Hear me out. I know. Just hear me out.
I have played EVE on and off since 2009. Personally I knew what was at the end of the road when I began, and it’s always what brought me back. An Epic Saga, a slew of Wars, Conspiracies, Greed, Unexpected Friendship all done in a no holds bard, persistant Sandbox unlike anything in gaming.
The thing is I always felt like EVE was missing something to help immerse you into it as a New Player. Personally for me this wasn’t a major issue, I pushed through, grinded away much like other MMO’s of days past such as Lineage II (Props if you ever grinded to max lvl in that game ).
Thing is, we lose a lot of Newbros, especially in todays Social Media age of short attention spans who get side tracked with other Titles, IRL concerns, and other factors BEFORE they get a glimpse of the rich gameplay to be found in EVE Online.
Let’s be honest this doesn’t scream “FUN!!!” at first glance… and queing up a "45min Skill to do something wtf…"
However, if you’ve had those meaningful momments, you know it’s there in abundance in a unique way. The problem is getting more people to arrive at that destination.
Why is this? Newbros aren’t being immersed from the start. I think what happens to 75%+ of new players is they hear about & want to be involved in the Grand Epic Stories they see and are told all the time in Gaming Outlets, even MSM, and Social Media. However they feel like all they do is stare at numbers, feel alone unable to trust corps or vets, and the result is often they get bored overtime from lack of a human connection & immersion.
Again lets be real, EVE at first glance looks like a Account Manager’s nightmare simulator.
Having players like delonewolf make vidoes of EVE Talk using the Station Walk to help pull attention to the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lcXufAxMTo&list=PL3hbyucMbP7cx-n7kG9BkDTLaCQ6kY9nZ&index=23
Honestly I believe not expanding Station Walk is a mistake, think about all the new players you bring in if they give the game a more human experience from the get go. I think what happens to the vast majority of new players is they want to be involved in the Epic Story but they feel like all they do is stare at numbers, feel alone unable to trust corps or vets, and the result is often they get bored overtime from lack of a Immersion.
CCP stated that no one used Station Walk. Well yeah, duh, it was a room to look at your toon & nothing more.
They need to flesh it out more. Why didn’t that door ever open on the side of our Room? Why not walk into a Shady Bar to meet up with a Corp Mate, gamble some ISK with the local bookies, and potentially get into a confrentation or meet other players.
Even the Player’s Room. Let players customize it! Allow them to place kill trophies, unqiue items found while out running missions or ratting. Give it some flare, make it personal. The state it was left in for 6 years was everything you could do Docked inside of your Ship.
In Summary I would never want EVE to become WoW, I would throw up over the sacriledge. However injecting a human compenent from the start would intrigue people to delve further into Story.
If you made it this far, thanks for hearing me out.
I hope one day this get’s looked at again by CCP, the potential is unreal, and I believe it would finally connect New Arrivals to our game, to our Saga and thus grow EVE into something even better than we thought possible.
Save the Newbros.
Yours always and forever, Gunner. See you in Local.