Eve Online

[Reno]

If there's less accounts logged in at the same time, some of those not online will be logged in for a shorter time when they do log in, but some of those not online will not log on at all.
The latter will inevitably lead to cancellations, why have an account if you don't play?

In the interest of completeness it would be better if that graph included a longer look back . However it probably still gives a better indication of the level of interest of Eve's playerbase in the game, than a subscription number will. Sub data will lag behind the interest in the game, and might also be subject to spincontrol from CCP.

It might be scaremongering, but that doesn't mean he can't be more right than CCP.

 

[Ctuchik]

It might be scaremongering, but that doesn't mean he can't be more right than CCP.

No of course not. But if he's gonna start a statistics war with them he needs to do a LOT better then that.

Or else CCP is going to utterly rape him when/if they decide to take him up on it because they have stats for everything, and has previously shown that they are not afraid of using them.


He needs to sort his shit out or he's going to lose.

Horribly.

 

[Rulke]

http://users.telenet.be/mmodata/Charts/Subs-2.png

Interesting graph - look at the spike of WAR subs

 

[svartalf]

Brendan turns up the heat!

EVE Evolved: Expansions, not excuses


by Brendan Drain on Sep 11th 2011 6:00PM

Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, Lore, MMO industry, Opinion, EVE Evolved 9



Over the last few months, the phrase "Flying in Space" has been increasingly used by both EVE Online's developers and its players to describe features other than those of Incarna. It seems like a redundant phrase as all of EVE's gameplay currently takes place in space, but the distinction has become necessary when discussing the allocation of development resources. Members of EVE's player-elected Council of Stellar Management have recently spearheaded a wave of new complaints about the level of resources dedicated to EVE's in-space features, claiming that developers have been left without the resources necessary to do a good job.


In the previous three EVE Evolved columns, I discussed the upcoming nullsec revamp scheduled to begin this winter and the incredible new gameplay players might get as part of it. Members of the CSM know exactly how many people will be working on that revamp, and although those numbers haven't been made public, several delegates have gone public with their disapproval. EVE's subscription fees are currently paying for the development of CCP's upcoming fantasy MMO World of Darkness and its ambitious console MMOFPS DUST 514, leaving few resources for new EVE gameplay and content.


In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the success of EVE's first blockbuster expansion and ask why development on EVE Online has dramatically decreased over the past two and a half years.


Blockbuster expansions


EVE Online has always been one of very few MMOs that exhibits an organic subscriber growth pattern. While most MMOs tend to have a large influx of players after each new expansion and then a slow drop-off until the next expansion, EVE Online has typically seen slow but constant subscriber growth. This continued right up until the end of 2008, when subscriber numbers began to drop for the first time in the game's long history and developers faced tough economic turmoil in Iceland. To bring things back from the brink, CCP pooled its global resources in offices around the world to create EVE's blockbuster Apocrypha expansion.


The early information on Apocrypha released from January 2009 onward generated immense interest in EVE. I saw this myself as dozens of old corpmates who had quit long ago turned up out of the blue to prepare for wormhole expeditions. The expansion was a spectacular success, with subscriber numbers rising over 20% between January when the expansion was announced and June three months after release. The average concurrent user numbers show a similar rise in activity around the same time, followed by a drop caused by the mass banning of over 6,000 bot accounts as part of operation Unholy Rage.


Apocrypha was a colossal success by any definition, and yet since then the amount of time that's gone into developing new EVE gameplay has been dramatically decreased. As former CCP game designer and current CSM delegate Mark Heard explained in his CSM blog, the originally massive Dominion expansion was cut short in development and iteration on it was canceled. Tyrannis was similarly stunted in development, introducing only extremely basic FarmVille-type gameplay. Even Incarna, the expansion into which all the extra developer time was said to be going, was stripped back to a single non-customisable Minmatar captain's quarters.


