Blog Banter 35 - Through the Lens of Past Experience

I have criminaly neglected my poor story blog, and I really need to get back into things, so as a first step I decided to participate in this month's Blog Banter:

So here is what we are going to discuss:

Now approaching its tenth year, the EVE Online player community has matured into an intricate and multi-faceted society viewed with envy by other game developers, but is frequently regarded with suspicion by the wider gaming community. 

Is this perception deserved? Should "The Nation of EVE" be concerned by its public identity and if so how might that be improved? What influence will the integration of the DUST 514 community have on this culture in the future?

[Unrelated and random bonus question sponsored by EVE News 24: What single button would you recommend be included on an EVE-specific keyboard?]


I am going to approach this issue from a personal historic perspective. It may seem like I'm getting beside the point, but bear with me while I tell you a little story.

The past

Back in the 1990s I was playing online multi-user games in text based form.
There was no complex AI driven PVE content, so everything that happened in the game did so because some players made it happen. Sometimes GMs would run live events too, but that was the exception. Virtually all of the game was PvP or at least player interaction.

Over the years, I played on two different Shadowrun MUSHes. In this dystopian cyberpunk-fantasy gaming universe, almost everyone played some sort of professional criminal or operative, living on the dangerous edge of an unforgiving society ruled by ruthless corporations. 

If you got killed, you were really dead. End of story. No clone, no magical resurrection. You had to start over with a new character. You did get to start your new character with as many skillpoints as your old character had at the time of death, though.

The only mitigating factor was, that there had to be some RP based in-character reason why you were killed. If you had the impression, that your death was just arbitrary griefing, you could petition with a GM and maybe get it retroactively undone, but due to the harsh game universe, there were usually plenty of justifications to kill someone. People betrayed, scammed, robbed and killed eachother for all kinds of perfectly viable role-playing reasons.

How do you get by in such an environment? You act cautiously. You find creative solutions for difficult problems. You try to make friends and build relations of trust. Everything you did in every interaction would have consequences for yourself and the people you were involving yourself with. You had to really invest thought and consideration into your actions, and that made it exciting and meaningful.

Does all that sound familiar already?

The present

Many gamers these days seem to approach their hobby with a strange sense of entitlement. Everything has to be easy and consensual. Any real danger for your character or your style of play is an unwanted factor.

This is why I never got into any online game except EVE.When I first heard about it, an old RPG friend of mine told me that there was a game which was almost as dangerous and rewarding as the online games of old, and that made me decide to try it.

So if you read this far, you will sit there with the question: How does all of this relate to the Blog Banter subject?

Allright, EVE has a certain reputation. This reputation will attract some and wont attract others. Like the people who played on the old Shadowrun MUSHes, the people attracted will be those who are looking for a gaming experience that means something (to the extent that such a thing can exist).

Sure, some things could be better. When I read some of the horrible stuff people post on forums, I sometimes can only shake my head at the incredibly immature pseudo-macho-culture (after all real machos would get into real fights instead of posting stuff online), but that's in no way different from every other forum on the internet which is for a large part frequented by men with arrested development.

As for the rest I think EVE is doing fine in terms of public representation. There are great examples of wonderful creative output, community spirit, helpful content and more.(*) Some people will never opt for that style if gaming, but that's fine, because an ever increasing number of people do.

Is there a problem for CCP? Well they seem to be making money consistently, and that during a time which saw the collapse of the Icelandic financial sector and a global economic downturn. Any real problem CCP had was related to their interaction with the player base rather than the public image of EVE.

Has the recent Mittani incident tarnished the public image of EVE? I don't think so. After all, the man's apology was as public as his drunken mistake, and how often have you read about a player publicly apologizing for something he did wrong in a game-related context. If anything, it shows that the real people behind all this grief play and scamming are probably not so bad after all.

And the final question: Will the DUST415 community engage with this environment? Well I can not answer that, because I know nothing about FPS communities. One thing I do know is, EVE players will flock to DUST415 in significant numbers, and the spirit of gaming that makes EVE the most intriguing environment of the modern online game world will "infect" DUST425 no matter what.


My answer to the Bonus Question: Lock Target. The most fundamental function of them all.


(*) My selection of links was not meant to say that those are the only good ones. Voices from the Void, Fly Reckless, Notalotofnews, Podgoo, Roc Wieler, Kirith Kodachi, Ripard Teg, Tiger Ears, Pixxie Twilight and all the others out there I didn't name here. You are all great, and you deserve just as much credit. I just didn't want to start a link list.

OOC Entry 18 - Still thinking

Every day when I lie down to sleep I think about my characters and the story before I drift off into slumber. In my experience it helps to set your mind onto a particular subject on the verge of sleep if you want to dream about it. And dream about it I do. Impressions, whole stories (one of them was pretty coherent, I will make that a narrative once the next story is done) but I drew blanks so far on how I want my characters to rescue Sylera.

