Somewhere in my pondering stuff came the question of value of that stuff. The value that stuff has to me and that value that stuff has to others and what value should it have. That is the question of accessibility vs status.
I've never played World of Warcraft. I understand, in a vague way from hearing other's discuss it that the gear you wear in World of Warcraft is super important. I know that in Diablo you are supposed to care about some high end gear that I've never cared about. Getting this gear is something that is brag worthy. In Eve it often translates into someone buying plex and making an officer fit Drake because in other games high value equipment improves you more than anything else does.
Last year I worked to get escalations redone. This improved the number of escalations which caused an uptick in modules found by exploration. This brings more modules to the market and thus their price crashes. However, there are more of them so while the individual price goes down the number the player can gain offsets that price crash.
But, along with that came complaints that finding these modules no longer felt special. That getting these modules was not so exciting. That is true but at the same time the use of the modules increases as the cost comes down to what more players consider within their expense ranges. They become more accessible and people are willing to take a more expensive step.
So, the accessibility is increase and the status is decreased because it is more common. Common things are not exciting things because everyone has that. But the accessibility seems to be worth it to me.
Some of that comes down to the why are we playing aspect. As players play their interests and tastes change. I often come back to the killboards because there is so much focus on them. The amount of destruction that one player visits on another is the way that many define their actions in the game. Status is created by that cost and as that cost decreases the value of that kill decreases.
Are we attacking players or attacking stuff? That may be the question to look at. Are we fighting for the fight or just trying to destroy someone elses things? For those engaged in actions with such questions, they know their own answers. But, I think these questions and topics get tied up in the greater aspect of the game.
What game are we playing? Eve is a transmutable creature. It is part of the appeal. But it cannot support each style to the exclusion of others. It is very easy to get trapped inside of our own game and wrap ourselves within self imposed rules. After all, Diablo is about getting epic gear and WoW about end game raiding? So Eve is about expensive pvp kills...?
I've never played World of Warcraft. I understand, in a vague way from hearing other's discuss it that the gear you wear in World of Warcraft is super important. I know that in Diablo you are supposed to care about some high end gear that I've never cared about. Getting this gear is something that is brag worthy. In Eve it often translates into someone buying plex and making an officer fit Drake because in other games high value equipment improves you more than anything else does.
Last year I worked to get escalations redone. This improved the number of escalations which caused an uptick in modules found by exploration. This brings more modules to the market and thus their price crashes. However, there are more of them so while the individual price goes down the number the player can gain offsets that price crash.
But, along with that came complaints that finding these modules no longer felt special. That getting these modules was not so exciting. That is true but at the same time the use of the modules increases as the cost comes down to what more players consider within their expense ranges. They become more accessible and people are willing to take a more expensive step.
So, the accessibility is increase and the status is decreased because it is more common. Common things are not exciting things because everyone has that. But the accessibility seems to be worth it to me.
Some of that comes down to the why are we playing aspect. As players play their interests and tastes change. I often come back to the killboards because there is so much focus on them. The amount of destruction that one player visits on another is the way that many define their actions in the game. Status is created by that cost and as that cost decreases the value of that kill decreases.
Are we attacking players or attacking stuff? That may be the question to look at. Are we fighting for the fight or just trying to destroy someone elses things? For those engaged in actions with such questions, they know their own answers. But, I think these questions and topics get tied up in the greater aspect of the game.
What game are we playing? Eve is a transmutable creature. It is part of the appeal. But it cannot support each style to the exclusion of others. It is very easy to get trapped inside of our own game and wrap ourselves within self imposed rules. After all, Diablo is about getting epic gear and WoW about end game raiding? So Eve is about expensive pvp kills...?
Yup, pretty much.
ReplyDelete:)
Eve hasn't figured out what it's about yet, if you ask me....
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand the frustration that can arise from sitting in a room full of posturing scorekeepers, in a game like Eve with its central harvest/manufacture/destroy circle I’m also aware that though I’m not highly motivated to partake in said posturing I remain supremely grateful some people are. Killboard/Faction Tier/Nullsec Sov scorekeeping demands considerable space murder and space murder is good for my manufacturing business. Posture on scorekeepers. I like you that way.
ReplyDeleteIt's not so much that they posture, it's that they keep trying to inflict their view of New Eden upon those of us that don't. Have you DireNecessity heard the good word of efficiency percentages and kill:death ratio's yet? No? Could I have a moment of your time perhaps, so I can save your immortal pod soul? They're like EVE's jehovah witnesses. ;-)
DeleteWell and amusingly put Kaeda. The question for me is how to navigate the evangelists’ incessant barking. Me? I jovially accept their complimentary copy of The Space Watchtower while quietly slipping them a combat product price list (order form attached) and proceed on my merry way wryly bemused. Eve is a big raucous space city. I enjoy the cacophony.
DeleteCompletely unrelated, I just want to say thanks to you two. This is the first smile I've had in a craptastic day.
DeleteManufacturers revel in death = more sales
ReplyDelete"posturing scorekeepers" - DireNecessity
ReplyDeleteVery befitting description of the majority of Eve. I've come to the conclusion that Eve is about blowing up someone else's stuff just because it's there. Period. Yeah, sure, some people manufacture, mine, mission, etc... But for the most part it's a - destroy it because we can - mentality.
After awhile it gets boring. It becomes a rat race for the same old shit.
If EVE is boring, one of two things is happening - 1) you're playing it wrong (in that EVE is a game about constant goal re-invention) or 2) the game has lost its appeal.
DeleteOr 3) You've ran out of motivation/goals... because there are only so many things you can do in Eve and they eventually all feel the same.
DeleteSolution to this is usually to find a new group of people to hang out with.
Eve is full of breakers.... here is a poem, I didn't write it but its sums up a the few good people in Eve and a majority of the people that make it not so great.
ReplyDeleteI watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho, heave, ho and a lusty yell,
They swung the beam and a side wall fell.
I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled?,
The kind you'd hire if you were to build?"
He gave a laugh and said, "No, indeed, common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do."
And so I asked as I went my way,
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder with a well-made plan, lifting others the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?