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CCP Hillmar Interview

Author
Alexandra Alt
Doomheim
#1 - 2011-10-21 11:03:47 UTC

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-21-eurogamer-interviews-ccps-hilmar-petursson-interview

I like, knowing the little I know about Icelandic folks, this interview makes me glad, specially the acknowledge of certain things like how biased is the CSM in certain aspects of the game (not that all is dismiss-able (spelling), but the bias is there nevertheless).

Thoughts on the interview ?
Headerman
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#2 - 2011-10-21 11:11:03 UTC
When asked about resigning, Hilmar said...

Quote:
I absolutely considered that but I think that frankly it would have been an easy way out. Being accountable for this type of situation, leading the company into this position, it's also my responsibility to lead us out of it. I've had support from employees in doing that. I've now learned a life lesson from going through this and I hope that will make me a better CEO in the future.


For me, having an experienced CEO at the helm is FAR better than anyone else, especially one that comes face to face with the exact problems he is facing. He knows how to steer CCP through and come out the other side in one piece.

Australian Fanfest Event https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&find=unread&t=90062

Florestan Bronstein
Ministry of War
Amarr Empire
#3 - 2011-10-21 11:15:30 UTC  |  Edited by: Florestan Bronstein
Alexandra Alt wrote:
Thoughts on the interview ?

I had expected WiS development to be slowed down, not to be stopped completely - many players won't like this and will call it yet another example of an unfinished & abandoned feature but with the loss of synergy with WoD (*) one has to recognize that the cost/benefit evaluation for WiS has changed, too.

Less focus on MTs is a welcome, incidental benefit of this.

(*) WoD is dead for now. Note how he dodged the "Is there still a roadmap for its development and eventual release?" question. I guess the main reason they keep some people working on it is to avoid having to write off the WoD-related assets.
Alexandra Alt
Doomheim
#4 - 2011-10-21 11:17:05 UTC  |  Edited by: Alexandra Alt
Headerman wrote:
When asked about resigning, Hilmar said...
For me, having an experienced CEO at the helm is FAR better than anyone else, especially one that comes face to face with the exact problems he is facing. He knows how to steer CCP through and come out the other side in one piece.


I agree there too, it would create a lot more issues, internal company problems and economic.

Jester's blog post is a good example of how things work at that level which many people seem to be missing.
http://jestertrek.blogspot.com/2011/10/burn-rate.html
Benilopax
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2011-10-21 11:24:02 UTC
I'm quite disappointing that Incarna has been totally abandoned rather than just scaled back but I understand their decision.

Also agree about Hilmar not resigning, a new CEO would make things worse not better, Hilmar has learned a lesson lets give him a chance.

...

non judgement
Without Fear
Flying Burning Ships Alliance
#6 - 2011-10-21 11:24:18 UTC
Quote:
But some of my concerns right now relate to whether the CSM is maybe focused on a particular aspect of the game and I'm starting to get feedback from players that they worry the CSM is too pre-occupied by a certain playstyle. That might mean we may need to change the structure, but definitely the CSM has worked as a feedback tool greatly throughout the years. We will have them over at the end of the year, after everything that's gone on, and we will have a chance to talk about that. We'll just see where we are and take it from there.


Ooooo becareful CSM people P
Thorn Galen
Bene Gesserit ChapterHouse
The Curatores Veritatis Auxiliary
#7 - 2011-10-21 11:25:10 UTC
That interview is an excellent read. Especially this part of it :-

"Eurogamer: The Council of Stellar Management [CSM] has been increasingly vocal and rebellious in recent months. What's your relationship with them like at the moment - your personal feelings and those of the company as a whole?

Hilmar Pétursson: The CSM has been under constant evolution based on what's going on in the current environment, what's going on with CCP and Eve, who's on the Council and all that. The CSM has helped greatly through the years in getting feedback for aspects of the game.

But some of my concerns right now relate to whether the CSM is maybe focused on a particular aspect of the game and I'm starting to get feedback from players that they worry the CSM is too pre-occupied by a certain playstyle. That might mean we may need to change the structure, but definitely the CSM has worked as a feedback tool greatly throughout the years. We will have them over at the end of the year, after everything that's gone on, and we will have a chance to talk about that. We'll just see where we are and take it from there."



Hirana Yoshida
Behavioral Affront
#8 - 2011-10-21 11:35:16 UTC
Non-trivial questions answered with candour and humility .. just feels icky! Keep expecting him to ask for/offer a hug Big smile
Quote:
But some of my concerns right now relate to whether the CSM is maybe focused on a particular aspect of the game and I'm starting to get feedback from players that they worry the CSM is too pre-occupied by a certain playstyle. That might mean we may need to change the structure, but definitely the CSM has worked as a feedback tool greatly throughout the years...

