Back to the Academy: Motivation

A great deal of fuss is made about capsuleer motivation in New Eden. A lot of theories are presented, using complex marketing words, and often have a consumer/provider perspective. And yes, if you were in the business of creating new capsuleers, that's a good way to look at things.

However, all those approaches are about cloning subscription numbers, and have a lot of solutions which are based on anecdote and assumption. They often lack objectivity, and rarely, if at all, think about the actual term: motivation.

Fortunately, that is one of the areas covered today at the academy: student motivation. I like to work from practical examples, so here's a common capsuleer motivation: I want to participate in null-sec alliance battles.

For a start, let's define the term.

In an academic setting, motivation is 'the state of cognitive and emotional arousal' which 'leads to a conscious decision to act'.*

Makes sense right? And is rather provocatively worded for an academic definition.

This is usually expressed as a long-term application of effort (either physical or intellectual) to achieve a goal. Motivation is the fuel, rather than the goal itself. For a teacher, arousing interest in a subject is important, but it is also important to maintain and manage the effort it takes to get him to his goal.

In our null-sec aspirant, we learn that motivation is not, in fact, fighting in the 1000-man fleet battles, but that being a goal. Motivation is what will get him there, and keeping him in that state of cognitive and emotional arousal is the job of space developers, and (much more directly) his corporation leaders.

But how can a teacher, space developer or alliance leader do this, if they don't really understand where this motivation comes from?

Lets move on to orientations and sources.

Orientations are the reasons for learning, or in the case of New Eden, being a capsuleer. They essentially fall into two categories: integrative or instrumental.**

Integrative is the desire to be part of a community.
Instrumental is more practical, such as passing an exam or getting a better job.

In capsuleer terms: I become a capsuleer to join an alliance (integrative), or I become a capsuleer to fly a titan (instrumental).

How is this useful?

A corporation leader with a clearer idea of what compels his capsuleer to enter space can manage his corp member more effectively. If his recruits goal is integrative, then promises of social stature, or an ever-widening network of allies will keep that recruit happy. If his recruits goal is instrumental, then directly showing that competency in a certain brand of sub-capital will keep that recruit motivated in the years it takes to master a titan.

To a space developer, understanding the more popular orientations of capsuleers help to prioritize which areas of New Eden need development. For example: integrative capsuleers will need more social tools, and ways to show their affiliations (chat channels and corp logos). Instrumental capsuleers will need more tools to measure their progress... and now you understand the success of ISIS.

One final thing to mention: sources.

These are where the motivations come from, and again, have two flavors: extrinsic and intrinsic.

Those of you not asleep at this point can probably work it out. Intrinsic sources come from within the capsuleer, whereas extrinsic ones come from somewhere else i.e. the corp director saying do this thing.

The important thing to know from this is that intrinsic motivations are usually stronger, and much more likely to motivate. So rather than tell your capsuleer what to do, help your capsuleer to accomplish his own goals, in support of your own.


*Williams and Burden (1997)
**Gardner (1985)

Back to the Academy: Ritual vs. Principled Behaviour

Well, an easy first day back in the student chair again. Today was mostly focusing on teaching practices and beliefs at a personal level, and what you do or don't do in a classroom.

A number of teaching topics related to capsuleer activity spring to mind, but perhaps the easiest concept to understand (and easiest to see the relevance) is the difference between ritual and principled behavior.

In true student-centered style, I'll give you a minute to think about the difference between the two.

...

Let see how you did.

Ritual behavior: Classroom practices that are done without thinking, with no understanding of the reasons for doing such a thing in a classroom. A good example of this is when a manager asks a teacher to drill their students after every class. The teacher complies without asking why.

Principled behavior: Classroom practices based on knowledge. This is when you drill based on a book you read highlighting the importance of repetition for pronunciation.

Again, take a minute to decide which one is better.

...

Most likely took you less than a minute right? Of course, understanding what you do and why you do it is always better. You'll know when to break or adapt your tasks in a lesson to suit what's going on in the classroom.

On the other hand, ritual behavior does give you an arsenal of activities to use in a lesson that you don't need to think about. It can save you time during planning. It lets you spend more effort on the more interesting stuff in a class, or the more relevant things.

Rituals can also creep in if you do the same task repeatedly, and simply forget why you were doing it in the first place. If you've ever wondered why your teacher asked you to copy things into your work book when the text book spells things out clearly, that will be the reason why. In the past, they might not have had such a good or clear text book, and they want you to have some good study notes.

All things in life are connected, and we can use this to critically examine what we do in New Eden.

Think of some activities you do in your pod, or in dock. This can be updating market orders, ship fitting, orbiting a button, mining an asteroid... choose what you do most often.

Once you've done that, decide what they are for you: are they a ritual you perform because someone told you to, or because you've always done it, or do you consciously think about why you're doing it.

...

I thought of a couple of examples: Thou shalt fit a briefcase (damage control unit).

