Gladia Horusthu
Gallente Anything Inc.
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Posted - 2007.05.04 00:54:00 -
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One of the key features of Eve is that it is up to the players to first investigate how to do specific things, and then to mentor newer players on tricks of the trade. A manual for Eve would confirm my growing fear that the "community" of Eve players is disintegrating. One of the things that bound together pilots despite perhaps taking forking roads in Eve was the mentoring experience. It also preserved the backdoor route to diplomacy, where perhaps a solution could be reached that didn't involve the absolute destruction of one side or another.
Of course, the current jihad against certain entities has already broken some of these links between community members. However, the mechanism to perpetuate this entirely healthy system is still there: that so much of Eve is undocumented through official channels, and that the how-to manuals aren't always accurate to the current patch.
Complexity lies at the heart of this matter.
Personally, I feel that Eve is not and should not be everything to everyone. I don't think that any game should aim at that target, because there will always be someone else who is eager to be bigger and thus willing to cater more to the indistinct collective. I think that each player should evaluate each game based on its character and how its gameplay compares to that of other games, in the opinion of that player.
Is Eve perfect? No. Are there always going to be balance issues that many will favor and others oppose? Yes. Should these balances be done to "attract more players"? Not really. Should these balances be done to foster balanced gameplay and reduce current inequities between types of gameplay? Yes, when taken into context of the theory behind the game.
I am with Roy on this, I would prefer greater complexity over lesser complexity at the higher levels. By that, I mean that it is clear that certain things are not meant to be jumped right into; exploration, for one. POS operation, for another. T2 production and invention. Anything having to do with capital ships or outposts. These things are not basic, and should not be automatically available to beginning players. Leave this upper-level gameplay complex and bewildering to get into, and let us have lots of fun trying to figure out how it is supposed to work. Then, keep it that complex and bewildering so that we can forge those mentoring relationships that (hopefully) will last beyond current employment.
And yes, this will not drive lots of people to Eve. Our servers are already under lots of stress, thank you very much. We have a practical reason as players to not want constant unchecked growth. Preservation of complexity as a psychological barrier to some players serves in this capacity, and thus is beneficial, not harmful. I know I sound like an elitist, I don't mean to be. I don't play many games because they do not appeal to me. This game should not necessarily appeal to the same crowd that plays games that don't appeal to me. Not because I don't like those people, or think less of them for having different perspectives, but because it would be the result of encroaching blandness of product.
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