"What would we encourage ALL new players to do in their first month to get them to subscribe long term, if we had to give out one set of advice for everyone (which we do if we're giving general advice)?"
I also am not fond of absolutes such as 'all' or 'everyone' in Eve or in life. It turns a simple question into a challenge. I'm not fond of telling people what decisions to make. I don't tell them what to eat, what to buy, what to like, or why they should do it. I'm not a salesman. I expect people to think about and make their own decisions. But, the best advice I have ever received was to make a decision even if it is the wrong one.
That's not the advice I'm giving because decision is to heavy a word for someone without the knowledge and background to understand what decision they are making. If this were important, sure, but its a game. It is a game that we are here to speed our time by choice, playing.
Don't worry. Start discovering you. It may take more than a month.
You will be advised to join a corp. This will work for some. It will have no appeal to others.
You will be advised to:
- Pvp
- Join a corp
- Mine
- Mission
- Explore
- Do it all
- Steal
- Gank
- Scam
- ...and more
Try it. Don't try it. But do what you think you want to do not what you are pressured to do. The hardest part is figuring out your game. The rest of the things are tools to help you play that game. And that game will change. It may change the moment you try something. Or you may play for years and one day decide it is no longer what you want to do.
It is about you.
Think of yourself. Remember yourself. The lack of role play that is common to Eve does not meant hat you cannot discover an immerse existence as an Eve player. Never would I have thought hat I would become a marketeer. I'm an introvert and never thought that I would come to passionate love my Eve corporations. But don't let a corporation keep you down. If you try one and like it, great. If you don't there are others.
Eve does not create you game so don't waste your time looking for it.
You are your game. Good things will happen. So will bad. The bad things make the good ones better. Some experiences can be so intense that they are almost intoxicating. That doesn't happen when there is no negatives in the world. Embrace them but you don't have to like them.
Use Google. Ask questions. The gaining of knowledge is not a linear thing. Even video game knowledge. It will all soak in and one day you will realize that you understand it.
Have fun. Don't let anyone define Eve for you. It is very easy to do so and it is one of the things that I do think of as a true mistake. Scream into the darkness and own your game how you want it. Kind of like this post where I failed to follow instructions.
Own it. It's yours.
In principle I agree that newbros should just try what they feel like. This works if they have a reasonable idea of how EVE is or is otherwise open minded, or perhaps have not played many SP video games or theme park MMOs (i.e. where the whole universe revolves around you, and you don't really need any one else).
ReplyDeleteIn practice, I don't think many incoming players are like that. Left to their own devices without well intended guidance, they often fall back to old habits with pre-existing prejudices that are often not conducive to deep EVE experiences in the long term. (This is not a criticism, this is just natural.)
I think without the benefit of slightly forceful guidance at the start, such players tend to do their own thing for some time, even years, after which they've become too entrenched to "start again". (EVE is a game that attracts very stubborn people.) This is when forum/blog ranting takes over.
Note: the point is not that the newbro should find the single career to fall in love with from the get go, but to be exposed to the various mechanisms and systems (particularly non consensual PvP) that make up the game as a whole. Learn what EVE is and is not, to avoid future misunderstanding and potential tears. The biggest misconception of the sandbox is that any single player is *entitled* to play their game however they want.
KN
That's the reason for structured training programs for nearly all disciplines. The goal is for graduates to outgrow and exceed limits of experience and training, but you can't do that until you're shown the options.
DeleteI'm that contrary did poorly in. Irmal structured things kinda person. In this I can indulge my true desires because its a game.
DeleteIt may be niche but I'm okay with that.
I feel for you Sugar,
ReplyDeleteIf you proceed over to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases you’ll find a mindbogglingly long list and tucked away in that bunch is:
Naïve realism: The belief that we see reality as it really is – objectively and without bias; that the facts are plain for all to see; that rational people will agree with us; and that those who don't are either uninformed, lazy, irrational, or biased.
Trying to get such people to see a bigger picture, to shake free of “one set of advice for everyone”, to accept there really are other opinions and those opinions matter is aggravatingly difficult.
But advice is just a starting point. People receiving it are meant to sick the value out of it, discard the husk, and outgrow it. It's like the opening position of a negotiation: instrumental.
DeleteNothing is carved in stone, and even if it were, stone can be broken.
Allow me to tell you a story Talvorian. If you’re old, like the hands behind the Dire, there are grandbabies in the family. Grandbabies are a special type of joy. Accordingly, at family gatherings, garnering their attention can get a bit competitive. By day’s end, I usually win these competitions. Here’s how . . .
DeleteThe other Grands, anxious for a little baby time, arrive on scene and begin searching out babies to collect hugs and kisses. All too often the babies find this a little onerous. Some adult swoops you up, prying you away from whatever you were doing and promptly demands hugs and kisses. Me, I don’t partake. Instead, I put the baby in charge. It’s devilishly simple . . .
Kids often prefer to hang where the action is (underfoot) so after I’ve said my hellos to the adults I plunk myself down *on the floor* at the foot of the couch and wait. “Ooh! Someone to climb on,” sparkles the 1 year old’s eyes and suddenly I have her attention. Now children are a jealous lot so pretty quickly the 4 year old plunks down in my lap with a book I’m supposed to read to her (cleverly displacing the 1 year old). Now I have two kid’s attention. (Juggling time between climbing infant and 4 year old is great fun.) The 3 year old is usually the last to acknowledge me. He’s rather independent. Not asocial, just independent. He’s still a kid though, and kids mimic. So before long he’s sitting beside me, legs and arms in similar position to mine demanding my smart phone. I have no special games on my smart phone. Just google and a camera. For reason’s I’m unaware of, ‘adult’ smart phones are best meaning the 3 year old takes great delight in pressing letters into google search and/or taking pictures. Now like all 3 year olds, his attention is a little scattered so occasionally the phone goes to sleep on him. I’ve tried to jump in and reawaken the phone but the imposition is unappreciated so now I just wait. He’ll poke at the phone, often multiple times until he figures out that this may well be a ‘need help’ situation and brings the phone to me. Now I have 3 kids’ attention. They wander off and return as they see fit. Most of the time at least one kid is utilizing me for something. No other Grands manage that level of engagement.
Sometimes it’s best not to impose anything. Instead, one can just listen and only then respond.
CCP is actually pursuing just such approach. Instead of relying solely on a set of New Player Experience classes they’re expending resources on things like easy, intuitively available answers to questions that may arise via ISIS, pop-ups, better UI and whatever else they have up their sleeve.
Ha! I've definitely observed the same thing in my family. We say, "Kids are like cats. They'll find the one person who's not interested in them and make that person their best friend."
DeleteThe problem with that comparison is that new players aren't nearly as vested in Eve as kids are in the house where everyone's gathering. The kids are a captive audience... they have no choice but to make do with what people and toys they have nearby.
New players can - and clearly do - decide it's not worth the time to learn and they wander off to another game, missing gameplay that might appeal to them because they don't know it's there, or how to get there.
Ahh, you two :). I love this discussion.
DeleteSugar, your answer to that question is the only one I have read that doesn't make me want to scream. I vote it BEST ANSWER EVER.
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers you about the bulk of the answers?
Delete