CoG EVE Online Discussion

[rahsoul]

If anyone is in or around Jita the light show is quite pretty.

Edit: The live feed, though it doesn't do the prettiness justice.

[MagGnome]

What's going on in those shots?

[Felonous]

Protests in Jita, everyone shooting a memorial.

[MagGnome]

Wow, that's pretty neat. What's the memorial for?

[kyrieee]

For EVE's 3rd birhtday CCP posted a riddle and the monument was erected in honour of the two people who solved it.

[Felonous]

Huge rumor, again RUMOR, but:

http://www.eveonline.com/externalLin...ccp%2Dgames%2F

While it boggles the mind, considering all the issues Sony has had in the last month, it might explain why Dust is now a PS3 exclusive and just how tightly CCP and Sony were intertwined at the E3 show.

[Savok]

Would explain the horrific new forum they had to recall too.

[SilentScreams]

It would also explain the pissing off loyal customers. That's a Sony speciality.

[Savok]

They'll teleport everyone protesting in Jita into spa.... wait.

[rahsoul]

Originally Posted by Felonous

Huge rumor, again RUMOR, but:

http://www.eveonline.com/externalLin...ccp%2Dgames%2F

While it boggles the mind, considering all the issues Sony has had in the last month, it might explain why Dust is now a PS3 exclusive and just how tightly CCP and Sony were intertwined at the E3 show.

Denied by CCP, no such talks going on (they say ).

[Felonous]

Originally Posted by rahsoul

Denied by CCP, no such talks going on (they say ).

Yep, CCP Fallout tweeted a denial just moments ago. Still doesn't explain why they are in full meltdown in regards their unwillingness to clarify their stance on non vanity micro-transactions.

[Savok]

Well we've learned they'll quickly deny that which isn't true...

[rahsoul]

Originally Posted by Felonous

Yep, CCP Fallout tweeted a denial just moments ago. Still doesn't explain why they are in full meltdown in regards their unwillingness to clarify their stance on non vanity micro-transactions.

Yes, it's a bit telling how fast they denied Sony, but have beaten around the bush for so long on play to win micro-transactions.

The new dev blog is out, and there's a CSM meeting in Iceland in the next few days. Regardless of whether there were firm plans, I think the noise generated (minus some of the overboard noise) was a good thing. Prevention is better than cure.

Hopefully they (and other popular MMO's) will remember this weekend if the thought occurs to them in the future.

[Savok]

Should never of occurred to them in the first place, it undermines the entire economic heart of EVE.

[Hawggy]

Originally Posted by Savok

Should never of occurred to them in the first place, it undermines the entire economic heart of EVE.

They did mention something about "greed is good" somewhere if I do recall - it fits in the decision making.

[Ten19]

After an emergency meeting with the CSM, CCP (with the CSM confirming) has explicitly stated:

It is CCP‘s plan that the Noble Exchange (NeX store) will be used for the sale of vanity items only. There are no plans, and have been no plans, as per previous communication and CSM meetings, to introduce the sale of game breaking items or enhancements in the NeX store.

The investment of money in EVE should not give you an unfair advantage over the investment of time. The CSM, under NDA, has been presented with CCP‘s plans for continued evolution of the business model and agrees that nothing they saw breaks this principle. CCP has committed to sharing their plans with the CSM on this front on an ongoing basis.

CCP acknowledges that communication surrounding the launch of the virtual goods store should have been better. To address that, we will write up dev blogs that explain the pricing strategy of the NeX store and the price tiering system. We will also communicate that we intend to put the focus on further fleshing out the lower price range and give visual examples of upcoming items.

The full blog is worth a read, as it also has a follow-up statement from the Chairman of the CSM as well as a video of two representatives discussing the outcome of the emergency meeting.

I will agree that they could have handled the vanity store roll-out a bit better, and the leak didn't help things, but I am really disappointed in the EVE community and how quickly it jumped to assumptions over a matter that was clearly just being discussed internally. I've been playing the game off and on for over seven years, now. CCP has earned a lot of trust with me for all the interesting and unique experiences their game has given me, as well as their dedication to the integrity of the game up to this point. In a situation like this, that trust is what protects against any hyper-assumptive rage about something, especially when it isn't officially announced. Long story short, until CCP actually fucks up, they have my trust the game is on the right path.

