As with the others I skipped the session for the round table. This one had a table full of developers to discuss the UI. I also had scheduled a meeting with CCP Arrow and a player with some visual impairment problems afterwards. That is why I missed the Lore panel.
The questions started with a continuation from the panel.
Request: When a scout selects enemy spotted the FC can see their grid
Request: If we had a toggle button to truncate the overview to see the ship types group by player selected sorting. Or if the UI allowed us to sort by ship type instead of group like cruisers and/or then gave us grouping abilities. We cannot sort T1 logistics ships for example. (This was followed by a discussion)
Q: Monochromatic icons drive me crazy. Can we have the old icons back?
A: No. We have discussed the reasoning of icon processing. By sorting them by color you recognize the color and not the icon and you will run out of color. We also want a clear separation between icons and the intractable items in the game. Do you all want color to particular icons? Would key bindings help? There is no perfect solution but part of these changes is using shapes to help with memory over color.
Q: NPC Icons - It is still not enough to differentiate them at 125% size increase. When the new icons come will there be more ways to magnify them?
A: They are looking at more ways to natively support resolution increases. With 4k screens becoming more and more common this is more and more important. Maybe a toggle that magnifies windows when you drag them? We know that it is also an accessibility issue.
Q: Maybe a super high contract option?
A: A color them for the color blind? Like red and blue? We have tried to move away from color as a way to define things.
Q: I want to pick my two color contracts to what works best for me.
A: Understood.
Request: When you change settings it goes to all of your accounts. We want to to have a setting per character instead of global.
Request: Asking for what is in inventory windows to not changed. Saved searches and fewer windows and popups that tell me what I can't do.
Request: Stack Splitting for multiple contracts instead of having to manually split them have the contract pull proper amounts.
Request: Stack splitting remotely without using the contract window.
Request: A way to prioritize local channels to find war targets or people with standings.
A: This has been looked into but it is a game design issue. Chat channels are also intelligence tools so it is not just about UI but about game design.
Q: Putting the UI into the players hands
A: Its a matter of maintaining. Right now it is technically unfeasible. There is a problem of third party designers no longer being interested in a program and when then peoples UI does not work because of updates to the game. That would lock people out of playing. Also the ascetic value and standards are maintained.
Q: Any plans to resize the default scale of windows? You can't even see MOTDs in many windows and new players don't know that they exist.
A: This is the type of information we are looking for to decide how the initial experience should be.
Idea: The overview... how about having a setting that uses a standardized three letter acronym system for faster ship identification? Such as HAC? Or STN for station to help with the sizes of windows and processing what is on the overview faster.
Request: That the game remember windows and resolutions. That would help resize with fixed windows.
Request: Chat tabs - the number of people in the chat window does not show up well.
Follow up request: Please don't let it show how many people are in alliance chat by default because of spies.
Q: Has there been thought of an Eve lite version of Eve where I can do the market and PI and such things?
A: Not in the works
Request: Show persistent folders on the neocom.
Request: Warp to icons - Can you add a number when the default is changed from zero so that we have a reminder?
Q: Can we get more feedback when we file bug reports to know that they have been closed?
A: Discussed to check in the account manager on the website.
The questions started with a continuation from the panel.
Request: When a scout selects enemy spotted the FC can see their grid
Request: If we had a toggle button to truncate the overview to see the ship types group by player selected sorting. Or if the UI allowed us to sort by ship type instead of group like cruisers and/or then gave us grouping abilities. We cannot sort T1 logistics ships for example. (This was followed by a discussion)
Q: Monochromatic icons drive me crazy. Can we have the old icons back?
A: No. We have discussed the reasoning of icon processing. By sorting them by color you recognize the color and not the icon and you will run out of color. We also want a clear separation between icons and the intractable items in the game. Do you all want color to particular icons? Would key bindings help? There is no perfect solution but part of these changes is using shapes to help with memory over color.
Q: NPC Icons - It is still not enough to differentiate them at 125% size increase. When the new icons come will there be more ways to magnify them?
A: They are looking at more ways to natively support resolution increases. With 4k screens becoming more and more common this is more and more important. Maybe a toggle that magnifies windows when you drag them? We know that it is also an accessibility issue.
