The Mittani told that "[the general gaming media says] as if New Eden were a freakshow rather than the only remaining pure-PvP sandbox, populated primarily by hypercompetitive 30something college-educated professionals." If practically everyone agrees in something, it has a reason. Not surely a good one, but has one. No, it's not "sandbox", I've never heard a bad word about Tale in the Desert, nor it's "PvP", WoW arena was never called freakshow.
There is a strange - seemingly unrelated - issue in EVE: the media created by pro EVE players (blogs, forums, sites) usually treat PvE EVE players as the lepers. They are mentioned on the foul name "carebear", their extermination (only in game of course) is demanded and everyone who kills a few gets celebration. Now it's strange. I mean most players don't hate other players who are different from them. I never heard hate for roleplayers in WoW, rather a "yes, they are weird but who cares" attitude. There is no such hate for wormhole players in EVE, despite they are a small minority. Why do they hate "carebears"?
Every MMO has a common point: character progression. From Everquest to GW2 every single MMO offered players to improve their characters either by strength or by giving them "achievement points". They did it differently, they had different settings, different gameplay, but at the end, if you played well, your character improved. PvP is no exception here. If you won arenas in WoW, you climbed the ladder, got closer to Gladiator title and received better rewards. EVE is not considered freakshow by the mainstream because lack of such character progression. If it wouldn't have it, the game simply wouldn't be considered MMO and would be ignored by MMO media like, Second Life. EVE is an MMO because you can progress your character. You gain access to bigger, stronger, better ships, just like this TEST Alliance video says (from 2:20). If we'd look just at the game, we'd see nothing but an MMO where you get spaceships instead of magic swords.
Highsec is "spaceship MMO". The "carebears" do what every single MMO player out there does: progress their character, gaining more ISK and better ships. But the PvP-ers give up character progression in every single way! The linked TEST video is not true for most PvP-ers: today's battecruisers are tomorrows battlecruisers and they will fly Drakes until CCP decides to switch off the servers. Also, the constant podding combined with poverty stop them from using implants, making them get less skillpoints (so they whine to remove it from the game).
EVE is not considered freakshow at all. The typical EVE PvP-ers are considered freaks. If we'd try to find a WoW analogue, the best would be twinks. These characters are locked at lvl 19 or 29, stopped in progression and be much-much weaker than a top-level character. Twinks are created for the sole purpose of inconveniencing newbies by massacring them on low level battlefields. Twinks are considered griefers and freaks. So the average MMO player who tries out EVE (and then writes a review in the mainstream gaming media) will find that EVE is a standard MMO with a bit lame quests, boring material gathering, repetitive but fun NPC grinding and legions of childish griefers, lot more than in other MMOs. No, they would not see "hypercompetitive 30something college-educated professionals" since competition needs some goal and prize. Killing each other over breadcrumbs or even less: lolz is not something that a college-educated professional would do. It's what homeless junkies do in the ghetto.
The "carebears" are MMO players who find the EVE setting good enough to stay. The PvP-ers hate the carebears because they - along with the other MMO players - consider them freaks, griefers, losers. So at least they have the excuse that the PvE players hated them first. But it's hard to like them. My earlier posts where I did not consider them freaks, griefers and losers but the "elite of EVE" and wanted to join by contributing as much as I can became jokes for both sides. The difference between me and the average MMO player is that I can see larger pictures than my own character. I can see that capturing systems on the Sov map, making difference for many other people is something bigger than replacing an ilvl 333 leggings with 346. In WoW I always tried to make something bigger than that. Also I see the value of "griefing" for ones psychological progression. But I'm a rare bird and the MMO players want stronger characters by playing well. PvP is no difference here, PvP-ers merely accept that if they fail, they get weaker (like WoW arena player losing rating). But accepting that you remain forever in a ship that a "carebear" outgrows on the second month of his life even if you are chain-winning is just "freak".
Please spare me from the "in EVE every ship is equal, Drakes are not worse than Rokhs", because it's a plain lie. A battleship in the hands of an equally good player would always win over a battlecruiser, just like the BC would always win against a cruiser, like that against a frigate. There is truth in "every ship is useful", and a 2 days old frig can contribute in a battleship fight while a lvl 2 WoW character cannot do anything in a lvl 85 battleground. But just because a BS is just 10x stronger than a frig and not 100000x like in WoW, it's still worse and before it in the progression path.
The ball is at the field of CCP. They must change the game in a way to make PvP more than freakshow, to make it the way to increase ones power in the game. Currently AFK mining Veldspar beats it.
Alternatively players can make something great here by creating a powerblock that is not a freakshow but a clear progression up from the highsec state. I mean when the 2-3 months old newbie who is starting to get the picture of EVE look into a video, he should say, "yes, I want to be those guys" instead of "why do they fly my old ship? Are they roleplayers or something?". The slowcat fleets, the supercapitals and the recent Navy Apocalpyse fleet are all can be viewed as a "progression", something a newbie can aim for. More about this option tomorrow.
