Station Walking - Let's put it to a Vote

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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Years ago, I played EVE Online for maybe 2 weeks or so. I was a bit too young to understand the serious dynamics of the game, but I was absolutely enthralled by the vastness of the stellar background, the sheer immensity of space stations, and the futuristic environment. All three of these elements were beautifully entwined in one of the most intriguing features of the game: being able to explore the environment not only inside your capsule, but also outside of it.

The first thing that struck home was looking out into the enormous docking Bay and seeing how massive the space station was. It perfectly captured the true scale of everything. As you strolled into the living area of your quarters, everything seemed pristinely sci-fi. The holographic television was, to some degree, almost interactive. It showed you what kind of station you were in and who owned it. It wasn’t just some generic television screensaver with “Lorem ipsum” either, it actually showed the in-game news of recent events that actually happened, be it the battle of B-R5RB or the lore-centered attack on the Ishukone Headquarters. Everything was brimming with life. It was a testament to the quality of the game’s content. But when I returned…

It was just… Gone. No longer there. All of the stunning artwork and design was removed.

And yes, I get it CCP. I don’t blame you for the reason you ultimately put the feature to rest. It required a genuine effort on behalf of the development team to not only maintain but also improve as computer graphics evolved over the years.

But it did leave a solemn gap in my recent newly-restored interest in the game. I doubt I’m alone. There would be many fans who would be ecstatic if you were to reimplement the previously beloved feature.

Here is my proposal. I am willing to wager that a large number of fans would be willing to allow the CCP development team a full year to restore and polish the feature, setting aside other improvements to the game for the time being. If the developers of this amazing game ever see this, I ask only for them to allow the community to vote on such a matter for themselves.

Thank you for reading this rather long and rambling post about my personal experiences regarding Station Walking and my dismay at its removal. I would greatly appreciate feedback, be it from CCP or fellow community members.

Sincerely,
Iliad Soldaire, A Passionate Returning Player

Last minute edit:
PS, I actually have some ideas in mind on how the feature could be expanded to not only enhance the experience but also prove useful to everyday market trading and corporation management. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing them. :slight_smile:

Second edit:
You guys are bringing up really good points about how the resources could be spent to create more useful and practical things in the game. I definitely agree with that assessment and likewise, I will put my suggestion to rest until a better time comes when it can and should be implemented.

Feel free to continue the discussion, but I don’t think I’m in support of a revival of Station Walking at this moment.

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■■■■ no…

Why would we want them to waste time on vanity â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â–  that adds nothing to a game that is in desperate need of so much?

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Because I can think of dozens of social uses for it. Plus, it’d be nostalgic for fans and if they still have the old build code, 60% of everything is already there. They just need to polish it and throw on a new coat of paint every once in a while.

Think about being able to stroll through the noisy and hectic stock markets of Jita, or planning a battle in a war room in your corporation’s main structure.

Edit: If they ever put it to a vote, which is what I’m really asking for, by all means, feel free to vote no. Your input matters just as much as mine and as much as every other fan of EVE Online.

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Name three that can’t be done now.

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Making contracts with other players and marketing services in real-time, showing off the craploads of character apparel that already exists, and roleplay-based activities, just to name a few. There’s tons of potential, and once again, I’m just asking for a vote.

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I can do that now in local…

So you mean like a fashion show? LOL…ok, you got me there.

roleplay-based activities

Why did I ask…

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1.) You can’t do that in local, it’s filled by bots. Think of it as being a scaled-up version of the Warframe Item Market.

2.) Har har. My point is, there’s tons of character customization stuff that doesn’t really have any good uses right now. This would give it one.

3.) It might not be for you, but a lot of popular MMOs have dedicated lore-based RP communities.

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What? You know there is a block function? You know that not everyone lives in Jita or a hub? You know that you can also create yuor own channels too?

Leaked PIRAT Fashion show pictures

No I actually like and support lore and RP…the problem with what you are suggesting is that the engine is not supported for 1st person human scale stuff (technical right?). So the effort to make this happen, which would be huge, would take away from the game which REALLY needs some work.

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You could also manage skill queues, manufacturing, and other currently dull activities from an interactive environment, complete with a customizable captain’s quarters with trophies such on display for your achievements

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In all seriousness, you are right. You could make anything you do in game now a playable interaction in the hanger room or wherever.

But frankly, that’s not EVE. That’s SC or NMS or X. The engine isn’t built for that and CCP doesn’t have the staff/resources to implement 1/10th of would would be needed…and at the end of the day, not much is gained.

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Alright, so I’n not in disagreement with the point about development priorities. Maybe they could implement it in stages, alongside typical balances, tweaks, and the occasional update?

Edit: It’s been done once. It could feasibly be done again, maybe even with more useful features and less useless ones. They have prior experience to go off of.

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sadly as was explained by that guy who’s NDA expired he saw a trend that the devs compete for who gets whatever special new feature comes out, which is why balance passes would take so long to get out.

i remember hearing that they had to build captain’s quarters on a engine that later became unsupported. if they start again, and believe me I’d want to see WIS come back again, but they’d be starting from scratch.

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They wasted their time on a lot worse things like Rorquals, Supers and Bosons. Walking in Stations, by contrast, can create a whole lot of positive experiences if done right.

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Except those three things you listed had a HUGE impact (not all/most good) on the game for everyone where as walking around is almost 100% pointless for a space sim.

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They had nothing but bad impacts on EVE. Not a single good thing came from these and many other things that CCP recently introduced.

Most of the people are docked in stations and structures most of the time. You could introduce actual bars and casinos to waste your time and ISK there. You could have actual assassination attempts on characters. You could have space view ports where you want to waste away your tidi or the time until FC arrives.

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Rorqs were great but then they were over-buffed and basically crashed the economy.

You could introduce actual bars and casinos to waste your time and ISK there

Please no…this isn’t 2nd life or 4th life or Sims Online or Harry Potter or Minecraft or Hello Kitty Online…

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@Iliad_Soldaire

The proper question is, “Name three things that can’t be done now that the resources spent on developing and upkeeping aren’t better spent on actual gameplay.”

This is what killed walking in stations. It wasn’t a bad idea, it was just a resource intensive idea, and CCP realized that those resources could be much better spent on things like fixing and developing new game functionality, updating artwork for ships and scenery, etc.

At the end of the day, EvE is a game you play undocked and that’s where CCP has (wisely I think) decided to dedicate its resources.

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CCP removed the captains quarters when they did partly because no one was using it and partly because the tools used to create it were not compatible with tools chosen for future development. If they decide to re-introduce avatar gameplay to the game it will be easier and faster to start from scratch.

I believe most of us are here because of the player driven politics and economics and the opportunities for competitive or cooperative interaction it provides - that’s where I want CCP to invest their development resources. If avatar gameplay is your thing - try second life.

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WiS is DOA because of the following reasons:

  1. If they add unique spaceships related content customers will be furious they are being forced to WiS when many don’t have the hardware.
  2. If they don’t add unique spaceships related content there is no point in doing it.

/topic
/thread
/WiS

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Solid critique. I’m slowly changing my stance on this matter since the resources could be spent doing more practical gameplay updates.

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