About those captain's quarters....

[Scott Tortorice]

Now that I got a chance to try Incarna and my captain's quarters, I can understand why the EVE community was so ticked off with this expansion. Really, what was the point?

To be fair, CCP did a decent job in crafting their new avatar system. The quarters look sharp (I love the giant screen TV ), and so do our avatars. As a supporter of CCPs vision of a fully realized life on and off our ships, I have to say that this is definitely a step in the right direction, even if there is room for improvement (particularly, loading times and quirky controls).

However, that is all the good I can say at the moment because this new content, while interesting as a proof of concept, is really just annoying as regular content. For example, I am really getting tired of looking at the back of my avatar's head whenever I enter a station. I understand that CCP chose that perspective so we are enticed to walk down the long hallway to our beckoning quarters, but after that initial experience, it is just plain annoying. I was hopeful that maybe if I adjusted my avatar's stance to something more pleasing, such as him looking out from his balcony to his hovering destroyer (sort of like a new take on the old spinning spaceship view), the game would remember his POV and use that every time I entered a station. Nope. Right back to staring at the back of his head. Why?!?

Then we come to the quarters themselves. Really, they are completely useless as everything you can do in the quarters is just a more labor involved process of accessing the same functions from your command console. Did anybody at CCP ask "hey, just why would our players want to go to their quarters anyway?" Apparently that question was never addressed. At least give us an arcade game we can play on our TV, sort of like "The Lost Viking" mini-game available at JoeyRay's Bar in Starcraft II. What about a poker game, for example? Something - anything! - to make the quarters less redundant.

The I saw my bunk bed and I thought: "those clever guys at CCP, I know what these quarters are really good for!". So I headed over to my bunk figuring that if nothing else, I would be able to lie down on my bed and have the game auto-log out while my character drifts off to sleep. How cool a function that would be (and metaphysical - is our 'real' life just a dream crafted by our slumbering avatars?:hmmm: Think about that for a few minutes :shock? And at least it would make the quarters somewhat relevant to the game and serve to increase the immersion just a tad more.

Nope. The bed is just for show.

It was then I broke out in a cold sweat. Not again! Not another respected dev succumbing to insanity! Jeez, first I had to endure Stardock's meltdown when they released a tech demo as a full game, and now CCP releases a tech demo as a full expansion! Has the world gone crazy?!? Has all the most respected devs succumb to some sort of lunacy?!?

Just what was the point of this expansion anyway? Sure it looks nice, but it adds NOTHING to the game whatsoever. Well, strike that: I did find one use. Whenever I have to walk away from my computer for a few minutes, I have my avatar walk over to the couch and watch TV. It makes me laugh when I come back and I see him relaxing there on the couch like he was waiting for me to finish whatever it was I was doing.

But other than that, I'm darned if I can find a use for my quarters. As soon as the new patch comes out, I'm switching them off until they have a purpose.

 

[Dr Zaius]

Re: EVE has now morphed into Space Barbie

Now you're beginning to understand why a large percentage of the EVE playerbase has been raging for months. Subscriptions are down by 25% and the average number of users logged on has plummeted from 50k to 30k.

It's not that Captain's Quarters is so bad, it's that the expansion is essentially pointless. Your avatar is confined to a single room where he can do absolutely nothing that wasn't already possible with the old "ship spinning" hanger. In fact, the new system actually decreases overall functionality as it forces you to walk somewhere and navigate a menu to accomplish a simple task that was previously as easy as a single mouseclick. And not only is the new CQ system basically useless, but it comes at a serious price in computer horsepower, which makes running multiple clients (very common in EVE) a thing of the past except for those that can afford a top of the line gaming rig.

But what really bothers people is the tremendous waste in development resources. EVE hasn't had a proper expansion in years, the last one being Dominion, which was a disaster in terms of what it did to the game. While it did completely overhaul the sovereignty system and make major changes to any number of other parts of the game, it introduced soul-crushing lag that nearly destroyed large fleet combat as it had previously existed. The new sovereignty system is so bad it has directly led to widespread stagnation across EVE's political frontier, with many of the former powerblocks simply fading away due to lack of interest. People are just quitting and moving on to other games. Which brings us to today's political situation in EVE, where virtually the entirety of null-sec space is now controlled by Goonswarm (the griefer alliance dedicated to destroying the game for everyone else), and a mega alliance of Russian players who have turned EVE into a steady income source via the organized deployment of thousands of bots for the automated harvesting of resources and wealth. The Russians are so ridiculously rich and powerful they now deploy fleets with hundreds of pilots where every single pilot is flying a Titan!

