There is No Such Thing As Bad Publicity?

So the epic battle in Fountain has reached the mainstream media. The story was even on the front page of the BBC News website!

So, all good for Eve right? Well........

A few things struck me. The first is the real-world monetary value of destruction running into the tens of thousands of US dollars. Is that going to attract players or put them off? Now I understand how and why this is done. You can buy plex with real cash, that plex has an ISK value in game so its fairly easy to make a comparison. But the thing is I would expect the vast majority of ISK in game was not generated by PLEX sales, it was from missions, rat bounties and the like. However, if the BBC said so many billion of in game currency was lost where is the story? Most people wouldn't bat an eyelid over billions of virtual credits being lost. It simply would not be mainstream 'news'. But if you say it was $20,000, then there is interest.

Now I wonder how many people who are gamers and never tried Eve saw one of the news stories and decided to give it a try. Did any of these stories reach out to people or put them off by the use of real world money? Is there a danger that that many people thought the game is pay-to-play or worse, play-to-win?

The BBC News story said there were just over 4000 players taking part and £10,000 was destroyed. That sounds a lot of cash doesn't it. One afternoon battle and players 'lost' £10,000! I have a feeling that could put people off. However, when you look at it, it is not that bad. On average it is less than £2.50 each. Plus how many of them 'bought' the ISK with PLEX and how many made it in game?

Now the second point is, are these stories 'bigging' Eve up too much? Inflating expectations to a level where new players will be very disappointed. How often are fights like that occurring? We've had two this year with Asakai being the obvious other one. With 500,000 accounts (remember that isn't subscribers) only relative few get to join in on these. They are not common place.

Then there is the battle itself. I wasn't there, but at max TiDi I can imagine. In the past I've been in 500-a-side BS battles in Sov Holding Null Sec. Lock the broadcasted primary, press F1, wait, repeat. Then the whole overview turns flashy yellow. You broadcast for reps as you know you've just been called secondary or tertiary. The overview goes red and you are in your pod as no amount of logistics are going to save you from a volley from 500 battleships! Now add to that "fun", that time is running at a tenth of normal speed. What was already a fairly boring fight for the rank and file just became ten times more boring as you can go for a bio during the time it takes just to lock a ship! Is that battle representative of day-to-day Eve Online?

I've done a lot in my five years in Eve and, for me, faction war PvP is by far the best. Its incredible fun, easy to get into (when you have the skill points) and you get a real sense of achievement from a kill. But, it will never make mainstream news. Why would it? Is it any more news worthy than a WoW guild completing a raid? In the eyes of the media what I'm having for lunch is probably more interesting than a good 1v1 I had last night. That applies to the ratters, the industrialists, the mission farmers, the explorers and the other 98% of Eve which isn't a slow-motion epic sized battle.

How can we show Eve to none Eve players in the best light possible when Eve itself is not a single game? Do any trailers do it justice?

Yeah, not going to happen. Little Wolf boy would be accused of being a spai!

Yeah, not going to happen. All that DPS, plus drones, would have melted that interceptor. What would have happened is that they'd have docked up and blue-balled the enemy fleet.

Yes, exploration is really that interesting o.0

If I was asked to make something to promote Eve Online to people who had never tried it, I wouldn't know where to begin. I'm not sure you can explain Eve Online easily, which just leaves us at the mercy of "This much real life money was destroyed in a virtual game!" of the mainstream media.

-o0o-

Finally I posted it was Drackarn's 5th Eve birthday on Sunday. I invited readers to suggest what they would get him as a present if Eve was real. Had a good laugh/smile at pretty much all of them. To be honest I was expecting stocking clad ladies of the night, card games and booze in a Bender from Futurama style. he creativity of the Eve-O community never ceases to amaze me.

Lexx's suggestion of the mini-pod for my kitteh was a very good one. Shahai offers violent PvP, always a great gift. Kirith offers booze, a personal favourite ;) The various ship ideas made me laugh. CID, I have a decent microphone, a SteelSeries Siberia V2 headset less than a month old, its my bandwidth that turns me into a chipmunk on TS. If only we could have destroyer mounted infina-points for those farmers! The cockbag Thrasher alarm-clock firing streamers would be epic as would be the indestructible pod. Cannot list them all but each and everyone was a great suggestion. But the one that really struck a cord was actually a sensible suggestion......

If Eve was real and my character was friends with your character I would get you for your 5th birthday a plaque with a piece salvaged from the very first ship you exploded. It would be engraved with it all started here.

I looked back on Eve Kill to see what it was, as I do not remember....

Back in January 2009, in the system of Fliet, my Blackbird died (as usually (read always) happened in my first few months of PvP) but this Caldari Militia Harpy died too! My very first kill.

Erm....... you didn't leave your name. Now I'm going to have a dozen people claiming it like that Monty Python movie scene.

I'M BRIAN AND SO IS MY WIFE.

Actually thinking about Brian....