Oh dear, no more purely null-sec councils .. whatever will the bot monkey's think of next to control the direction Eve takes!

PS: Still waiting for actual details as to how you plan on messing up fixing FW and low-sec .. loads more blogs needed!
Renan Ruivo
Forcas armadas
Brave Collective
#9 - 2011-10-21 11:38:04 UTC
If they are really using apocrypha as a template to what an expansion should look like (as a base model), then i'm happy already.

The world is a community of idiots doing a series of things until it explodes and we all die.

Mr R4nd0m
Doomheim
#10 - 2011-10-21 11:43:06 UTC  |  Edited by: Mr R4nd0m
Thorn Galen wrote:
That interview is an excellent read. Especially this part of it :-

"Eurogamer: The Council of Stellar Management [CSM] has been increasingly vocal and rebellious in recent months. What's your relationship with them like at the moment - your personal feelings and those of the company as a whole?

Hilmar Pétursson: The CSM has been under constant evolution based on what's going on in the current environment, what's going on with CCP and Eve, who's on the Council and all that. The CSM has helped greatly through the years in getting feedback for aspects of the game.

But some of my concerns right now relate to whether the CSM is maybe focused on a particular aspect of the game and I'm starting to get feedback from players that they worry the CSM is too pre-occupied by a certain playstyle. That might mean we may need to change the structure, but definitely the CSM has worked as a feedback tool greatly throughout the years. We will have them over at the end of the year, after everything that's gone on, and we will have a chance to talk about that. We'll just see where we are and take it from there."





HILMAR PLEASE READ -!!!!

Too true, the CSM is all wrong at the moment. The problem is letting any goons in there, especially letting Mittani in as chair, big big mistake. Hilmar, if your removing some of your own people. Then remove the CSM, its not working and hasnt really worked. Now you just got CSM members trying to f**k over other CSM members, corruption and everything else. Just get rid of it, it sort of served its purpose.

Yes listen to the WHOLE community, but you also got to keep true to yourselves and make the decisions too. You cant keep pandering to the bitter vets, eve needs to move on. You have to start listening also ( and im a vet btw) to how new players find the game. These people are eves future, and i think I huge focus should be on that. Its these people you want to get excited about the game, the next generation so to speak. These are the people you want to shout about eve to other new players, not bitter vets, who only say, this is eve dont like it get lost attitude. Thats ALL WRONG. New players will not come to a game full of idiots. They just wont. So listen to the vets, but listen to new players too. The problem with CSM its full of idiot vets, some out to ruin the game (so why are they in there). Big mistake, remove the CSM now, before these idiots ruin the game entirely.

You know what the issues are now, you know what your mistakes are and you know where you want to be, so basically just get on with it!
non judgement
Without Fear
Flying Burning Ships Alliance
#11 - 2011-10-21 11:45:49 UTC  |  Edited by: non judgement
He seems to be saying the right things after losing 20% of his workforce, I guess. A bit of a PR thing, but probably has to be done at a time like this.
Freyh
Tribal Liberation Force
Minmatar Republic
#12 - 2011-10-21 11:53:52 UTC
Hilmar Pétursson: The CSM has been under constant evolution based on what's going on in the current environment, what's going on with CCP and Eve, who's on the Council and all that. The CSM has helped greatly through the years in getting feedback for aspects of the game.

But some of my concerns right now relate to whether the CSM is maybe focused on a particular aspect of the game and I'm starting to get feedback from players that they worry the CSM is too pre-occupied by a certain playstyle. That might mean we may need to change the structure, but definitely the CSM has worked as a feedback tool greatly throughout the years. We will have them over at the end of the year, after everything that's gone on, and we will have a chance to talk about that. We'll just see where we are and take it from there.


That part. I like
Scatim Helicon
State War Academy
Caldari State
#13 - 2011-10-21 11:57:14 UTC
Too many CEOs these days are quick to abandon ship with their golden parachutes the minute anything goes wrong and leave the rest of the company to tidy up the mess, I'm happy to see that Hilmar seems to favour the "You broke it? You fix it!" approach.

Every time you post a WiS thread, Hilmar strangles a kitten.

Ciar Meara
PIE Inc.
Khimi Harar
#14 - 2011-10-21 11:58:38 UTC
Very good interview, very good points. Although CCP should not give up on Incarna completly, it just needs to be incorperated into the sandbox like everything else in eve.

