Drivers Seat

So EvE Online is a game where the overwhelming majority of content is generated by the players. There just isn’t a lot that CCP has added to change the way the game is played that hasn’t been dwarfed by what players already did dating back to the addition of Incursions. There’s been adjustments, but for the most part players have been in the drivers seat. For two and a half years. With the same fundamental toolbox, and the same fundamental map until earlier this year. Now things are shifting. And CCP is kicking this boulder down the hill hard.

Ripard’s footnote about moons not being conflict drivers is interesting but I think he’s too close in. I think moons are meant to be a different kind of conflict driver. Renting space is how the big boys play, and will for a while, Moons will sit in between them and pure PvE moneymaking done in other arenas. CCP wants to create fights that aren’t CTAs, they want fleets that aren’t hundreds strong battling it out, and they see these mobile structures as a way to create a new type of combat. This gives the small fry a way to poke, harass and set traps for the big boys, and especially for their renters. I imagine the likes of Noir, R&K and Rote Kapelle are already looking at new and interesting ways to ruin unsuspecting folks weekends.

This patch seems aimed at finding a way for people to punch above their weight. Rather than continuing the rich get richer until their own weight/malaise/incompetence crushes them CCP wants to give the middleweights a tool that lets them set the table their way, and fight their way. Maybe they can’t topple the big boys, but they can apply pressure their own way, and in a meaningful way, not just killing afk ratters during CTAs. Stealing resources that go to the alliance. Even if moons aren’t the biggest income, they are important. Temporary bases in ratter space dropping property values faster than a KKK rally during an open house. Making small war on big people possible. Will it work? Probably not at first. And that’s why I’m not terribly sanguine about this. This patch will need constant updating. CCP will need to iterate and build on it. And that’s not what they do. I hope CCP will do it. I hope they will break with what they have done in the past. I hope they will take a good idea and keep working on it, keep building on it, and make it so the promise and the delivery match up.