Thursday morning report, which is still not really reliable: 158.9B, (5.5 spent on main accounts, 3.6 spent on Logi/Carrier, 3.2 on Ragnarok, 2.6 on Rorqual, 2.4 on Nyx, 2.8 on Avatar, 2.6 received as gift)
There is a strange - seemingly unrelated - issue in EVE: the media created by pro EVE players (blogs, forums, sites) usually treat PvE EVE players as the lepers. They are mentioned on the foul name "carebear", their extermination (only in game of course) is demanded and everyone who kills a few gets celebration. Now it's strange. I mean most players don't hate other players who are different from them. I never heard hate for roleplayers in WoW, rather a "yes, they are weird but who cares" attitude. There is no such hate for wormhole players in EVE, despite they are a small minority. Why do they hate "carebears"?
Every MMO has a common point: character progression. From Everquest to GW2 every single MMO offered players to improve their characters either by strength or by giving them "achievement points". They did it differently, they had different settings, different gameplay, but at the end, if you played well, your character improved. PvP is no exception here. If you won arenas in WoW, you climbed the ladder, got closer to Gladiator title and received better rewards. EVE is not considered freakshow by the mainstream because lack of such character progression. If it wouldn't have it, the game simply wouldn't be considered MMO and would be ignored by MMO media like, Second Life. EVE is an MMO because you can progress your character. You gain access to bigger, stronger, better ships, just like this TEST Alliance video says (from 2:20). If we'd look just at the game, we'd see nothing but an MMO where you get spaceships instead of magic swords.
Highsec is "spaceship MMO". The "carebears" do what every single MMO player out there does: progress their character, gaining more ISK and better ships. But the PvP-ers give up character progression in every single way! The linked TEST video is not true for most PvP-ers: today's battecruisers are tomorrows battlecruisers and they will fly Drakes until CCP decides to switch off the servers. Also, the constant podding combined with poverty stop them from using implants, making them get less skillpoints (so they whine to remove it from the game).
EVE is not considered freakshow at all. The typical EVE PvP-ers are considered freaks. If we'd try to find a WoW analogue, the best would be twinks. These characters are locked at lvl 19 or 29, stopped in progression and be much-much weaker than a top-level character. Twinks are created for the sole purpose of inconveniencing newbies by massacring them on low level battlefields. Twinks are considered griefers and freaks. So the average MMO player who tries out EVE (and then writes a review in the mainstream gaming media) will find that EVE is a standard MMO with a bit lame quests, boring material gathering, repetitive but fun NPC grinding and legions of childish griefers, lot more than in other MMOs. No, they would not see "hypercompetitive 30something college-educated professionals" since competition needs some goal and prize. Killing each other over breadcrumbs or even less: lolz is not something that a college-educated professional would do. It's what homeless junkies do in the ghetto.
The "carebears" are MMO players who find the EVE setting good enough to stay. The PvP-ers hate the carebears because they - along with the other MMO players - consider them freaks, griefers, losers. So at least they have the excuse that the PvE players hated them first. But it's hard to like them. My earlier posts where I did not consider them freaks, griefers and losers but the "elite of EVE" and wanted to join by contributing as much as I can became jokes for both sides. The difference between me and the average MMO player is that I can see larger pictures than my own character. I can see that capturing systems on the Sov map, making difference for many other people is something bigger than replacing an ilvl 333 leggings with 346. In WoW I always tried to make something bigger than that. Also I see the value of "griefing" for ones psychological progression. But I'm a rare bird and the MMO players want stronger characters by playing well. PvP is no difference here, PvP-ers merely accept that if they fail, they get weaker (like WoW arena player losing rating). But accepting that you remain forever in a ship that a "carebear" outgrows on the second month of his life even if you are chain-winning is just "freak".
Please spare me from the "in EVE every ship is equal, Drakes are not worse than Rokhs", because it's a plain lie. A battleship in the hands of an equally good player would always win over a battlecruiser, just like the BC would always win against a cruiser, like that against a frigate. There is truth in "every ship is useful", and a 2 days old frig can contribute in a battleship fight while a lvl 2 WoW character cannot do anything in a lvl 85 battleground. But just because a BS is just 10x stronger than a frig and not 100000x like in WoW, it's still worse and before it in the progression path.
The ball is at the field of CCP. They must change the game in a way to make PvP more than freakshow, to make it the way to increase ones power in the game. Currently AFK mining Veldspar beats it.
Alternatively players can make something great here by creating a powerblock that is not a freakshow but a clear progression up from the highsec state. I mean when the 2-3 months old newbie who is starting to get the picture of EVE look into a video, he should say, "yes, I want to be those guys" instead of "why do they fly my old ship? Are they roleplayers or something?". The slowcat fleets, the supercapitals and the recent Navy Apocalpyse fleet are all can be viewed as a "progression", something a newbie can aim for. More about this option tomorrow.
Thursday morning report, which is still not really reliable: 158.9B, (5.5 spent on main accounts, 3.6 spent on Logi/Carrier, 3.2 on Ragnarok, 2.6 on Rorqual, 2.4 on Nyx, 2.8 on Avatar, 2.6 received as gift)
