Ongoing maintenance for captain’s quarters currently takes around 2-3 sprints, or 4-6 weeks of development work each year for Team Trilambda, the art team in house here at CCP Iceland.
This commitment of development time is also compounded whenever the team works on improvements to the visuals inside station hangars, as this work also needs to be pushed through into captain’s quarters, further increasing the workload and maintenance time.
Additional consideration with regards to the technology used to build captain’s quarters was also taken into account. After reviewing the condition of captain’s quarters, our software engineers confirmed that given the age of the code and middleware used for its design, if we were to commit to advancing walking in stations in the future, then the existing captain’s quarters and its underlying software would need to be removed from the client and rebuilt from scratch regardless.
After reviewing the usage statistics for captain’s quarters, we can see that the development time involved in maintaining the current state of the feature is significantly disproportionate to the number of pilots using the feature.
Bringing captain’s quarters up to a standard that would reflect current graphics technology would take roughly 6-8 months of development work, which we feel for the percentage of players utilizing the feature, is not a sensible investment of development time that could be used on furthering the visual side of core gameplay in New Eden.
As explained earlier, the current condition of captain’s quarters means that the underlying infrastructure would need to be stripped out of the client and rebuilt from scratch.
You may have. Most considered ship spinning better gameplay.
There was, and players were either asking for a completely different game with a different engine, different models, different physics, different gameplay…a whole different game.
Or they were asking for mini games and chatting which, as i describe, did not require barbie dolls.
Socialization already exists.
The idea that this added to it or brought ‘options’ was wishful thinking. And that’s all it was.
Avatar game play in Eve could be great if it incorporated a FPS aspect to the game, which was suppose to be done with DUST but we all know how CCP messed up on that opportunity.
Despite what others may say, CCP received lot’s of game content ideas from the playerbase in various WiS threads posted in the past. And I’m not talking about dancing and doing emotes in a bar. I’m talking about everything from 3rd person view 1v1 / gang arena style matches to 1st person view Assassinations, extracting implants from player corpses in hidden Bio-labs to stealing other players assets by hacking into their Captains Quarters.
Everybody seems to forget that Eve Online was created with the intention of being a Virtual Reality set in a Futuristic Sci-Fi Space Environment. That means more than just space ships.
I envision WiS in Eve as being a toned down version of DUST 514 PvP action with some PvE content mixed in with Avatar actions in stations being subject to current Concord rules associated with system security level.
Personally I wouldn’t care if WiS Avatar content had no affect on events happening in Eve’s space game. If needed, WiS could be tied in with Sansha Incursions or something. Have players fleet up to gain control of stations locked down by Elite Sansha NPC’s, could even pit teams against each other to gain control of stations. Maybe incorporate Hacking and Logistics content into it.
All that matters is that the content is fun. I think it would be nice to have some fun Eve content to engage in that didn’t really matter to events happening in space.
But hey, this is Eve and Internet Spaceships is serious business, right?
Two different engines, two separate sets of models, textures and physics…two separate games bolted together.
I don’t think it’s simply the technology. More that CCP aren’t making a working fps/avatar related game anytime soon.
They could, and i believe it was the plan to do so, make separate games that share a launcher, chat channels and characters. But CCP are unable or unwilling to commit the resources to fleshing out the other parts.
There is. But people use discord because it’s more convenient.
Do you know what’s not convenient? Forcing people into bars and offices before they can talk to eachother.
The exact same reasons players use discord is the exact same reason they won’t goto bars to merely socialise, play mini-games or talk to agents.
Is the crux of it.
Without some solid gameplay behind it, the resources needed to maintain all the assets for CQ is too time consuming. And that’s the reality no matter how much barbie players think the world revolves around them.
Project nova or the next dust game or whatever, would likely come before any CQ.
