EVE Blog Banter #23: I'm Walking in Stations, Now What?

Welcome to the twenty-third installment of the EVE Blog Banter, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week or so to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed to crazykinux@gmail.com. Check for other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

With Incursion giving us glimpses of what Incarna will have to offer (the the Character Creator), this month's topic, by @Minerpewpew, comes just at the right time. He asks "What are your thoughts on how Incarna will effect the current EVE Online social dynamic?" I'd like to see this questioning go a bit further. How will this affect EVE's player base? Who will Incarna attract? New players to the genre? Seduce old players back into the game? Will we see new players come in that will never leave their station? Please explore to the best of your abilities!

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        Commercialization does funny things to online games. When Team Fortress 2 began receiving class content updates, the focus of the player base was to cooperate and acquire all the achievements necessary to unlock the new weapons. Occasionally a few hats were introduced to give players some flair to wear as they were fragging each other. Then the "Mann-conomy" update appeared. All the content which was previously found through achievements or luck of the draw was suddenly purchaseable and tradeable. Suddenly the weapons which gave players tactical advantages in combat took a back seat in players' eyes. The thing most coveted in Team Fortress 2 is hats. Lots and lots of hats, traded as bargaining chips for bigger, better, more rare hats. Tens of thousands of dollars being spent on virtual items that simply look pretty. It put a standard FPS in a whole new light.

        I can hear the jealous wail all the way from Iceland.

        Despite the claims from diehard capsuleers that The People are not interested in Incarna, I will argue that EVE players ARE interested in vanity, and CCP can harness that vanity in Incarna. Simply look at those who feel the need to stockpile every ship in their hangars with Test Dummies, Spiced Wine, Tobacco, Pax Amarria, and Exotic Dancers. Those same players will be scrambling to get together a proper winter ensemble for their avatar when the weather outside gets chilly.

        Another guaranteed way CCP can generate interest in Incarna by capitalizing on players' vanity is through rarity. There is a common thread between MMO's and Trading Card Games. They both thrive due to items that not everybody can have. EVE is not a stranger to rare items. Three Frekis were lost by Circle of Two during Alliance Tournament VIII - mere frigates with street values of over 30 billion ISK apiece due to their limited-edition rarity. Imagine the adornments CCP can conceive which will cause people to part with their ISK and even PLEXes due to being limited-edition items. In a year we could see an Alliance Tournament award medals of valor for the winners which can be affixed to their avatars.

        So we've established that Eternal Pursuit of the Shiny will cause some people to enjoy Incarna. What about the people who don't care about that? How will Incarna change the social game? That part is a bit trickier because the story essentially hasn't been written yet. Harken back to Mynxee's recap of the October CSM Summit and you will see that they point-blank asked CCP if there will be gameplay in Incarna, and what is planned, and CCP basically responded, "Hmm, good question. Why don't you tell us what you want?"

        This reaction is a very dangerous tell. CCP has stated before that they are making Incarna in order to fulfill a self-imposed desire to diversify. Through what medium? They don't know, just as long as it sells stuff via microtransactions. The problem with that is that you cannot force a game into existence without knowing what its content is going to be, and still expect it to be fun. Look at Spore - a game that had the most potential of any concept imaginable, but ended up completely lacking in depth and substance. A game has to be compelling on its own without a need for the concept around it. This is why Incarna is going to be extremely difficult to create. CCP's purpose for building Incarna is to generate a social following. To that end it has to attract people into a social context. Think Facebook. What draws people to it? Making new friends, keeping in touch with existing friends, social networking, blogging. And then there's Farmville, Bejeweled, and Texas Hold-Em Poker.

        EVE Hold-Em is already a player attraction, and an Incarna version that cuts out the middleman would surely gain a following. That has a side benefit at least - the ability to play for ISK. The other games are just gimmicks. Remember that you're in EVE. You're already playing a game. Why play a game within a game? There has to be incentive. In fact the most important requirement for Incarna to succeed is if it's fun to play WITHOUT leaving the station. It has to compete with EVE itself. There has to be a compelling reason for Incarna's existence to create social interaction beyond what already exists in chat channels. Looking at avatar bling is not enough. Creating and selling avatar bling, now that's something that has potential. In order to compete as a chatroom-with-benefits, Incarna has to rival the likes of Second Life as a social gaming platform, which already has the advantage by sanctioning RMT through an in-game currency exchange. Imagine selling ISK for cash through EVE's website. That'd elevate the scamming incentive by quite a bit, I'd bet.

        How will Incarna affect the rest of EVE? Let's say CCP does everything right and Incarna develops its own entire player base. There is still outer space to contend with. Just like item logistics, you gotta get to the station in order to attend the party going on inside it. With this in mind, I don't think the core player base will change much. EVE outside of stations is still the cold, harsh universe it's always been, and new players will not appreciate the callous admonishments when their sparkly new ship goes poof because they thought 0.4 security space was safe. Despite the potential for social enrichment, I think most station-dwellers will be primarily worrying about their chances of winning an all-in with pocket Kings so they can buy their next PLEX. Or hats. Hats are purty.

Other responses to EVE Blog Banter #23:

I am Keith Neilson - Incarnal Desires

Bob From Marketing - Incarna

Confessions of a Closet Carebear - Who Enters The New Incarna(tion) of EVE

OMG! You're a Chick?! - Nobody Will Use Incarna - The Remix
An Amarrian Capsuleer - Incarna
Interstellar Privateer - Depth of Vision
Latro's Bunker - Incarna and EVE's Social Dynamic
EVE A to Z - Incarna
New Eden History Student - On Incarna
Blastrad Tales - Incarnate
Tai One On - Incarna
Serenity One - Force Fed
Roc's Ramblings - Shiny
Aeroxe's Assault - Stretching Your Legs
A Mule in EVE - What Comes With Incarna
Ardwulf's Lair - These Aren't The Legs You're Looking For
Progression's Horizon - These Legs Are Made For Walkin'
CrazyKinux's Musing - Rome Wasn't Built In A Day, Neither Was New Eden
Drifting Through The Stars - Topic: Incarna
Diary of a Pod Pilot - The Incarna Effect
The Hydrostatic Capsule - Generations
Aggressive Logistics - 'Tis The Season To Be Shiny