The Big Crunch

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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As a bitter vet of 15 years in Eve, having played in Null, Low, High, and most recently Pochven, I say with what I believe is the support of my fellow capsuleers ‘Houston, we have a problem.’

The problem, is content. Eve Online by its very nature is one that forces players into fighting one another for resources, relics, loot, and isk. My brief time in Pochven (which is arguably the hottest bed of PvP in the game right now), reinforces this element and brings me back to what Eve was back in the days 2012-2013, and even during the times of Red Moon Rising.

Null sec has been hit hard with a lack of stuff to do. There’s really no reason for the blocs to fight one another except for vanity wars. There’s massive swaths of null space where not a soul can be found (having done many needle jack roams recently), and the banks are farmed as much by the entities that own the systems as they are by thieves.

Asteroid belts are gone, and the bounty modifier disinclines folks from ‘super ratting’ among other things. (By the way, I actually do concur that the bounty modifier is a good thing, and forces players to move elsewhere to gain bigger rewards, thus increasing risk of hostile contact). This post mainly deals though with the biggest problem eve has. Players are too spread out. Everything else is a symptom of this problem.

CCP saw abundance in the economy and created scarcity. There is now an abundance of systems, and that too requires scarcity. Enter, ‘The Big Crunch.’

A hypothetical concept in which our universe collapses back in on itself (as it blew outward in the big bang), the same element would prevail here. Barely populated systems, barely used systems, barely traversed systems would be folded back into non-existence in a galactic event.

What’s left is a smaller New Eden with new regional boundaries, with too few systems available for the players available. It is the Eve equivalent of a server consolidation, and would occur much for the same reason. Although Eve has one thing that sets it apart from other MMOs and that is permanence of loss. While other MMOs consolidate servers to keep the lights on, Eve’s Big Crunch would re-ignite interest in a player base that can’t get Eve style content anywhere else.

Give people a reason to fight, they’ll come back because the content is there. Right now, it’s a struggle to find that content for many due to the abundance of systems, and it’s boring.

Having been in Pochven a month, I can’t fart without tripping over a hostile. And it is the best time I’ve had in Eve in a long time. (Though I miss my capital ships). All of Eve should be like that again. And it can be. If CCP is willing to take the chance that smaller in this case, is better. Give the players a reason to fight, believe me, they will fight (they always have).

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I’m not about to unanchor an Athanor, dismantle PI on 36 planets, or move hundreds of millions of m3 worth of resources that I have in various uninhabited quiet systems. I placed them there for that very reason. No thanks…

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Jenna, go feck yourself

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You want more interaction? More fights? Go find them. Expand our of your comfy little nullsec bloc and start taking over low sec regions. Take over high sec systems vis wardec. There’s plenty of action to be had out there…

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This reaction is exactly why it’s needed. There should be no ‘quiet systems’ in Eve. While I do expect many players will throw fire on this idea because it disrupts easy isk making activity, it’s my hope CCP will see the bigger picture and realize, as they did with the economy, this needs to happen.

And to Max and Quake, thank you for, proving my point.

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Sorry, but EVE caters to every style of gameplay, not just only yours, no matter how much you’d like it to be that way…

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Fortunately it’s not me that has to agree or disagree with you. It’s CCP who will be the arbiters of that decisioning (and it’s perfectly logical they’ll do nothing in this scenario). It’s my hope though they will take Eve back to its roots, and what I’ve posted here is just one method where that outcome is very likely. Where there are fortunes to be made…through the fiery crucible of combat. That was Eve in its hay day, and here’s hoping, can be again.

A boat load of returning players excited for action packed days fighting over a depleted resource pool of systems does represent a lot of Omega, PLEX sales, Skill point sales, and other stuff and might be a nice revenue enticement to our Icelandic overlords. So if the gameplay for gameplay’s sake doesn’t incent action, maybe a lot of padding on the P&L will. Again, here’s hoping.

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Lateral not literal.
More star-gates. Maybe some linking a few different null sec HQ’s?

One of the worst decisions CCP has ever made in this game was removing several routes in the game by turning them into pochven systems. Lost my custom over it. Whoops.

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Dredwerkz, now that’s the type of constructive feedback we need.

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What you are wanting can be had right now. Choose any low sec or high sec system you want, nuke every citadel and customs office, and take it over. Instant combat and action. But you won’t be content with that because your goal is to force everyone into combat, and that is simply never going to happen…

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My goal is to give more people a reason to log into the game, subscribe and re-subscribe. It is my belief that putting people in a position where they have to tilt or withdraw is the vehicle to achieve this. My goal is to ensure Eve grows, and does not shrink in population count for the third decade.

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Too late for me. I deleted my accounts a few weeks ago, I’m fairly shocked it still works on the forum if I’m honest.

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Did you biomass them?

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Yes of course.

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Well, that is unfortunate. Still, the feedback is relevant and thank you for sharing the idea.

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Well I don’t like the idea of deleting systems, but taking hours to get anywhere is about 50% of the reason I have decided to jump ship.

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Deleting systems the way they were deleted in Pochven (which provided affected players with little room for counter-play to preserve their assets) was not optimal for sure. Players should always have an opportunity to fight against the tide, even if that tide is the amusement park aspect.

I see several methods wherein systems can be removed and have it be a fun and engaging process (as opposed to a bitter one) in the Big Crunch scenario. Pochven itself (in my opinion anyway) is really Eve classic and is wonderful for this. What some players lost in the process though was unfair.

It doesn’t have to be that way for round 2.

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I didn’t lose any assets in the change. My problem with it was the loss of the routes. Making it take ages to move around.

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Many folks saw their citadels vanish into the void with the change. Even if you did not lose anything, they did. And to your point, the loss of access to other areas does not lend itself to a fun game experience (travel for travel’s sake in eve, like long horse rides in a fantasy game) is just not engaging (even with the risk of suicide ganking).

I’m looking at this from the perspective of the entire player base.

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Pochven didn’t cut off any routes, you just have to go through low sec to get to your destination now. Amarr to Jita is still only 8 or so jumps through a couple of low sec systems…