Q: Maybe a super high contract option?
A: A color them for the color blind? Like red and blue? We have tried to move away from color as a way to define things.
Q: I want to pick my two color contracts to what works best for me.
A: Understood.
Request: When you change settings it goes to all of your accounts. We want to to have a setting per character instead of global.
Request: Asking for what is in inventory windows to not changed. Saved searches and fewer windows and popups that tell me what I can't do.
Request: Stack Splitting for multiple contracts instead of having to manually split them have the contract pull proper amounts.
Request: Stack splitting remotely without using the contract window.
Request: A way to prioritize local channels to find war targets or people with standings.
A: This has been looked into but it is a game design issue. Chat channels are also intelligence tools so it is not just about UI but about game design.
Q: Putting the UI into the players hands
A: Its a matter of maintaining. Right now it is technically unfeasible. There is a problem of third party designers no longer being interested in a program and when then peoples UI does not work because of updates to the game. That would lock people out of playing. Also the ascetic value and standards are maintained.
Q: Any plans to resize the default scale of windows? You can't even see MOTDs in many windows and new players don't know that they exist.
A: This is the type of information we are looking for to decide how the initial experience should be.
Idea: The overview... how about having a setting that uses a standardized three letter acronym system for faster ship identification? Such as HAC? Or STN for station to help with the sizes of windows and processing what is on the overview faster.
Request: That the game remember windows and resolutions. That would help resize with fixed windows.
Request: Chat tabs - the number of people in the chat window does not show up well.
Follow up request: Please don't let it show how many people are in alliance chat by default because of spies.
Q: Has there been thought of an Eve lite version of Eve where I can do the market and PI and such things?
A: Not in the works
Request: Show persistent folders on the neocom.
Request: Warp to icons - Can you add a number when the default is changed from zero so that we have a reminder?
Q: Can we get more feedback when we file bug reports to know that they have been closed?
A: Discussed to check in the account manager on the website.
Fanfest 2013? Back to the Future.
ReplyDeleteI must have been reminiscing.
DeleteThe CSM 10 election data is out. For the permanent seats the last round:
DeleteRound beginning - 3 candidates remain
21583 votes, 7195 quota Initial talley:
9080 "Sugar Kyle"
6275 "Sion Kumitomo"
6228 "Manfred Sideous"
1.5x more votes than the second candidate. Nice!
Maybe it's just my perception, but in any communication I have seen from the UI team, I always get this feeling of arrogance. They are working with an aspect of the game that very much affects each individual player's experience, and to which each person will react differently, yet they constantly seem to have the approach of wanting to do everything their way in a "one size fits all" mentality, and frankly I find it very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteA few examples of what I'm talking about:
"Q: Monochromatic icons drive me crazy. Can we have the old icons back?
A: No. We have discussed the reasoning of icon processing. By sorting them by color you recognize the color and not the icon and you will run out of color. We also want a clear separation between icons and the intractable items in the game. Do you all want color to particular icons? Would key bindings help? There is no perfect solution but part of these changes is using shapes to help with memory over color."
This has been a constant response on this topic; a unilateral dismissal of allowing for any color differentiation among icons. Why are they so opposed to players using color, or a combination of color and shapes, to quickly identify icons? Maybe shapes alone work better for some people, but colors work better for others? Dismissing this frequent request seems to be a bit narrow-minded of them.
"Q: Putting the UI into the players hands
A: Its a matter of maintaining. Right now it is technically unfeasible. There is a problem of third party designers no longer being interested in a program and when then peoples UI does not work because of updates to the game. That would lock people out of playing. Also the ascetic value and standards are maintained."
It's that last line that really gets me - "Also the [aesthetic] value and standards are maintained." They've given this line as an excuse a number of times before, such as with the requests to restore user-defined UI color schemes. Why is their aesthetic vision so important so as to override the preferences of the individual player as to what they are going to be staring at for hours at a time? If the player really wants a bright pink screen, what possible harm could that do to any other player or the game itself? No one else will see it! Why does this matter so much to the UI team that they continue to deny this sort of control to the players?