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Poster Mcposty
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#1 EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 29/1/2014, 12:30 am
#1 EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 29/1/2014, 12:30 am
MotionM
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I don't play EVE Online, nor know anything about it except for the most recent AMA (Ask Me Anything) post on Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1weo82/i_used_to_run_the_largest_alliance_in_eve_online/)
A certain reply that OP responded with really got me thinking of how GREAT this game can be, and how most players who also replied in the thread, can act like a second job.
Question:
I've never played Eve Online. How does the organizational structure of an alliance work? How are tasks delegated? How do you enforce compliance with your own members?
Answer:
Now think about it, have you ever seen a game THIS complex? I've known about EVE Online probably since 2005 back when I was obsessed with Runescape (Started in late '03, stopped in '09) and was browsing MMO websites. From what I hear now is that you get a 14 day free trial and then can pay $10 a month to continue.
Recently a huge war broke out with 6,000+ players at war (and is still going). From another Reddit thread I found:
Question:
Does it actually cost real money?
Answer:
(Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1wfguf/how_i_see_the_battles_in_eve/)
This is a map of every player in the recent war, all for a Station.
"This particular fight was for a station, tomorrow there might be a fight for a POS (Player owned starbase) on a moon (that makes a lot of money), the next day might be for another system, or another station, or sometimes even, because f*** those guys and we just want to brawl."
A certain reply that OP responded with really got me thinking of how GREAT this game can be, and how most players who also replied in the thread, can act like a second job.
Question:
I've never played Eve Online. How does the organizational structure of an alliance work? How are tasks delegated? How do you enforce compliance with your own members?
Answer:
-----The org structure is huge, with all the departments that any company has.
Here are some of the groups that we had:
HR - Primarily recruited from Reddit, so we would have campaigns where we would hit up /r/games and /r/gaming threads that were about Eve and try and bring noobies in. HR had to heavily vet people as allowing an enemy agent in can be very costly. Had a whole HR system that automatically checked Eve API's for their history, questionable transactions etc.
Accounting - Managed finances, kept us informed on our liquidity and cash flow, how much our hard assets were worth, whether we could afford X program or war
IT - Managed all of our IT stuff, Mumble for voice comms that could handle 2 to 3,000 users simultaneously, Jabber for IM, forums, wiki, the previously mentioned HR system, radio, killboard etc.
Intelligence - Spies, gathering intelligence on enemies and friends who might become enemies, counter intelligence attempting to find spies already in the alliance.
Recon - People who fly around in space looking for interesting things and ensuring we have "eyes" in various systems where enemies might come from.
Logistics - Literally space truckers, moving vital materials around while trying to not get shot (these people tend to be insane, as everything depends on them, and very few people can handle it for more than a few weeks, those who can you shower with love and sexual favors)
Propaganda - People who made videos of our exploits, images poking fun at our enemies and ourself etc.
Fleet Command - The people who ran the fleets, came up with the fleet composition everyone would use (what ships, fittings etc.) Being a high level FC is incredibly stressful and requires a large amount of tactical knowledge, communication skills, and you have to be able to multi task like a Mormon mom. You are taking in information from at least 7-8 different sources and trying to combine it into a realistic vision of the battlefield, all while herding around up to 2,000 autistic nerds.
Reimbursement Team - Progressive for Spaceships, most decent sized alliances have a ship replacement program where if you lose a specific ship on an alliance sanctioned operation you will get reimbursed for the loss so you can get back into fleet right away. These guys have to check to ensure the operation you lost it on was reimbursable, that the ship was fit correctly etc.
Diplomats - Arguably the most important team (I may be biased, as this is how I climbed the ranks ) diplomats handle all the things a meatspace diplomat deals with. Handle all sorts of low level dumb bullshit, like stupid friendly fire incidents, all the way up to forming coalitions with other alliances making you the master of a space empire ranging over thousands of systems.
Tasks are delegated by people being willing to do them and showing an interest. We would of course deal with churn, and if we were especially hurting in a given area a forum post would go up asking for volunteers. Depending on the area our requirements for entry into that role would vary. Within the groups I listed above there would generally be different levels within it with more and more authority and access given as you moved up the ladder.
Enforcing compliance was generally done with a carrot, we found sticks to not work all that well. For example, ensuring people show up to fleet in the correct type of ships, we would only reimburse those who showed up in the type of ships that we asked for. If they wanted to bring something else to the fleet, they could, but if they died they would need to replace it themselves.
Now think about it, have you ever seen a game THIS complex? I've known about EVE Online probably since 2005 back when I was obsessed with Runescape (Started in late '03, stopped in '09) and was browsing MMO websites. From what I hear now is that you get a 14 day free trial and then can pay $10 a month to continue.
Recently a huge war broke out with 6,000+ players at war (and is still going). From another Reddit thread I found:
Question:
Does it actually cost real money?
Answer:
To play? Just like any MMO, around $15/month.
If you're good enough, you can make enough in-game money to pay for it by buying an item called a PLEX. PLEX go for around 640 million ISK (in game money, think gold pieces).
You can buy one of these PLEXes from the game website for about $17, then sell it in game. So when folks want lots of cash quick, the buy one from the website, sell it in game, and now have a bankroll in the game to spend on new ships/gear.
At those rates, 1 dollar is worth about 38 million ISK (in game money). Just one of those giant ships cost 140 BILLION ISK. 140 billion / 38 million = $3600 bucks.
At least 60 of them were destroyed.
(Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1wfguf/how_i_see_the_battles_in_eve/)
This is a map of every player in the recent war, all for a Station.
"This particular fight was for a station, tomorrow there might be a fight for a POS (Player owned starbase) on a moon (that makes a lot of money), the next day might be for another system, or another station, or sometimes even, because f*** those guys and we just want to brawl."
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#2 Re: EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 31/1/2014, 1:44 pm
#2 Re: EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 31/1/2014, 1:44 pm
swoop
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Ya it simply was amazing to think how much was actually lost, not considering the time spent, but just actual real market value during that last squabble.
Really made me want to play, but then again, as most MMO enthusiast say, its really a spreadsheet MMO. Which means to me the difference between baseball and basketball.. As where baseball is all about statistics and basketball is all about the the score and show.
Whos to say EVE isnt fun? but atleast they have a viable way to make your addiction *cough* habit free!
@Motion.. nice post, definitely share your awe and new found respect for the MMO. everyone says STARCITIZEN should be a nice alternative.
Really made me want to play, but then again, as most MMO enthusiast say, its really a spreadsheet MMO. Which means to me the difference between baseball and basketball.. As where baseball is all about statistics and basketball is all about the the score and show.
Whos to say EVE isnt fun? but atleast they have a viable way to make your addiction *cough* habit free!
@Motion.. nice post, definitely share your awe and new found respect for the MMO. everyone says STARCITIZEN should be a nice alternative.
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#3 Re: EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 31/1/2014, 4:15 pm
#3 Re: EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 31/1/2014, 4:15 pm
MotionM
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I'm currently trying the trial atm and the trial itself is long.
I heard about Star Citizen, which as you said, should be a nice alternative. I don't know when it's being released, closed/open beta, etc. Some of the packages are expensive just for ships though.
I heard about Star Citizen, which as you said, should be a nice alternative. I don't know when it's being released, closed/open beta, etc. Some of the packages are expensive just for ships though.
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#4 Re: EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 1/2/2014, 5:24 am
#4 Re: EVE Online - Spreadsheet Simulator or The Greatest Space Simulator Ever? 1/2/2014, 5:24 am
Onesimus
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This game is so fascinating, one day when I'm not incumbered with book piles of work I want to delve deep into this awesome universe.
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