Yep.. you heard me. Make ED 'like' EVE.
After a lot of thought and nearly 3 years playing ED my personal conclusion is that keeping long term player interest is dependent on player agency.
If you want the game to be around as long as EVE you need the BG sim to be entirely player driven.
Before the screaming starts here's how I got here:
- FDev cannot possibly keep producing content at the pace it is consumed by players. That's where we are.
- Roles form naturally, make sense and drive engagement. E.g. Mining. In the player driven ED mined commodities do not exist without miners. Want to build your player group owned station? You'll need a mining division to dig out the resources, which will be a target for opposing groups, so will need protection.. oh look another player role that actually means something.. and so on.
- Building, owning and maintaining stuff gives players something to attach to and work towards as communities - you only have to build the tools, not all the content.
"But EVE is evil and toxic and we don't want that sort of thing here"
Okay - it doesn't have to be exactly like EVE. The galaxy is massive - we cannot run out of space. If you want to build a civilisation that is peaceful / scientific and not in conflict with the abrasive 14 year olds simply build it 15k light years away.
Imagine how cool that could be for a minute.. conceivably, with tight security, you could build a community of 100's of players that nobody even knows is there.. Can you imagine finding that as an explorer?
I know this is pure fantasy. There's no way this could be accomplished now - even if the traditional player base wanted it (which on here at least they don't).
But - if we had our time again.. and when you look at where the game is now.. well, it makes sense to me at least.
Since I stopped playing a while ago this is kinda an alternative to a 'I'm leaving' post - so don't hold back with the flames! [big grin] o7
After a lot of thought and nearly 3 years playing ED my personal conclusion is that keeping long term player interest is dependent on player agency.
If you want the game to be around as long as EVE you need the BG sim to be entirely player driven.
Before the screaming starts here's how I got here:
- FDev cannot possibly keep producing content at the pace it is consumed by players. That's where we are.
- Roles form naturally, make sense and drive engagement. E.g. Mining. In the player driven ED mined commodities do not exist without miners. Want to build your player group owned station? You'll need a mining division to dig out the resources, which will be a target for opposing groups, so will need protection.. oh look another player role that actually means something.. and so on.
- Building, owning and maintaining stuff gives players something to attach to and work towards as communities - you only have to build the tools, not all the content.
"But EVE is evil and toxic and we don't want that sort of thing here"
Okay - it doesn't have to be exactly like EVE. The galaxy is massive - we cannot run out of space. If you want to build a civilisation that is peaceful / scientific and not in conflict with the abrasive 14 year olds simply build it 15k light years away.
Imagine how cool that could be for a minute.. conceivably, with tight security, you could build a community of 100's of players that nobody even knows is there.. Can you imagine finding that as an explorer?
I know this is pure fantasy. There's no way this could be accomplished now - even if the traditional player base wanted it (which on here at least they don't).
But - if we had our time again.. and when you look at where the game is now.. well, it makes sense to me at least.
Since I stopped playing a while ago this is kinda an alternative to a 'I'm leaving' post - so don't hold back with the flames! [big grin] o7