Now, Incarna isn't really blowing me away, but it certainly sets the stage for some awesome new gameplay mechanics. Particularly if they make good on their promise to have a secondary market of in-station goods and stores. Here's hoping.

[Savok]

Shouldn't have been discussed at all.

[Ten19]

Originally Posted by Savok

Shouldn't have been discussed at all.

They should be allowed to discuss whatever the hell they want. Even if it's "this is why we shouldn't do it."

[Savok]

It's like "discussing" deleting all the moral ambiguity in The Witcher. If it's not painfully obvious why that's a stupid idea then you shouldn't be working there.

[Felonous]

I'm on the same page as Savok, if you don't understand why even discussing MT for game balance affecting items in Eve Online was a horribly bad idea then you should not be working at CCP in the first place.

But at least CCP is now being really open and sharing with their communications, I especially like this one that gives great insight into how CCP thinks of it's players:

Subject: ccp ceo global msg sent today
From: evewatch@hush.com
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”UTF-8″
Message-Id: <20110623221654.CF1E76F438@smtp.hushmail.com>

sent by hilmar to ccp global list-

(strt)

We live in interesting times; in fact CCP is the kind of company that if things get repetitive we instinctively crank it up a notch. That, we certainly have done this week. First of we have Incarna, an amazing technological and artistic achievement. A vision from years ago realized to a point that no one could have imaged but a few months ago. It rolls out without a hitch, is in some cases faster than what we had before, this is the pinnacle of professional achievement. For all the noise in the channel we should all stand proud, years from now this is what people will remember.

But we have done more, not only have we redefined the production quality one can apply to virtual worlds with the beautiful Incarna but we have also defined what it really means to make virtual reality more meaningful than real life when it comes to launching our new virtual goods currency, Aurum.

Naturally, we have caught the attention of the world. Only a few weeks ago we revealed more information about DUST 514 and now we have done it again by committing to our core purpose as a company by redefining assumptions. After 40 hours we have already sold 52 monocles, generating more revenue than any of the other items in the store.

This we have done after months of research by a group of highly competent professionals, soliciting input and perspective from thought leaders and experts in and around our industry. We have communicated our intention here internally in very wide circles through the Virtual Economy Summit presentation at the GSM, our Fearless newsletter, sprint reviews, email lists and multiple other channels. This should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Currently we are seeing _very predictable feedback_ on what we are doing. Having the perspective of having done this for a decade, I can tell you that this is one of the moments where we look at what our players do and less of what they say. Innovation takes time to set in and the predictable reaction is always to resist change.

We went out with a decisive strategy on pricing and we will stay the course and not flip flop around or knee jerk react to the predictable. That is not saying nothing will change, on the contrary, in fact we know that success in this space is through learning and adapting to _what is actually happening_ and new knowledge gained in addition to what we knew before and expected.

All that said, I couldn’t be prouder of what we have accomplished as a company, changing the world is hard and we are doing it as so many times before! Stay the course, we have done this many times before.

(end)

That little nugget alone still rings in the ears of players and I have no doubt will have lasting impact on Eve subscription numbers. We have seen the record for number of peak concurrent users being broken over the last couple years. My prediction is the latest record won't be broken for a long long time, if ever.

For perspective, I believe this is the list of record days as reported by CCP Explorer back in Jan of this year:

It was on 6 Jun that I last posted on the (then) new record.

The new record is 63,170 pilots online at 20:23 GMT on 23 Jan 2011.

Record history:

63,170 pilots online at 20:23 GMT on 23 Jan 2011
60,453 pilots online at 19:53 GMT on 6 Jun 2010
56,817 pilots online at 20:15 GMT on 24 Jan 2010
56,021 pilots online at 20:44 GMT on 10 Jan 2010
54,446 pilots online at 20:48 GMT on 3 Jan 2010
54,181 pilots online at 20:26 GMT on 6 Dec 2009
53,850 pilots online at 20:29 GMT on 15 Mar 2009
51,675 pilots online at 19:52 GMT on 8 Feb 2009
48,065 pilots online at 20:17 GMT on 18 Jan 2009
47,207 pilots online at 19:54 GMT on 11 Jan 2009
45,186 pilots online at 20:41 GMT on 4 Jan 2009
43,697 pilots online at 20:25 GMT on 21 Dec 2008
42,711 pilots online at 19:51 GMT on 9 Mar 2008