@Salt_Foambreaker you can draw many lines through a single point, and that is exactly what that slide is. How is it different from historical data for retention ? Right, we don’t know, because they were never shown and I suspect they are not even available to be shown. It proves everything and nothing, and frankly I doubt it’s because of the UI. What was the result of the exit polls ? Right, no exit polls for alphas because no cancellation of subs, and I haven’t heard or read anything about emails sent to dormant alpha accounts asking why the account is inactive.
Changing the looks of the UI will perhaps stretch the attention span of a new player a few days more. Changing the functionality in a game as deep and wide as Eve is a very different matter. Plus, we can be certain that visual changes will not please everyone, especially if it feels like “dumbing down”. Functionality is of course the prime concern. Red dots are a good example of superfluous and misguided changes. They are equally annoying to both rookies and veterans.
The real question is if the new generation of players has an appetite for sandbox games like Eve, and I mean as Eve is, not as someone thinks what Eve should be. And is that appetite any different from the levels of 2003 ? Eve Online was never a Big MMO in terms of active players but in terms of very loyal players.
Maybe Eve Echoes will appeal to more people, they can use fingers and touch their screens in a technical environment they feel more comfortable with, in a contemporary (ever-changing) design, for fast gaming sessions without all the depth and width of Eve proper. To each his/her own.
I completely agree with @Iceacid_Frostpacker . The beauty and feel of flying in space, what the CCP artists come up with, is far more important. I would also spend a bit more time on the “Fix the Stupid” things, judging from the usual questions in Rookie Help. That would do more in terms of NPE than eating screen surface with the “new Wallet” looks.
I honestly do not think it is the UI that is the problem here. Yes, it could be different and adapted in a few minor ways to make it more appealing for some people but it wouldn’t give what other people would want and, inevitably, it would remove things other people actually like and get on well with.
I honestly think that the ‘main’ problem with player retention is the same ‘problem’ other games have to varying degrees. That is that a very large number of people who try online games are not “gamers” but “people who want an easy game to play”. They want… idk… flashy lights and shiny objects and flashing messages that tell them how awesome they are for being such winners and so on. They want to be “end-game powerhouse players” without having to do the “being a crap and skill-less newbro swamped by info and not having a clue” first.
They want to log in, press a button and have the game play itself while telling them how great they are and how amazing their successes are.
This is EVE. Tough luck. When I first started I could see both sides of this but the more I get into it, the more I learn, the… occasionally less terrible I manage to become, the more and more I want those people to shut up and bugger off somewhere else. This is what I would call a “proper gamer’s game”. You get as much out of it as you put into it and if you don’t want to put anything in, get out.
Yes, I would absolutely love to see many many times the number of players we have now come to, and stay playing, here but to be honest I want “gamers” not “whiners”.
Having said all of that, maybe they could add some sort of “space-paperclip” to the UI? You know, it would pop up now and then at inappropriate times and annoyingly say things like “I see you are trying to ninja-loot this site. Would you like some help?” or something along those lines
i fully agree with you except one point:
Eve is not like other more classical mmos where npcs send you collect ten wood pieces and kill ten wolves and then tell you that your are awesome and that you are the savior of the universe. But other classical mmos LOOSE their playerbase after a while (some months or years), because they get bored.
Eve, with its own design, might have a lower retention rate for new players, but people who like it stay, and a significant number of them still play eve after several years.
Of course, they stay also because they built links with other players, but that’s also eve which provided the setting for that.
Guess what i would prefer? have new players joining and staying for a while because the game has become easier, but leave the game when they get bored in 1 year? or have a strong playerbase which stays in this game for years?
Maybe some things are best left to just die when their time comes, and all the heroic efforts are better used on that which can actually still benefit from the same.
EVE’s time is over, and we all know it.
What kind of a knuckle dragging reply is that ? If you can’t deal with posts in your topic then why start a thread. Just because you don’t know what to answer to the points I raise doesn’t make them invalid. It shows another point though, you’re not here to have a reasonable exchange. Comprehensive reading not in your curriculum ?
The Mittani was the leader of Goonswarm for years without logging in
I’m here to see what’s the latest in Eve, a game that I had such MASSIVE hopes for, a decade ago when I started, unfortunately Red Dots aren’t inspiring me to open my wallet, will keep checking periodically, WiS could be just around the corner
I didn’t read all the comments above - only the most constructive fluently btw.
The Elephant in the Room?
So many people all around the world just don’t realise how much things have changed during the last 30-50 years, based on what I saw. I’m trying to adapt to the new realities, I read a lot of public and scientific articles in addition to prepare mentally, but sometime I’m also like in a “position of an outdated stance”. Yes, like 20 years ago, it was an experience similarly to the Star Trek movie, when Commander Spock and Captain Kirk are doing their things far-far away in another galaxy. Like 20 years ago we saw elephants via Discovery channels, but today they are actually in our rooms… and crocs under our beds… It affects almost all our modern behavior: social life, politics, economy, culture and gaming industry also. It’s jsut too much stuff to discuss about.
Just spend 4 minutes of your life and look what Anthony Mackie is saying about modern filmmaking
