_ Last Cree "Gambling.ru "interviewed the creative director Eve Online – Torfi France Olafsson. We talked about what will appear new in addition _Inferno , How EVE will interact with the shooter Dust 514 And why is their game so unusual.
[[Video1]]
[Gambling.ru] Torfi, how are things by Eve Online? Does the game have enough subscribers?
[Torfi] Well, “enough” is the concept of extensible, we are always glad to new players. The other day we celebrated the ninth birthday of Eve Online, and I can gladly say that all this time the number of subscribers has constantly increased. This is really an exceptional case, since usually online games after some time lose popularity, and we have stable growth.
[Gambling.ru] could you name the exact number of players?
[Torfi] At the moment, we have about three hundred and sixty thousand paid subscribers and about forty thousand play a trial version. That is, only about four hundred thousand people. And these are not just people who once paid for the subscription, and then abandoned EVE-all players are active and constantly return to the game.
[Gambling.ru] in fact, Eve is a niche product. Cosmos, a complex economy, a difficult combat system, incredibly long pumping – all this was supposed to scare away many, but, in a strange way, hundreds of thousands of people play in Eve. How do you explain such a success?
[Torfi] Without a doubt, Eve is designed for a hardcore audience. It takes a lot of time to study the intricacies of the game. But the thing is in this: to get pleasure from EVE, you do not need to understand everything. You can only engage in trade or production, become a pirate, a mercenary or just explore the vast world of the game.
[Gambling.ru] everything is so, but even in separate elements Eve go figure it out.
[Torfi] Yes, sometimes it even seems to me that this is a real simulator. Here you can not clat a pair of keys and immediately get a dozen rewards and gold bags. We wanted to make a complex, complex game. And, as for me, the number of subscribers clearly shows that many people like it when they are challenged; This makes Eve Online more significant, more serious and deep.
[[Bullet]] Players love Eve Online not only for the depths – in no other game there is no such beautiful space.
[Gambling.RU] good, then please describe the audience Eve. We do not mean the level of income and skin color, but age, tastes and preferences.
[Torfi] 90–95% of players – men under thirty; In Russia, as far as I know, Eve is popular among children of younger. Most subscribers have a technical education, some even scientists. And, of course, everyone without exception adore science fiction. (smiles)
[Gambling.ru] more than once it happened that some players cramped serious economic scams in the virtual world. As you think, such a kind of unplanned game events is good or bad?
[Torfi] I think it's good that the game is so open and allows people to make transactions, unite in groups and make a bunch of everything. Say, recently a group of players attacked the main shopping center and destroyed it, which for several days suspended trade. They were preparing for this six months, imagine? I must note that we do not encourage such actions, but we do not punish the players; We do not want to be a nanny in kindergarten, which spans children for poor behavior. Our task is to ensure that no one used codes, so that the game works correctly and the players have enough tools to embody their ideas.
[Gambling.Ru] Be that as it may, “Eve” is almost the only online game where no one is safe from real fraud. How players relate to the fact that they are almost not protected?
[Torfi] In life, even the President of the United States is not safe from troubles, always a small risk, but there is. Our game is close to reality, and, as for me, it's good. Allowing one players to be “bad guys”, we give others the opportunity to become truly kind and honest.
[Gambling.ru] When you created Eve, could you imagine that it will become so free that players will entertain themselves?
[Torfi] Partly. Back in 1984, most of CCP developers often played in Elite – The first game where you could https://genie-riches-casino.co.uk/ fight and trade in space. And then we got hooked on Ultima Online. It was a real "sandbox" with almost unlimited freedom. You could cut down a tree, kill an animal, make clothes from his skin, paint it blue and sell it. Could burst into the house belonging to other players to steal gold right from their pockets, and then burn the owners alive with the house! In a word, there you could do crazy, terrible things! (laughs) But the game was so open, so real that we wanted to recreate this feeling of reality and at home. Only in space.
