Executive Summary
EVE Online is an
MMO known for its sheer complexity and steep learning curve, which have earned
it the nickname “spreadsheets in space.”
It seems only fitting that my project aims to add another spreadsheet to
the player’s experience. While the game
encompasses makes possible a wide array of options for space-based combat, what
actually interest me is the player-driven economy built into the game. As an economics major with a strong interest
in business and entrepreneurship, I was primarily drawn to the industrial side
of EVE where players buy and sell the in-game resources and items they acquire,
and use them to produce items for sale or use.
Unlike most business or economic simulators, this market is robust and interesting
because it is not the sole purpose of the game.
Rather it is the product of natural demand from other players for goods
and services that can most easily be acquired from other players, rather than
the game itself.
However, the items
produced in the game are completely homogenous, meaning that differentiation
and branding are impossible. As a result,
making a profit in manufacturing is cutthroat and relies on careful analysis of
profitability and demand. This
spreadsheet was designed to assist in the identification of profitable items to
produce at any given time. As prices and
conditions shift, the profitability of producing any given item can change
dramatically, so being able to generate a profitability report on-demand is
extremely useful.
The primary
functionality of the current version of this project is the production of profitability
reports on any item that can be manufactured.
The report includes a wide array of options to allow the user to
customize the report, which is particularly important since a large number of
these factors can greatly affect the overall profitability. In the interest of usability, however, the
report will generate a “default” profitability statement when it is first
opened, so no real intervention is required if a quick look is all that is
required.
The other major
functionality of the project is the management of the extensive combined database
that makes the profitability reports possible.
This all occurs “under the hood” of the program on hidden sheets, and
the average user should rarely have to use these functions aside from the
ability to update the web price queries.
However, this is where the bulk of the work for this project has gone,
and now that it is done, it should be significantly easier to generate
additional reports and features based on this database.
In creating this
project, considerable effort was put into making the tool accessible and
adaptable. While I had originally hoped
to include more functionality than just the profitability report and database
functions, I decided to focus on making the project professional,
user-friendly, and relatively “bulletproof,” rather than include these
additional features.
I’ve spent well over 100
hours on this project, and I’ve greatly enjoyed the process so far. I plan to continue working on it to add the
additional features I would like to see, such as the ability to maintain a “favorites”
sheet in the workbook, export generated reports to an excel sheet or other
formats, and the generation of quotes and bookkeeping sheets. I also plan to publish this project to the
general EVE community at some point, hence the focus on usability. I hope you, the end user, find this project
an interesting and useful tool as you play the game.
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