For over two decades, EVE Online has been famous for two things: the astonishing player-driven stories it generates, and the cutthroat universe that acts as a foundation for those stories. PvP is as fundamental a part of EVE’s universe as hydrogen is in our own, and whether you’re the head of one of its megacorps or a newbie just starting out, buying into the game has been to accept the possibility that someone in the great beyond might make it their personal mission to ruin your day.

Yet modern EVE is not as forbidding as its reputation suggests. The MMO includes numerous “starter systems” where PvP against new players is generally discouraged and “Rookie griefing” outright prohibited. But it seems this esoteric mixture of rules and customs is not definitive enough for developer CCP. As such, EVE’s next expansion will do what once seemed unthinkable, add a non PvP zone to the game.

Revealed by CCP in a blog post, this new region is called Exordium, and it’s specifically designed to give new players a friendlier onramp into the MMO. “We have had many discussions and brainstorming sessions over the years about improving the new player experience, both internally and externally, with many of you,” CCP writes. “An idea that has cropped up regularly is adding a ‘starter Zone’ to New Eden, where rookies can begin their journey together in a space designed specifically for them.”

Exordium’s arrival will represent a reorganisation of EVE’s universe. Currently, EVE’s starter systems are dispersed across space, which means new players are scattered all over the place, making it harder for them to find each other. When Exordium lands, it will be placed squarely in the centre of EVE’s universe. The region’s primary hub, a system called Manifest, will be surrounded by a constellation of 12 empire-agnostic starter systems.

Unlike the previous starter systems, PvP will not just be discouraged or prohibited, but systemically prevented. CCP hopes this will disperse the “cloud of anxiety” that hitherto loomed over new players who had heard the stories about EVE’s notoriety. CCP also says that Exordium will help introduce players to EVE’s mechanics and opportunities more broadly, allowing them to experience a “wide variety of activities” New Eden offers, albeit with lower rewards than those offered in the more dangerous regions of space.

It’s a move that CCP believes will benefit everyone, not just people trying EVE for the first time. “As most veterans know, getting more new players benefits New Eden as a whole,” the developer writes. “It means more recruits for your corporations and alliances, more customers for your market orders, more good fights in the warzones, and more new friends to meet at the Fanfest pub crawl.”

I also think it reflects changing times in the industry more broadly. The massive influx of cooperative games over the past decade means competitive play is becoming a harder sell, as new players across the board are raised on friendlier experiences. This is partly why many new multiplayer shooters, from Highguard to Marathon, have struggled to find a large audience. Basically, the kids want to make friends, not enemies.

I highly doubt that EVE Online will ever become fully cooperative. But introducing new players to the concept of PvP more gradually makes sense in these friendlier times. Exordium will initially open for players to explore prior to EVE Fanfest in May, with the full rollout happening at some point over the summer.