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Don't play me: EVE Online, new players and rhetoric

Published: 29 June 2011 Publication History

Abstract

Among successful MMOGs, EVE Online is an oddity, as it thrives in spite of a punishing learning curve. In EVE new players are assaulted with massive amounts of information and successfully making it through the first few days of play is an accomplishment. In effect, EVE instructs new players not to play it, to go back to other, easier games instead. Using rhetorical analysis, this paper analyzes the impacts of EVE's design and the discussion surrounding the game to articulate how EVE demonstrates a counterintuitive route to developing a successful, long-lasting niche game with a vibrant, committed community of players.

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Smith, C. 2010. If EVE and Battletech Got It On. Levelcapped. 10 November. http://levelcapped.com/2010/11/if-eve-and-battletech-got-it-on/.
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  1. Don't play me: EVE Online, new players and rhetoric

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      cover image ACM Other conferences
      FDG '11: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games
      June 2011
      356 pages
      ISBN:9781450308045
      DOI:10.1145/2159365

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      • SASDG: Society for the Advancement of the Science of Digital Games

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      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 29 June 2011

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      Author Tags

      1. EVE Online
      2. identification
      3. rhetoric

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      • Research-article

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      FDG'11
      Sponsor:
      • SASDG
      FDG'11: Foundations of Digital Games
      June 29 - July 1, 2011
      Bordeaux, France

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      FDG '11 Paper Acceptance Rate 31 of 107 submissions, 29%;
      Overall Acceptance Rate 152 of 415 submissions, 37%

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