The NeX store and the WoD/Incarna combination is what made Ambulation fail, not the original idea, go back to your original ideas regarding Ambulation before MT and you'll find many usefull and fun things to work with. The work on many of the Incarna graphics has been done and should not be wasted.

- [img]http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/janus/ceosig.jpg[/img] [yellow]English only please. Zymurgist[/yellow]

Lexmana
#15 - 2011-10-21 12:01:20 UTC
Quote:
We are back in the spaceship business.
Cailais
The Red Pill Taker Group
#16 - 2011-10-21 12:03:18 UTC
It struck me as a pretty candid interview. To what extent the infamous 'summer of rage' impacted upon the financial and cultural realities of attempting to produce both DUST514 and WoD at the same time is harder to judge.

The overall impression is that CCP tried to bite off more than it could chew, and had grown to big and to unwieldy to enable fluid internal communication. I think a telling line is:

"A lot of the mistakes we made over the summer were known quite well within our community groups, but they were not getting through to the people making the decisions due to not being co-located with them".

I think that exemplifies that the community reps were so busy fire fighting they didn't have time to sound the alarm that the building was burning around them. It might even go further than that - Hilmar not actually being told what was going on or how serious it was.

The re focusing on EVE and FiS is a good thing in my view, although I am disappointed that the potential of Incarna won't be realised for many years yet. However, if the price of WiS has to be paid to make the integration of DUST514 and EVE a better experience and EVE becomes a better game overall that may be a price worth paying.

If CCP jettisons the NeX store (how being a more complicated process) then Incarna could still prove to be a crowd drawing success - provided it has within it an actual game to be played rather than just pretty pixels and fancy graphics.

Clearly CCP Hilmar has decided to get back down on the shop floor and that at least is encouraging - just a shame it hadnt happened sooner.

C.
helana Tsero
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#17 - 2011-10-21 12:05:12 UTC  |  Edited by: helana Tsero
Good read and insight into the pressures of a c level exec. (as is jesters blog post linked above)

Am a little disappointed that Incarna seems to have been abandoned however I understand the reasons and its definitely better that flying in space is fixed and expanded upon.

Would be nice to see Incarna re-looked at in a year or two. Personally id like captains quarters to be sort of a news hub with video of corp/alliance battles and updates on what is happening within new eden. I think this would help new and old players connect better with the eve world and learn what other pilots are doing. I never really understood how establishments were going to work so its good they have halted that.

It seems that eve is now at least pointing in the right direction and I'm looking forward to "Apocrypha" like expansions in the next 12-18months. (hopefully)

"...ppl need to get out of caves and they will see something new.... thats where eve is placed... not in cave."  | zoonr-Korsairs |

Meanwhile Citadel release issues: "tried to bug report this and the bug report is bugged as well" | Rafeau |

Nyio
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#18 - 2011-10-21 12:10:53 UTC
A great and successful man once shared some life wisdom with me, he said:
"Keep doing something for no more than seven years, whether you enjoy it or not."

He meant that after seven years doing the same thing every day you're bound to start losing edge, and that it is then better to move on to new things.

Just my thoughts..
Jade Constantine
Jericho Fraction
The Star Fraction
#19 - 2011-10-21 12:13:58 UTC

I felt that was a very good interview.

The interviewer asked the right questions in the right way and Hilmar was candid and seemed genuine in the responses. I felt what he was saying about remote commuity management was quite compelling actually.

And while he didn't promise to string up and hang everyone involved in the NeX project from the lamp-posts of reykjavik he did give the strong impression that we would not be seeing more content poured down the MT drain in the future while Eve would return to its traditional player manufactured and marketed item roots.

I think the point about a 0.0 dominated CSM is probably a fair one also - and I could see some kind of revision in the process there that has cateogies of CSM members representing various larger interest groups to ensure balance.

On the question on Apocrypha - I'm very happy. One of the things that enraged me most this year about Eve was hearing CCP Soundwave answering a similar question during the monoclegate scandal with the answer (paraphrased) "there will likely never be another apocrypha scale expansion". That more than anything else at the time screamed "eve is being run down while we milk you for cash".

But hearing this stuff is back on the table and CCP will start looking at Apocrypha+ scale expansions again is genuinely the right direction for this game.

Overall - it was a good interview. (and top marks to the interviewer - very professional and insightful.)


The True Knowledge is that nothing matters that does not matter to you, might does make right and power makes freedom

Raid'En
#20 - 2011-10-21 12:19:52 UTC
some good points.

and add oficial link to this article soon, we always have to search them, and that's not normal...
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