It's a a reflex for anyone starting to fit a ship. Usually the DCU2 goes on first. The reasoning is sound. It gives you a nice chunk of resistance across the board, and can substantially toughen your ships. But be careful. It's not always the right choice. Sometimes the CPU used for the DCU2 can be saved for other modules.

The common market strategy is the undercut prices by 0.01 ISK. Yes it's effective, and you won't risk too much. But, you might be able to make more ISK by cutting more substantially, or even leaving the market all together.

A null-sec example is the alliance doctrine fleet. Members will be told to fit certain ships a certain way, but many will have next to no idea why they are fit in such a way. In some fleets, only the fleet commander will know why... which means when he's primaried off the field, the fleet collapses.

So now is a good time to reflect a bit more critically about what you're doing in New Eden. Are you operating based on principle, or based on ritual? That's a question only you can decide, and only you can decide whether it's worth your time to think about it.

For me, it's made me think about the ships I'm currently flying. A lot of my skills are in projectiles and lasers, so I mostly fly Minmtar or Amarr ships. The thing is, I don't know if I'd actually have better results in a Gallente or Caldari ship. I've never tried. I simply go for Amarr/Minmatar and fit ships to suit my piloting style. It might be better to find ships to compliment my piloting style instead.

I'd like to see some of the ritual behaviors other pilots have, so, if you'd be so kind, please write them in the comments below. The first step to development is working out where to start!

Back to the Academy: Introduction

This has nothing to do with spaceships.

At least not directly. Tomorrow, I will be beginning a DELTA course. When I'm not in the pod, I have a hobby of teaching languages. I've found a great deal of work out in low-sec, as the fringes between the trade hubs often have their own dialects and tongues.

The DELTA course is a two month long marathon, including input sessions and practical teaching observations. Why am I doing this? The teaching jobs I do directly contribute to my Pilot's License. Once I've done this course, funding the license will become easier, and I can spend less time badgering my market servant.

What I'll be learning are different approaches to teaching languages. I'll be posting up some of what I learn on here.

Whilst it does not directly link into piloting professional development, the things I've learnt as a teacher have helped me at the pilots stick immensely. Lessons learned in running a classroom can be applied to running a corporation, and of course, training new capsuleers.

I doubt many will find it that interesting, but so long as one person picks up on the ideas and gets an advantage from it, then I'll be happy. That's what these web posts are for... giving my fellow capsuleers ideas and inspiration.

And yes, this does mean I'm going to spend less time in the pilot's seat. That's another reason I write this. 

So when I do get into space, I make the most of my time...

Blog Banter 52: Living Space

So this blog banter involves analysis of a chart.

Be still my inquisitive heart!

For the past four and a half years, the graph has hovered around that 30,000 mark; it is, for all intents and purposes, a plateau. But everything must come to an end sooner or later and that is what this blog banter is about.

What's on the other side of that plateau? 

Is there any path for CCP to follow to raise those numbers upwards for a sustained period, or is EVE going to enter a decline to lower logged in numbers from this point? How soon will we see an end to this plateau? Months? Years? Or will you argue that 'never' is a possibility? Or you can look at the root causes of the plateau and tackle the question if it could have been avoided or shortened if CCP had taken different actions in the past. 

Also, what would EVE be like with an order of magnitude fewer or more players?

Living space

Most of the participants in the banter have reached the conclusion that seems obvious to anyone of a marketing mind. They look at it as a supply and demand problem of capsuleers. My trade servant would interpret it the same way too.

I, despite dealing with such matters on a daily basis, look at it in another fashion. It'll probably be completely wrong, but if you take into account the current plan for development, it might seem to make sense.. Let us talk of living space.

New Eden is a closed system.

Despite our attempts at colonization of wormholes, the cluster as we know it roughly the same size as it was all those years ago, when the first human emerged from the Eve Gate. Humanity spread to all parts of the cluster. The first capsuleer then emerged from the chaotic mass of humanity, and they, in turn, spread across the cluster.

Which is why the graph has flattened out.

Populations rise when there is an abundance of resources in comparison to the populations needs. Once the population increases to meet the availability of resources, it naturally starts to plateau. Put simply there isn't enough space for it to grow anymore.

Capsuleers have grown bigger than New Eden.

I know most of you are reaching for your keyboards to talk about the vast tracks of uninhabited null security space. You are quite correct. However, due to the lack of protection in null-sec, that space can only support a certain amount of capsuleers. The losses in ships and structures required to live in null-sec means that, despite the abundance of resources, the current population is all it can support. The accessibility of resources restrict growth here, as it does in Low-sec and wormhole space.

This is population equilibrium.

Whilst some capsuleers rise to power, others are forced into decline. Titans of industry will inevitably lose interest in manufacture, leaving space for others to grow. The new capsuleers, in their infancy, are often strangled by the competition. Most of you have seen this... friends falling to a indefinite sleep, minds dulled by the daily grind to survive. Young capsuleers bio-massed before they can come to terms with the struggle.

