Seal-clubbing is a time honored tradition. It is the online digital gaming equivalent of hazing; of putting newbs on the frat pledge line and putting them through the ringer. In truth, it is much less “congenial” than that, if I can use that term even in reference to frat hazing (which tells you just how far down the rabbit-hole we are). It’s way more toxic than that. It is an “end justifies the means” approach of attacking newcomer players in a MMORPG who break out of the training zone (ganking). In the training zone, or security zone…each game calls it something different…there are typically steep penalties for attacking other players, if attacking other players is even allowed. Once that training period is over and players cruise beyond that mystical barrier, it’s no-holds-barred, falls count anywhere in the building. And players who have accrued better gear will pounce on any junior players foolish enough to travel alone. This has been a key element to the gameplay loop of EVE OnLine. And the result has been for the EVE community to form its own corporations, gangs, tribes, family businesses, etc, often with complex relationships and chains-of-command. But the main thing is that in exchange for pledging loyalty and the house taking it cut of any spoils, you gain mutual defense.
On April 14th, CCP Games launched EVE Online Exordium. A paraphrase of the blog post follows:
“Exordium is a new dedicated starter region aimed at improving the new player experience. Instead of spawning across scattered systems, all new players will…
…begin in this single 53-system region, making it easier to meet others, play with friends, and engage with corporations early on. The region is structured around a central hub system and dynamically assigns players to starter systems to keep populations balanced. It’s designed to reduce the confusion and isolation new players often feel, while also encouraging mentorship and social interaction between rookies and veteran players.
Exordium is intentionally a safe, low-risk learning environment where PvP is completely disabled, allowing newcomers to learn mechanics without fear of attack. To preserve balance, it features restricted content, lower rewards, higher taxes, and limits on advanced systems like player-owned structures. Activities are curated and scaled for beginners, with simplified resources and adjusted rewards to match early progression. Over time, players are expected to “graduate” out of Exordium into the wider, more dangerous universe, ensuring the region acts as a structured onboarding space rather than a permanent destination.”
While this is a great baby bottle to ease players in, my concern is that it doesn’t matter to the end result: that you need to join a larger corpo with greater resources so that you can have worthwhile defenders looking out for you. And the crimp that puts on people is that you have to make a commitment to the game that a lot of people won’t want to because they want to play more than just one game. This is a great improvement for those looking for that one main social community; or even just one amongst two or three tentpoles. But it does not hugely change the value prop for someone looking to add a new game to the rotation of 2 or 3 other games and does not want any one of them to be a full-time commitment.
Rounding Off Infinity 