Commit to Fixing the UI (CSM)

Stats

• Raised by: Ankhesentapemkah
• Submission Date: 6 June 2010
• Meeting ID: 5.003
• Issue ID: tbd

Summary

Introduction

During the past two years, the CSM has raised dozens of minor UI fixes. While a small handful of these issues have been implemented in-game, it remains obvious that the EVE UI is fundamentally flawed. CCP has stated that they intend to revamp the UI at some point, but as we have seen the past years, they never get further than band-aid fixes. Rather than raising another dozen specific UI issues which will either get ignored or are just band-aids, I would like to ask CCP to just revamp the whole UI once and for all.

Why Commit Resources?

• The UI is one of the major turnoff points of the game from the perspective of new users.
• Improving the UI positively impacts all playstyles and all areas of the game.
• Much less subsequent resources required to make changes and additions.
• UI improvments will render certain existing content in EVE more accessible (science, industry, POS management, etc). A lot of players do not bother with this content due to a needlessly complex UI.
• The current UI gives EVE a very dated and inaccessible appearance.

Solution

CCP should build a better framework to build the UI on, which provides the access and functionality desired by current players. This framework can then be expanded on when new content is released by CCP, instead of slapping on additional UI functionality while doing band-aid fixes.

Pros

• Provides solid framework to build on
• Dramatically improves gameplay experience for all players
• Better retains new players
• Smoother learning curve, having to learn to deal a poorly-designed UI should not be what new players do during their first week

Cons

• Requires significant time investment

Relevant Forum Threads

[1] - Issue thread [2] - Compilation of UI fix requests [3] - EVE Online Usability Report

Votes

For/Against: 9/0