There was once a time when the appearance of a single Titan was a newsworthy event and something that could swing the balance of power in important battles. And the sudden arrival of one or two super-capital carriers was a real morale booster and something players would flock to see. But with the stagnation of EVE's political frontier due to the asinine changes introduced in Dominion, the game has now devolved to the point where bored gangs of super-capital gankers hot-drop a single mining vessel just for the laughs. This pathetic state of affairs exists because CCP has utterly failed to stem the tide of ISK harvesting real money traders farming EVE twenty-four hours per day, selling mountains of ISK on gold farming sites. Truly, CCP's failures have all but destroyed the glorious "choices have consequences" sandbox that was EVE and turned it into something which resembles World of Warcraft a little more every day.

And now we get Captain's Quarters.

Instead of fixing the huge number of very serious flaws in the game which are slowly destroying EVE, CCP has chosen to spend all it's precious development resources on Incarna and CarboN, the 3D engine used for Captains Quarters. EVE players have waited patiently for years while the devs continue to waste the money the community has poured into EVE. And what do players have to show for this investment of time and resources? A single room where you can't even open a door. Seriously. But CCP is not insane because none of this was by accident. The decision makers in Iceland have very clearly made a strategic choice to exploit EVE as vehicle to beta test the CarboN engine in preparation for the upcoming World of Darkness vampire MMO. That is CCP's top priority and it's clearly not going to change. Obviously, CCP management believes the real money is in sparkly vampires and EVE has now been relegated to testbed status.

But never fear, CCP has found a way to bring excitement back into EVE! Now your avatar, though he be trapped in a single room, can purchase designer t-shirts and a monocle for the itsy-bitsy price of only $50-100 real dollars. And if the idea of spending more to buy a virtual t-shirt than what a real world designer t-shirt costs upsets you, then you can always rationalize the purchase by telling yourself you'll be among the ranks of the truly elite and cool gamers. So don't procrastinate! Visit the Nex store and pick up a new pair of slacks so your character can sit in his captains quarters and relax in style!

Welcome to Space Barbie Online.

 

[Gen_Electric]

Re: EVE has now morphed into Space Barbie

Lol at space barbie online. Thanks guys, good posts. They gave me 5 free days to check out the new Eve. After redoing my character and checking out the captains quarters, I was out in less than 30 minutes. 350 hours ingame and no inclination to return, oh well; lots of other games to die in... a lot.

 

[Redwolf]

Re: EVE has now morphed into Space Barbie

Instead of fixing the huge number of very serious flaws in the game which are slowly destroying EVE, CCP has chosen to spend all it's precious development resources on [... useless crap]

Interestingly enough I have heard the same thing said about LOTRO just yesterday. WTF did they mess with all the classes and redesign combat for some classes from ground up instead of just working on existing bugs. (the rework left the bugs)

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Re: EVE has now morphed into Space Barbie

Now you're beginning to understand why a large percentage of the EVE playerbase has been raging for months. Subscriptions are down by 25% and the average number of users logged on has plummeted from 50k to 30k.

Yeah, I've noticed that when I log on, instead of having around 27K, it is closer to 20K now. Oh well, that just leaves more space for me.

But what really bothers people is the tremendous waste in development resources. EVE hasn't had a proper expansion in years, the last one being Dominion, which was a disaster in terms of what it did to the game.

Well, I don't really see working on Incarna as a waste, as the potential for expanding the EVE experience with it is tremendous. What annoys me is how it arrived as little more than a tech demo disguised as an expansion. They should have just released this as an optional add-on, or even as a demo tied to getting new players to sign-up, and not as the centerpiece for one of their major expansions. But if they were going to insist on making it a centerpiece, at least put some thought in it and add at least one new function to the CQs. The whole thing just seemed rushed and ill-considered.

However, I do agree that CCP should really just dedicate one entire expansion to fixing and enhancing existing content - call it EVE: Entrenchment, if you will. As someone who likes to go lone wolf and play EVE as a SP experience, I would love for CCP to expand on the missions and NPC agents. For example, why are all the missions limited to deliver this, attack that? That is fine, but there could be so much more. X3 actually had a better mission system (albeit, the actual system for offering the missions made no sense) where in addition to the above missions, you could also be offered more complex jobs, such as setting up a space station or retrieving and repairing a damaged ship. That's the type of missions I think would make for a much more compelling experience for all the carebears out there.

