Dec 072015
 

The past few days I have been consolidating assets and generally moving around space, while doing so I noticed that there was not many pilots in the systems I passed through, even on what were once major pipes, and that even in a few months random local chatter had dropped down somewhat.  I promptly joined a fleet and was awash in chat and fun times consequently forgetting all about this.

Then this morning, it popped into my head again, and I got to thinking that if only there was a way for these isolated/localised groups of people to interact with greater numbers on a pretty basic level, with a result of these players possibly interacting in more vital and interesting ways as time goes on.

As you can see, I think that system local should be removed/changed/something, purely because giving players more people to chat with than offered by local/corp/specialty channels could then lead to these players being more willing to band together and do “things” (Yes, I have an almost naive view of EVE players here, but hey ho). While I do not buy into, or wish to propagate the trend of “EVE is dying”, in a time with low PCU’s giving existing players an easy way to reach out to others around them is a win with its potential to increase player activity and start a new up cycle, surely?

Additionally I know that Constellation and Region chats are available already but while Local is the default for chat (and intel), then the rest go ignored and un-used in a never ending cycle, and no grassroots movement will see this change. It will have to come from CCP themselves, maybe at the same time that local is divorced from the intel it provides (I’m on the fence over local = intel, as a good or bad thing)?

Regards implementation, yes I would love this across all types of space. With each “level” having slight differences to one another. For example in empire space (both high and low) Constellation chat replaces local with no other changes. Null, it could be delayed and wormholes, just scrap it. Okay, okay I admit I am not sure how something like this would in wormholes, so ideas on the back of a postcard please. Whatever happens, these changes are workable within the lore as it pertains to capsuleers gaining even more power/sway over New Eden.

Overall, this would be a small step in terms of increasing player socialisation, but not everything can be a giant leap.

Jul 012014
 

Those of you who joined in the first CSM 9 Town Hall back on June 22nd will have heard me say that I wished to run a project relating to any potential future corporation/alliance revamp, and how such a thing could benefit the numerous social groups in EVE.

Well here I am.

First up what do I mean by “social groups”. Usually these are 2 or more individuals with a shared interest coming together to undertake that interest outside of other ties, familial or employment related. Borrowing from wikipedia (I know, I know), I found this list of definitions which works even better:

Common motives and goals
An accepted division of labor, i.e. roles
Established status (social rank, dominance) relationships
Accepted norms and values with reference to matters relevant to the group
Development of accepted sanctions (praise and punishment) if and when norms were respected or violated

In EVE terms, the following are what I would class as the prime examples of social groups:

  1. Incursion communities such as Warp to Me, Incursion Shiny Network or The Ditanian Fleet and many many more.
  2. NPSI / Open Roam groups like RvB Ganked, Spectre Fleet, Redemption Roams or Stille Gewalt
  3. Groups from outside communities that wish to enjoy EVE’s content together without leaving the potentially disparate corporations they are in. Examples being the SIG’s famous in the CFC, forum based groups like those in the Teamminmatar channel, shared language communities and so on.

For those interested in my current thoughts on the issue have moved beyond simply allowing the creation of truly public fleets. Currently I would love to see social groups/communities in EVE be more than a chat channel and potentially a mailing list. This could be done by merging both of those as the key systems the group coalesces around, with membership of one granting immediate access to the other. Combine this with greater granularity of roles for those assigned them by the community. Roles that potentially allow some people to moderate the chat, some to moderate the mail systems, or others to form fleets that any members of that community can access just like they would a corporation fleet, fleets that can inherit standings from their FCs, that have built in kill logs, allows some people to post operations in a group calendar (rather than relying on outside sites and tools) and so on and so on. Effectively a corporation without the shared assets, hangars, taxes, and all the other useful aspects that cause people to come together under a corporate banner.

This is where I need feedback. I have my own ideas, some of which I have wrote about above and in the past on my weekly Crossing Zebras column, but the larger the level of feedback the better.

When providing feedback try to use concise explanations, with plenty of obvious keywords, this will make it easier to scan and get that feedback centralised for when and if the time comes. 

NB: Feedback is welcome either in the comments on this blog, or in the matching thread on EVEO.