Yes, there are more resources out there. Wormholes and null sec systems go unexploited. But the number of capsuleers eager to work in these areas are already at maximum.

New Eden is at it's capsuleer limit. What can the various councils and space developers do?

New space.

Now you might understand why the proposed changes in technology are necessary. The Empires can feel the capsuleers claustrophobic battles with each other over the hotly contested resources of the cluster. The promised 'race for prestige' of building the first capsuleer gate is little more than a distraction, keeping capsuleers happy until they can spill out into new worlds, and slake their ravenous appetites for ISK and ore, far away from civilization.

Which brings me to another point.

Populations only grow when they are secure enough to do so. If you want a population increase, you must either increase resources, or reduce the rate at which resources are consumed. Or lost.

If CONCORD had it in their mind to increase the borders of protected space, I would predict another increase in population... at least for a while. Too much safety prompts stagnation and decay. Chaos in null sec and low sec is the stirring current that keeps New Eden alive.

New space, with a different set of laws, can maintain this chaos, whilst providing more safely harvested resources.

So what would New Eden look like with more capsuleers?

Depends on the living space. More capsuleers in current New Eden would see space ablaze with fiery wrecks, as desperate capsuleers feuded over shortening resources. Eventually those immortals unable or unwilling to compete would join the Sleepers in their quiet stations, rarely waking. And the population will decline.

So there's a slightly different way to look at the issue, if indeed it is an issue. If I'm correct, New Eden's capsuleer population will experience steady growth followed by another plateau once the first jump gates are created.

In the mean time, too much stability can lead to stagnation... just look at the Jovians. Go and try something chaotic today. Stir the alchemical pot of New Eden a little.

For other thoughts on it, have a look here.

Strategikon: Things to do whilst out of the pod

Tragically it's getting close to a month since I've been out in space.

Before I get into details, thank you all for the interest in the past series of posts, and special thanks to Kirith Kodachi for the referral. I've never had such a response! Also thanks to the commenters bringing up good points. I appreciate your insights.

Not really much I can say about not getting into space. I'm now married to a nice girl I found in Metropolis (probably tarnishing my reputation on Khanid even further), and despite my market servant doing the bulk of actual business, I've been kept busy doing administrative work for my support networks.

I can't see myself getting free from the clutches of my work desk any time soon, but that doesn't mean I can't participate in the greater universe around me. Professional development doesn't necessarily take place behind the pilots yoke!

Here's some things I've been doing, and can provide a little 'strategy' for those of you with similarly limited space time. They usually take about 10mins of activity, so are great for short Quafe breaks.

Blogs

Reading (and writing!) blogs are a great way to develop your knowledge of New Eden. Forcing yourself to actively consider tactics and strategies will give you a better understanding of them. There's no substitute for real experience, but prior planning and preparation prevents pathetically poor performance. That's the 7 Ps my old drill instructor taught me (although his language was much more colourful).

It's also a way to keep you connected to the community. We may be alone in the pods, but isolation will quickly lead to you withdrawing from New Eden, and joining the Sleepers in their wormhole tombs. Keeping those lines of communications open will keep you rooted.

To get you started, take a look at the list of Wiser Pilots on the left. They have all helped me a great deal.

Ship fitting

Now is a good time to play around with fits. If you have access to a ship, it's  very tempting just to throw on modules and charge ahead in the name of experimentation. To avoid costly errors, simply spend a few minutes playing around with fitting tools.

The benefit to this is greater understanding of the fits you run. You'll have much more appreciation for the limits of your vessels capabilities. Once in a blue moon you'll discover an effective fit that no one else has found!

But don't count on it. A good place to start is Battleclinic. Find the fits there, and start swapping modules, rigs or implants to see how it changes.

Spreadsheets

You could comment that this is a product of sitting in a managers chair for too long, but spreadsheeting is a hobby I picked up long before I had any networks to tend. And yes, I am a massive nerd.

Really this is a way to plan out trading, PI or other industrial pursuits, before you go and lose a lot of ISK. Certain merchant monarchs have a point that time spent on spreadsheets is better spent in the market stall, but chained to the desk as I am kept from the vibrancy of the trading floor.

It can be as simple as finally calculating the exact tax on your buy/sell orders, or working out projected profit from PI. It's rewarding, and again, deepens your understanding of New Eden... and is a skill you can transfer to other occupations, should space pilot prove too dull for you!

Theory crafting and project research

Basically the culmination of everything above.

Projects in particular can take a bit of research. A great example of a project blogger is Gevlon Goblin. Sometimes wrong, sometimes right, his projects are always revealing and illuminating. You can do the same.

• Pick a project.
• Read about it.
• Plan for it before (maybe with a spreadsheet!)
• Test it in space
• Write about it.

Of all the steps above, only one absolutely requires you to be in space, and the steps prior to getting there make sure you get the most from your time in the pod.

Hopefully that will help anyone stuck in the office like myself.