Incarna failing


A graph showing the average number of players logged in each day since 2006 has been making the rounds on EVE blogs this month, highlighting a worrying fact on the launch of Incarna. Every expansion since Revelations in 2006 has produced a spike of activity as inactive players logged in to check out the new content. Incarna was the first expansion to defy this rule, having absolutely no measurable impact on average player logins. With no new content to check out, players aren't logging in to try Incarna out, and activity is slowly falling as a result.


The aforementioned graph has been quoted as proof that Incarna has been a failure and a waste of development resources, but realistically we should have expected exactly what was in the graph. In its current one-room form with no gameplay, limited customisation and no real player interaction, Incarna is not something that appeals to anyone in particular. The possibilities brought in by multiplayer environments and player-owned establishments, however, could appeal to a lot of current and prospective players. I'd expect to see a spike of activity follow the release of establishments, but there will be a slow decline in activity until that or other gameplay features are released. How that decline will translate into an effect on subscriptions is anyone's guess.


Flying in space


When CCP instituted the player-elected Council of Stellar Management in the wake of the T20 scandal, many players considered it to be a cheap PR gimmick to keep players happy. Since then, the CSM has gone on to acquire a stakeholder position within the game design process and make itself an integral part of CCP's feedback-gathering mechanisms.


The CSM's usefulness as a sounding board for ideas and as a way to gather issues players find important has made the group a valuable part of the development process. When the CSM isn't used as a filter to test ideas out before they're thrown into the live game, issues like the NeX store pricing drama can occur. Unfortunately, the sixth CSM has found out the hard way that even if the Council is working closely with individual developers at CCP, it may not be possible to get development time on the things players want.


The latest nullsec devblogs show that the developers on the ground at CCP are very in-touch with what players want and would produce some excellent gameplay if given the opportunity. CSM chairman The Mittani believes that CCP isn't sparing enough resources to make its current gameplay goals possible and that the decision to starve EVE's in-space features of resources has been made at the upper-management level. The lack of resources for gameplay may be another symptom of the same poor strategic decision-making that prompted monoclegate.




CCP is great at taking first steps and starting new projects but has a poor track record when it comes to finishing and iterating on existing gameplay. Dominion was supposed to be the first stage of a radical revamp of the entirety of nullsec, but no further development on that front has appeared in nearly two years. We're also still waiting for iteration on Tyrannis with its planet-based content and the link with DUST 514. The Incursion expansion had fantastic lead-up events and some new group PvE gameplay, yet even it hasn't been significantly iterated on since release.


No expansion since Apocrypha has been particularly heavy on gameplay or content, even when compared to the work CCP did in EVE's early years with a fraction of the staff and budget. I'm forced to ask where all the development time is going and why in-space EVE features have had to suffer so heavily when they're what pays almost all of CCP's bills. It feels like EVE has been operating on a skeleton crew for most of the past two and a half years, and the game is starting to seriously suffer for it. What we really need now is another blockbuster expansion or even just enough development resources to do the nullsec revamp justice, not another content-light update excused as the first step toward something awesome.

Brendan "Nyphur" Drain is an early veteran of EVE Online and writer of the weekly EVE Evolved column here at Massively. The column covers anything and everything relating to EVE Online, from in-depth guides to speculative opinion pieces. If you have an idea for a column or guide, or you just want to message him, send an email to brendan@massively.com.

 

[Ctuchik]

Interesting graph - look at the spike of WAR subs

Aye, the game were really buggy when it released so people didn't stay.

 

[svartalf]

Aye, the game were really buggy when it released so people didn't stay.

I heard there was a problem where the company took lots more out of people's bank accounts than they should have. That would end the trust that has to exist when you set up a direct debit. People don't stay with companies they don't trust.

Here is an article on it: http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/warhammer-online/1083026p1.html

 

[Ctuchik]

Yeah, but that wasn't really Mythic's fault as they don't handle that side of things.

Not that it makes a whole lot of difference at the end of the day, but still.

 

[Marc]

The CFC "Welpfleet" gets its first supercap kills.

DC in Hurricanes VS. NC. in Abaddons + Supers - YouTube

I was there!

