Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
A decade.
Malcanis
Member UncommonPosts: 3,297
in EVE Online
Today is my 10th EVE birthday. I have been within this game for just a
few less than 3653 days (there were a few days when I let the sub lapse
while I was on holiday and such). Much has changed within the game - I have changed a lot since them - but more has stayed the same.
New ships, new mechanics, and much more importantly, new social models and organisational methods. There were no public NPSI fleets in 2006, there were no large, well-run, well funded "newbro" alliances like Brave Newbies, Horde, Karmafleet back then. Not only was the game dominated by veteran organisations perhaps even more then than now, but there was basically no place for the new player in most activities. The tiercide project was years away, and there was very little that a new player could contribute to a "serious" fleet other than fly a rifter or a blackbird, and quickly die as soon as they were noticed.
T2 items were produced soley from BPOs, and were unthinkably expensive. At a time when you could buy a 30-day GTC for ~90m ISK, a Cerberus cost ~300m ISK. Imagine a HAC costing the price of 3 PLEX today - that will give you an idea of how out of reach such ships seemed then. And that was just the hull; the T2 launchers would be 20m each, and so on.
Since then we've seen the EVE economy and society evolve almost beyond recognition. Many of the names are the same, but most of the methods are different. The level of organisation and infrastructure that even a mediocre 0.0 group is routinely expected to have now was simply unthinkable back then. Likewise the abundance of, well, everything is overwhelming. Everyone in the game expects to be able to buy pretty much anything they want in whatever quantity they need for a fairly stable- and low- price.
I think it would be pretty foolish to say whether all these changes have made EVE "better" or "worse". One of the few tings we can say with certainty is that EVE absolutely needs continuous change, not necessarily in every factor all the time, but there should always be significant changes occuring in some significant aspect of the game. The greatest threat EVE could face would be being sold to EA; after that, stagnation and predictability. Every major change - and there have been too many in 10 years for me to even start to try and list them - has winners and losers. And every time, the winers have crowed and the losers have cried.
The original Forum was the the seat of Athenian democracy, and I feel pretty safe in saying that the debates there were probably not all that different in type and form to the debates seen right here; self-interest, ideology, fear, and pride, generally mixed in with incohate patriotism and seasoned with as much rhetoric as the recipe would stand.
Yet even though it was distilled from such unpromising ingredients, the democracy of Athens was something new to the world, and it offered the inhabitants world something it may have never seen before: the idea that there could be a society where more than just will of the tyrant, the monarch could affect the course of events.
EVE still makes that offer to the gaming world. EVE might be violent, unforgiving, hypocritical, oppressive, obsessed with money, selfish, treachrous and cruel. Athens was all of those things when the Forum was at the height of its power. EVE, like Athens, also writes incredible stories, and offers unique glories to those she calls her own. Who would live in any other city? Why would one live any other way? Where else would one nevigate but to such a port? What other game sustains such pride?
New ships, new mechanics, and much more importantly, new social models and organisational methods. There were no public NPSI fleets in 2006, there were no large, well-run, well funded "newbro" alliances like Brave Newbies, Horde, Karmafleet back then. Not only was the game dominated by veteran organisations perhaps even more then than now, but there was basically no place for the new player in most activities. The tiercide project was years away, and there was very little that a new player could contribute to a "serious" fleet other than fly a rifter or a blackbird, and quickly die as soon as they were noticed.
T2 items were produced soley from BPOs, and were unthinkably expensive. At a time when you could buy a 30-day GTC for ~90m ISK, a Cerberus cost ~300m ISK. Imagine a HAC costing the price of 3 PLEX today - that will give you an idea of how out of reach such ships seemed then. And that was just the hull; the T2 launchers would be 20m each, and so on.
Since then we've seen the EVE economy and society evolve almost beyond recognition. Many of the names are the same, but most of the methods are different. The level of organisation and infrastructure that even a mediocre 0.0 group is routinely expected to have now was simply unthinkable back then. Likewise the abundance of, well, everything is overwhelming. Everyone in the game expects to be able to buy pretty much anything they want in whatever quantity they need for a fairly stable- and low- price.
I think it would be pretty foolish to say whether all these changes have made EVE "better" or "worse". One of the few tings we can say with certainty is that EVE absolutely needs continuous change, not necessarily in every factor all the time, but there should always be significant changes occuring in some significant aspect of the game. The greatest threat EVE could face would be being sold to EA; after that, stagnation and predictability. Every major change - and there have been too many in 10 years for me to even start to try and list them - has winners and losers. And every time, the winers have crowed and the losers have cried.
The original Forum was the the seat of Athenian democracy, and I feel pretty safe in saying that the debates there were probably not all that different in type and form to the debates seen right here; self-interest, ideology, fear, and pride, generally mixed in with incohate patriotism and seasoned with as much rhetoric as the recipe would stand.
Yet even though it was distilled from such unpromising ingredients, the democracy of Athens was something new to the world, and it offered the inhabitants world something it may have never seen before: the idea that there could be a society where more than just will of the tyrant, the monarch could affect the course of events.
EVE still makes that offer to the gaming world. EVE might be violent, unforgiving, hypocritical, oppressive, obsessed with money, selfish, treachrous and cruel. Athens was all of those things when the Forum was at the height of its power. EVE, like Athens, also writes incredible stories, and offers unique glories to those she calls her own. Who would live in any other city? Why would one live any other way? Where else would one nevigate but to such a port? What other game sustains such pride?
Give me liberty or give me lasers
Comments
Give me liberty or give me lasers
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
Thousands on an experience that is on the market and has provided entertainment for 10+ years is totally reasonable. I've spent close to a thousand on my game of choice, which has kept me entertained for 13 years. Others have spent more on other hobbies.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
What the OP says is very true. Despite the many changes to both EVE itself and the meta game around it, it still delivers the type of virtual world that I enjoy inhabiting.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Chribba's bio:
My alts are: Elyza, Yuffie, Ifalna, Ellone, Rikku, Selphie, Nhadala, Refia, Shalua, Arylon, Chribba Kamprad, Chribba Veldspar, Enola Black, Chribba Claus, Selena Gomez, Rachele Smith, Bree Turner, Alexis Dziena, Zoe Saldana, Meagan Good, Amanda Crew, Amber Tamblyn, Tammin Sursok, Shenae Grimes, Kristen Wiig, Jennifer Alden, Nina Dobrev, Kaley Cuoco, Emilee Wallace, Alyson Michalka, Aimee Teegarden, Carla Gallo, Collette Wolfe, Shelley Hennig, Krysten Ritter, Alia Shawkat, Ellie Kemper, Ari Graynor, Maria Pitillo, Sydney Bennett, Alyson Stoner, Noureen DeWulf, Brie Larson, Rosamund Pike, Charlie Spradling, Anna-Sophia Robb, Katie Findlay, Vanessa Lengies, Rose Leslie and Lizzy Caplan.
(someone might update that info)
Or to put it another way, I spend £3.46 per week on EVE.
Two years ago, CCP paid for my return flight to Reykjavik, a driver to take me too and from the airport and 4 nights in a nice hotel, and gave me a free fanfest pass as well.
I do not feel that EVE is an expensive hobby at all.
Give me liberty or give me lasers