Jita 4,4 (as well as possibly other sites in New Eden) look a little silly and lacking in suspension of disbelief. The main objection I would like to address is that ships arrive like a handful of kid’s toys at the jump arrival spot. I think that’s silly and I suggest CCP four manageable changes.
1 When jumping in towards 4.4 there is a n invisible sphere around Jita (possibly other stations) where ship arrive. They don’t jump through the system when arriving or leaving, they arrive at that sphere.
(1b. optional) When jumping away, the jump proceeds in a gradual semicircle around the systen instead of through the system.
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Players can select the undocking port. There are dozens and dozens of undock ports. CCP somehow allows where players can undock each time they undock. Undocking occurs in an undocking port that’s compatible in size with the ship size.
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When ships arrive near jita, jumping to 0, ships orient themselves in a horizon plane around Jita 4,4, and after arrival automatically start orbiting the station, thereby removing the absolutely ghastly “pile of kids toys” clutter upon the arrival spot.
(4. optional) on all stations, when ships arrive, instead of circling the station, they jump to a somewhat differently defined spot depending on ship type and race. The ships order in a orderly pattern. Say, several Iteron 5 arrive. They jump to 0, and upon jumping to zero, they arrive at a spot designated for Iteron V’s, and these five ships line up coherently, like they would in an actual (credible) port facility. Thus, if you have people make vids of Jita 4,4, you may chance to see fields of ordered ships in geometric orderly positions. This was a standard feature in a game 23 years old (Homeworld) so I can’t so this be a problem. In fact I would strongly favor a similar setup for all stations, so.
I’d personally prefer it if when docking the ship model doesn’t magically desintegrate but rather keeps on flying out in space (while the player is already docked and able tfo do stuff in station) but rather flies to an IN docking structure and dematerializes INSIDE that particular entry point.
I understand lots of people will resent these suggestions and that I am making CCP waste time on carebear of vanity or useless features. I respect that viewpoint but I don’t share it. I think that CCP is way too often cutting corners and oversimplifying the design. This is likely to alienate new or potentially interested people, who upon seeing Jita 4,4 decide “this looks silly, this isn’t for me”. Relatively small features such as these would go a long way in player retention, as immersion is the key design aspect of what binds people into internalizing the world.