 

[Marc]

 

[svartalf]

World peace, then? Well done EVErs!

 

[Ctuchik]

Erm, checked the evemaps "references" and couldn't see anything about CDF anywhere.....

 

[Marc]

The clusterfuck coalition and the Russians have always been "friends". When the russians attacked the NC, The clusterfuck coalition didnt get involved and left the NC to die. Simmilarly, when PL/Raiden/NC. etc tried to attack the CFC, the russians wouldnt help them and went home. So now, us and the russians have blued each other. Its a plan from Mittens and the leader of the russian coalition, Death, in order to stick 2 fingers up at CCP and show them how broken nul sec is. Then, thousands of pilots from nul sec are going to hit the carebears in hi sec in suicide attacks at jita and countless war decs all over the place. We are going to crash Jita, day after day after day until CCP actually fuck off with this second life bullshit roleplaying crap they are forcing on us and get back to giving us "Flying in Space" content.

 

[Ctuchik]

ah ok.

And CCP is going to listen why when "carebear" corps that have their base in jita unsubs from the game?

Mittens is whining that the logged in player base drops.

But someone might want to enlighten that clueless airhead that what he's about to do is going to make that part worse....

Oh wait i forgot, he doesn't give a shit unless it's helping the nulsec corps...


My bad...

/edit: By the way, this could probably be classified as a form of cyber terrorism, so i really REALLY hope he knows what he's doing.

 

[svartalf]

ah ok.

And CCP is going to listen why when "carebear" corps that have their base in jita unsubs from the game?

Large organisations, companies and governments all dislike being hit in the pocket. It's their achilles...er... heel. Achilles Pocket, if you will.

/edit: By the way, this could probably be classified as a form of cyber terrorism, so i really REALLY hope he knows what he's doing.

No, but they might term it "not in the spirit of the game" or suchlike and suspend those accounts involved.

 

[Ctuchik]

Yes that's probably more likely.

If all this does is make the carebears whine they will probably start to at least try to see things Mittens way

But if CCP is starting to lose a noticeable amount of money because of this they could take it as a direct attack on the company, and that could make them react differently.

Mittens is walking on a really thin line here, i hope he has a good sense of balance.


And he still needs to start caring for all the players, not just the nulsec corps.

 

[Marc]

yes but even the carebears dont give a crap about this walking in stations bullshit. They just arent as vocal about it because they are happy grinding pointless level 4 missions. The sandbox game is nulsec and we have had zero content for best part of 2 years now.

CCP have to make sure the winter expansion is a pearler.

 

[Ctuchik]

But why Jita?

Because it's the most heavily populated system in the game, and Mittens are trying to exploit those people for his goals? I'm sure the whining on the forum is going to help him at least a little bit, but he just sees them as a tool to be used.

It seems that as long as he gets his way he doesn't care who suffers.

Even if no one really cares about this walking in station fluff, attacking Jita is an egoistic way of getting noticed. So why doesn't he do something in nulsec instead?

It would be harder yes, but it would show his dedication. But instead he's just jumping on the "crash-Jita-train" that seems to be so popular...

I'm not disagreeing with Mittens general idea that CCP needs to get their act together, but doing it this way is wrong because it involves people that just wants to play the game in peace (yes i know this is EvE and what it means to play this game).

Same with the wardecs, i'm assuming they will be aimed against carebears no matter if they are in on this or not? And what exactly is that going to prove other then the fact that nulsec fleets will cost carebear corps ISK and time and most likely have members leave.

If Mittens were 10 years old i could understand his behavior, but he's not 10 years old is he?

He's not hurting CCP as much as he's hurting his fellow players that voted for him....

 

[rynnor]

CCP will have to ban him and a bunch of the others who try to disrupt the game so that the rest back down - they cant afford for anyone to mess up hi-sec.

 

[svartalf]

CCP backed down, stepped up, whatever you like:
EVE Online | EVE Insider | Dev Blog

the moments that define history
reported by CCP Zulu | 2011.09.22 19:57:18 | NEW | Comments

Intrepid pilots of New Eden!


