We are going to take the bait.
Before we go any further, you may have noticed a problem or two with the site earlier in the day: Our tremendous thanks to our “guy who knows a guy” (you know who you are) for solving the problem.
And now for something completely different…
The world if full of exciting places to go and things to do – but there are many times when those places are out of our reach for whatever reason. But what if that was not the case? What if your favorite vacation spot where right next door, or down the street? What if you could drop in whenever you wanted?
Those are the thoughts that ran through my head a few summers ago at a lunch counter in Orlando, Florida. As a child, Disney World was tops on my list of “dream vacations”. But it remained a far distant dream until well into my adult years. So the first time I was able to take said vacation I packed up my bags and off I went. When the waitress came around to refill the ever filled, bottom-less cup of coffee that is the stock and trade of every diner, I asked her what her thoughts were on the subject.
What she related was not what I expected. As for me I was a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the famous mouse for many years, but unable to do much of anything about it growing up. And so the thought of being able to hop on down to Disney World seemed like a small slice of heaven to me. The truth of the matter (at least in this case) was that as a Florida resident it was easy for her to trip the light fantastic of the Disney World streets whenever she chose. But after awhile, it seems, even your favorite activity can get old. So in the end what attracted this particular local resident to the World that Walt built where the new attractions, the new rides, that appeared every now and then – and being a local resident she was able to easily and cheaply (or relatively so) take a gander at the latest changes whenever the mood struck her.
Whenever the mood struck her…
That’s the side of the fence that a lifetime subscription falls on for me. There are of course, the “perks of being able to play a “liberated Borg” or the extra character slots. Considering “subscription plus” (the plus being a store for in game items in this case) the perks might simply be something you could otherwise purchase. When Turbine offered a lifetime subscription for Lord of the Rings Online I jumped at the chance, and I have never regretted it for a moment. I liked what I saw in beta and when the “bait” was offered I struck at the line. Since then I have been able to go back to the virtual shores of Middle Earth whenever something new was announced, the lifetime subscription having long ago paid for itself.
Flying in the future
Of course simply because Cryptic Studios is owned by Infogrames/Atari, that is no guarantee of longevity. Likewise, a well known intellectual property (IP) can be help or a hindrance in the long run. But issues of trust aside, what piques my interest at this point is a thought from an article that appeared over at Ten Ton Hammer some time ago on the issue of Star Trek Online versus Eve Online:
“I firmly believe that developing content to attract new players is just as important as pumping out an endless stream of high-end challenges for an established player base if an MMO hopes to survive in an aggressively expanding market. If I look at Game X as it stands today and think it looks cool but not quite cool enough to purchase, why would I purchase it tomorrow when an expansion is released boasting, ‘More high-end raids! Faction grind until you’re blind! Endless Doodles of POW for hardcore Zippers! Oh, and for low level players we’ve added an awesome cardboard box that just kind of sits there on your shelf.’” - Sardu, Ten Ton Hammer (available here)
There seems little doubt in my mind, having played both Eve Online and Star Trek Online, that the long time player base for CCP’s product is firmly entrenched. But what of the newer player base? That is another matter altogether. Even though CCP has made strides in the direction of accessibility in Eve Online in the last year, it seems to be far from what one would call an accessible game. Even if it were an accessible game, any time a game has been in existence for some time new content will normally be aimed at the veteran players, as discussed above, and by Paul Barnett when he was a guest on the No Prisoners, No Mercy show. Whenever a developer makes their product accessible it is likely to stir feelings of hostility among long time players. What it also is likely to do is expand the market. And what this particular IP has more so than many others are potential players that might never have even considered touching a keyboard; after all, the original Star Trek series was around before anyone even considered the idea of an internet. Like World of Warcraft (WoW) it seems that Star Trek Online presents a very real possibility of expanding a market that other companies don’t seem as interested in any more…the older gamer.
See you online,
The No Prisoners, No Mercy Team
“Even if it were an accessible game, any time a game has been in existence for some time new content will normally be aimed at the veteran players”
Big chunks of the last year’s changes in EVE have, thank goodness, been accessible to younger players. Apocrypha’s major feature – wormhole space – wasn’t particularly limited by skillpoints (BC/BSs have relatively low requirements). It was gated by acceptance of risk, a different kettle of fish, and provided a fresh route (as Factional Warfare attempted to do before it) into pewpew and things (ideally not) going boom.
The initial “epic storyarc” missions, were aimed at starter characters specifically, and only later did the L4 epic content appear.
I think CCP seem to be aware of the benefits to retention of constant improvements to the new-player experience but – thinking around the edge of Soundwave/ErisD’s and the content fanfest presentations – their ambitions (storytelling and otherwise) in that area are cramped by limitations in the mission subsystem. A root and branch update might be dangerous, but sounds necessary to give the Atlanta content guys freedom they don’t currently have.
