The Dantelion Plan - Introduction
Good day! I’m Dantelion Shinoni. An Ex-Caldari militia pilot, friend of SQUIDS. [IBLOB], certainly not space-famous but sufficiently adored and reviled, and by enough people to make the name matters. A whole operation has blamed me for a bunch of system being flipped, and I welcome each of the offerings in ships and capsules that have been made in such a manner. But there are more important matters to discuss.
A concern of each and every one of us should be that EVE succeeds. A bustling and active playerbase, activities that encourage people to get out there and do their things. Those things participate in increasing our interactions with the game or in simply making for more people to shoot at, something that makes for a better game.
However, as much as there is love EVE Online, one has to acknowledge, and many of us do, that several writings are on the wall. Whether it is in High-Sec, in Faction Warfare, or even in Null-sec. Whether it is the recent departure of two of the most significant alliances of the Caldari militia in Faction Warfare, or the several problems that plague High-Sec, the entry point and supposedly most inhabited area of the game. Whether it is the incessant technical problems and negative feedback coming from the giant battles in Null-sec, or simply the recent departure of CCP Seagull (most beloved) to which we own the initiative toward Structures that gave the direction of the game those last few years. All those are participating in painting a somber picture of EVE.
Many people do see those writings, unfortunately many of them are hampered by biases that make them incapable of seeing and considering what works out there. What they know is absolute and their knowledge of what EVE is and should be is complete. What is called the 'bittervets', or simply players who are actually just people who are too vested in their own interests and playstyles to see, learn, and try to understand what could help the game. Those exist and I have encountered many while thinking up and debating in order to come up with ideas, thoughts, and counter-points. In my experience, they are also a sign of EVE's downward trend, as they both criticize the game, undermining the confidence of others in it, while offering nothing but nostalgic arguments and a return to the past, thus selecting out the game while preventing it from evolving, a paradoxical and dangerous combination.
So as failing features, degenerative areas of spaces, and close-minded veterans all come together to bring the game down one step at a step, I think now is the proper time for everyone in the game to have a serious discussion about where this game should be heading out this coming Fall in the year to come. Vindicated by systems whose shortcomings have been shown and without fear of what the old guard has to say.
I will start this with this series of posts of the Dantelion Plan. During this week, I will talk about problems I have noticed with both EVE and its spaces, offer solutions and mechanics to address them, and answer their most common rebuttals.
As much as it would look like an ego trip, I do not do this for myself, I do this out of a genuine care and concern for a game I think has much to provide to not only its players but to many people out there in general. Many of us having dedicated several years of our life to it clearly proves that case.
I will introduce mechanics that integrate elements that works in entertaining and attracting players, prove how they do so, and explain the interest of the game in integrating those. Those mechanics are certainly not a bunch of CCPls. At the end of the day it’s CCP's game, and I am sure they have their own plans, desired features, and pet dreams they'd rather work on. Rather they are a way I came up with to illustrate and address each of the problems I have identified in those zones, and that in an effort to not just signal them but also offer solutions. They are part of a process I invite everyone to participate in, and already the festering of FW has prompted several propositions like https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/98orol/faction_warfare_overhaul_justice_plan_ccplease/, and outside of low-sec we have http://evenews24.com/2018/08/19/remove-jump-freighters-introduce-force-freighters/, offering bold and crazy ideas that make people both face the problems of the game but also make them think outside the... sandbox š. More of those should happen, for all areas of space, I think it is the perfect time, CCP being even more receptive, the game being in most need of it, and the facts we have refused to address finally taking their toils on the game. And especially now that we are out of the Into the Abyss expansion that broke new and unexplored grounds. Grounds that can be the bedrock for crazy ideas, and make several of them even possible.
The desire overall is to make EVE a game people look forward to playing, at all levels. It is in our interest to aid the process of questioning what is actually happening to the game, think about it, and come up with ways, even bold or crazy ones, to better it. EVE can handle it, certainly better than some of its pilots at least.
The first post in this series will be about High-sec, the culture there, how the three overarching problems I have identified interact with it, its problems and its conflicts, and the invisible battle around it. I will then introduce mechanics that could respond to said problems and explain how they do so. Finally, I will answer some of the common counter-arguments I heard about those.
My focus will be on two regions of space I have lived in, analyzed and studied, zones that exemplify the slow but constant bleeding of enjoyment and activity out of the game. High-Sec and Faction Warfare. I will also talk about Null-sec and the obvious signs I have noticed about the area whose underlying causes affect other areas of space.
Overall, I think EVE suffers from 3 overarching problems that can be easily summed up as:
- Lack of Scarcity
- Lack of Commitment
- Lack of Participation
In High-Sec, in low-sec, in Null-Sec, I will cover how those problems manifest themselves in most of the troubles those areas suffer from. For example, how Lack of Scarcity hinders the generation of meaningful conflicts in High-sec, the resources that could be conflict generators being few and/or impractical. How Lack of Commitment affects Faction Warfare in the daily life of a Militia capsuleer, and now with Lack of Participation joining in to deliver to the zone a dizzying and potentially killing blow. Or how Null-Sec generates a Lack of Participation that permeates through the rest of the game and hampers it even at the technical level. The Big Battles are a lagfest of its own making through the encouragement by CCP of N+1 mechanics in the hope of chasing the golden goose of media recognition, and the propagation of Botters is merely the symptoms of a gameplay that is easily bottable and underwhelming.