Agreeing with you there. At the time the major gripe from players was with ccp spending dev time on WiS, and not on what they considered “the game”. We all know that dev time has always been spread widely, and sometimes thinly, on other projects, be they World of Darkness, Dust514, Valkyrie, Gunjack, Echoes and who knows what else besides cloud based stuff. Imagine if that dev time would have been spent on trying to realize the vision that WiS represented, instead of turning out as mostly a tour-de-force for graphic boundary pushing via the Carbon technology etc. It was a missed opportunity then, it still is one now, in my opinion, especially with a younger player base that is far more visually oriented (and perhaps spoiled).
You mean local? That is the level of early internet in a game. People are spaceships flying thru space, they are passing thru without a word, they sit in station separately. Its a loners game for most of the time, while they could have been sitting alongside other people in a bar. But they even removed EVE Voice…
There needs to be a showing in front of others. Be someone in front of others. One picture and text beside it, its not enough for today when there is so much options out there. CCP stayed in the past with old people that are dying out.
Seems to me you have some deep seated psychological issues. A lot of FPS games have characters that need to be fit with clothes as well as weapons, do you view that as barbie play too?
At first CCP forced players into the CQ but they quickly made it optional so that excuse is irrelevant.
As for the second part of your statement, either you’re very anti-social or you don’t attend any Eve Meets. I belong to a few different Discord channels and to be honest, they’re more for setting up public meetings where we can socialize, talk about Eve and party. Definitely better than sitting alone at home on a computer or phone talking about Eve.
The main reason players use Discourse now is because when CCP outsourced their in-game chat, the channels became unreliable.
A lot of players seem to forget that the 18 months prior to Incarna most of the CCP Dev’s were working on rewriting Eve’s program code, changing it from Python to Carbon. Supposedly allowing Dev’s to quickly change things and fix / remove bugs from the game. CCP’s mistake was that they didn’t keep the players informed about it. Also it takes longer for new Dev’s to figure out the old code and then replace it with new code, all the while still keeping the game active and online.
I agree the Incarna Expansion failed to deliver the WiS that was promised years ago known as Ambulation. At that time only a small part of the CCP staff was actually working on Incarna. Since the playerbase was raging about no expansions being released, CCP went ahead and released the content they had available even though it wasn’t ready.
WiS wasn’t ‘The straw that broke the Camel’s back’. The lack of content in the Incarna Expansion and events resulting afterwards combined with active in-game issues / bugs is what caused the Summer Of Rage.
The DUST game was successful, they just released it on the wrong platform. I agree, they should have shelved the WoD project long before the Incarna Expansion, if all those Dev’s had been working on WiS, this topic probably wouldn’t be an issue now.
The introduction of expensive microtransactions and the idea of third-party devs having to pay for Eve CRUST API access were also contributing factors, on top of the frequent player (and CSM?) demands for ship and weapon system re-balancing that was not being done. Additionally, the Nullsec Drake blobbing – meta at the time – was heavily straining the servers every time both sides launched a bunch of missiles at each other for the game server to start tracking.
It still strikes me as amazing that genres and playstyles beside the point, FFXIV is friggin light years above EvE in terms of everything except persistent environments.
From crafting to career control to captains quarters to collectibles to Dev interactions to antibotting.
Herp derp themepark herpderp catears whatever, still stands they have a more successful model based on things people say EvE cannot do for reasons that its “impossible” or “outside the scope of the game”.
Maybe its time EvE actually got with the program after all.
Yeah like I said, events resulting afterwards combined with problems previously active in-game is what ignited the Summer Of Rage…
A lot of different things caused it, listed here in no particular order.
CCP constantly rushing out numerous expansions that were half finished and bugged, breaking existing content.
The 1001 Papercuts thread - large list of broken game mechanics and unfinished content being ignored since 2003.
CCP introducing NEX Store and MT - selling overpriced items for real money bypassing in-game player production.
Threat of ‘Gold Ammo’ and ‘Gold Ships’ enabling ‘Pay to Win’ exploitation.
CCP dividing available development resources to work on 3 different projects at same time.
The leaked inter-office memo ‘Fearless Newsletter’ = Greed is good.
CCP statement of Eve Online being viewed as the Golden Goose.
