Vrain Matari
Mikramurka Shock Troop
Minmatar Republic
2572
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Posted - 2015.03.21 12:21:00 -
[1] - Quote
I agree that it sucks to learn that Shanghai is spending time/resources on other, speculative projects than Legion when they are already investing so little in Dust, especially given CCP's track record of not finishing projects. But....
If CCP/Hilmar have a core vision, it is as a company that creates/designs/realizes virtual universes. I'd have to expect them to explore VR pretty damn hard when the technology became available and that is exactly what we're seeing here.
20% projects seem like a reasonable way to sample the space of design possibilities offered by VR and build a foundation of experience in the company. It would be very interesting to know how much the Shanghai group leaned on what had been learned by the Valkyrie team, for example.
I see reference to a CCP VR 'skunkworks' and i'm not sure what that means: is it just the 20% projects or is there a more formal R&D program underway? Whatever the case may be, i'd expect CCP to go after this hard, go after this early and to throw lots of kittenpoop at the wall to see what sticks. It's in their nature and it's the way they work.
It's hard to speculate on what such research will yield or whether the resources are wisely spent but in this case i'm cutting CCP some slack because if they were made for anything, it is this: pioneering virtual worlds.
All i would say is that they won't find any better or more immersive virtual worlds than what they have already with New Eden, and that in preparation for realizing the virtualization of New Eden the wisest course of action re: Dust would be to refine and polish the experience until the quality of DUST matches the quality EVE. There are still a lot of low-hanging fruit in Dust regarding poor mechanics/incomplete systems/underdeveloped social tools/lackluster immersion. The platform has it's limitations, true, but it's not a valid excuse for any of these issues and everybody knows it.
Dust has demonstrated profitability at some expense to the New Eden IP, imo. It's time for CCP to invest in Dust and free up the Dust devteam to focus on what's wrong because a quality Dust experience is the single most plausible and profitable way to grow the New Eden universe and prepare the ground for VR.
PSN: RationalSpark
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