I have myself completed some of the epic story arcs and gone through some of the new player experiences. It is a big improvement to be sure. However, there still remains the fact that it is impossible to participate in pve unmolested by griefers…and any time one individual has the ability to have such a large affect on the game as did Helcity Somethingorother (I forget at the moment) and CCP makes no comment nor seems to care that suggests to me that the new player experience is more of a band aid approach to keeping new players happy. It is more akin to throwing them a bone than anything else.
There is also the factor that the well organized well established veteran factions in the game are well out of the reach of any beginning players to either prevent griefing or to compete with in low sec space.
As a result it seems that at least as far as new players interested in gaming in an outer space game that Star Trek Online will meet those needs where Eve Online will not.
The larger point, however, is that the Star Trek IP will allow a much greater audience to relate to the game than if Cryptic had used an original IP. It also seems that factor will expand the market rather than simply draw players from another existing part of the market.
Thanks for the comment
The Webmaster
Hello Webmaster!
Having personally led a highsec mining fleet without incident for more cumulative hours than is sensible, it certainly is _possible_ to PvE without being griefed. The modest but real risk adds a spice to the game I value. I quite understand the distress of pilots who wish it were otherwise, but I do not exaggerate when I say I would enjoy the game much less if this feature was removed entirely.
“Accessible to new players” isn’t exactly the same thing as “Hisec PvE activities should be immune to griefing.” That might be “accessible to strongly risk-averse players”.
“It also seems that [IP] factor will expand the market rather than simply draw players from another existing part of the market.”
Indeed yes. It seems likely STO will be good for current and forthcoming space-opera MMOs. The broad IP recognition and substantial marketting draw, combined with STO’s very laudable focus on successfully delivering a crisp featureset may result in some downstream feed to other games which cover player interests STO’s current design omits. Jumpgate’s FPS mechanics, for example. Analogs to mining, or the ability to travel perpendicularly to the ecliptic, would interest me.
Despite enjoying parts of STObeta a great deal, I’m still not sure if I at all like the _overall_ game, or at least what it seems to be at this point. This mirrors my generally mixed relationship with the Trek IP, and perhaps is an indication that a strong property can be a burden as well as a boon.
That’s not stopped me from buying it, of course. I’m lucky enough to be able to follow my curiosity wherever it leads me, and the urge to observe STO-as-an-event is quite strong.
No matter what the “nomenclature” applied to what goes on in high sec griefing wise, and no matter how one views it, it seems obvious that CCP (being entirely silent on the subject…we looked) seems to approve of it at best and ignores it at worst. There seems little doubt to me that there will be migration of new players from Eve Online to Star Trek Online.
No matter how it all turns out, the competition is sure to be good for the gamers.
As for Star Trek Online we are all Trekkies around here to begin with, and the fact that Star Trek Online is really starting to shine only helps matters along.
I would add to the webmaster’s comment that while CCP’s “walking in station” is nothing but vaporware Cryptic Studos has actually DONE it. The big question is will CCP be successful at trying to integrate Dust 514 and Eve Online.
Julie
Hi WM,
“There seems little doubt to me that there will be migration of new players from Eve Online to Star Trek Online.”
At least they’ll have someplace to go if they try EVE and decide they don’t like it. The primary moans about EVE seem to be pacing/boring/control system/no 3D avatar/death penalty/travel time/spreadsheets. All of which are likely to be very quickly identified by a new player as problems if they’re going to be issues. There’s not much CCP can do about those points since they also make for EVE’s key features, let it scale, etc. Grief, probably in the form of “They stole my ore!” is no doubt on the list, but i don’t think it’s always the top entry.
STO’s many different design decisions give it a substantially different offer in lots of areas (and thank goodness) – the impact of griefers is just one of these. Worrying about the G word is, I think, to underplay the potential impact of many of STO’s other strong features.
Hi Julie!
“while CCP’s “walking in station” is nothing but vaporware”
Um, I have walked around an iteration of it, as did several hundred FF08 attendees. I was impressed by many of the design decisions (credible interior scaling for one) but left wondering “What’s the driver here? Why would I want to get out of my ship and interact in meatspace?”
Thank the gods Torfifrans went away and seems to have thought again for a point to it all. I want it to stay firmly unimplememted until there’s a strong design. I want an independantly-justifiable game feature, not a purely social space only used by RPers.
“Cryptic Studos has actually DONE it.”
At lightning speed at that, on an engine they already had, and in a way that certainly works. Any project that delivers functioning code roughly on time is a miracle of PMing. I’m personally a little disappointed by it – it’s very “sensible” (or might be, if I could get used to the responsiveness of the ground control scheme), but not, for me, very immersive. It takes me out of my ship too much for avatar travel/interaction, time I’d rather spend shooting ships.
Thank goodness for the deceptively simple innovation of being able to hail mission officers from space, which eliminates substantial chunks of travel time. I currently find travelling more “annoying” in STO than in EVE, but it’s a matter of perspective in pacing between the games. STO’s combat pacing is brisk, so a “long time” in STO is rather a shorter while than a “long time” in EVE.