Over the past days and weeks, CCP has been doing extensive and intense introspection and revitalization. The result of this is a refocusing and reprioritization on a scale unheard of within our company.



These are indeed defining times.



Torfis most recent dev blog provides some indication of whats to come. We have decided, to focus our collective efforts on the areas you have asked us to focus on.



We will reveal more over the coming weeks. As certain details are prone to change, we want to make sure we have absolutely concrete information to give you. You've often told us that we promise too much and deliver too little, and this time we want to be certain that doesn't happen. We are listening to you, we have heard you, and plans are already in motion.



Watch this space.



Arnar Hrafn Gylfason

Senior Producer of EVE Online

Website terms of service -
About us -
Contact -
Affiliate Program -
Privacy Policy


Copyright CCP 1997-2011

http://www.ccpgames.com

 

[Marc]

And with this, Mittens has redirected his attention away from Butt fucking CCP to, and I quote

"we're going to smash the ex-NC (morsus Mihi and Brick Squad) into tiny little shards now, what was an idle side project of mr vee is now something i'm paying my mostly undivided attention to (now that i'm done stabbing ccp in the nuts in the media); i was annoyed enough to see the drooling lucian james posts on your shitty forums that i almost logged into eve online, undocked a ship and went to delve tonight"

Basically, Clusterfuck and the Russians want to turn Delve into a PvP playground and have asked the SOV holders to put docking rights to -10 so everyone can dock etc. Brick squad trolled Mitanni by originally agreeing to this deal then going back on it and laughing on K.com about it. So now Goons/Test/Lawn/Razor/FCON and some russians are going to destroy MM and Brick. Gonna be ace!

 

[Ctuchik]

Would have been interested to see just how far Mittens would be willing to go to fuck up the game though...


Owell, /popcorn mode off...

 

[rynnor]

They must have told him more than is in that release - being able to turn off the craptains quarters ¬= more flying in space content?

 

[Marc]

CCP Hellmar apologises at last

MUST READ: CCP Hellmar – A letter to the followers of eve

Plus, the winter expansion looks orgasmic!!!!!

 

[LordjOX]

Fix nullsec, fix FW and more ships. Good stuff

Finally admitting that CQ and to a certain degree, Incarna is a waste of development time. EVE is about spaceships

 

[rynnor]

Hmm I feel I must point out the bit about how they 'learned in 2007 and started the CSM'.

If they had really learned and actually listened to the CSM there would have been no Incarna fiasco and they wouldnt be eating humble pie now - you think they will not be doing the same a few years down the line?

Edit oh and Incarna was so bad it has angered the Icelandic gods - the Volcano Katla is waking up - was a swarm of tremors yesterday indicating magma rising within it - if these dont die down again it could blow very soon.

 

[LordjOX]

Incarna hasn't released yet. Only CCP knows how it actually plays.

And everyone knows that CSM don't have any influence over CCP at all, they just try to give advice, but CCP are under no obligation to take their advice even under consideration. Quite simply it's a waste of time

 

[Marc]

Russian forces disbanding. Statement from White Noise along with their reasons as to why the russians united to take on nulsec.

Drone Russian Federation – White Noise. Official Statement

 

[LordjOX]

Well, it was a nice read, and it was some good points, but cant hide the fact that the russians have the highest bot population in all of EVE. The income from technetium moons are probably less than what is amassed total from bots. And almost all of that is RMT'd.

 

[Marc]

RL Friend of mine, runs 12 bots from ONE pc in high sec. Admittedly, his PC is top of the range. He sets it off at 10pm and by 8am he has made 720Million isk mining. If he runs them all day hes pushing 1.5Billion isk a day. best case, 45billion a month from ONE PC. The russians are far more advanced and are doing it in nulsec.

No wonder their supercap/titan force is so obscene and no wonder loads of them have bought houses/nightclubs/cars etc from the money made from RMT.

 

[old.Tohtori]

And it would be so easy to remove bots, if they wouldn't give a f*ck about whining people