There was a guy recently who posted on the FB group I moderate
Apparently he’s leaving because even though he’s been playing since EVE started (cannot confirm if true), he’s angry about the changes over the last few years and apparently CCP forces “bad game design” onto EVE which makes it “unfair”
You may be wondering what EXACTLY the “bad game design” he’s talking about…
Apparently he believes that invading someone elses mission, or site they scanned down, or even those drone sites at the moment, and then the invader getting the highest damage on the rat that drops the loot, is apparently “unfair” to him, and he calls it “stealing”
He says that there are no punishments for people who “steal” his sites
But he absolutely doesn’t understand EVE as a game, and even when I tried to explain it to him, it still just wouldn’t sink in (hence why I have doubts of him playing the game since its inception)
If someone stole from HIS kill (IE – the wreck of the ship he destroyed was yellow), then the guy would go suspect, and he could engage if he chose to (that’s the punishment for the thief)
But killing, and/or getting the higher damage on an NPC rat, and then that kill now belonging to another player IS NOT STEALING… it’s simply competition in the game
In all honesty
As a gamer, I grew up with the SEGA Megadrive and the SNES
For those who don’t know, there was no way to save your game.
As soon as you turn off the console, regardless of anything, you lost all your progress in the game… 100% of the time
Today’s younger gamers on the other hand have it easy
Save points all the time, reset buttons if they die
Even in one of my favourite more modern games – DOOM Eternal, you can theoretically die an infinite number of times (unless you’re on a certain difficulty), and you will just reset back to a previous checkpoint, and you can try again
I believe that because of the last 20-25 years of how the gaming industry has changed, younger players (who are now in their early to mid 20’s) who DID NOT grow up with the Megadrive or SNES, but maybe the PS1 and onwards (which had memory cards for saved games etc), they are not as robust as us older gamers who’re far more accepting of absolute defeat.
These newer gamers want “a safe space” when they play EVE, which is PERHAPS why CCP made Abyssals, where it’s pretty much a players own pocket, where they won’t be interrupted by other players during the PVE combat within the Abyssals.
Don’t misunderstand me, I have nothing against abyssal content, as you can still be ambushed when exiting the abyssal pocket which is excellent… but many many new players I’ve met who are between the ages of 15-25 seem to be angry when another player in an MMO interupts whatever gameplay they’re doing, be that sites, missions, exploration, mining… whatever
And to them… that’s “bad game design”
The problem is, these people have likely never considered BEING the guy who becomes the DISRUPTOR of other peoples gameplay for their own benefit, because they’re programmed to only think linearly and not dynamically like the majority of the EVE playerbase
To conclude
As a player who grew up playing videogames in the mid and late 90’s, I continue to play EVE, BECAUSE my gameplay and operations continue to get disrupted by players who want to cause problems for me
THAT CHALLENGE ALONE IS WHAT MAKES EVE GREAT, and all the players who cannot hack it are the ones who are leaving because they cannot adapt to the changing environment which is – EVE Online
So there we have it
I wonder if anyone here agrees or disagrees with my assessment and belief of why some players quit and some players don’t, even when times get tough for them.
I would be very interested to hear what others have to say
As the old saying goes… When the goings get tough, the tough get going