BB62 – Home

Hi All,

Parameters as follows:

Niden (@niden_GMVA) tweeted this:

It’s not cool to want walking in stations, right?

For those that weren’t playing at the time CCP decided to implement Walking in Stations. Essentially, it meant you could see your avatar, and walk around inside your quarters when docked in station. All of the usual functionality was there – just in a 3d environment. Sufficed to say, there were problems and some major handling errors on CCP’s part. Problems such that the capsuleer community literally rioted in game. Since then, people have essentially poo pooed the idea. I would go so far as to say that not only is it not cool to want WIS, but it’s actually cool to run it down.

But here’s the thing – it has massive potential. Not just in and of itself, but also in conjunction with the upcoming POS changes. Humans, as a general rule, want a stake in the ground. A home. A place they can call their own. If you look around at various other MMOs (LOTRO, Wildstar, POE just to name a couple), they all have the ability to grab a plot of land and (to varying extents) modify the structures you build upon them, both inside and out.

And you don’t get that without two very important things:

1/. Your home

2., Your avatar

We currently have both of these things, neither of which are particularly user friendly at present, or in the grander scheme ,able to be modified to the user’s liking. I’m also going to throw in mentions of Elite and Star Citizen. While I know very little about both games, both have a very pretty interface viewable from inside their ships. This makes their ships the sci-fi equivalent of a mobile home. It enables a level of ownership and engagement currently missing in EvE.

While I can’t suggest to CCP that we need a view from the bridge of our battleship a la Star Trek Online – we do need something. The ability to say this little part of space is MINE. And I suspect that a POS could be it. That’s the first part of the equation.

The second is the avatar. I’ve spent countless hours trying to get cosmetic gear for my LOTRO characters that fit with their backgrounds and ethos. Why is important? Your avatar provides the perspective from which you view the universe laid out by the developers. It also provides the viewpoint from which you view and fit in with your home. For some (the point, web, shoot you in the face crowd), it won’t matter at all that much. But for the rest of us, the explorer, the inventor, the trader, it can and it does.

CCP needs player investment in the game. That stake in the ground. It may not be as described above. The implementation may vary wildly from what I’ve surmised. But right now, a small room or two in a station somewhere just ain’t immersion imho.

We need a home.

Fly Safe,

H