But never fear, CCP has found a way to bring excitement back into EVE! Now your avatar, though he be trapped in a single room, can purchase designer t-shirts and a monocle for the itsy-bitsy price of only $50-100 real dollars. And if the idea of spending more to buy a virtual t-shirt than what a real world designer t-shirt costs upsets you, then you can always rationalize the purchase by telling yourself you'll be among the ranks of the truly elite and cool gamers. So don't procrastinate! Visit the Nex store and pick up a new pair of slacks so your character can sit in his captains quarters and relax in style!

At least I understand the rationale for micro-transactions. However, the reason why this got so screwed up in implementation was because CCP insisted on basing the pricing structure on converted PLEXs. This makes no sense to me and is the cause of $50 monocles, etc. Just go real money and set everything at a reasonable $3-5. Heck, I would even consider spending a few bucks for fashion accessories to make my char a little more distinctive. But being forced to purchase a plex and then convert it into Aurum (which triggers the resultant price inflation) undermines the whole concept.

Again, ill-conceived.

 

[Dr Zaius]

Re: EVE has now morphed into Space Barbie

At least I understand the rationale for micro-transactions. However, the reason why this got so screwed up in implementation was because CCP insisted on basing the pricing structure on converted PLEXs. This makes no sense to me and is the cause of $50 monocles, etc. Just go real money and set everything at a reasonable $3-5. Heck, I would even consider spending a few bucks for fashion accessories to make my char a little more distinctive. But being forced to purchase a plex and then convert it into Aurum (which triggers the resultant price inflation) undermines the whole concept.

Again, ill-conceived.

But here's where it gets tricky. One of my problems with the whole f2p concept is that it very rapidly spirals out of control and spawns all sorts of unforeseen issues that can completely wreck a serious game and turn it into just another bot-infested playland for foreign gold farmers and bored kids trying to make a few real world bucks. And one the reasons this stuff gets convoluted so quickly is because microtransactions walk a very thin line between making money for developers and breaking real world laws. Allowing players to directly buy and sell virtual items for real world dollars is already illegal in many countries, and a new set of virtual currency laws were just enacted in the US, further complicating the issue.

Put simply, if gamers are allowed to buy in-game items with real world currency AND change them back or re-sell them at some point, then that's probably illegal. As has already been discovered in South Korea and China, criminals will readily exploit such a system to launder real world dollars. Too, in at least one case in the US, an MMO developer was successfully sued for real world losses when a virtual item was destroyed or made inaccessible by changes to gameplay. In short, this is a thorny issue and the Korean supreme court recently ruled that virtual currency is equivilent to real currency in legal terms. Meaning gamers who engage in "gold farming" in addition to real money trading in popular MMOs could potentially face criminal charges for tax evasion and unlawful profiteering.

The last I heard, the case in Korea was still being appealed. But the political debate over the legality of open-ended microtransactions involving real world dollars is still an ongoing drama, and who knows where it will all end. There was recently some discussion on the EVE Online forums about the introduction of Arum and the new virtual currency laws in the US in which the EVE devs acknowledged the company was aware of the laws and would take steps to ensure the game doesn't put players in a position where in-game actions could result in real world criminal charges.

I strongly suspect the introduction of Arum -- which only served to further complicate an already convoluted virtual economy -- was in part a maneuver to help CCP protect itself from getting caught up in a legal battle over virtual currency. And I can see how this would be a major concern for CCP given the fact that the company has always encouraged players to treat EVE as a place where Ponzi schemes, corp theft, market fraud, and all sorts of virtual crime are welcome. Criminal behavior is celebrated in EVE. But if the courts are going to treat virtual currency as real currency, that could very rapidly lead to a legal quagmire which would likely be the end of microtransactions and f2p as we know it. Given the devious ingenuitiy players have already demonstrated in EVE scamming each other and pulling off all sorts of virtual crimes, it's not hard to imagine the sheer chaos that would result if it were possible to convert ISK back into dollars. On the one hand it would almost certainly lead to CCP running afoul of tax and gambling laws, however, it would be tasty to destroy an enemy's expensive super-cap knowing that you just jammed them for a $1,000 loss in real world dollars.

I believe I've heard that CCP feels it is covered right now because the system allows players to convert real money to virtual money, but intentionally excludes the possibility of changing it back. Lots of people do it anyway, but they're forced to do it outside the game, which gives CCP at least some legal cover.

Google it and you'll see the recent boom in f2p MMO's has gotten the attention of both law enforcement and politicians. Game publishers have to be very, very careful here or they could set themselves up for failure.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Re: EVE has now morphed into Space Barbie

Interesting post, Don! You've been following this MMO stuff much more closely than I have.