I'm curious, for those familiar with Eve what would use say is it's core game mechanic? I would say emergent gameplay set in a persistent, single-sharded, massive multiplayer universe with a player controlled economic system. But, that's certainly a mouthful so I'm wondering if I'm off the mark. Opinions?

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emergent gameplay set in a persistent, single-sharded, massive multiplayer universe with a player controlled economic system

That seems to be what they say they are - I disagree. Player controlled economy - not really, only gives the player the 'feeling' he/she has some economic control and they tell you that you have control. Explain what you mean by single-sharded? Emergent, I suppose - but limited and fairly well exposed as far as I can tell.

I would say that the game mechanic is poorly thought out. But that is my opinion - I didn't even like it enough to finish the free 14-day trial or make it through the tutorial. While the scenery is nice while flying around, the 3D views are awesome, navigation is a little too difficult and probably would be better in a FPS type of view, using sensors to see objects, planets, ships,etc. EVE lacks a lot of pieces that could make it spectacular.

EDIT: I'll admit that my assumptions (above) are not completely indicative of my own personal experience(s) and I should have stated so. I leave my post in its original format and hope that reasonable individuals limit flames.

[Edited by - ddboarm on September 27, 2009 1:39:26 PM]

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Original post by NateDog I'm curious, for those familiar with Eve what would use say is it's core game mechanic? I would say emergent gameplay set in a persistent, single-sharded, massive multiplayer universe with a player controlled economic system. But, that's certainly a mouthful so I'm wondering if I'm off the mark. Opinions?

The economy is probably the best part.

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Original post by ddboarm Quote: emergent gameplay set in a persistent, single-sharded, massive multiplayer universe with a player controlled economic system That seems to be what they say they are - I disagree. Player controlled economy - not really, only gives the player the 'feeling' he/she has some economic control and they tell you that you have control. Explain what you mean by single-sharded? Emergent, I suppose - but limited and fairly well exposed as far as I can tell.

Eve isn't actually a single shard now from what I remember. They opened a Chinese server awhile ago, but there are still only 2 'servers' to play on, The English, and the Chinese.

Other games, like WoW split their player base among 200 servers in North America alone. Eve puts all (250,000? according to their website) players in the same server. I think their record was something like 30,000 logged in at once.

That is a lot of people on one server. What type of technology allows for that many people on one server? Can a contiguous set of 'zones' be split up over several servers? In other words, can 30,000 players be logged into a playing field made up of multiple zones, yet split over say 5 servers?

Would EVE be using a type of port sharing? Or maybe even somehow 'multiplexing' ports to increase the number of slots available on a server?

Core game mechanic? flying a space ship in a world where everything can suffer permanent destruction and loss.

Support mechanics?
Player run economy - ddboarm, i have to disagree with you here. CCCP sets very few prices on the market, therefore the player base is what determines the standard prices of items. I'll agree that the prices are heavly influenced by the item drop rates and item utility. But people set prices for the most part based on what they think someone else will consider a good amount of utility from an item for the amount of time they'd have to spend making back that money. Or based on the risk of going someplace else to get it cheaper. Paying 10M vs 5M for something could be worth it for the 95% decrease in the chance you'd get blown up trying to get the item. And on that note, there are some very heavy sinks in the economy to pull money out of the system (very unlike WoW).

Single(now dual) Shard - This is really nice. Because people, corps, and alliances can all make a name for themselves on the persistent world. To expand on Talroth's statement though, yes they set records on their server like 30K accounts logged in, but a lot of people dual, or triple box on a regular basis. The APM of EVE is usually lower than the APM of WoW, so it is easier to manage two accounts. Combined with the utility of having one account logged in solely as a cloaked spy, the 30K number doesn't tell the whole truth. The numbers that REALLY mean something are that they routinely have 200+ man battles, with some of the biggest topping over 1000 people fighting eachother in the same zone.

PermaDeath - Items in EVE (and even player's skill points if they are stupid about their actions) suffer permanent destruction. This throws a lot of people off because they dislike the idea of losing something completely. But of all the mechanics I'd say it is the one that keeps me coming back to the game. It makes every single item you get feel all that more important, and every milestone you pass feel like a greater victory. It makes every action have a risk that is greater than just a run back from the graveyard to your corpse. Much like the Diablo or Everquest suffering of having to retrieve your corpse and your items, EVE forces you to take a step back in your progress before you can step forward with full force again.

Overall, I think that the mechanics of EVE are both "more casual" in places, "more hardcore" in other places, but overall force the player to do a lot more thinking on their own about their skills, their plan, and what their time is worht. Where games like WoW, Ultima, Hellgate (others i've played) only forced you to evaluate how much time you were willing to put into being dragged along the designer's path.

At GDC Austin several speakers harped on the idea that when developing a game, the core game mechanic should be fully developed early and before any additional non-core functionality is added. Then, the core game play should be playable and pass the "fun" test. Only then is worth adding on and pressing forward.

I'm working on a "mini-Eve" and so I'm trying to define for myself what is the core that makes Eve what it is and should be my foundation for initial play-testing on the fun factor.

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Core game mechanic? flying a space ship in a world where everything can suffer permanent destruction and loss.

I think that leaves out too much.

As a player of Eve, the single universe (for English language anyway), depth of the economic system, non-linear play, and the massive battles are the biggest elements. Usually when describing a game I'm able to sum up the core game mechanic in a more narrow definition. So, a bit unnerving that I can't seem to do the same for my own game :o

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Original post by Talroth I think their record was something like 30,000 logged in at once.

It was a bit more than 53000. It's normally between 14000 - 41000.

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Original post by ddboarm That is a lot of people on one server. What type of technology allows for that many people on one server? Can a contiguous set of 'zones' be split up over several servers? In other words, can 30,000 players be logged into a playing field made up of multiple zones, yet split over say 5 servers? Would EVE be using a type of port sharing? Or maybe even somehow 'multiplexing' ports to increase the number of slots available on a server?

Yes, it is not one machine. In fact, almost every "server" in major commercial MMORPGs is not one machine. In most MMORPGs (particularly pay-2-play MMOs that don't go through the rigorous optimization that free-2-play games have to use to survive), each physical server can house maybe 250 - 1000 players max, even though it is typical to have 3000 players logged in to the same "server" (a lot seem to be calling them "realms" now). They are all arranged in specialized server farms with advanced load-sharing technology. It is pretty complex, and has been one of the massive barriers to high-population indie/hobbyist MMORPGs.

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Original post by Konfusius Quote: Original post by Talroth I think their record was something like 30,000 logged in at once. It was a bit more than 53000. It's normally between 14000 - 41000.

more like 20 - 41k daily.

They break their records every time they release an expansion pack. Right now subscription base is sitting at around 300k, they've passed up the number of people in Iceland (where the developers offices are).

One of the core things to realize is that within the world of EvE the player is allowed to do ANYTHING they want, provided it doesn't break any of the very specific rules. In other words, you can scam players. You can grief them. You can make tons and tons of money while devistating the competition (or just having mercs blow up their supply lines [grin]). This isn't WoW, where your hands are held every step of the way.