Player made deadspace

I seem to recall someone wanting to see the return of the Proving Grounds…

As long as it’s CCP-created content. Player-made content, as we all know, would get abused to hell and back…

No that’s not it, I’m thinking of something else. I think this event was back in 2014 or 2015?

A mechanic that provides players the ability to create a temporary room, that acts like any other deadspace site that has been int he game for years, maybe with the exception of a ship activation counter for the initial gate. That could be scrapped, and the barrier to entry to the deadspace site would be the same as any other deadspace site that has been in the game for your years, making your whole argument here a moot point.

This is actually the entire point of my idea. All of this idea would have to be player driven, created by players for players. Also, where did you think the deadspace site would be permanent? I never said that. They would be temporary like any other deadspace site.

Some people don’t want to engage with an idea beyond rejecting it because that would require a level of thinking they’re not familiar with.

First, my propsed idea is player created deadspace, which would behave like any other deadspace site (scannable, warpable). Second, if safe spaces are so bad, let’s get rid of abyssal deadspace. Entering an abyssal site is safer than entering a deadspace pocket in K-space because you’re removed from local, thus making it safer because you’re not in local. So you must also be against abyssal sites then if you’re so against this idea, no?

Enter a T6 Cataclysmic and tell me it’s safe. And you’re still subject to getting shanked upon exit…

You can’t warp to someone who is in a deadspace pocket. It will drop you at the acceleration gate. And if you are able to set the parameters of the gate and control what types of ships can enter, depending on the ship they are in, they still can’t get to you. Like I said, used and abused…

Yes, and that’s exactly what would make it permanent—the ability to artificially create such an area at any time, on demand. The existing deadspace sites you mention all have a purpose and are tightly woven into other game mechanics. They’re part of the ecosystem, not something players can spawn at will to shape the environment around them. Introducing a system that allows players to generate their own isolated arenas whenever they want would fundamentally shift the sandbox balance and chip away at the core uncertainty that makes EVE what it is.

I didn’t mean the deadspace sites themselves would be permanent—what I meant is that giving players the ability to create them at will, anytime, effectively makes the mechanic permanent and predictable. That’s the core issue.

And as for it being “player-driven,” yes—but only for those who opt in and agree to the rules. That’s a very different dynamic from the rest of EVE, where conflict, traps, and unpredictability can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time—without consent. That’s what makes the chaos in EVE real.

The first two examples you mentioned are PvE activities – here, we’re discussing PvP.

FW plexes and the ESS are long-established and consistent mechanics, more or less balanced and integrated into the game’s ecosystem. Yes, they brought new value to the game, but they did so without disrupting its core dynamics.

Allowing any player to create their own deadspace with custom rules isn’t healthy for the broader PvP environment. Why do you think the Proving Grounds aren’t a permanent feature, despite being popular and well-received? Because if they were always available, much of the PvP community would retreat into them – and spontaneous 1v1s, small gang fights, or organic encounters across New Eden would become increasingly rare.

EVE thrives on the unpredictable, not on tailor-made arenas.

Because the design they had was bad and lead to an outcome where the same 3-5 guys would come out on top by simply throwing lots of money in, farming all those who couldn’t. Talking about perfecly maxrolled boosterdrugs for example. Or, in the old Abyssal Arenas stupidly maxblinged ships that 99% of the other players coulndn’t even remotely beat anymore.

I absolutely don’t believe normal PvP would suffer in any noticable way, The number of players willing to really invest money into these tournaments is way too small. If restrictions are set in a clever way. I do believe that the increased popularity on media will by far outweight any possible negative impacts in the long run.

We might not come togeher here tho, but thats okay. I am just not a fan of dogmatic argumentation, like ‘EVE is thisandthat and it is heresy even to think about the smallest changes!’

It’s not likely the event you’re thinking of, but there’s an annual ‘Frigate Free for All’ bash that goes back about that long. The most recent one was just last week:
https://www.mmorpg.com/news/eve-onlines-largest-player-run-pvp-event-is-back-this-weekend-and-is-handing-out-free-ships-to-blow-up-2000134514

Even if it’s not related to the one you previously enjoyed, you may want to check it out in the future.

With my idea being a fresh idea, it can be molded and shaped to work around such issues. What if there was a 7 day cool down timer for each and every system, or constellation? My idea is meant to provide an mechanical avenue that’s built into the game for those who want to host events for other players. Events like these likely wouldn’t be a daily basis type of thing, so a 7 day or 14 day cool down timer per system or constellation would work around that issue.