It is difficult terrain. They will have to go out to empire space for more than just a short visit. Some of them are wanted criminals there, and others have people with an axe to grind. There will be things to consider like CONCORD, gates, political powers and more.

The last story asked everything of the protagonists in terms of military strategy and fighting against a superiour opponent. The next one will require them to do their best in terms of covert operations in an environment that is not as conveniently isolated as wormhole space.

Also I needed to do some research on the Intaki Syndicate.

I have made some mental notes. I decided to give one of my most under-used character some 'screen time' and I will revisit some secondary characters from previous stories.

Stay tuned. I hope to have the first episode ready by tomorrow

Blog Banter 34 - A CSM for all parties

This time the Blog Banter subject comes from CCP Xhagen. His question is:

"How would you like to see the CSM grow, both in terms of player interaction and CCP interaction?"

Some time ago, I had a short exchange about what the CSM is. But the question now is, what we players think the CSM should be.

In my view there are two functions that the CSM can ideally fulfill which would help both them as an institution of EVE and CCP as a company. One is focused on interaction with CCP, the other is focused on interaction with players. Both would contribute to the communication and mutual understanding among all parties.


The reality check sounding board

I have the utmost respect for a management that can build up, sustain and grow a niche game throughout the largest financial crisis Iceland has faced recently, and I acknowledge that the EVE developers want to do their best for the game and are certainly in it with heart and soul.

However, we have seen that CCP management is capable of making choices that hardly anybody but they themselves really want. We have also seen that developers can come up with 'great ideas' that leave players wondering whether they even play the game. That is a natural consequence of their job, which does not necessarily include playing the game on a regular basis and knowing every little daily grievance of someone who does.

Here the CSM can be a very valuable asset for CCP when used correctly. Have one of those great visions for EVE? Came up with a new feature? Check with the CSM what their take on it is, you might be surprised.
For this to work well, the CSM needs to be comprised of people from all playstyles and regions. CSM6 - while very effective - was not a group reflecting that properly. Neither was CSM5. Other people in this round of Blog Banter have already suggested equal representation either by playstyle or by region. I would suggest a mixture of both. The position of the CSM chair could then be scrapped completely. It would also make it easier for many players if they don't have to read through the pitches of every candidate but only those who run for their playstyle (Nullsec Sov Holding Alliances, Wormhole Settlers, Faction Warfare, Pirates, Mission Runners etc.)

The Unfortunate side-effect may be, that generalists don't get a seat, but it is a sacrifice I would be willing to make when in exchange I could be sure that there is guaranteed representation of all player base issues. That would make an effective reality check sounding board.


The peergroup messenger

EVE players are a paranoid lot who are prone to overreactions and conspiracy theories. CCP employees are sometimes not very good in communicating well what they are up to. The combination can be disastrous as we have all seen in 2011.

If the CSM sit together with CCP staff and get a good picture about what is going on, and then tell it to the playerbase they represent, a lot of those problems can be avoided. Devblogs could become shared reports, underwritten by a developer and a CSM member in mutual agreement. It would make a major difference and possibly save the devs a lot of questions and comments. Much of that would more likely go to the CSM member who gave a second opinion on it. In addition, people just trust others more if they have the impression that they share interests with them. Therefore it is likely that the responses would be less extreme.

Does that make things more tedious and complicated? Maybe, but it will also make them more transparent and prevent a lot of nerdrage that is based on misconceptions, miscommunication or distrust.

Of course, that would require socially savvy and active CSM members, but when combined with the system of equal representation suggested above, it would enable CSM members to focus on their peer group rather than having to act as go-between for all of the playerbase (or deny that they do, like the Mittani).

Ideally, CCP would offer the CSM a centralized platform to do their communication job: A site connected to the main EVE page where players can directly interact with the representatives, where the CSM members themselves can maintain blogs about their activities, where all the minutes can be found, and where CCP devs can post their reports together with CSM comments.


In summary

I very much am on-board with the system of equal representation of playstyles. How exactly that should be organised, I'd leave for a more specialized discussion about that. In general, the CSM should not become larger than it is to save money and effort in coordination.

I am also very much for a CSM that actively communicates with the playerbase regularly, with CCP facilitating. Also, CCP should involve the CSM as much as possible in the planning and production phases of new features, fixes and changes. In the former to get player feedback, in the latter to inform the players about what is coming up.

I have the feeling that this way, the unique experiment that CCP started by creating the CSM, would reach it's full potential. EVE is the most community driven game on the market, therefore it would only make sense to develop a good method for interacting with that community.