changing things. People fear that you'll have a flow in the wrong time at the wrong place and the wrong way.

If you are a true EVE-player, that psychology may not be too far from you. The sandbox serves a beneficial role. It keeps the flow inside, and you out.

Sessym out.