[Gambling.ru] After some time, even the best mmorpg turn into routine. How to diversify the bored game process?
[Torfi] There are dark ways. Firstly, we produce two or three extensions per year-they add new elements, professions, solar systems and ships, as well as tools that allow players to create something new. Secondly, the community entertains itself. We maintain excellent relations with players, communicate with them on the forum. About a thousand people arrive at Iceland every year to our festival. There we hold round tables, where we all discuss the future Eve Online together. Moreover, players choose fourteen people who fly twice a year in CCP (everything is paid) to share their thoughts with designers, offer ideas for the development of the game. We, in turn, are talking about our plans, because we want to be sure that the players will like all changes. Good relations with subscribers are incredibly important because Eve Online, by and large, is their game.
[Gambling.ru] You did not think about simplifying EVE and thereby attract a new audience?
[Torfi] It is dangerous. Take a look at Star Wars Galaxies. At first, the game was very open, but the producers decided that you could earn more if it simplifies it. The developers one after another made several catastrophic changes that simply spoiled the game, and all subscribers left it. We will never betray our faithful fans, “repainting” Eve in pink.
But we want to introduce as many people as possible to the universe, and for this there are other ways. Now we are finishing free-to-Play-player Dust 514 for PS3, which will introduce the world of Eve Online Castlers.
[Gambling.ru] but these are very different audiences, and they intersect. Few players easily switch from a futuristic action movie to a multi -component online roe deer about space.
[Torfi] This is true. Someone will only play in Dust 514, someone-only in Eve. But for those who do not ignore both at once, we have prepared something interesting. Players will be able to exchange money and resources and unite, which will allow superiority in different solar systems. From Dust 514 it will be possible to transfer the coordinates of enemies to friends-pilots in EVE so that they arrange a point bombardment. In a word, from such an union, Eve subscribers will gain an advantage, and playing in Dust 514 will feel part of a large and complex world.
[Bullet]] Torfi admitted that although he does not like the gameplay in Mass Effect, he is crazy about aesthetics. Judging by the design of soldiers from Dust 514, other developers from CCP also love me.
[Gambling.ru] In your opinion, Eve Online generally has competitors?
[Torfi] But how, we are competing in the open market and, like everyone else, fight for the attention of the players. There are other good PVP games, League of Legends or World of Tanks , For example. But they offer only one type of gameplay, while our Eve is a multi -part, it is full of diverse contents. It is difficult to find another deep and worked out game.
[Gambling.RU] What will appear new in addition to inferno?
[Torfi] We will strengthen the military unit: some players will be able to denote the sovereignty of solar systems, establish their rights and introduce duties in them, while others will be free to conquer sovereign territories. New modifications of weapons, new types of missiles and missile systems will appear – we redrawn all the special effects related to them – and a ton of other trifles, but, most importantly, it will be possible to record other players in their personal army to win the war with another corporation. That is, if you have a lot of money, you can easily conquer any system using a hired army.
In winter, we plan to release another “military” addition, and then we will deal with industry and infrastructure. We want to allow players to build almost real space stations with huge factories and residential complexes that can be developed in every possible way. Our designers call this "minecraft in space". (laughs) Of course, the construction will not be implemented as in minecraft, but we want to convey the inherent sensation of the designer.
[Gambling.ru] Players say that in the low -proof sectors, activity is now very low. Are you planning to fix it?
[Torfi] Mostly pirates live there, and this is far from the most popular profession in EVE – you can’t earn much on robbery. Therefore, there are few players there. After all, in life is exactly the same: small criminals are rarely rich. But we still think about how to make unsafe territories more interesting.
[Gambling.RU] Minoring resources in the game now brings more money, but the process of the process remains the same. There will be changes?
[Torfi] I can't say anything specific yet. Unless we intend to allow resources on rings around planets and solar systems. It will be more a collective thing; So to speak, the lesson is not for amateur fishermen, but for specialized fishing ships with a large team.