Forcing 3rd party programmers to pay real money for providing out of game Eve applications.
CCP failure to maintain their promise of ‘Commitment to Excellence’ on all future game content.
Showing players ‘The Door’ and removing option of choice, forcing player participation in Captains Quarters.
CCP attempting to diffuse Forum rage with excessive thread locking and banned accounts.
Releasing poorly written unoptimized code in the Incarna expansion resulting in massive client side issues.
CCP ignoring the player base resulting in poor Public Relations due to lack of communication.
Hilmar’s statement - “Watch what they do, not what they say.”
Basically Hilmar’s statement became the rally cry for the Summer Of Rage. Because of that and with a large loan payment being due, CCP downsized the Company and placed most of the other projects on the back burner which included Avatar game play content.
Later when CCP tried to generate Avatar game play content, they received large opposition by a vocal minority who once again started fanning the flames of the infamous ‘Summer Of Rage’. As such CCP backed off due to not wanting another repeat of that situation.
Basically CCP became gun shy about Avatar game play content. The Captains Quarters became a large thorn in their backsides reminding them of a big fail, eventually being removed along with most of the videos about it.
Because it doesn’t seem to relate at all to the reasons discord became the default out of game comms tool. irc tools have always been used by the community and discord came along with far more features than the older tools.
There has always been a signficant use of out of game comms associated with EVE because (1) you can ping members to login when needed, (2) like irc clients before it, it allows multiple channels with notifications that are much more convenient than needing dozens of windows open in game, (3) lots of Alliances have members that play other games as well and irc provided opportunities to grow community beyond EVE; and (4) Discord came along and offered far more features than the older irc clients offered.
There are other reasons too, but it’s never been mainly because in game comms became unreliable. It fills a gap that the in game channels have never been able to service, regardless of their reliability.
So you say players are on it waiting to be pinged to log into the game? Most people have a real life, definitely not going to be waiting 24/7 for a ping to log into the game.
Multiple channels open while playing Eve? Eve already causes computer lag without adding another program to run on the computer. Not everybody is running high end gaming rigs.
This is about Eve, not about the community of other games.
Don’t know what features you’re talking about and quite honestly, I don’t care.
Your statements and reasons for using Discord may be true for a very small percentage of players but it definitely doesn’t hold with the majority. Also In-game chat is definitely unreliable. Are you’re saying it’s not a major factor for using out of game comms?
Personally I don’t like using Discord because everybody has their own channel and want’s everybody else to join it. In my opinion if players have to use out of game apps just to play this game then Eve isn’t worth paying a sub. Anyway, the convo actually started when your buddy said players use Discord to socialize with each other both in and out of the game, they don’t need any in-game WiS content to provide a social environment. To put it in their words, no barbie play content…
They’d pass through without a word at a bar too. Players don’t talk to eachother when they cross paths on an undock or gate and they won’t in a bar.
It’s worth remembering that players have local open for intel purposes yet still don’t talk in it. That’s what a bar is going to be like.
You said yourself, they don’t even log into the game to socialise now. They do it on discord.
You massively over estimate the attraction to sitting in a bar doing nothing.
You trigger way too easily. It’s getting increasingly difficult to have any kind of conversation with you without you frothing at the mouth and chucking ad hominems.
All those FPS games you mention involved actual gameplay. The extra skins are an add on. Like skins for a ship.
They didn’t require the overhaul and maintenance of an entirely second game purely for aesthetic purposes.
Petty attempts at personal attacks aside;
Only a tiny minority of players attend said gatherings. Only a tiny amount goes to fanfest. Only a tiny amount used CQ. Is everyone else associated with eve anti-social by your standards?
Compare the attendance of these events with the audience of twitch streams and talking in stations.
No. It’s because you can chat outside the game, ping fleets and carry the chat with you on your mobile.
It sends a notification to your phone.
Other way round.
Actually it was your buddy that brought up Discord.
CCP should make an animated movie for my character, two hours, feature length. This will draw in more players and generate long-term sustainable revenue.
