Hello,
It’s often spoken about among the various pilot groups in EVE, the fact that EVE is constantly in a “dying” cycle, people quitting the game and not coming back, not many new players filtering into the game, or if they do they don’t stay very long. And frankly it’s quite a glaring issue (in nullsec in particular, I can’t speak for other regions as I’m almost exclusively in null sec) that there’s so much empty space because of a couple of things:
- There’s no incentive in the game for players to spread out, if you roam through almost any given nullsec region you travel through approximately 20 systems where the only “players” you encounter are insta-docking ishtars or praxis, or no players at all, and then you hit a staging system where you see 150+ people. It seems to be all or nothing right now.
- There’s not enough players in the game to populate these systems.
The first item it’s probably a lengthier discussion, but item #2 I think is one that can have an easily placed solution that I feel could have long lasting positive effects in the game as a whole, and that is to establish a “PVP-Free Zone” in high sec similar to just about every other MMO.
Now I can hear the pitchforks rattling and the torches being lit, but before all of the “This is what makes us different!” bittervets come stomping out of their caves, also bear in mind that having this mindset is why the game is also stagnated and not growing for the last few years. Sure people are making more alts and multiboxing harder and it appears that EVE isn’t just sitting idle, in my experience it 100% is sitting idle. It’s never been so depressing roaming around, going through 40+ jumps and seeing nothing in space except the aforementioned instadocking Not-Robots.
If we were to take a section of High Security Space, let’s say all space with a security status from 0.8 to 1.0, and made it completely PVP-Free, no ganking, no duels, purely a space for new players to be introduced to the game, to be able to learn the mechanics without the fear of being ganked, then I personally think it would go a long way toward enhancing new-player retention in EVE. And this would have a trickle down effect where players do get established in highsec, are able to farm away with really the only risk to their ships being NPC’s, and then could be recruited/integrate into the lower security spaces naturally once they’re comfortable, meaning the chances of the game retaining these new Space Junkies are substantially higher because the CODE-wannabe’s don’t get to warp in and one-shot their new exhumer just for laughs causing these new players to quit.
EVE Already has substantial hurdles in keeping new players, from the frankly poor mission system where you just rinse and repeat with no story lines that keep you engaged or excited, the fact that skillpoints are slow to accumulate as it is unless you’re willing to sink your real life bucks into this game, and the fact that because of PLEX prices it’s no longer viable to grind for in-game currency to pay for your sub.
I love this game, have played for a long time, and like many I would love to see the game growing again, to share the beauty of this unique game with more and more people who love space and the mystery it has to offer.
I think a great starting point to growth long term is make a part of the game a great learning zone, or a good place for people who simply love the aesthetics of this beautiful game to login, do some missions or mine or explore in relative safety, with maybe some enhancements/improvements to the skill training system to allow them to access later stage ships easier and maybe see some growth/retention that extends beyond the age old story of bittervets returning to the game after “winning EVE”. Because eventually those bittervets will stop returning and the game will die unless we take action to pursue new blood.
