An environment as intricate and complex as EVE Online places great demands on the people who are enamoured with the idea of being an immortal space-faring super being, which capsuleers are, but who are perennially at odds with features in the environment, the true function and reach of which eludes them because they don’t know how a lot of what is going on actually works.
And who can blame them. EVE is a constantly evolving universe where rules change, where the environment changes, where new features are introduced and old features change their function.
To make matters worse there is something like ‘the meta’, rules of the game that are not encoded in the game but that play a large and very important part in how the game works. They are not features of the game, they are emerging facts from the game that come about by how people interact with the environment.
How are new players to learn about all these features?
Through videos on YouTube.
A repository of videos on YouTube could be established that explain a feature, not a range of features, a single video for every feature, instructing the budding player and the veteran alike, who may not be familiar with function and reach of a specific feature, about how the game works.
It would require an angelic mind and too much patience for one person to generate all these videos by themselves, but luckily this is the era of the internet and we are humans: we can collaborate!
How do we achieve this feat of strength?
We start by creating uniform content. Uniform content is:
- use a naming convention for video titles such that it is clear that this is a video on EVE Online, that it is an instruction video and that it explains a named feature / process / method.
e.g.:
EVE Online - Tutorial - Fitting Interface - [date]
EVE Online - Tutorial - Wormholes - [date]
EVE Online - Tutorial - Mining Lasers - [date]
EVE Online - Tutorial - Ship - Avatar - [date]
EVE Online - Tutorial - Planetary Industry - [date]
Uniform naming conventions will more easily return actionable results without wasting time. It will establish over time that this is the way one looks for relevant content with regards to features. It does not matter who generated the content.
Uniform content is talking about the feature, and about the feature alone. No editorialising is required, but if there is a known bug associated with the feature that would certainly merit a mention. Start with “Today we are going to discuss [this feature].” And then get right on with that.
Uniform content means the user will be clearly shown what the creator is talking about. The creator will show where the feature is (don’t zoom in on the feature to the point where it’s not possible to find how that location relates to where all the other features are), visual cues that stand out come to mind, and how it can be accessed and whether conditions apply to being able to access the feature “I can’t find where I can assign roles in a corporation!” That’s because you’re not in a corporation or on a level where you could do that. Clearly showing where the feature is, and how to interact with it, will avoid confusion and frustration.
Uniform content means a certain level of quality will become expected of the video with regards to clarity of explanation, display of content, a voice speaking with conviction and authority and to set the right expectation of what a feature will do and what it won’t do if applicable.
Uniform content means the content creator will put their credentials on the video so they can get the credit for the video. “Hi, I am <name>, this is a tutorial video on EVE Online, discussing <feature>. Edit: after an exchange with Greybill it bears pointing out that users will not enjoy having to sit through any length of introduction, they will want to see the feature explained well. A credit at the end of the video is a better idea because it allows for direct connection to the content and it still gives the creator a credit for their work.
Uniform content does not mean hastily slapped together videos with nebulous explanations about this or that feature or phenomenon. The idea is to take any feature and make a genuine effort to explain it clearly, carefully and completely. Some videos will take more effort than others, they will obviously be longer for features that merit more clarification.
The creator will refer to the feature by its actual name to avoid confusion. The creator will not make shortcuts with regards to explaining a feature. “Oh, everybody knows that!” That’s the point, they don’t know it, that’s why they’re watching the video. Assuming they do know it will only cause confusion and frustration.
Creators will find out how hard it is to actually convey information to the uninitiated. It will be a skill that once acquired will serve them well in the blue room.
The [date, e.g.: 16-Jul-2022] part indicates at what point in time the content was relevant to the environment. Because there are so many frequent changes this will tell the user that the content was relevant to a certain time. When a feature / process / method has changed a new video will be created documenting the current state of affairs. Insofar as the creator is aware of pre-existing material referring to how the feature used to work, they can link to an earlier video below, so that the user can verify and compare how this feature used to work.
Over time this will build an institutional memory that everybody can tap into and use to become familiar with how this wonderful environment presents itself and how it is expected to work.
The author is unfamiliar with content creation on YouTube to the point where content could be ‘assigned / transferred’ to an account that was responsible to receive all these videos, and whether that would be preferable.
Creators are free to make videos in their own language although for uniformity’s sake creating them in English will help most of the demographic in EVE as English is the lingua franca of the game.
Creators who want to create videos in their own native language, using the idea of uniform content, are obviously more than free to do so.
This way the burden of documenting a phenomenally complex universe with lots of moving parts could become a shared experience, deepening immersion, expanding an understanding and appreciation for the features, techniques and technologies used in the game client.
