Just saving a short discussion on Dave’s blog about Eve-Online’s accessibility and the gap between the tutorial and what is only “supposed” to come later and that too many players hear about and aspire but never manage to actually see (myself included, heh..).

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Abalieno:
I believe that a lot could be done in Eve to make it more accessible and to bring the players more near to where the fun is (I know this because it’s already a big accessibility barrier for me).

I’m one of those that need something linear to follow before having the courage and knowledge to move on my own and Eve is the opposite of linearity (which is where it’s the quality). But my belief is that, while you cannot have a freeform game within a linear one, you can still have linear, leading paths (and more than one) within freeform games (not too differently from what Raph writes here). Eve could do a whole lot from this perspective.

Another example would be about organizing the categories of the ships, which is another part of the game that I still have no clue about. You can give a look at the ship page like I did but there isn’t a clear definition of the roles, scale and how they compare with each other. It’s hard to understand which ship you need and can afford next and what are the main roles or purposes of each type so that you can make your choice.

There’s enough space here for the documentation to improve (outside the game) and the linear paths I described above to help the players understand all this directly in the game. That’s what I would develop in the game. Instead of a tutorial that explains the UI and the basic types of gameplay, I would add linear careers, semi-scripted, that you can follow and switch (or quit) at will. So that you can learn progressively the game at your pace or just go on your own.

That’s what I think should do a good freeform game. Take the players by the hand if they don’t feel ready to go on their own, while giving them total freedom to forget about the linear path and search the luck in their own way.

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Lydia Leong:
EVE is initially accessible, from the standpoint that the tutorial is magnificent (probably the single best MMO tutorial I’ve played through, and I’ve played through a lot), and help is more readily available than in practically any other game. The raw tediousness of mining (as well as travel through higher-security space) ensures that everyone has plenty of time to chat. Getting staked as a newbie is critical, but seems to be relatively commonplace.

Where it falls down in accessibility is probably around ten hours into gameplay, when you’re really running out of more directed things to do and find the world to be a fairly bewildering place. You have the awareness that fascinating things are going on elsewhere, but you have no idea how to become a part of them. The gap between the newbie game and the corporation game is just too vast.

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Abalieno:
Yes, that’s what I think too and what I meant with my suggestion to add some linear careers. The purpose is to have something to do past the tutorial and that makes you explore with more depth the other parts of the game if you feel still too intimidated to go explore on your own and set your own goals. Also giving a longer term motivation to excuse the progress.

It could be done as an expansion to the mission system, but by making it more cohesive and articulated in the longer term. Bringing also some fun in the “empire space”.

It would also offer the possibility to set many different progressive ranks that could work like levels to bring the players together, for example by creating some hubs around the world where more players at the same “rank” would meet to take some group-tailored missions (a problem in EvE I have is that I NEVER grouped with anyone. Mostly because the game does very little to bring people together in a natural, seamless way).