Rhetoric
<Statement expressing deeply rooted loyalty and assurance that this blog has always been a friend to CCP>. <Meandering question about the loyalty of CCP to its customers>. <Insightful analysis of the market and befuddlement at CCP’s inability to understand it>. <Mocking reminder that CCP employs an economist and accompanying joke>. <Statement eerily reminiscent of Chicken Little>. <Regretful but resolute resignation from EVE>. <Vehement denial that this is a rage-inspired exodus>. <Heartfelt expression of sympathy for the real victims: the EVE veterans and the “good” people at CCP>.
The bandwagon is overflowing with bloggers and forum prophets predicting the fall of New Eden, EVE and CCP. If the rhetoric truly reflected reality half of New Eden’s pod pilots will have disappeared in a week and the rest of us will be very lonely. All of this over “ninety-nine dollars”, “an internal memo about microtransactions”, “seventy-dollar monocles”, and a station where running is obviously frowned upon.
Instead of providing constructive feedback, the EVE community tends to go overboard.
I remember the hullabaloo a year ago when CCP was harshly criticized by most of the blogging community for not allowing the ill-fated Capsuleer application’s developers to charge money. Then, the world was ending because CCP couldn’t get its act together and Ipod owners would lose touch with their avatars. I read the dev blog about monetizing third party applications as a direct response to that public outcry. You wanted it, you got it. Yet all that CCP has reaped from this effort was another public outcry by space lawyers who imagined it would destroy the EVE community by charging us each $99 as often as possible.
The bulk of the current outcry is a response to a document being widely billed as “a leaked internal memo”. An internal memo is not the same thing as an internal newsletter. Sure, I despise the idea of paying real money for faction standings as much as the next guy, but this newsletter is really not the final word on the subject from CCP — it’s opinions from some of their employees. It’s a great straw man for us to poke sticks at, not a reason to rage quit.
I really have no opinion about seventy dollar monocles. I won’t buy one. I don’t care if another pilot buys one either. It doesn’t really affect me at all except that it is another potential revenue stream for CCP which can only be a good thing for EVE.
I’m actually happy with the changes in Incarna. I can still do everything that I did before – it’s all dialog and context-menu driven if I like. Even better, now I can sit and watch television which, for me, is way cooler than spinning my ship. But best of all, it doesn’t change what happens in space — it’s completely separate. But sometimes you just need to sit back, think about the big picture and enjoy the view.
Note: My activity has declined greatly for the past three months. But rest assured, it has nothing to do with the bandwagon. In fact, I’ve been playing more since the Incarna release than I have at any time since the real-world disruption that caused my absence.
EVE's parity bit 
OMG, a voice of reason! Who let you into the eve community? lol
Nice, somebody who agrees.
Funny though, for years people have been wanting to walk in stations. Finally its put in, and whats the first thing that happens? Endless crying about it. The Eve community is some piece of work. I wonder how many potential customers go into the forums and are instantly put off by the pages and pages of crying and go sub to another game.
Can’t wait for the other races CQs 🙂
Wow som1 that isnt threatening to suspend their accounts on meaningless bullshit speculation lol. The day that any of this “pay to win” is actually more than speculation ill dislike it, but until then ill give CCP the benefit of the doubt. (soo much rage in the blogosphere and forums)
I’d like to point out that you missed the point on the $99 thing… someone like pyjamasam would have no problem paying the 99 to charge for his app in the app store, Apple does that already. The problem with that was the fact that they wanted to charge that same fee for those who accepted donations, used ad revenue, or even accepted IN GAME ISK for any service they provided, like Chribba. And that’s just screwing over the very players that make EVE easier and more fun to play, which is the focal point of that particular threadnaught.
As for the internal newsletter, as I’ve said before to others, anyone who has read the full un-clipped version is aware that it’s just opinions being bandied about (by the lead game designer), but the real rub is that they’re considering it when they told us, promised us, that it wouldn’t ever happen, ever.
I’m not defending anything CCP has done. I’m just not going all Pulp Fiction on their collective asses.
Players are constantly telling CCP to “tell us early and tell us often” about everything, but when CCP puts forth something in a non-final state (like the dev blog about monetization) players go crazy and act like the world is imploding. What ever happened to reasoned dialogue? The dev blog didn’t explicitly say enough to make the conclusions the community immediately jumped to. That’s enough to make anybody bottle right back up and keep their plans to themselves. How about starting a little discourse before lighting yourself on fire in the CCP courtyard? It would be less painful for all involved.
The internal newsletter made me throw up a little in my mouth, but it doesn’t mean I’m ready to string up the key players at CCP and laugh while their daughters try to shoot the rope.
And none of this is a reason to emo-rage-quit. None of it has come to pass yet.
I think everyone can agree that the current offerings, while stupid, are not game-breaking. If you don’t want a monacle, don’t buy one.
The concern revolves entirely around the PDF and the Hilmar email. The former demonstrates a strong intent to move MT towards offering premium ships, modules, and ammo in the future; the latter demonstrates that they intend to do so regardless of player feedback. (Especially when seen in the context of multiple glassdoor.com posts suggesting that CCP is demanding/expecting high revenue from Eve in order to fund Dust and WOD.)
It is the looming spectre of MT-for-ships that people are rioting about — the possibility that Eve may become a pay-to-win game, where assets through the MT store are necessary to be competitive at certain levels of play. This has happened for other MT games (see WOT’s gold ammo) — and if it does for Eve, it is likely to kill the game.
My accounts are still active, but the minute ships start appearing in the MT store, they’re getting unsubbed.
Clearly things have gotten even more out of hand since I wrote this. And I still don’t understand it. I know where microtransactions can go: potions of experience, gold ammunition, super hero powers nobody else can have. I don’t like those possibilities any more than anybody else. But the people pushing this forward are not looking for disclosure or trying to be informative, they are looking to incite and disrupt. There really is nothing to be gained by those kinds of actions. Sadly, there is a giant herd of sheep behind them.
The “Hilmar e-mail”, if it is even authentic, says nothing about moving microtransactions towards the “pay to win” future being predicted everywhere.
Of course CCP wants high revenue from EVE — it’s currently their flagship product and it’s the way they are going to fund future development. CCP isn’t a not-for-profit with the goal of increasing international peace and well-being through an international game, it’s a corporation intent on making money.
The wall is still obscured, it’s much to early to tell if the writing is there or not. Just play the game. Shoot other ships in space.
At the end of the day, it’s a game. When you stop having fun, stop playing. When enough people stop having fun, CCP will either change what they’re doing or close it down and we’ll move on to another game.