We all know World of Warcraft has the highest subscribed player numbers. It's wildly successful and far far too many companies try to clone it or borrow heavily from it. WoW clones tend to come with certain similarities, sometimes ridiculously so, almost to the point of a meme.
But what if EVE was the market dominator like World of Warcraft? What if everybody was trying to make "the next EVE" or "the EVE killer"? What sorts of similarities would we see that people try to copy?
Assume EVE is no better or worse than it is now. Everything EVE is now, would be what it is in this fictional world. The features and flaws, problems and successes, and all the little nuances would be there. This fictional super successful EVE is the exact same as the EVE we all play and love/hate. Assume all these things actually made EVE a market share monster instead of a niche game, and that other companies want to clone EVE.
So what sorts of things would we see? What sort of silly concepts would developers assume is the key to EVE's fictional success?
I'll go first:
EVE clones always over-promise and under-deliver to keep the players coming back for more. Player rage makes good sales.