[Jester's Trek] A short note: impact of alts
A short note: impact of alts
I'm in the midst of finalizing a longer post but there's one point that I want to make as a separate short post. It's kind of important to a series of posts I find I'm in the middle of whether I intended to be or not. But I'd like to have this particular point as a separate post so that if people want to argue it with me in comments, they won't get distracted by the bigger points I want to make over the next week or so.
Ready? Here goes: the more alts you have, the more impact you have on the game.
"Impact on the game" of course easily applies to main accounts and the actual number of separate EVE players (whatever that is). A fleet of ten ships has more impact than a fleet of five, both while they are in space and while they are being built and fitted out. Bigger corps and bigger alliances have more of an impact on the game than smaller ones because they mine more belts, buy more mods, buy more ships, buy more implants, et cetera. I'm stating the obvious: more players = more impact.
But the more I think about it, the more I realized this premise applies to alts as well: alts need ships and implants and mods and skill books. They fly around in space and can be shot at (and often are). Therefore, logically, they're having an impact on the game and on the economy... which is of course the same thing.
To net it out, one main and one alt have more impact on EVE -- even if it's the same actual person playing both characters! -- than if the same person plays one main the same number of hours. Therefore -- logically -- one main and several alts have more of an impact on the game than if the same person plays one main the same number of hours, or one main and one alt the same number of hours.
And if the main and the alts are flown concurrently, that impact is multiplied and magnified. It increases the risk to the player, increases the logged-in player count, and increases the potential impact more than the "sum of the parts". To use the simplest example a larger logged-in mining fleet -- even made up of alts -- will have more of an impact on the belts because the larger fleet can have fleet boosts and a dedicated hauler if needed.
So, overall probably not a really insightful point but one I wanted to make separately so that those who want to argue it can do so. You'll have a tough time convincing me otherwise, though...
Anyway, back to the main event.
Source: A short note: impact of alts