2 by 2

Since my last post I’ve been moving around quite a bit.  I was ratting in null sec and preparing a move into Red vs. Blue.  All that changed with a message from a former corp mate.  He needed help with a project so  I put my plans on hold and headed back down the hole into J-space.

All the moving around got me thinking about migration.  CCP has two economists last I heard working on the in game market.  Has anyone ever bothered to examine the factors that lead to the population of Eve moving around?  What about other games?

In World of Warcraft, the population seemed to move with every expansion to the new major city.  While the “national” cities remained important due to the auction houses, by comparison to the current expansion city they seemed a bit barren.  When you look at zones you see a similar situation.  The high end zones are packed with people while the mid levels are mostly deserted. The low end zones tended to have more people than the mids because people were either trying out new classes or making a lowbie pvp toon.

Eve doesn’t have such a stratified structure when it comes to play area.  Anybody can go anywhere and if you fly smart, you may survive until your destination.  Your success is still dependant on some degree of leveling.   If I am not being directed here or there, as in WoW, why do I live where I live in the game?

For my current move it was about several migration factors.  With regards to push factors there were few opportunities to PvP and not enough jobs in terms of helping about corp mates as I was flying mostly solo at the time.  For pull factors I would say better opportunities to PVP, and help out my new alliance.  I also had links to the community through my former and now current corp mate.

Interestingly one of the push pull factors that I went opposite on is living conditions.  Living out of POS is bearable, but definitely not as nice as a station.

What then are the opportunities that lead you to be active in the part of space you are in?