Eve Online And Dust514 - Part 1

I wonder if I could convince CCP to design one more nebula for Eve?  This one to be a representation of all the speculation swirling around the all-but-forgotten Dust514, the first person shooter (FPS) currently in development, that will somehow tie together with Eve Online.  I have to admit that I still remain as apprehensive as when I first heard about the idea.  This, coupled with the monocle-gate disaster that ensued after Incarna's release and the subsequent dismissal of twenty percent of CCP's workforce, really makes me anxious - and not necessarily in a bad way.

Unlike a lot of the general gamer population, I believe that software developers in general learn from their mistakes.  However in this industry, more often than not it's too late - but that isn't the case here.  CCP, regardless of its current public image stemming from the Incarna scandals, has a lot to learn from.  And if anything, that's good news for us.

I think for the first time in the history of a major MMORPG, the customer (and that's what we are, customers) spoke out loud and clear and really got a chance to make an impact on the corporate level.  As a whole we stood up and said 'Flying in space - and all the combat, economy, role playing, factions and standings that come with it - are what makes this game great.'

In writing that I find myself conflicted when I think about Dust; drawing a link between flying in space and running around on a planet seems difficult.  On one hand, what CCP is setting out to accomplish here has potential.  Not just potential for Eve Online, but potential for multi-platform game environments that incorporate multiple incarnations of the same universe across different gaming platforms, simultaneously.  On the other hand, the development effort for a Playstation 3 release is no laughing matter - the resources required are extensive, and one way or another CCP needs to figure out a mechanic that not only delivers a top-notch FPS experience to the masses, but one that in no way takes away from 'flying in space'.  

I don't envy CCP and the path they laid out for themselves.  Dust514 needs to incorporate itself into the Eve-Online world without effecting what makes Eve great.  It's unlikely that the actions of a console player having a major effect on anything currently transpiring in Eve will go over well with the player base.  Alliances and corporations have enough trouble and spend countless hours coordinating with members that are all playing the same game.  Imagine if you're forced to coordinate with players playing another game, on a separate console, in order to complete your objectives in Eve.

But the logistics of coordination barely scratch the surface of what CCP is aiming to hopefully accomplish.  We know for a fact that Dust514 will somehow be integrated into Eve via Planetary Interaction, a feature introduced in Eve's Tyrannis expansion.  This alone proves problematic as Planetary Interaction (PI) forms a very small piece in the puzzle of Eve greatness.  (See also: PI is widely considered useless and rarely used by anyone in Eve.)

So where does Dust514 even start?  The market is flooded with FPS titles - there's very few places left for the repetitive garbage we've been spoon fed over the past few years from gimmicky FPS wannabe titles.  In order to really contribute to the massive scale of the Eve universe, Dust has to be massive in and of itself.  Standard things like death matches and the countless other game modes are an industry standard now, and I'm sure they will be available.  But what's Dust's Niche?  That it incorporates two games into one universe?  That's unlikely to attract FPS fans by the masses, Eve is popular, but not that popular - I don't know many people who would leave a game like Call of Duty, or Halo, to learn about a brand new universe with slightly different mechanics.

That leaves us with an awful lot of questions, and not many answers...

*Super Hero Announcer Voice* How will CCP do it?  

Keep an eye out next week for part two - where I'll go into my own perfect little world and explain my hopeful ideas for how this could be pulled off.