My EVE

from http://poeticstanziel.blogspot.ca/2012/06/stalking-soundwave.html

I was going to start this post with "My first exposure ..." No. "My first encounter ..." No. "I first came into contact with ..." Damn it. You all need to grow up.

My first encounter with CCP Soundwave was during Alliance Tournament IX. He was the host. I'd only been playing EVE for a few months at that point, and tuned into EVE TV out of curiosity. I was actually expecting a laughable production.

Hell, if I was wrong.

Alliance Tournament IX was a helluva production, mainly due to the personalities. Wise decisions on who to fly in as commentators, for sure, but also the host. Affable. Well-spoken. Charismatic. I found Soundwave to be funny as all get-go. His humour is dry and absurdist. That's my kind of humour. I was almost more interested in the panel discussions during that tournament than the matches themselves.

I was already pretty committed to EVE Online at that point. I'd finally found my original Ultima Online. A game of no-holds barred. But by the end of Alliance Tournament IX, I was more committed to the game. I started my Twitter account during the tournament. A week or so later, this blog. It was Soundwave's vision for EVE, the direction he wanted to take it, that had me wanting to get more involved with the community as a whole.

And then Greed is Good happened. And I was crushed after reading Soundwave's piece defending microtransactions, pay-to-win as a viable strategy. Granted, his article wasn't supporting full-on pay-to-win, ala World of Tanks, but a subset of that. It was disappointing all the same. I had a hard time reconciling what he'd written for Greed is Good, with his vision for EVE expressed elsewhere.

The summer of 2011 moved on, and a change in direction was announced by CCP. The Crucible expansion was released to much acclaim. And a large part of its success was due to Team BFF, Soundwave's pet group of developers, tasked with fixing "little things." An enormous number of little things did they fix. Soundwave's star was back on the rise again. So much so that I gave him an honourable mention when I announced CCP's Employee of the Year (an unknown and almost coveted award.)

A little over a month ago, the Inferno expansion released. As lead designer for EVE Online, Soundwave sets the expansion themes, approves (or not) major design decisions from each of the design and development teams. Generally, he sets the tone for the game in its entirety. He of course has his own bosses, and colleagues upon which to bounce off ideas, but ultimately he is the face of EVE Online. If player's aren't happy with the direction the game is heading, he's going to earn the brunt of the anger and attacks.

Crucible and Inferno have been successful enough that he's earned more praise and high fives than bitter attacks. There's always going to be some of the latter, but CCP's new commitment to iteration has mitigated much of the dislike for some new features, or new features gone awry.

Going forward, Soundwave continues to have the best interests of EVE Online at heart. I'd like to point out a number of quotes (and I'll give you links so you can read them in context, or in full) he's made recently ...


(More at the link at the top of the post, including a plethora of quotes and links.)

I need a bigger boat.

I'm pretty sure this isn't breaking any rules. I'm not seeing anything in the OP that come come out as a rumor.

Kinda like your sig?

Just because you whored on my LP doesn't mean we can't still be friends. It's all good.

And this is clearly marked as a cross-post at the top of the entry. Why do you care?

Some of my cross-posts lead to really good forum threads. I like to read the discussion that sometimes occurs, because of them. Reaching all venues, I get a wider variety of discussion to peruse.

I read the first paragraph and was liek "gaaaaaaaaaaaaay". I don't think Soundwave is into guys. Wimmenz and horses moar liekly.

how come when you need an ISD they are never around?

It was a good read and it's nice to see a thread that is positive once in a while.

Excellent way of writing? This read was simply disgusting. I still feel dirty and sticky.

I doubt we should thank Soundwave for this change in direction. CCP as a whole made the change, not a single game designer.


Soundwave is his name, not Soundwaffe :D
I´ll fixed it for you.

Kind regards
ISD Dosnix

+1 for dune sig