You can expect the very first post in the series this day.
Until then, Stay Golden.
A concern of each and every one of us should be that EVE succeeds. A bustling and active playerbase, activities that encourage people to get out there and do their things. Those things participate in increasing our interactions with the game or in simply making for more people to shoot at, something that makes for a better game.
However, as much as there is love EVE Online, one has to acknowledge, and many of us do, that several writings are on the wall. Whether it is in High-Sec, in Faction Warfare, or even in Null-sec. Whether it is the recent departure of two of the most significant alliances of the Caldari militia in Faction Warfare, or the several problems that plague High-Sec, the entry point and supposedly most inhabited area of the game. Whether it is the incessant technical problems and negative feedback coming from the giant battles in Null-sec, or simply the recent departure of CCP Seagull (most beloved) to which we own the initiative toward Structures that gave the direction of the game those last few years. All those are participating in painting a somber picture of EVE.
Many people do see those writings, unfortunately many of them are hampered by biases that make them incapable of seeing and considering what works out there. What they know is absolute and their knowledge of what EVE is and should be is complete. What is called the 'bittervets', or simply players who are actually just people who are too vested in their own interests and playstyles to see, learn, and try to understand what could help the game. Those exist and I have encountered many while thinking up and debating in order to come up with ideas, thoughts, and counter-points. In my experience, they are also a sign of EVE's downward trend, as they both criticize the game, undermining the confidence of others in it, while offering nothing but nostalgic arguments and a return to the past, thus selecting out the game while preventing it from evolving, a paradoxical and dangerous combination.
So as failing features, degenerative areas of spaces, and close-minded veterans all come together to bring the game down one step at a step, I think now is the proper time for everyone in the game to have a serious discussion about where this game should be heading out this coming Fall in the year to come. Vindicated by systems whose shortcomings have been shown and without fear of what the old guard has to say.
I will start this with this series of posts of the Dantelion Plan. During this week, I will talk about problems I have noticed with both EVE and its spaces, offer solutions and mechanics to address them, and answer their most common rebuttals.
As much as it would look like an ego trip, I do not do this for myself, I do this out of a genuine care and concern for a game I think has much to provide to not only its players but to many people out there in general. Many of us having dedicated several years of our life to it clearly proves that case.
I will introduce mechanics that integrate elements that works in entertaining and attracting players, prove how they do so, and explain the interest of the game in integrating those. Those mechanics are certainly not a bunch of CCPls. At the end of the day it’s CCP's game, and I am sure they have their own plans, desired features, and pet dreams they'd rather work on. Rather they are a way I came up with to illustrate and address each of the problems I have identified in those zones, and that in an effort to not just signal them but also offer solutions. They are part of a process I invite everyone to participate in, and already the festering of FW has prompted several propositions like https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/98orol/faction_warfare_overhaul_justice_plan_ccplease/, and outside of low-sec we have http://evenews24.com/2018/08/19/remove-jump-freighters-introduce-force-freighters/, offering bold and crazy ideas that make people both face the problems of the game but also make them think outside the... sandbox š. More of those should happen, for all areas of space, I think it is the perfect time, CCP being even more receptive, the game being in most need of it, and the facts we have refused to address finally taking their toils on the game. And especially now that we are out of the Into the Abyss expansion that broke new and unexplored grounds. Grounds that can be the bedrock for crazy ideas, and make several of them even possible.
The desire overall is to make EVE a game people look forward to playing, at all levels. It is in our interest to aid the process of questioning what is actually happening to the game, think about it, and come up with ways, even bold or crazy ones, to better it. EVE can handle it, certainly better than some of its pilots at least.
The first post in this series will be about High-sec, the culture there, how the three overarching problems I have identified interact with it, its problems and its conflicts, and the invisible battle around it. I will then introduce mechanics that could respond to said problems and explain how they do so. Finally, I will answer some of the common counter-arguments I heard about those.
My focus will be on two regions of space I have lived in, analyzed and studied, zones that exemplify the slow but constant bleeding of enjoyment and activity out of the game. High-Sec and Faction Warfare. I will also talk about Null-sec and the obvious signs I have noticed about the area whose underlying causes affect other areas of space.
Overall, I think EVE suffers from 3 overarching problems that can be easily summed up as:
- Lack of Scarcity
- Lack of Commitment
- Lack of Participation
In High-Sec, in low-sec, in Null-Sec, I will cover how those problems manifest themselves in most of the troubles those areas suffer from. For example, how Lack of Scarcity hinders the generation of meaningful conflicts in High-sec, the resources that could be conflict generators being few and/or impractical. How Lack of Commitment affects Faction Warfare in the daily life of a Militia capsuleer, and now with Lack of Participation joining in to deliver to the zone a dizzying and potentially killing blow. Or how Null-Sec generates a Lack of Participation that permeates through the rest of the game and hampers it even at the technical level. The Big Battles are a lagfest of its own making through the encouragement by CCP of N+1 mechanics in the hope of chasing the golden goose of media recognition, and the propagation of Botters is merely the symptoms of a gameplay that is easily bottable and underwhelming.
You can expect the very first post in the series this day.
Until then, Stay Golden.
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