Friday, August 26, 2011

Blog Banter: Competition Arenas

This blog was written in response to the Freebooted blog post Blog Banter: EVE Quick Matches. The topic grabbed me as soon as I read it. No seriously. I was in the middle of editing and interview for the podcast, saw the link come up on tweetdeck, read it and then started writing. I don't know what it is, I guess Seismic stan just has that kind of effect on me. So... anyway... On to the blogging!

EVE Quick Matches

Kirith Kodachi recently discussed the idea of what a World of Tanks style quick-match element would bring to EVE Online. Would the opportunity for a quick combat interest you? How could it be implemented? Could it be done without having a negative impact on existing gameplay elements? Or does such a concept have no place in EVE?


It's an average night and there's not much going on. Things on the corp and alliance front are quiet for whatever reason, but you're in the mood for some action. You could go roam solo, but who wants to go roaming for hours on end only to come up empty handed? Maybe you go join a gate camp and do the auto-pilot pop polka with whatever unwitting fool crosses your path. While those are all things we absolutely love about PvP in EVE Online, there could be a better option for those looking for a quick fix.

I propose the idea of competition arenas around New Eden to provide instanced PvP. Humans and Capsuleers are creatures of conquest and blood lust. Competition Arenas are a common thread that strings across our history, present, fiction and will continue to be a staple of our existence into the future. Even if we don't participate in it, we at least enjoy watching it. Look at the population of Null Sec and the sheer number of PvP videos that are on eveisreal.net and youtube.com. It's a fact that can not be denied. So why not capitalize it and make it in to enjoy content?

Like this, but with spaceships!

The Main Idea
Competition Arenas would be introduced into the game as a way to provide players with quick, easily accessible PvP. Pilots can create or find 1v1 duel with a variety of hull classes. There is some regulation, but due to the nature of low sec, the element of danger should be elevated. There would also be the chance for player designed services as well as positive side effects for other elements in the game. The design I propose would increase traffic in low sec, provide isk sinks and draw on currently existing game elements.

Location
The competition arenas are a place capsuleers from all over can come and display their prowess of destruction. Most "normals" of the various faction might find this practice a little barbaric. However, when you're an immortal, your perspective of barbaric tends to be a little different. Because of this the practice wouldn't be easily accepted in high sec. Low sec on the other hand is perfect for an entertainment complex of this nature. The factions are there to ensure their cut of the action, but the brutality is of all is just far enough away to keep everyone happy.

How it works
The first stop would be to the station where players could access the arena search panel. From there pilots can review matches already posted or create their own posting. Posting a match would have an associated cost for rental fees and other costs. The posting will be for a 1v1 match and have an option of being public or private as well as the option of hull class. The panel would feature a search function for public matches along with an invite function when a pilot has posted a private duel. If a pilot selects a duel to join, the pilot that created the duel will have an opportunity to mutually accept. Once the pilots are locked in to the match a bookmark for an arena location will be uploaded to their neocom and their off.

Once through the gate, the two would land 200km from a beacon. At that point they can warp in at range and go about the happy business of trying to blow the hull off the other. The gate would only allow that ship class selected for the match (frigate, destroyer, cruiser, battlecruiser or battleship). There should most like be a type of restriction to keep everything T1. I'm not sure if there's coding for that and I'm really not sure if something like that could be feasible.


Keeping It Clean
Of course there will be some need for rules and regulations for things to run smoothly. As mentioned before I think the sites would work best if they were not able to be scanned down. On the flip side, it could be an interesting element especially with the arenas being a low sec feature. Faction police can be spawned at the acceleration gate so others can have a chance at kill you first, but they loose faction standings and other typical space punishments for attempting. Faction police can spawned inside the arena to punish podding. Yes I do believe your opponent should have the ability to be a dick and pod you, they'd just get the usual consequences for it. It is EVE Online Low Sec after all.

Side Effects
The addition of such content can have some positive side effects as well. Low sec traffic and population would experience a boost. The markets would end up seeing additional activity due to the nature of the content. The arena also provides the game with a new ISK sink. As a tie in with player establishments, null sec only franchises could be operated. They would be expensive to maintain leaving the owner with a small profit and of course, no faction police to regulate. Only systems with stations would be able to have arenas due to the need for office and other conveniences, so wormholes would be left out much like high sec.

The ISK Line: Sinks, New Markets and maybe some gambling.

Rankings
There could even be the possibility of a ranking system associated with this. If the arena kill mails were given a specific type of tag, they could be separated from other kill mails to be funneled in to a secondary "Arena Killboard." There could be arena displays much like eve-kill.net and it's Top 20 lists. It would also allow corps and alliances to have their own Arena Killboards. The rankings would be player development dependant. It's unfortunate, but since there is no CCP maintained killboard, I'm not sure how they could do it. And if they did it.. they might as well make a CCP maintained killboard. Such a thing would be a great asset to the game. For now we're lucky to have eve-kill.net and the other programmers out there.

Rough Draft
It's a pretty rough idea and I'm sure there's a lot of holes it in. If some poor EVE Dev comes across this post, I really hope they don't have an aneurism from what I'm proposing. I do think that the idea of competition arenas would be a great addition of content for the game. It would soothe irritation of "I want pvp nao" and give low sec a bit of a jolt as well. The concept also fits in well with the lore and the style of the game.

Hopefully this banter will be one of many that join this discussion. I've enjoyed reading the blogs of those that have already posted and I hope that others will join us in this discussion.

Further Reading
The following blogs have already touched upon the subject and might give you something to chew over. Come banter with us.

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1 comment:

  1. Mat WesthorpeAugust 26, 2011 at 10:18 PM

    I love this idea. It rejuvenates the much-maligned low-sec, stays within the ethos of EVE and uses existing concepts (bookmarks and acceleration gates). This is so do-able without having to introduce whole new gameplay elements.

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