mandrill

EVE is different. There are no real fixed factions, there is no 'real' advantage in combat for multi-boxing players (keeping on top of combat on one account is hard enough). The big draw for multi-boxing in EVE is the meta-game, which is a big part of how EVE works.

Spies, espionage, treachery. and also having different toons for different purposes (mining, missioning, combat, trading, etc) is pretty much essential due to the way training works.

EVE would be a great deal less than what it is without alt accounts.

No the entire fanbase isn't like that, just the pompous ones :)

I can quite understand that the UI is a big turn off for lots of people. The font is too small, its unintuitive, and its nowhere near customisable enough.

Its such a shame that a beautiful game like EVE is hidden behind a whole slew of spreadsheets and tables.

As the latest trailer points out (and the 'Butterfly Effect' trailer before that one) EVE is a incredibly deep game where every players actions have a tangible effect on the game universe. The problem is that you have to really work hard to get to that level of gameplay, not only to understand the mechanics (which contrary to popular belief are not the same as the UI) but to fight your way thought the terrible and outdated UI.

I play, but then I have since 2004 so knowing the UI's little foibles and idiosyncrasies is second nature. I fully appreciate that they're a big barrier to entry for newcomers though.

There are some who would say that EVE is an entirely political game, its just that its not built overtly into the mechanics. The mechanics are provided for the means to reach political ends, but its all politics really. Who's shooting who, who's supplying who, who own's what space.

The recent Disbanding of Ushra'Khan was a political move, performed by a spy in their ranks. Same with the downfall of BoB. I don't think EVE would profit from cementing the political machiniations in any kind of game mechanics, human nature can't be codified.

Politics come from the latiin (or it might be greek) Polis, meaning city.
Same as polite (how to behave in a city) and Policeman (man of the city)
So a politician is someone who takes care of a city (or large number of people) or keeps it working. Much like a Mortician or Beutician takes care of the dead or beauty respectively.

Allowing a politician to act freely and as they see fit to serve their ends (within the rules of the game) is more important than codifiying and restricting what they can do with game mechanics. Real world politicians are not confined in such away, there are no insurmountable physical laws restricting their options merely moral and ethical guidelines.

Getting politics right in an MMO is also made difficult by the fact that you would have to accomodate the various political systems that are available. Politics does not simply mean democracy where everyone gets a vote, it can mean despotism, demagoguery, thoecracy, facism, communism and many many more isms. Democracy might not be the best system to get the job done, so all options should be available.

The best way to build an overtly political game, is to simply build a game which has a variety of ends/goals, and a variety of realms through which those goals can be achived (be they warfare, economics, subterfuge or diplomacy) and leave the politics to the players, if the game is engaging enough, politics will happen on their own.

Its not an FPS, its 3rd person.

Once again an MMO pits itself against the biggest in the business and thus dooms itself to failure. Someone should teach the MMO makers to keep their big mouths shut until the game is out, over hyping of this sort is not helpful and builds up expectations that are going to be dissapointed.

I'm calling it now, This will flop about like a half dead trout for about 6 months after the initial hype dies off and then, if THQ decides to keep it going, it may develope a loyal following (much like Conan has) and slow growth over time.

Here come the Jove, here come the Jove. Everybody know 'dat here come the Jove

"At the end of the day, at eve's historic rate of growth, change will need to be slow steady and gradual. CCP is all for new players, but not at the cost of the hordes of devoted who put food on CCP's plate and as a whole are responsible for - and have put far more into - a larger portion of how the game is than any other mmo i know of."

Thats not what you hear from the players. Every expansion has been all about adding new things like Apocrypha added wormholes and T3, while Tyrannis added PI. These were designed to bring new players in, Just as Incarna is, there has been no commitment from CCP to stop, slow down and fix the many parts of the game that need polished but have been neglected, for years in some cases.

CCP need to do the opposite of what you're suggesting and move from trying to draw new players into an incomplete and unpolished game to focus on keeping the one's they've got.

EVE University sounds like it might be for you. It works like a real University in that it gts you socialising with other players and can lead to other things. I know of a few corps that will only consider taking players on if they have had an EVE Uni education. No matter their skill points.

Without PvP or corporations that market would not work, or even exist.

Just to make it clear: The skillpoint bonus that they're doing on Tuesday (afaik) is a one off. They're only doing it because of the snafu with the server move which resulted in a 36 hour downtime last week.

I was in the meeting that the CSM had with CCP when this compenstaion was decided (http://bit.ly/bgv2wg), and it is definitley not leading to anything else (such as buying SP with PLEX, or trading SP between players.) The suggestion that this SP bonus be made a tradable item (from one of the CSM, not CCP) was quickly dropped with an almost unanimous cry of "No!" from everyone in the room.

We don't want to encourage any unfounded specuilation now, do we?

As to the learning skills problem, not only do you have people like me who have trained them all to 5 (waste of time I know, but I didn't know that at the time). Would I get both an SP refund, and get to keep the attribute points? while someone who hasn't even started training them, what would they get. just the attribute boost, or the SP as well?