The guys over at Eurogamer got a great interview with CCP’s
senior producer for EVE Online, Jon Lander. The newest expansion for EVE Online,
titled Retribution, is all about setting the stage for making EVE easier to get
into for new players.
As previously posted, a truck-load changes have been made
with regards to user interface, easier-to-read systems for understanding of aggression
in both PVE and PVP mechanics, as well as massive changes to how ships are to
be used in EVE, especially in the range of ships newer players are going to be
exposed to, mainly the frigate and cruiser class hulls. Further changes are
slated to make larger ships easier to understand and use effectively, due out
in patches in the new future or in the next expansion release.
“It's important to look at some of these features with a
certain context,” he said. “Eve has always been thought of as a notoriously
tough game to get into. There's a great graphic about the learning curve of
Eve.
Here is that image:
Yup, that learning curve!
EVE has always been a PVP-focused game in which activities
such as in-game griefing, theft and scamming are considered the norm – this is
not typically seen elsewhere in other RPG’s. Due to the sandbox nature of the
game, combined with the entire game universe being hosted on a single shard, as
well as a vibrant, player-driven economy - make those actions not only
meaningful in the wider game universe, but also necessary, and dare I say it, a
lot of fun. From a personal standpoint, one of my corpmates (guildmates for you
other MMO players) takes delight in infiltrating other corps, gaining their
trust and eventually walking off with all their stuff. While being a crafter
in-game myself, there is a certain sadistic pleasure in being able to
mercilessly curb-stomp other groups who partake in similar activities. This has
happened to me as well and will happen again, and this is one of the endearing
characteristics of this game.
ROFLstpmping those care-bear... uhh ponies!
As EVE Online stands at the edge of its first decade of existence,
CCP as a company is boldy facing the next decade to continue to improve and
iterate on existing features while introducing new features and content.
“We're putting a lot of planning into how we go about
getting the right things to concentrate on through 2013 and beyond. But one
thing is very clear: we need to make sure as well as doing these great big
features we continue to look after the systems we already have. We cannot just
ignore that side of things. But also we're making a real play for that simple
to learn, hard to master.”
CCP's Jon Lander
“We don't want to dumb our game down, we don't want to make
it easy, we don't want to make it anything other than the game in terms of the
content and the experience as it is now, but what we do want to do is make it
accessible. We want people to be able to get to the good parts of our game
without having to fight through some of the complexity which is there to be
honest either because it just grew up organically over time or because somebody
in the early days had quite a sadistic tendency to put people through hell.”
Here’s looking to a bright, starry future, filled with new
people to shoot and be shot by!
Thanks to Eurogamer for the alert and source!