EVE General Discussion

No shame whatsoever. None. Not an ounce. No lynch rope, either. The fact is, it doesn't take much going through these forums at all to find people complaining about not getting free stuff, or not getting the free stuff they want/demand. So CCP shattered your expectations. And? Did you want somebody to cry for you? Hold your hand and tell you it'll be okay? You have yet to tell me why I should care about your own personal perception of what a gift is, especially one that comes from a company that is under no obligation to give you what you expect to be a gift. The fact is, at the end of the day, a 15% off sale is as much a gift from CCP as a lump of coal, really. We'd only be using the 'trash' option on it anyway, and there'd still be a whole lot of whining on the forums about that too. I guarantee it.

No, you don't dictate to me how I should feel, nor do you impress upon me the importance of your own personal morality or perceptions of what a 'gift' is. Do you know what CCP's greatest gift to me was this year?

The salty tears in these threads from people with single-minded ideas of what 'gift' should mean. CCP is under no obligation to knock 15% off the prices in their store for a period of 24 hours, but they did anyway, and maybe no one bought anything because their delivery fees are insanely stupid, but maybe somebody did and really appreciate that cost cut. Who knows?

My main point is, who cares? You? Why? You said it yourself, you'd have been satisfied with a lump of coal. But you can bet your very bottom damn dollar that somebody wouldn't have been, and if that's what we'd gotten, we'd be seeing a whole different thread here. And tomorrow, when the gifts roll in, there'll be a new thread by someone complaining about what they got or didn't get, and you can rest assured, I'll be there for that one too.

The fact is, I'm going to rip anyone and everyone that pisses and moans on the forums about their dissatisfaction with the free stuff they're getting, and I'm going to do that despite your judgements of me, because who even are you? I think I've picked lint from my belly button that I cared more about than you.

Salt is the new coal.

Trouble is it's not really a gift. It's a discount.

So who comes out ahead? Us with -15% or CCP with +85%?

Although I do not wish to fault our Youl offering, prehaps a code to use a more commercially sensible delivery company or a discounted delivery code would have been welcomed promotion for today. This promotion is only really applicable for players who are in the country or origin for the goods.

But, lets just be clear on the message I got when looking as I would like to purchase some eve merchandise.

> Sorry, we're out of stock

The Sales tax, aka VAT is totally wrong, even if its applicable for a small value international order (< GBP £20) in a foreign currency.
(these values are not normally collected from experience).

The payment screen only allows payment by card, and my bank charges a premium for each non-uk transaction, and a poor exchange rate (paypal works really well here).

so as an example in USD

items subtotal $18.98
shipping & handling $22.50
total before tax $41.48
sales tax $0.19
grand total $41.67

Bank Charges GBP £1.50
Currency GBP £33.70
Total GBP £35.20

The customs declaration, should have a value of USD 18.98, if the tax is calculated wrong, it will get attention from customs.

The worse case scenario could result in a £15 customs fee from the courier, with a threat to destroy the shipment if not pain in 14 days, and about four pounds in VAT, boom we are another £19 in customs fee's. Yes, you can blame the UK for this as the couriers are not regulated as there contract is with the company sending the goods, not the recipient / purchaser. (I have had the argument with them before on a silly ebay item valued at under GBP 20 and 6 or 7 GBP postage from america, you end up paying more in additional charges to the courier than the product costs)

I believe these points have been made before, and probably a key reason why the eve store's sales are lightly to be poor outside of america.

Possible solution

But as a serious point, there a a lot of company's that can print / embroider / generate custom generic (i.e glasses / coffee mugs and clothes etc) in most towns. My local one is happy to do any logo with permission, but ONLY with permission.

When CCP gets to review the current supplier of the eve shops, please can you look at getting digital 1 run licences we can take to a local supplier and get our own printed, so you get your royalty fee and us players get good quality items. These stores have a device they need to load a file into, to generate the product. DRM / aka 1 run BPC's are a reality.........

Alternatively, there are company's that operate internationally that can make these items to order in each country or region and ship locally. I am sure postage from Iceland to the UK would be noticeably cheaper due to the European agreements that are in place with Iceland.

Finally, Although I have only made it to one eveNT in London (yes a few years ago, I only remember CCP Guard the eve uni guy walking around dressed in back.), there was no "shop". But having a merchandise stall would probally generate more revenue than the bar IMHO. Just please do not do run it on 5th November again (Americans, think 4th July in the UK).

CCP - you have a fantastic game and IP / Franchise, I am sure you can improve the royalty goods availability not only in the UK, but international.

The EVE Uni tears lately have been incredible. Please keep them coming.

Gift-giving economics are quite interesting. You can actually create or destroy actual value just by giving one. If even one person uses this discount to get something they value on the store in such a way that they feel like they're getting a bargain, they've received a gift by proxy of value created by CCP. In simpler terms, CCP have given them a gift of real-world money. Additionally, by offering a discount, there's no way to destroy value, because people won't take advantage of it if they still feel like prices are still too high. On the other hand, when CCP gives everyone free items in game, the value of those items is destroyed, and the market will reflect that.

This gift isn't an in-game gift, it's actually a real money gift for anyone that takes advantage of it.

Rejection of a gift is not entitlement. Demanding an alternative is. Besides, your trolling isn't a gift I don't receive every day on these forums by half-wits twice your intellectual calibre. So thanks but no thanks.

Haha, I see what you did there.

Good thing we're not family. Also, I don't do Christmas. People don't get me gifts because I asked them not to. If the only reason someone has to give something to someone is because Christmas, then it's no wonder there's so much expectation and entitlement around Christmas. Also, the gift can't be worth much.

Besides all that, accepting a gift from an EVE Uni member would be like a thief accepting gifts from a homeless man he robbed - I already loot enough of your underwhelming wrecks in low sec.

I wasn't critiquing his rejection of the gift, by the way. I was critiquing his demands for an alternative. I suggest you stay in school (or go back) and really focus on that reading comprehension.

The discount wouldnt be so bad if not for the shocking shipping costs to anywhere outside USA basically.

So EVE's playerbase's gift to CCP development team is marketing advice?

When Domino's put a leaflet through my door advertising 15% off I don't consider that a gift.