To create and anchor your own temporary deadspace pocket would have to incur a considerable cost to the host, perhaps billions so this mechanic isn’t abused. That’s money moving through the economy if these anchorable designer deadspace pockets are a manufacturable item.

Was the creation of the proving grounds player driven? I’m talking about creating the actual pocket of space itself, not simply joining a match.

And before you rebuttal with “well if it’s expensive, then it won’t be a used mechanic if there’s no profit in it”: this whole idea is not meant to be a profit driver, rather a community builder. Those who are interested in building community will pursue the mechanic, and those who are driven solely by profit, won’t. If you personally cannot make sense of my idea, then you are the latter. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just some of us think community is more important than profit. When the game is nothing but a money making simulator, it loses it’s soul and sense of purpose in the broader landscape of gaming, where there are other games that put an emphasis on grouping with friends (building community) to accomplish some goal. Sometimes, it’s not what you get out of the journey that’s important, but rather the journey itself and memories you make along the way. That’s what my whole idea is trying to materialize.

This is a really cool event by the looks of it, but not the one I’m thinking of. The event I attended was not held on tranquilty. In the event I was in, after players were initially assembled, were we mass moved by CCP to another station and our clones were cleared of implants. We were placed out into a grid with unmanned ships and we could board them and fight each other to the death. Tons of fun!

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Thats indeed an interesting idea. Arenas built by players that do cost real ingame economy resources, maybe even fuel for the gates. Should make sure they are really only used by event hosters.

However everything built into space must be destroyable by others, so you would have to design it as permanent structure that others could assault (something like an Upwell FLEX arena, using similar mechanics as an Metenox Drill or Ansiblex gate).

This could lead to events being shut down by attackers, unless the hoster/participants fight them off.

That is exactly the event i was talking about…i saw the live videos on twitch when tehy happened…there was no overview, some of the ships were rattlesnakes, it was very point and shoot without the need to lock ships up…very arcade style…just like what they hav for EvE Frontiers game today.

I seem to recall that there was once a proposal from CCP for this sort of thing. IIRC, they called it a Dojo. This was back in 2014 or '15 or around then when I was still a wet behind the ears newbro.
Not 100% sure why it was canned.
In any event, I’m not completely against the concept, with the caveat that there should be zero PvE in there and the only way to come out with more ISK than you went in with is via the looting of wrecks.
The gate should be fairly fragile, probable and vulnerable to assault by all and sundry. Spitting the players back into normal space at the gate, all with suspect timers when the gate is destroyed.
No reinforcement timer.
I feel compelled to point out that if you want a friendly 1v1 with someone without having the party crashed, just do it at a safe in HiSec.
For most other uses mentioned, Faction Warfare plexes already exist that do much the same thing.

Nah, why so uncreative? There are more ways to achieve that:

  • to to enter, every participant has to pay an amount of ISK, survivor gets it all (minus a tax/fee)
  • a sponsor (event host for example) can donate an amount and set a split rate (for exampe Winner 80%, Loser20%)
  • countdown at the start after warpin, players can donate ISK into a pot, which is then split after the match…
  • Trophy loot or Victory Points that can be exchanged in an ‘LP shop’ for cosmetics and new arena parts/mods with an additional ISK fee (ISK sink)
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So all these variables being mentioned, would be the parts set up by the controlling entity.

Cash or material prizes would be provided by the player corps/alliance it is not meant to be an ISK faucet,

You wouldn’t need to design it as a permanent structure for it to be attackable. Mobile depots are temporary and they can still be attacked. I imagine if the accel gate to the deadspace pocket was attackable, it could get RF’d, which could restrict certain aspects of it, or completely shutdown altogether. I envisioned this player made dead space pocket to be a temporary structure that, once deployed, cannot be scooped to cargo. Once it’s anchored and in space, you’ve said farewell to the ISKies that you spent to make/acquire it. It could be made back possibly with something like an activation fee that would go back to whoever anchored it, with the fee amount being set by the player.

Yeah, I think if there was any PvE element, it would be as supplement to the PvP, and wouldn’t be lucrative at all. No valuable loot, bounties, or salvage. However, if a player wanted to created something like a 2 pocket deadspace complex that required a key for the 2nd pocket, that’s where the PvE element would come in. The core idea though doesn’t require PvE at all though.

Precisely, no part of this idea should be making ISK out of thin air. Any profit made by a player in this system would need to come at the expense of another.