EVE Fiction

Live Events
Present: CCP Goliath, Alekseyev Karrde (Lync), Hans Jagerblitzen (Lync)

CSM & CCP Meeting minutes, May 30th – 1st June 2012

Page 53 of 165

CCP Goliath introduced himself and talked briefly about the Live Events team.

CCP Goliath began by explaining the three main types of live events that happen on TQ: “CCP Core” events (ex. dev-caravan style events), “RP Lore” events (ex. Sansha live incursions), and player-made events (ex. Hulkageddon).

Seleene and Elise mentioned that the EVE community really enjoyed the last CCP Caravan events, with the rest of the CSM in agreement. CCP Goliath responded saying that CCP Devs who took part in the event also enjoyed them. Continuing on, CCP Goliath was curious how the CSM felt about CCP Core events in particular and asked the CSM for their input on the frequency of the CCP Core events, what the scope of said events should be, and finally whether the events should be restricted to certain areas.

Trebor was the first to chime in suggesting that the CCP Core events would be welcomed “as often as [CCP would] like”.
CCP Goliath mirrored his sentiment that CCP employees really enjoy the live events, but added he was worried that too many events could be viewed as an intrusion into the sandbox, so he suggested three to four live events a year.

CCP Goliath went on to explain that a live event is composed of several mini events on the same arc. With the CCP Caravan event, for instance, there were four separate instances of the event. CCP Goliath was also very concerned with where the events should take place, avoiding both secluding individuals and giving perceived favoritism toward some groups.

Two step queried whether several small events or fewer large events were more practical, and CCP Goliath responded that, while the workload was comparable either way, that smaller events would probably be easier in the short run.

Two step then went on to suggest that the CCP Core events could be as small as five to ten Devs camping a gate in lowsec. Two step’s main concern was that with the larger CCP Caravan event that it was so publicized that large numbers of organized parties showed up and possibly limited others from participating.

CCP Xhagen interjected with a concern that lots of small events would adversely affect the sanctity of the sandbox.
Seleene responded to the sandbox concern and argued that CCP Core events should be more common and very RP oriented. Seleene recalled a memory of a Serpentis live event in the early years of EVE when CCP event staff “stole a Gallente Federation Titan”. UAxDEATH agreed and went on to suggest that the CCP RP events could be incorporated into the sandbox. Trebor agreed that the CCP Events should be something unique and RP-oriented, not something mundane that normal players can do. Seleene expanded on his idea citing the rich backlog of EVE RP lore, allowing the Devs to have near-limitless RP type events.

CCP Goliath was happy with the response of the CSM and presented an idea that the Live Events team came up with, which is that there would be hidden event triggers and, if met, would cause a certain event to take place – or not take place. The players would then choose the outcome of the event and it would be written into EVE lore.

Hans, Seleene, and Elise were very approving of this idea. Hans chimed in that players would love to rewrite the EVE lore based on player success or player failure.

Two step expressed concerns in the rules of engagement for the CCP Events, arguing that players shouldn’t be ganked while doing mundane tasks. Two step continued with the concerns and said that the RP aspect of the live events wasn’t necessary, just simply CCP employees camping a gate without an RP element would be sufficient.

Seleene disagreed and argued that the best part of the CCP Events is the immersion aspect.

Trebor half-jokingly suggested that the CCP Event staff should be able to tackle players and ransom them until they posted on the forums to get the word out for the event. Trebor didn’t care so much about the distinction between Devs playing as themselves or Devs playing as RP characters so long as the Devs and the community had fun in the event.

CCP Goliath reminisced on the last CCP Caravan event and admitted he wanted to escalate it, but the limiting factor was the lack of manpower.

UAxDEATH attempted to solve the problem and suggested that EVE FCs could simply FC the CCP Event staff, a notion that CCP Goliath was very much against because it would unfairly raise questions of favoritism which, in turn, would cheapen the events. On the subject of manpower, CCP Goliath mentioned that he was looking into spawning some unused NPCs with no loot tables and no bounties to avoid an unnecessary ISK injection from the event – something learned from the slight mishap on the Dev Caravan.

Two step stated that no rewards were needed apart for the fancy Dev kill/loss mail, to which everyone was in agreement.
Continuing on the idea of Devs being Devs or Devs RPing, Seleene added that the RP route allows the Devs an extra layer of anonymity which, he argued, would protect the Devs from players that felt they were unfairly harassed.

Trebor countered that if the correct rules of engagement were in place, similar to the ones used for the Caravan event, that the harassment claims would be a non-issue.

Taking the discussion a bit further, Seleene asked CCP Goliath how much support he was getting since the Live Events have historically had a spotty past (Seleene cited the Aurora program), and CCP Goliath was cautiously optimistic from the overwhelmingly positive reaction – both from the community and the CCP staff -- from the Dev Caravan event in December.

SO HAPPY for this!

This is a very important decision, I'm so glad that it's going this way, it's a step change I think?

I feel this has a lot to do with the work of those involved with the Arek'Jaalan project - immersion is vital whether you rp or not of course.

The following is slightly off topic:

If, as is indicated in these minutes, CCP truly intend to use incarna for some emergent dynamic mission content, they won't be able to just lift that content from the current mission cannon (it won't stand the transition imo).

I hope they'll be looking for synergy, in accordance with Metcalfe's Law . For a way to enrich the trajectories of the players so that they collide with each other outside of their ships perhaps. The opportunities for exploration to showcase the lore, to give other occupations real depth and make them less of a grind and lead the solo player in NPC corp seamlessly to group play such as faction war and incursions are profound.

God, I hope this is all real.

Of course, we've heard this stuff before many times over the years, so I'd feel like a rube for getting my hopes up now. Letting players actually determine the endings of arcs is a particular source of inspiration/dread.

Being proven wrong would be delightful.