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Thank you.
We appreciate the communications.

My account reactivation will be performed after implementation of the much needed and delayed changes.

You've made the first step towards regaining my trust. I am hoping you continue to make the journey required.

I've now published my official reaction to Hilmar's letter in my blog:

Hilmar's 'Apology'

Many people reduced their time spent in EVE in favor of games like WoT (power & convenience MTs) or LoL (vanity & convenience MTs).

Maybe you'll argue that these games are fundamentally different from EVE but I think especially the wide-spread love for WoT among EVE players (and "gold ammo" in WoT gives you a very significant advantage) is a huge pointer to CCP that the issue is with "subscription AND power MTs" and not power MTs per se.

So, yes, I think there is a pretty strong argument that players themselves tell CCP with their actions that MTs are at least acceptable (if not preferable to a subscription-based model).


I switched to playing mostly WoW this summer and the amount of people you see flying Winged Guardians (a 25$ mount that has no advantage over other mounts other than looks) is simply staggering. It feels like some group member shows off his "Lil' Ragnaros" 10$ pet (no gameplay function at all) in roughly every fourth or fifth dungeon run (which would make 1 in every 20-25 players).
People are obviously happy to pay extra - on top of a monthly subscription and paid-for expansions - just to show off a little and demonstrate their commitment to the game.
(And half of my guild's raiding team have played/have been playing EVE for at least 2 years - so the argument that the EVE and WoW demographics are completely separate does not match my personal experience.)


Before I started playing EVE (my first paid-for MMO) I used to think that spending 13-15€/month just on one game is simply ridiculous. 180€/year - what kind of addicted insanity makes you pay that much when there is so much other entertainment (both virtual and irl) that is basically free. Today it feels pretty normal.

Similarly I used to hate MTs on principle - until I picked up LoL and spent around 100€ on the game last year. I still don't like the business model but I have to admit that it works. It makes me spend a lot more money on gaming than I would have spent otherwise (I would never have paid more than 30€ for a game like LoL if it were a one-time purchase) and yet I still feel good about spending so much.

I don't particulary agree until it's backed up by actions, and your comparison with Charlie Brown and Lucy is pretty accurate so that might be why I'm hesitant.. either case; it's alot better than not having this blog, so it's a step forward. Even tho technicly we havn't had anything happen yet.

I'm curious too to see if you see through the populist choices of 'fixes' for the winter expansion, and note that nothing major is really noted to get this game back on track?

I kinda feel there should be a gathering of folks around the Jita monument remote-repping it, as a symbolic undoing of past damages.

Thank you for the message, I look forward to this winter.

Well done - well said. It takes a lot to be that open and honest and humble before such a harsh community.

The passion and commitment to doing things right has been put in writing in no uncertain terms, and I'm excited about the next steps.

Eve has a future, and the two devblogs have shown that the future can be a good one.

Now let's see some of the devblogs about the changes!

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Wow, fantastic message. How many other video game CEOs would communicate with their subscribers in such a way? We're closer to peers than subscribers in this game, and that's how it should be.

Well said. Just always remember CCP, people vote with their money.

The one thing I could never get is why does CCP need to be so secret about their work, is it to WOW the gamers come release day? or is it to protect their work and concepts from other companies?

Would be interesting to know.

Xue

It is a rare display of strong character that someone of stature apologizes for anything, and I really admire that.
For better or worse, you're far from being the only game developer who has wanted to reach for the stars to discover you can't quite get there just yet. Enthousiasm works that way, and without enthousiasm, Eve would not have existed at all.
I hope that enthousiasm wasn't lost in the process of discovering that the methods used wheren't working.
You're still going to get to those stars, just slowly and in control.