When explaining and showing JGE to other gamers....

[-Tikigod-]

Encountered this afew times in the last few weeks whilst nattering away to other EVE players whilst we sit there waiting for our ships to do whatever it is we asked it to do, and I think it could lead to quite a unwanted image/expectation of JGE.

ATM all the videos are 3rd person, which I can fully understand on the grounds of the cockpit interface not being a main focus atm and wanting to show that the game will be playable in non-firstperson perspective.

Whilst explaining how the game is based on the greats such as Elite, X-wing and similar, and how it is a 'pure' space simulation MMO in terms of no dice-rolling, character sheets full of calculations and the such, interest is high and alot of questions are asked about various directions economy, mining and such are planned for the game.
But after that the first thing that is always asked is "Sounds cool, any footage of the gameplay out yet?", to which the answer is obviously "Yes" and various links to connect footage and the somewhat official JGE trailer made for it.

And the feedback?

EVERYTIME it's "Hmm if it's like Elite and player skill based, why is the game only 3rd person? Looks just like EVE and the rest is marketing hype, to me rather then it actually being a space simulation game".
After that the damage is already done, nomatter how much explaining that 1st person will be a equally offered option, but as it stands they havn't got a polished cockpit view to show off yet they've already decided that JGE isn't their long desired Elite-online or modern day open ended X-wing and it's just a 3rd person arcade game trying to chase after EVEs shadow.

Whilst it may be that according to the concerns of the in-house testing the first person cockpit interface isn't a important concern, if JGE is to market itself for what it is and not a 3rd person arcade game I think maybe some kind of footage even barebones may need to be considered sometime in the near future.

I'm all into the idea of marketing off JGE to appeal to non-space simulator pilots, but atm it's being done at the expense of appealing to what should be a easy market to rope into following this game.

And once they've made an assumption based on footage it will be alot harder to pull them back into the fold, that and it makes my job of spreading the good word aheck of alot harder.


Edit: Heh actually forgot the point at the end in that little ramble.

Anyway else found this to be a problem? and if so has anyone found a way to lessen the disapointment?

[adecoy]

what makes 3rd person view chasing eves shadow? i always loved 3rd person view far better than cockpit view, thats probably why i played more freelance than i did darkstar one. im not saying that you shouldent like first person view, im just posting to mention that not everyone necessarily likes it over 3rd person.

[-Tikigod-]

Ummm ok... well thanks for that Adecoy.

Never said 1st person was better or more desireable, just that at the moment the footage doesn't show Jumpgate as a space simulation but rather a arcade shoot'em up in terms of look as everything is a little dead centered unmoving ship strafing.

Its the lack of 1st person acknowledgement for showing people some of us are talking to on other MMOs who ARE looking for 1st person space simulation action, that I'm talking about. Not the pros/cons/desireibility of either system.


As for why they think JGE is just chasing EVE shadow? Well we're talking mostly EVE players here, so their looking for something NEW, what they see in the footage is a 3rd person ship flying around by some unknown means wizzing around without any care in the world for any sense of skill behind doing anything.

Whilst that isn't neccisarily true, having it third person and the ships showing off fancy strafing without a care in the world and not much in terms of edge of your seat excitement, it's just a tiny ship wizzing about from what they recognise as 'EVEs camera view'

And all the footage permits them to make that assumption and feel its a educated deduction and as it stands, theres nothing to persuade them otherwise.

At least first person footage even plain naked looking you'd be able to say "See! First person fast action.. and thats all down to YOU!".

(3rd person 'relate to something' gameplay has downsides as well you know, some people see it as a removal of the player in favor of a game object. It's not something that appeals to everyone)

[Regok]

I think his point is that people perceive JGE to be an Eve clone due to the available info. Honestly tho I don't think this is a major problem this early in the life of the game. As it gets closer to release and the hype machine tunes up videos will be out there showing first person view etc. Hopefully interested players will do a bit of research and see what the game is all about.

But yes, I do see the Eve clone remark all over.

[adecoy]

it does show alot of that "eve" look in that tho dosent it, what they could do as a quick fix is get a gameplay trailer with a headsup display of some sort, that might help some, like a crosshair in front of a behind-ship view could do wonders for that point of free flight.

the eve clone idea is not an uncommon one with any mmo, but i would imagine that since eve is the only compairison for a popular space mmo, its not a bad idea. especially for people that liked it (eve) but disliked certain aspects of it.

[Lord Alderaan]

Heheh whenever I see the EVE clone remark I turn it right around.

JGC = 2001
EVE = 2003

And then I go into the not so minor differences.

[-Tikigod-]

But thats aruging JGC not converting people to the Church of Evolution

[Nanocheck]

Well currently we dont have much footage to show the game to friends, but you can see from some of the connect footage that JGE is definitely not EvE, you can see clearly that its not point an click, which is what will make the game stand out of the crowd.

Really the choices for this type of game are very limited atm and given a bit of time and marketing i think that will make JGE stand out and get a large community.

[Huntar]

Seems like your friends are too judgemental tikigod. I'd recommend new friends. The game is still in Alpha and they already decided they didn't want to try it?

Here is a video of first person combat. Do a search of youtube and see if anything else works for you. Hope that helps but I doubt it will with those kind of people.

[swfblade]

Eve fans are always going to be eve fans, coz its been out for ages and looks awesome. IMO (and only my opinion) its more boring than watching paint dry, an once they can actually get behind a stick of joy and have a go, I'm sure that they will have to reconsider their opinions. Still doesnt mean they'll like it, but they then have to realise that it isnt a Eve Clone.

Still, JGE and eve are always going to be compared, as they are both MMO's in space, whether we agree with the comparison or not.