Yup. And it is there on purpose. Have you considered that was the intent all along? For game balance purposes.
The problem with this type of thinking is that it assumes some sort of 1-v-1 type of scenario. Yes, the older more experienced players is always going to have an advantage, even if the new player was gifted with 160 million SP.
And the point of the game is a sandbox. If there is a player bothering you go get friends. This is not a game of solo players beating each other up, it is a game between groups of players.
This notion of the SP wall is killing the game and driving away players is just ridiculous. It is a narrative that simply cannot explain the past.
You can watch the presentation here.
You can skip to the 2:15 mark to get pretty close to the start of the discussion of their methods. Although youâll miss where Rise asks the audience questions about suicide ganking, suicide ganking new players, etc.
So here are the numbers (I was at work earlier and couldnât watch the youtube video):
80,000 accounts, Rise indicates they eliminated alt accounts, but does not explain how.
They grouped that 80,000 into three categories:
- Killed illegally in their first 15 daysâi.e. their killer was in turn killed by CONCORD
- Killed legallyâe.g. a war dec
- Not killed in their first 15 days.
The percentages are:
- 85.5% not killed in their first 15 days.
- 13.5% killed legally in their first 15 days.
- 1% killed illegally in their first 15 days.
So, first conclusion: suicide ganking of new players is not a wide spread and common event.
Then the looked retention, and the results are opposite of the intuitive view:
Killed illegally are the most likely to stay subscribed.
People killed legally are slightly less likely to stay subscribed.
People not killed at all are the least likely to stay subscribed.
Now, after this CCP Rise provides another statistic that is separate from the analysis. Of the reasons those leaving the game cite for leaving, <1% cite ship loss. Many people look at this and go completely nuts over it and proclaim the entire analysis rubbish because of reasons while failing to note that it was just a side fact/statistic that CCP Rise tossed in there.
And keep in mind that even CCP Rise and his team found these results surprising.
My guess is that what weâd find if we could conduct a more detailed and thorough study is that player interaction in general tends to improve retention. That getting into a player run corp. Getting voice comms, doing things together and working towards common goals will help people stay in the game. And yes, sometimes that will include âadversityâ like dealing with a war dec, or if you go to NS a war, being evicted and so forth.